29th October 2007

WildBlue Satellite Internet and BBB

posted in Better Business Bureau, WildBlue Complaints, Service Rants |

As anyone who has ever filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) knows, the wheels of progress move slowly, if at all, with this organization.

Shortly after my original disappointment with WildBlue’s service, which was immediately after signing my contract, I contacted the Better Business Bureau to see if, by chance, they may be able to help resolve my issues with my WildBlue Communications Contract and equipment.

The BBB of course, does not “really” get involved. Instead, they allow you to complain and then allow WildBlue to respond, then allow you to complain some more because WildBlue’s response is of no help whatsoever.  After complain and response go back and forth a few times, the BBB will “Administratively Close” your complaint - as they did with mine this morning. This may piss you off, as it did me, but I started thinking about it and this is not a bad thing. What this basically says is that the company was unable to resolve the complaint and the Better Business Bureau, who gets paid by the company, was tired of seeing the complaint so they closed it. the up side to this is that the complaint remains on WildBlue’s service record.

The Better Business Bureau has 3 basic types of company reporting and include Resolved with Response, Resolved without Response, and Administratively Closed.  Resolved with Response means that WildBlue resolved the issue and the customer responded saying it was resolved. Resolved without Response says that WildBlue stated it was resolved but the customer never responded to confirm. Administratively closed means that WildBlue was unable (or more than likely, unwilling) to resolve the complaint.

Here is a breakdown of the WildBlue Communications Better Business Bureau file as of today:

WildBlue Advertising Issues:
Resolved with Response - 4
Resolved without response - 6
Administratively Closed - 3

WildBlue Contract Issue:
Resolved with Response - 22
Resolved without Response - 23
Administratively Closed - 18

WildBlue Billing or Collection Issues:
Resolved with Response - 36
Resolved without Response - 33
Administratively Closed - 8

WildBlue Sales Practice Issues:
Resolved with Response - 12
Resolved without Response - 8
Administratively Closed - 7

WildBlue Delivery Issues:
Resolved with Response - 2
Resolved without Response - 2
Administratively Closed - 1

WildBlue Repair Issues:
Resolved with Response - 16
Resolved without Response - 14
Administratively Closed - 4

WildBlue Service Issues:
Resolved with Response - 54
Resolved without Response - 75
Administratively Closed - 36

WildBlue Customer Service Issues:
Resolved with Response - 30
Resolved without Response - 43
Administratively Closed - 24

WildBlue Guarantee or Warranty Issues:
Resolved with Response - 4
Resolved without Response - 1
Administratively Closed - 1

WildBlue Product Issues:
Resolved with Response - 11
Resolved without Response - 5
Administratively Closed - 4

WildBlue Refund or Exchange Issues:
Resolved with Response - 22
Resolved without Response - 20
Administratively Closed - 5

WildBlue Issues not Defined: (Other)
Resolved with Response - 6
Resolved without Response - 7
Administratively Closed - 1

So, according to my calculations, WildBlue Communications (WildBlue Satellite Internet Service Provider) has 112 Unresolved Complaints with the Better Business Bureau. This number is high, but by many can be chalked up as “being a big company” so what can you do to make people more wary of the numbers?

If you have problems or unresolved issues with WildBlue Communications, go to the Denver Better Business Bureau (since WildBlue is headquartered in Englewood, CO) and file a complaint. You may be one of the lucky ones that gets a resolution, but at the very minimum by taking two minutes out of your day, you can help others become more aware of WildBlue’s track record of customer service.

Click Here to go to the Denver Better Business Bureau’s Complaint Section to file a complaint against WildBlue Communications.
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There are currently 4 responses to “WildBlue Satellite Internet and BBB”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment! Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, so come on... let us know what you think.

  1. 1 On February 16th, 2008, arnold02000 said:

    Hi, On 2/15/2008, I filed a report against Wildblue with the Denver BBB. My report to them was as follows:

