WiLine Networks, Inc.

[redacted] ordered a 30Mbps symmetric service, on a 36 month agreement with one static IP (CSA attached) with an MRR of $1,200.  The CSA was executed by the customer ([redacted], Office Manager) on 10/11/17.  The service was installed and activated on 10/24/17.   To...

activate service WiLine had to bring the building at [redacted]t.  WiLine waived the $1,200 install fee and completed the installation in only 15 days.  They also signed an additional CSA for 5 static IPs for $14.95, on 11/18/17.
 
Customer used the service starting on 11/1/17 and continued to do so until 12/19/17, based on the attached usage graph when presumably they switched to a competitor.
 
On 1/10/17 and again on 1/17/17 [redacted] contacted WiLine about termination.  She sent the emails contained in the attached email chain.  [redacted] claims that due to problems with our installation [redacted] should be allowed to terminate our agreement.
 
In my opinion, the issues [redacted] raises are not sufficient to allow them to cancel our service without penalty.  It appears they were using a competitive service (or a backup?) for almost one month, based on the date their usage stopped and the subsequent time that elapsed before they asked to cancel.
There was no actual damage to the building from our install save possibly for replacing the $13 replacement part/insert in the weather head.
One of [redacted] team visited the account soon after we received [redacted] email, however at that time [redacted] told him that we would not be allowed to fix the above, which we volunteered to do…basically fixing the problem would have meant replacing a cheap insert in the weather head, looping the wire where it entered the weather head so moisture could not flow down the cable into the building, and replacing the one missing sleeper.  In the attached email our CS desk in writing asked to be allowed to fix these issues, and [redacted] refused.
My assessment is that these issues are not sufficient to allow [redacted] to cancel without damages, nor even enough to find WiLine in default of our agreement.  This has the appearance of a false claim to allow them to switch to a lower cost provider.
Even if these issues were enough to put WiLine in default of our terms and conditions, we must be allowed a cure period, which we were not.
Given [redacted] waited almost one month to contact WiLine to terminate after their usage stopped would seem to reinforce the fact that these issues were minor at best -- if these issues were major and the reason [redacted] stopped using our service was our installation, wouldn’t they have contacted us in December, 2017 and not waited until January.   If they switched providers in December because of installation issues, then they should have contacted us then if the issues were severe.  If they were just trying to save money, that implies that they waited to see how the new service would work before contacting us and the installation issues were not an immediate concern.
The only argument against this conclusion is that they switched to a backup in December, not a new provider, which would allow them to claim that they were unaware of the installation issues until just before they contacted us and the fact that their usage stopped in December was happenstance.  Regardless and in any event, these installation issues were not sufficient to allow them to terminate without penalty.
Does [redacted] own/control this building?  I don’t see a BAA in CGS.   If they don’t control the building I’m not sure why we are taking direction from [redacted] office manager WRT how an installation on the roof was completed, as these issues were not service affecting.
Also attached are a signed Installation completion form and service delivery notice.
Normally, I would prepare an email that states the above and tell [redacted] they were in default for non-payment, that they have 10 days to pay the amount past due or we will be forced to terminate with full ETF as specified in Section 8 of the WiLine Service Agreement Terms and Conditions.  We could also claim that they are asking to terminate for convenience, which would also require them to pay an ETF.  However, we are willing to try to resolve this.  We can:
Write up the above and send it to the [redacted] and ask them to deem the complaint as invalid/unwarranted.
Agree to accept termination without penalty and notify the [redacted] (this is not preferred)
I’m assuming [redacted] will not agree to continue to use WiLine unless we threaten with full damages, given they installed a competitor.
Thanks,
[redacted]
 
