Directway - Satellite Internet - This complaint is about Keith Harris and Alpha Satellite PO Box 2384 Henderson, TX 75652 903-854-3585

Directway - Satellite Internet - This complaint is about Keith Harris and Alpha Satellite PO Box 2384 Henderson, TX 75652 903-854-3585

Directway / Satellite Internet

To Whom It May Concern: I apologize for any grammatical errors or typos. However, I spent too much time just drafting the letter and all the problems associated with it. I just don’t care to spend any more time on it to make it pretty. This complaint is about Keith Harris and Alpha Satellite PO Box 2384 Henderson, TX 75652 903-854-3585. I ordered from and paid by credit card to Best Buy to have Directway Internet Satellite service installed. I did not choose but was assigned Alpha Satellite. I have included a copy of my order from Best Buy. At about 5 minutes after 12:00 on the day (July 21st or 22nd it’s been so long I’m no longer sure of the date) the installer was supposed to be at my house I called the Alpha Satellite office to see where he was. Since I had spoken to them during the week about someone needing to call me before they came out to get directions to my house I was concerned they couldn’t find it. The lady said they would call the installer and call me back. Nobody called me back so I called them again after awhile. I was put on hold and then the phone hung up.

I called back and was told a message had been left on the installers’ cell phone and somebody would call me back. An hour or so later I called them back and was told they would try to contact him again and call me back. The lady did say that this was highly uncommon. Again no word and I called a 5th time. I was placed on hold again and hung up on again. I called back and a woman asked if they could put it in on Monday instead. It was about 3pm now. I said no, I had been waiting all day for the installer and expected it to be installed that day as agreed upon. I was placed on hold again and a man came on to tell me they had messed up. The installer was never faxed the order by them.

I asked why he couldn’t come now and they said because he didn’t have the equipment. They couldn’t get to me until next week. I told them I wasn’t happy and wanted it installed as soon as possible. Another installer, his name is Rock at 512-565-8571, called to set up a Monday install. His exact words were “somebody has dropped the ball if I have been called”. He right away started talking about extra charges above and beyond what I had already paid to Best Buy for him to do the install. This was the first I had heard about any extra charges and said I did not think I should have to pay anything extra since I had already wasted a day waiting on them. I did not say I wouldn’t pay them, only that I didn’t think I should. He made arrangements to be there on Monday and I told him I was going to talk to Directway about any additional charges being waived for the delays. I spoke with Directway for a couple of hours being transferred from agent to agent. It was left that an installer would come out on Monday because it was possible that I wouldn’t be facing any additional charges anyway. On Monday the installer did not show.

I called Alpha Satellite and was told by the lady that he didn’t come because the order had been canceled. I said who canceled it and she said Directway did. I said it shouldn’t have been and I needed it installed. She said Directway canceled it “through the website” and I would have to call them. I also told her I would like to complain about the way Alpha Satellite had been handling my situation. She gave me the phone number 866-350-2494. I have heard of fake customer service numbers given to people that will be put on hold so long they just give up. I think this is one of those numbers. I challenge anybody reading this letter to call that number any time of day. They will immediately hear on-hold music without a recorded voice or human saying what the number is for. I have no doubt Alpha Satellite knows this is a bogus number. I called Directway and again spent a couple hours on the phone. Initially I was told by a woman who was obviously reading a statement that I should continue to wait for the installer to show up and even wait up to 48 hours. I told her that did not make any sense since I just got off the phone with the installer and they said they were not coming because the order had been canceled.

She read me the statement again saying I should continue to wait and I again said that did not make sense since the installer said the order had been canceled. She transferred me and I eventually got to a male agent who was going to have to talk to another department to get it taken care of. I said I had been on my cell phone for several hours already and would like him to finish the process and just call me back. He said he couldn’t call me back but that I could call back later and anyone could look in the computer and see what he had set up. I eventually found out the customer service agents I had been talking with are all in India and that is why they could not call me back. Two days later after not hearing from an installer I called Directway back only to be told that that guy had not completed anything. The new agent said he could put in a new request for me and I should hear from somebody in a couple days. He also told me that Directway had not put in the cancel order but Tina Cooper from Alpha Satellite had canceled the order.