    “On 2/06/2008 when I opened my browser, a flag showed up at the top of the window. It showed an error and advised me to contact the system administrator. My browser address bar showed Wildblue’s address, so I thought it may have been a temporary glitch, so I left it go that day. The next day, the same flag appeared. Again, I decided to wait. I thought they were having technical problems. On 2/08/2008, I decided to contact Wildblue to see what could be done to remedy the issue. After many minutes of holding, a rep talked to me. After hearing my situation, he said I had a failed payment with my credit card. I was given job ticket #1201545. He transferred me to another rep who took my credit card info and processed a payment for January 2008. It went through, my account reflected the payment and my account was active, however my service could not be restored for reasons the rep could not explain. He inquired for me, but the dept. he contacted wasn’t available. He said he could call me back later that night or that I could call back the next day. I opted to call back the next day, as it was getting later in the evening, and had been on the phone a considerable amount of time. I called the next day, chose the menu options, and was put on hold for at least 25 minutes. Frustrated, I hung up. Sunday I did not call. Monday I called again, around 10:00 am est and was on hold for a half hour with no representatives to answer the phone. I hung up, because I had to leave. I tried again Monday evening. After close to 10 minutes of holding time, I got through to a person. They listened to my story but said they couldn’t help me and transferred me to another dept. After holding for another 15 or so minutes, the system hung up on me. There was nothing but a fast busy signal. Again, it was getting late in the evening and I called it a night. Tuesday I called wildblue again around 4:00 pm est, and got put on two more lengthy hold times by two more reps. And then it hung up on me. I called once again. Much to my surprise, my call was answered within only a minute or two of calling. That rep listened to my story, said he couldn’t help me, and would have to put me on hold while he transferred me to someone. I was on hold for a couple minutes and another rep answered. I told her my story, she issued me another ticket number(1213981), told me that that restoring my service would require intervention from a higher service authority, and my account would have to be manually restored into Wildblue’s system. She told me it would take a couple days, and someone from Wildblue was supposed to call me about the situation(I have not received the call). She also said she would refund the down time to my credit card. So, I let it go until today 2/15/2008, seven days of no service after paying for my account. My service still is not restored. I called again today. After the menu, I was put on hold for about 15 minutes. I called back, chose a different menu option and was answered by a rep in a reasonable amount of time. She transferred me to another dept, and the system hung up on me. I called back again, waited for several minutes, and got another rep. I told her my frustration, and that it wasn’t her fault, but I was extremely unhappy with Wildblue and I wanted out of my contract. She said ok, but I would still owe the remainding 7 months fees (without the service). I relayed that that was pointless, for obvious reasons which I explained to her. She gave me a ticket number(1223844),one month’s refund credit at that point, and told me she would transfer me to someone who would give me a new IP number. She put me on hold, and during the transfer, it hung up on me again. I’m not looking for revenge. I just want out of my 1 year contract and not owe 559.65 to get out. This is the second situation with their, in my opinion, incompetent service dept. I’m very frustrated and will pursue this as far as I have to for resolution. Thank you. Sincerely, Brad Arnold”

    This is second time I’ve had excess runaround from this company. The first time was with a failed tria after a mild thunderstorm. The service guy said maybe I could unplug the modem during a storm. That’s fine if I’m constantly home during storms. However, it’s very impractical, because I can’t always run home when a storm comes through. Even if I could, how would I even know there was a storm at my home location. Nuts. Besides, the storm I’m talking about was in late September and a somewhat rare occurrence for my area. It took a week just for a tria to be sent to my repair guy. He said there was a client who waited a month for one, because Wildblue was in the middle of switching manufacturing location for the tria. At least that’s what they told him.
    I think this is an example of a company who grew too fast and either could not or did not care about keeping up with service. This runaway train syndrome has caused the demise of many originally well intentioned companies. The intentions might have changed though. It seems a typical trend nowadays for a company to sell a product, and not give two cares about the customers after the sale. Thank you for starting this forum so people can express their opinions about Wildblue. All comments are welcome and appreciated. I would also welcome the class action suit.-Brad

  2. 2 On August 5th, 2008, sundancer said:

    On June 26, 2008 WildBlue accreditation in the BBB was revoked by the BBB’s Board of Directors due to failure to respond to one or more customer complaints filed with the BBB and failure to eliminate the underlying cause of complaints on file with the BBB. Link Below: http://denver.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=33&bbb=0885&firm=9036631

  3. 3 On August 5th, 2008, sundancer said:

    On June 26, 2008 WildBlue accreditation in the BBB was revoked by the BBB’s Board of Directors due to failure to respond to one or more customer complaints filed with the BBB and failure to eliminate the underlying cause of complaints on file with the BBB.
    Link Below:
    http://denver.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=33&bbb=0885&firm=9036631

  4. 4 On February 2nd, 2009, rpriest500 said:

    My March 2008 Denver BBB complaint was filed as “Refund”. Has never been settled. WB still owes me $396.74 for the box.

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