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:There are several inaccurate details included in WiLine's response.The monthly recurring charge for the 30Mbps service is $1,363.08 per month, not $1,200.WiLine DID NOT waive the $1,200 installation fee. Their invoice clearly states "INSTALLATION INCLUDED IN MONTHLY COST" - they have broken the $1,200 down over the life of the contract. During the first month of service, we had two service outages.The service was in use until early January. On January 11, 2018, WiLine sent their Network Planning Specialist, [redacted] to our building to speak with myself and our contractor's superintendent, [redacted] [redacted] was the one who identifited the broken weatherhead and reported it to me. There are photos attached with [redacted] comments. Mr. [redacted] asked if there was anything he could do to keep our account. My reply was very clear that becasue their installer broke the weatherhead during the install back in October and did not report it which could have cause major water damage, I did not feel comfortable with a company who is not honest. In addition to the broken weatherhead, their installer laid the conduit on the roof which was preventing our building from passing final inspection from the City of Menlo Park. It is not just the broken weather head we are dealing with but also the conduit they laid across the roof (photos attached). After our discussion, Mr. [redacted] told me I can remove the equipment that was in our server room and set it aside for someone from WiLine to pick up. It is still sitting on the floor in our server room.I contacted WiLine multiple times via email trying to resolve this matter, not only on 1/10/18 and 1/11/18 as they mention. The following are dates for all the emails that were sent to WiLine and I have records of them all:1/10/181/12/181/17/18 - I did receive a reply to this on 1/25/18 from [redacted] which said "We are reviewing the terms of your customer service agreement and will get back to you upon completion of our review." 1/26/18 1/31/182/7/182/14/182/27/184/11/18On January 26, 2018 [redacted] of WiLine sent an email that stated "We want to help address the roof so you can get your inspections finalized. Let me know when we can arrange a dispatch truck to have these items resolved in a timely manner."I replied to [redacted] that same day which said "Please send someone next week to remove the equipment so we can get the repair done. Your equipment is also removed from our server room and is ready to be picked up."Because the building was brand new construction, we were trying to pass a building inspection and our contractor was familiar with the City's inspection requirements, we informed WiLine that our contractor would preform the work, not their installers who originally broker the weatherhead and did not report it. After the 1/26/18, I never received a reply of call from anyone at WiLine. We needed to schedule our final building inspection with the City so we were being held hostage by their lack of response. The final inspection was required for us to receive reimbursement from the builindg owner. In reponse to their 5 points of opinions:1. WiLine is correct that no damage to our newly constructed building becasue of the broken weatherhead BUT that is becuase our contractor, [redacted] wrapped the weatherhead in heavy plastic so no water could pentrate the ceilings below. WiLine's installer should have told someone that he broke the weatherhead. If [redacted] didn't wrap up the opening with plastic, there would have been damage.2. [redacted] did not tell Wiline that they would not be allowed to fix the weatherhead - [redacted], our contractor who was present during their visit told Mr. [redacted] that they would take care of the repair and Mr. [redacted] agreed. There were two of us present who witnessed this. Our contract and [redacted] was not comfortable with WiLine trying to fix anything since they were dishonest about breaking it back in October. 3. WiLine's assessment is off base. [redacted] made an concerted effort to resolve this matter without cooperation or responses. Their installer was dishonest and their lack of response to send someone out to remove the equipment so the repairs to the weatherhead could be made delayed [redacted] final building inspection with the City. These are poor business practices and we feel that being held hostage in silence for months and delaying our business and final building inpections should relieve us of the remaining term of our contract.4. [redacted] is current in payments on the contract except for April's payment so the cure period does not apply.5. [redacted] did not "wait" to notify WiLine - we contact them when our contractor, [redacted] notified us the weatherhead was broken and they wrapped it in plastic to protect the building. We did not switch providers in December becasue of installation issues. WiLine's service had outages and was very poor. And for the record, we have several providers for various services required by the building's equipment (alarm system, fire protection, elevator phone, etc.). This statement is false. It was a good thing we had another provider in place because to repair the weatherhead, all WiLine's cabling had to be removed so a new weatherhead could be installed - thus causing additional disruption to our business.In repsonse to WiLine's questions, which are just being presented now instead of several months ago when we tried to work this out:1. [redacted] controls the building and subleases to a business on the first floor. The building owner gave [redacted] permission to tear the building down to it's shell and rebuild it using our own contractors, engineers, architects and designers. And again, their installation of conduit laying across the roof was preventing us from passing our final building inspection, as notified by our contractor [redacted].2. The installation delivery notice was signed by [redacted] contract IT consultant who simply tested the service was working.THE SERVICE INSTALLER SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN THAT HE BROKE THE WEATHERHEAD ON THE DELIVERY NOTICE BUT HE LIED. Our IT person has no construction knowledge and does not know that laying conduit across the roof is not acceptable to the City.In light of all the information above, we are clearly not asking to terminate our agreement due to convenience. [redacted] has been severly inconvenienced and has spent countless unnecessary time trying to resolve this.I am glad WiLine is willing to address this now and work towards resolution. We ask that WiLine agrees to accept our termination request effective April 1, 2018.Thank you, [redacted] 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2014/03/07) */
WiLine Networks has researched the complaint and does not agree with the content or conclusions referenced in it. The following e-mail was sent to [redacted] by the WiLine Director of Customer Service which addresses each component of her...