Since I was getting conflicting information I called Alpha Satellite again on July 29, 2004. The phone was answered by Keith Harris. Before starting on my story I asked where they were located. What city were they in. He was very evasive about their location and asked where I was from and when I said Louisiana he said the closest location was Marshall. I asked where Tina Cooper was located and he didn’t want to tell me that. He said she would not be in until tomorrow anyway and he could have her call me. I said, actually, I didn’t need to talk to her but talk to somebody about her and problems I was having with the company. I wanted to complain and he said he was the owner and I could talk to him he his demeanor immediately changed. I told him how there had been many problems starting from when their installer didn’t show up the first day because somebody didn’t fax the order.

That I wanted it to be known to the right people that mistakes had been made. He said if his people had made mistakes he would handle those people. He said “he does make mistakes sometimes. You make mistakes too. The only people that don’t make mistakes are dead people”. I said that they had made several mistakes here and I wanted to let the people that make the decisions to do business with them know this so they can take that into consideration before doing business with them again. He became very arrogant and then he told me the owner of Directway was named Dan Reno and that he was a personal friend of his. He said it would not bother him at all if I called him to talk about Alpha Satellite because he had a good reputation. He said they don’t like to surprise customers. I said I’ve been surprised a lot by Alpha. I was surprised when the installer did not show up. I was surprised when I called to ask where he was and was told I would be called back and nobody called. I was surprised when I called back and was hung up on.

I was surprised again when I was told I would be called back and nobody called me. I was surprised when I was finally told that Alpha had not faxed in the order to the installer and I would have to wait until Monday. I was surprised when I was told there was most likely going to be extra charges. I was surprised when the second installer did not show up. I was surprised when I was told that Directway canceled the order and then was really surprised when Directway told me that Tina Cooper canceled the order. But nothing was more surprising than the way I was being treated by the stated owner of Alpha Satellite after I told him about problems with his company that have resulted in my not having my service installed for over two weeks now. He said “well if we messed up we will make it right.” I said that is all I am asking for. I want somebody to make it right and I want my service that I have already paid for. He said he would personally check into it and personally call me back within 20 minutes and I believed that he would.

Two hours later after I still haven’t gotten a return call I phoned his office. Rick answered the phone and I thought it was Keith and I said “you said you were going to call me back in 20 minutes and I hadn’t heard from you.” Rick said “we are working on your order and Tina has your number (remember when I first talked to Keith I asked about Tina and he said she wouldn’t be in until the next day) and I’ll call you back in a few minutes.” After I hung up I realized I hadn’t been talking to Keith so I called right back and asked for Keith. Paula asked for my name and put me on hold. Then she came back to say he hadn’t returned to the office. I said well he was supposed to call me back personally within 20 minutes and he hadn’t and I was frustrated by that. I asked that somebody call his cell number and let him know that I was waiting for the call he promised me and gave her my number again. About another hour later I called back and talked to Rick again.

He said they didn’t have the order anymore because he showed that I had said I wouldn’t pay for installation (why couldn’t anyone have told me on the first several calls that they didn’t have the order anymore) I explained again that I didn’t say I wouldn’t pay for installation but that I didn’t think I should pay anything extra because of all the trouble I had been through but that nobody even knew if extra charges would be in order because nobody had ever been to my house. He said he would check into it and call me back in a few minutes. I said that I had been promised already three times that day that somebody would call me back within 20 minutes or a few minutes but nobody ever had. He said he would call me within 15 minutes. He did call my cell phone back within 10 minutes and said I would have to contact Directway myself to get the order reinstated. I continued to call Alpha Satellite over the next several days to speak to Keith Harris to ask him why he had not called me back personally like he said he would. Several people took my name and number and messages but Keith never called me back. I spoke with Shirley from Directway on Aug 2 about not having service yet. She said I would need to call the dealer and ask them why they haven’t installed it and then call her back to tell her what they said. I asked who the dealer I need to call was. She said Alpha Satellite and gave me their phone number again. I asked if she realized this was the same company that had not installed the satellite the previous couple of weeks. She said they had been reassigned the job and I needed to tell them order number 688585. So relunctally I called Alpha again. I asked to speak to Keith Harris and Paula said he was not in. I gave her my name and where I lived and told her Directway had told me to call them to find out when my service would be installed and gave her the order number. She said she would call me back.

