Hughes
reviews and complaints

In November I was contacted by a hughesnet satellite internet sales rep Chris [protected]) concerning the purchase of satellite service. Chris informed me that I was in the recovery act area and if I purchased hughesnet, my initial cost would be 50.00 and 39.99 per month thereafter for as long as I had the service. On 11/24/10 their was a hughesnet charge of .79 to my account, on 12/24/10 250.44 and on 01/24/11 74.62. I have been overcharged 235.86. The first technician that came to do the installation (Glen Angus) installed the dish in four different locations before giving up resulting in damage to my garage roof. I would like 235.86 Refunded to me and arrangements made to have my garage roof repaired. Please respond promptly so I know what is being done to resolve this issue. Thank You. Joe Cherney

After this service was installed and I was over charged, I have continuously attempted to have this matter resolved but am now being totally ignored. Not only was I lied to and my garage roof has been damaged the internet speed I was promised is non exisistent.

Hughesnet told me I was in the recovery area and my upfront cost would be 50.00 and I would own the equipment. Thereafter my payments would be 39.99 per month as long as I was with them. Now they are telling me I am under the lease program and am being way overcharged. I never agreed to this . And again, the service is lousy. I also attached an advertisement I received in the mail.

After being a customer for over four years and putting up with the lies and crappy service, I gave up and they still tried to charge me for another month. I had a pro plan. My speeds were anywhere from 400-800 up and 20-80 down at a cost of $73.69 per month. I invested in a MBR1000 cradle point router, a verizon air card, as it is the only service that works back here in the woods, and my speeds are now 1348/346. Awesome. We have watched netflix moxies with no problems, something we couldn't do with Hughes. Remember, it's my problem, clear browsing history, cookies, etc. No fapping. They are scam artists. It's all our fault. Well it's my fault I quit and I'm happier watching movies and saving money, all without talking to people I don't understand and spending countless hours on the phone. Whoo Hoo! If I can do it, you can, too. Revolt.

It is expensive, the service is lousy and the call center in India is useless. For $70 per month plus several hundred dollars in disconnect fees it is only marginally better than free dial up. When trying to get disconnected before my move out of the USA, I was unable to even get the stupid box to return their equipment, despite being promised delivery. I had to arrange (for $100 additional) to hire someone to do it. I am so glad to be living in a small 3rd world town in Panama where I can finally get real high speed internet instead of being stuck with HughesNet just over the hill from Silicon Valley.
Pretty ironic!

We had a fire at house. We have been Hughesnet customers for 10 months. The equipment that we rent from Hughesnet may or may not be damaged, we cannot tell. I have been on the phone with technical support, billing, sales and even Executive Customer Service in Dulles to identify what to do next. Billing tells me that my home owners insurance needs to "negotiate" with Hughesnet to cover the costs of the equipment, but they don't know who the insurance company would actually speak with. They have no idea what costs might be incurred for installation. They can only tell me the costs for a "new" installation. I've been told I have to to wait 3 to 5 days to hear from an installer who will "negotiate" the costs with me. Almost everyone I've spoken with, especially the sales department, has been uncaring, rude and unable or unwilling to help. No one has ANY information. I have no idea when I will have service again. Here is a hint people: customer has a fire. YOU call immediately the installer, report the issue and provide a new installation date ASAP with assoicated costs and the name of someone for the insurance company to speak to. You may also say something like, "gee, I'm so sorry your house burned down". I've experience bad service before, but I have NEVER, EVER expereinced anything like this. Technical support seems to be able to do nothing but send information for requests for answers elsewhere. The lady in billing argued with me and told me I was being unreasonable in so many words. The guy in sales, after hearing the problem actaully said, "so what do you want?". I mean I really can't believe this.