complaint. I have also attached the 2 contracts that [redacted] signed which equate to the amount billed each month, and have attached usage graphs that confirm that [redacted] is using most/all of the internet capacity that she ordered on the contract for data services. The following summarizes our research and response to [redacted]'s complaint:
[redacted], we are responding to your Revdex.com complaint number XXXXXXXX, reproduced above. It contains several factual errors, specifically:
We have responded to you several times. In addition to multiple conversations with our Network Operations Staff and our Director of Customer Services and you personally spoke with our Vice President of Operations about your problems.
With regard to your technical problems with your voice service, WiLine delivers you a voice handoff (specifically a Cat5 cable) that you use to utilize the WiLine service. In your case you connected this handoff to a third party PBX, which you use to initiate and receive telephone calls. Your PBX also controls which extensions ring when calls come into your office, how calls are forwarded and transferred, etc. Problems with your PBX can also cause calls to drop.
You were advised after WiLine investigated the problems you reported, that since you use a third party PBX device many if not all of the problems you reported are likely being caused by configurations set on your PBXdropped calls, extensions not ringing, etc. These problems must be addressed by your PBX service provider. The analogy would be expecting a cable company to fix a problem with your television. They should verify their service is working and there is no interface problem. But they cannot be expected to be responsible for how your television actually works or how it handles the signal provided.
As we explained, your PBX is not WiLine supplied equipment. Our customers who utilize third party PBX equipment have contracts with the PBX vendor for setup and service, or utilize service companies to manage their PBX, including resolving these types of problems. You stated you had no such service provider. We advised you that you should get one, as service providers like WiLine are not able to, nor are we authorized to, configure or service third party PBX equipment. We volunteered to meet on site with your service company or provider at no charge to you to work with them as necessary to help resolve these problems.
You complained about "They promised to lower our bill but in fact, it has increased from $500 to over $800." as if WiLine is somehow charging you more than you contracted for. However, attached please find the two Customer Service executed by your firm. You are being billed at the rates contained in your service agreement, and the price is clearly detailed on the agreements.
As we understand it based on conversations with you, when you initially spoke with WiLine you thought that you might be able to reduce your costs. But when you placed the order, you requested to get a higher capacity internet connection, in this case 10Mbps. You are currently being billed for this higher capacity connection consistent with the contract you signed.
Attached please find a utilization graph. You can clearly see that you are actually using the full capacity you contracted for. In fact, you would not have been able to satisfactorily utilize a slower speed connection had you ordered one. Unlike many ISPs, the WiLine internet connection is what is called a symmetric connection, in that we provide the full 10Mbps for both uploads and downloads, and as you can see from the utilization graphs, you require this capacity for both.
With regard to the early termination fee quoted you, it is consistent with the terms and conditions of your contract. You are in the initial term of your WiLine contract. Our termination fee is required in order for WiLine to recoup a portion of our cost to bring service to your building, and is therefore reasonable. It should be noted that you did not complain about the internet connection, and you are also trying to terminate that service early as well.
We do not want to have you cancel, and we do want to work with you to resolve the voice problems you reported. We believe if you would secure the services of a PBX service provider, and agree to allow us to meet with that provider on site, the voice problems you are reporting can be quickly resolved. However, in light of the inaccuracies above, we must request that you immediately rescind your complaint to the Revdex.com, as well as retract similar on line comments you have made.
Regards,
[redacted]
Director of Customer Services
WiLine Networks, Inc.
[redacted]
San Carlos, CA XXXXX
[redacted] (San Francisco)
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 9, 2014/03/18) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Complaint Case #XXXXXXXX
Yes, you have responded approximately several times to our complaints. However we have been emailing complaints to your staff on a monthly basis (on multiple occassions) with little to no response and with no resolution.
Your lack of response prompted us to contact the Revdex.com and turn to Social Media to alert others to our frustrations and to force resolution.
Our issues are with the quality of our voice services and costs we pay.
Quality of Voice Services
Since signing on with WiLine we have had problems on a monthly basis with the quality of services. This is our biggest complaint. Our calls are dropped, sometimes multiple times from the same caller. Sometimes we or the caller can hear an echo on the line. We have experienced delayed response time when talking to our clients which results in missing half of the conversation. Our fax machine transmits sporatically. Our postage meter is tied to our fax line and is also adversly affected by the sporatic service 'outages'. If two callers call in at the same time, one often gets dropped. Our lines do not 'hunt' correctly. We have two lines that are connected to another business that have never worked correctly.
WiLine has told us that our PBX system is the cause not their services. We had the same PBX system with our previous carrier (XO Communications/AT&T), and had none of these issues in all the years we contracted with them. WiLine was aware of the system we were using and didn't hint that it might not be compatible until well after we signed the contract and started experiencing these issues. Our PBX system is relatively new and I find it hard to believe that all the issues are on our end. We are not willing to purchase a WiLine PBX system particularly after experiencing the lack of customer service they provide.
Cost of Voice Services
When we met with our WLine Account Executive, we were told that WiLine could reduce our costs for voice and data. Please view Exhibit 1 (emails from our Account Executive) claiming that we would be paying $125 a month for voice and $405.95 a month for data for a total of $530.95 a month (see also Exhibit 2-initial contract for Wiline services) that confirms these costs. We negotiated with our Account Executive to increase our data services to 10 down, 10 up for the same price of $405.95. We had no more discussions regarding our voice services. The contract was revised and executed for both services. Exhibit 3 shows what we signed for voice services. We had expected to pay $125 a month. This contract shows we should be paying $46 a month (see page 2 of Exhibit 3). Exhibit 4 shows our actual bill. We are being charged $352.91 a month for our voice services alone. Clearly, we are paying too much for our voice services. We are being billed correctly for our data service and have no issue with that.
Resolution
1) First and foremost, our voice service needs to be reliable. This is imperative. Our customers, Principals and crew have all voiced frustration regarding our voice services and we have lost business because of it. If our current PBX system won't work with The WiLine data system, then we want out of our contract at no charge and a refund for our overpayments.
2) If WiLine can work with our current PBX system, then we want our issues as outlined above resolved once and for all. We also want our bill lowered to what we contracted and our money for overpayments refunded or applied to future bills.
I do not see where I can download the supporting Exhibits I have referenced. I have [redacted] email to me along with WiLines initial contract where we were to pay voice services at $125 month then the subsequent contract that we signed saying our voice services would cost $46 a month and a copy of our latest bill showing that we are paying $332.16 a month for Voice services. WiLine should have this documentation, but if not I have it; I just need a way to upload it.
[redacted]
VP Operations
Clipper Controls Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2014/06/24) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted], VP of Sales
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@wiline.com
Upon seeing this complaint, I immediately contacted [redacted] and have both e-mailed and spoken to him a couple of times...