I said nobody ever calls me back so I would like to hold. She said she wasn’t in the computer right now and I could hear the phone ringing off the hook in the background like it usually is when I call them. She put me on hold. After a few minutes a guy picked up and said “can you please hold”. I said “who’s speaking”. He said “this is Keith” (remember they said he wasn’t in when I called). I said actually I had been trying to reach him for several days to find out why he had not called me back in 20 minutes like he promised. I obviously caught him off guard and he didn’t speak for several moments. I said “are you there” and he said “yes I’m just trying to get it straight in my head who you are”. I said we had spoke last week about all the problems I had with Alpha Satellite and about customer service and he had promised me as the owner he would look into and call me back within 20 minutes and I wanted to know why he had not. I could still hear the phone ringing off the hook in the background and he said “sir we don’t want your business you are going to have to find somebody else”. I was floored.

Before he could hand up I said “are you kidding me? As the owner of this business you are going to tell me that you don’t want my business after you have had me on the hook for two weeks for problems you have made. I didn’t choose to do business with Alpha; they were assigned to me by Directway. And now they had been picked by Directway a second time and I didn’t understand how he could not take care of his obligation.” He said “oh, they reassigned it; I’ll look into it and call you back.” I said that wasn’t satisfactory because nobody ever calls me back, I would rather hold. Of course I was put on hold and after several minutes I was hung up on. I called back and Paula put me on hold again and Keith finally picked up. He said he couldn’t tell me when they would be able to install but “he didn’t want to lie to me because I would just get mad again”. I AGAIN gave him my cell number and home number and said he could call either number and just leave the time they would install it. I expected him personally to call me.

After two more days I still had not hear from him or anyone from his company. On the evening of Aug 4 I went back to the Best Buy in Shreveport where I had ordered the service and spoke to a supervisor Katie Wilhite about it. She was amazed at the treatment I had received from them and very apologetic. She promised to contact Directway the next day which she did. I called Directway again the next day and requested that any other company but Alpha be assigned to install my service. I filed a complaint about the company with the agent. I eventually heard from a Directway representative from Florida. He told me that I should complain to the company that assigns the installers. I will be sending a copy of this letter to that company, Perfect 10. I am also sending a copy to the Customer Complaints department of Directway in Florida. I am sending a copy to Best Buy. I am sending a copy to the Better Business Bureau of Tyler, TX which is as best I can tell from Alpha Satellite the closest city to them with a BBB. I’ve reread this letter and want you to know it doesn’t begin to accurately describe the terrible treatment I received directly from Keith Harris and Alpha Satellite. It’s so hard to write how insensitive and arrogant his voice has been when I have dealt with him. How very clear he made it that he has enough business and the lost of mine will be no problem for him to overcome. This all started by Alpha Satellite not faxing the order the very first time.

Then Keith Harris personally delayed my installation by days and then weeks by not keeping me informed of what was going on and making promised that he did not keep to either personally call me back or his company making promises to call me back. The end result is that 3 weeks later I am still without service, have spent countless hours on the phone with agents and more hours writing complaint letters. Because of this I want all parties that have anything to do with choosing installers for Directway to be aware of the terrible service Alpha Satellite provided in this situation. About the false phone number I was given. About the many promised return calls that were never made. But mostly I want people to know about the personal behavior of the owner of the company Keith Harris. Jon David M Benton, LA 71106 Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: //