SBC Yahoo DSL

SBC Yahoo DSL

Complaint against SBC

I signed up for the SBC Yahoo DSL when I got my apartment and upon signing up for it, I was NEVER told that there was a $200 disconnect fee if I terminated my service before a year had passed, in fact I was told that I could disconnect at any time (I find out later that this ONLY pertained to the landline that I was going to be using). I was also told that I'd have my internet UP AND RUNNING by the following Friday. This was crucial due to the fact that I'd signed up for online courses for school and the semester was starting the following week.

I only wish that I'd done a little research on their customer satisfaction levels... I hadn't even received the equipment by that Friday. In fact the equipment arrived about a week late. I was able to set it up quickly on my end, but then unable to actually browse the internet. I called tech support and they told me that my connection date was set for another few days. I explained that the representative that helped me set it up told me I'd have my internet up and running within that next week from ordering... luckily he was nice enough to force the connection status for me so that I could start on my schoolwork. I was also promised email and webspace as part of the package...I could never even log in to my email, let alone have access to the webspace I was paying for. As a web/graphic design student trying to set up my own site for freelance business purposes, this was extremely annoying. I called tech support and they were less than helpful.

Basically I was told [insert foreign accent here] that "technicians are working very hard in my area to correct this issue" and I'd have to give it a week or two, but she couldn't tell me precisely when it would be up and running again. The connection went out frequently, which was also extremely annoying, meaning that I could not use the internet service I was paying for to be active constantly, which meant that my means of communication between some clients and I was impossible during these outages. When I found out about a local competitor's prices (and their customer satisfaction level), I immediately wanted to switch. I called SBC and told them I wished to disconnect because their service was unreliable and I didn't believe I was receiving what I was paying for.

I was THEN told about the $200 disconnect fee and told that I agreed to the terms and services when I started using my SBC email accout. I told them I'd never been able to use it and I'd called tech support and they'd been less than helpful. They then said that the only way they could disconnect my service without having me pay the fee was to send out a technician and find something wrong with the line. So a date was set for the following Monday for a technician to come out (which was the only day that week that I would have been available). Of course, the technician never showed. Tuesday morning I called and they said that it was never scheduled to have a technician come out.

I complained and asked to speak to a supervisor and they said that I couldn't speak to one. They said they'd have someone call me to set up an appointment within the next few hours, I told them that wouldn't work for me because I had to be at work within the next 2 hours. I asked when it'd be possible for me to speak to a supervisor and they said "not until the technician has been there." It sounded very unprofessional to me. They said they'd do everything possible to have someone call me before I had to leave for work. Of course, I had to leave before I received the phone call. So I tried the whole process again for the following Monday, and I was amazed that someone showed up. The man poked around at some wires and tested a few things and admitted that there was a connection problem and he was going to look around outside.

He came back in showing me some wires with some corrosion on the plastic, saying that was part of the problem. He then also said that I was using a bad phone chord connecting my modem to the wall. So I confirmed with him that his diagnosis of the problem was a bad phone chord and some corrosion on the wires outside, to which he agreed. Five minutes after he left, I discovered that my landline did not work at all and my modem was showing NO connection whatsoever. I used my cell phone to call and tell them that I was extremely dissatisfied and wanted everything disconnected, and I wanted to speak to a supervisor.

The representative was intent on not letting me speak to a supervisor immediately, insisting that it would take 24 hours for them to call me back. They also told me that there was no way they could disconnect my DSL without having me pay $200. The best they could do was connect me to the technical support department and I said no. I wanted a technician to come out TODAY to fix their own error and get my landline working again. They said they'd call the company that handles the technicians and someone would call me soon. I do receive a phone call and I ask to speak to this person's supervisor, which he allowed me to do without a problem. I was then told that someone would be out before 5 pm to correct the issue. Again, nobody showed.

The next morning I called again and explained my entire story to the representative, and then asked if they understood why I was so completely dissatisfied and why I wanted my service cancelled without any kind of penalty. The person understood and even allowed me to speak to her supervisor immediately. I informed the supervisor of the problems I'd been encountering with this company and the service they'd been providing for me and she said that she personally would handle the situation so that my landline would be fixed and I wouldn't have to pay a penalty. I took her word for it.

My landline was fixed the following morning, however when I received my next month's bill there was a $200 disconnection fee. I managed to get out of paying it, but I refuse to use their service ever again. I also will advise everyone else not to use their service, especially their DSL. There are plenty of other alternatives for high speed internet which have proven to be much more reliable, don't go with these guys.

Tessa K Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: Email User Consumer