to resolve this to his satisfaction. I have apologized for the confusion and delay in getting his check to him for the referral. We agreed that I would replace the $425 check that was lost in the mail with one for $850. I obtained that replacement check from Finance and personally took the check to the Post office yesterday. I have attached a copy.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 11, 2014/06/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Case Resolved

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 15, 2014/04/11) */
The complaint filed by NTTi is not accurate with respect to the facts as follows:
1. WiLine did not damage two buildings managed by Columbia Property. WiLine did an installation at one of the buildings on that campus in late...

December, 2013 and was asked to reinstall the equipment at that building. This work was completed on 3/21/14. The building in question is not the building that NTTi was moving into, although it is in the same campus of buildings.
2. We do agree that the building ownership asked us to not install any new equipment until the problem referenced above was resolved. However, the building has not given us notice "you cannot do future business within their facility" as reported in the complaint. And in fact our installation for the customer was done without installing any new equipment.
3. It's untrue that WiLine did not provide IP configurations until NTTi requested to cancel. Per the attached email to the complainant dated 1/27/14, WiLine provided IP information and notice the circuit was delivered. The complainant did not request cancellation until 2/18/14, approximately three weeks later. On 2/21/14 we sent the complainant a copy of the email addressed to her, that contained the attached welcome letter.
WiLine's Response:
On January 15, WiLine dispatched a service technician to [redacted], which is NTTi's new premises, to complete installation of a circuit that the NTTi ordered. On site, the technician met with the foreman working for NTTi doing construction for their new offices, and he instructed the WiLine tech that once he was through provisioning the circuit, he was to leave the cable that provides the Ethernet handoff labeled and coiled in NTTI's server room available for the NTTi's use, which the WiLine technician did. After completion of the installation, WiLine sent the attached email on January 27 to NTTi notifying them of circuit delivery. However, the circuit was available for the NTTi's use on January 15, and could have been put to productive use at that time.
Subsequent to that, there has been an issue between WiLine and the property management company that manages 1950 University, related to an installation at a different building than the one being occupied by NTTi, which caused some confusion related to the NTTi's service.
WiLine Networks Proposed Resolution:
In the interest of customer relations, WiLine is willing to make the following offer:
1. WiLine will accept cancellation by NTTi of the circuit installed at 1950 University without liability for early termination fee, and will waive all installation and monthly charges which may have accrued to date.
2. WiLine will leave the circuit in place through June 30, 2014 fully provisioned. NTTi is free to use this circuit or not, at their sole discretion, and whether or not NTTI uses the circuit NTTi will not be liable for any monthly usage or other recurring charges.
3. If NTTi does not notify WiLine prior to June 30, 2014 then WiLine will deprovision the circuit. If NTTi wishes to use the circuit after that date, they may ask in writing to rescind the cancellation, and they will be responsible for the recurring monthly fees per the existing contract, starting on July 1, 2014 but will still not be liable for any of the installation or recurring monthly charges prior to July 1, 2014.
[redacted]
Vice President, Operations
WiLine Networks, Inc.
[redacted] (San Francisco)