I signed with HughesNet in December of 2008, only because I needed the internet for school as I was taking online classes. It was the only provider out where I live. I found it and went to set it up. buying the satellite and modem was going to be $400, while renting was going to be $360, but I was told that when my contract was up, I would be able to sell the stuff back to them for $200. LIES. When I called to have it set up to have my contract canceled and the stuff sold back, I found out that you can only sell it back if you cancel your contract early. I was also not told about the $150 installation fee as the installer didn't want to put it on my house, but a pole beside my house. I have dogs, but he put it close enough to the house that i got the wire buried in the gravel surrounding my basement. I was told it would take 30 min to install and it took 2.5 hours, I had to call in to work because I was not leaving someone in my house alone. i paid $60 and was told I had a 200MB download limit, so this limits how much schoolwork I can do at home. LIES. I set up a tracker to see how much I can download a day with before it shuts off... 160MB with no other computers connected. The tracker included even the most minute things like how much it took for a website to load or how much gmail.com used while i was chatting and receiving emails. While i was in my 1 month period where i can back out, i had 800ms latency, which is bad for games, but i can deal with it. as soon as that 1 month period was over it went to 1200ms and then started to go up. by the end, my latency was 2500ms and I was told that it was because of the weather, router, ect. LIES. I did tests with just their modem on crystal-clear days and it was showing that within the HughesNet network, my latency was getting dampened. There were times that they would randomly shut off my services for no reason. I would do the basic stuff that I was able to do on my own, then had to call in. they took me through the same stuff that I already did and then, magically it worked. my tracker I used to test my latency showed me where it cut off and then it started backtracking to my system. Notice: NONE of the trackers or programs I used to test their crappy services are illegal nor are they against their terms of service (as one of the few Help Desk guys that knew what he was doing instead of reading from a script claimed them to be). When I called in, I never got case numbers, there was no information in there if i tried to reference a previous time I called unless I had to be transferred to a 2nd level tech. In the end, someone had taken a lot of my information out of their system, so when I called in to cancel my contract at the end, they couldn't find me. I ended up having to read a tiny number off the back of the modem for them to find my contract number which had never been given to me.

Do NOT get Hughesnet.com as your internet provider! They tell you that you have 30 days to cancel your service but they still make you pay for the 1st full month of service, even though my service started on 7/22/10 and I canceled it on 8/5/10. They make you wait the entire month before they will give you the RMA# inorder to return their equipment. If you don't return their equipment within 45 days of your cancellation date. Their web-site says that you can be charged $300 for Unreturned Equipment Fee. By their web-site it says that if you Lease $99 Upfront Fee is forfeited. But it ended up costing me $180.37 for the hooking up of the HughesNet. It was not explained to us that you monthly fee is figured out by how much MG of download you sign-up for each 24 hour period. If we had know that to start with, we would not have ever signed up for it.

This ISP has very bad service.
As an unfortunate customer, I have to pay $96 /month
for an internet connection that isn't reliable.
I started having problems with them since July 13, 2010.
At first, they give you the "red carpet treatment", to lure you in. Then, like my own example shows, the servie goes
downhill.
Fortunately, for me, I've written down EVERY time the
connection fails. So far, I'm going on three pages of entries.
Listing time and date.
As for the "location" of HughesNet, I do believe they
are operating from outside the U.S.
It WAS partially my fault. I signed my name to the contract. A two-year contract ! I shouldv'e known better.
Hopefully, this posting will save others from being burned.

Hughes net advertisements are false. It clearly states in ads that its super fast internet yet I have been experiencing nothing but issues and extremely SLOW internet speeds (We might as well have dial up)! I am not the only one I have been reading reforms and i agree and confirm everything that has been said on them. This is not just a problem with my own service it a problem with the company. I wanted to cancel expecting to pay a PRORATED cancellation but it doesnt matter if you have had the service 1 day or you are 1 day away from your contract ending its $400! This company is a bad service, expensive SCAM! They force you into staying with this outrageous cancellation fee. I am NOT happy with the service so much that even though where we live its our ONLY option I would rather go without any internet service to loose the constant headache! THIS COMPANY IS A NO GOOD FALSE ADVERTISING SCAM DIRTY COMPANY! In these times no one can afford to just pay out $400.00 its impossible! Something should really be done about this company! If you don't believe me read the TRUE comments of their customer not the ones writing my their faulty advertising consultants, just another false advertisement. I have yet to read anything a true Hughes net customer has to say thats good. I want a way out and until one is found (without costing me the full cancellation cost, I will be doing everything to ruin whatever name this company has left and trust me i am not the only one!

Eight months ago, My daughter lost her job, and had to move. To help her out I told her i would provide internet service for her. I contacted Hughes Net online and was told that I could get internet for $39.00 a month. I agreed. Then I was told that I would have to pay them another $99.00 for a router so my daughter could use her laptop. I did. She could use her PC but the laptop never worked and the tech was unable to make it operate. So my daughter could only use the PC. At the end of the first month I received a bill on my credit card for $70.00. I called in and complained, was told that they would fix the problem and give me a rebate. Next month, received a bill for $70.00. Called again, told they would correct the billing and give me a rebate at the end of the third month, they did charge me the $39.00 ($43.00+) with taxes. but I never received a rebate or credit. Enough is enough so I told them to stop the service. They told me I would have to pay a charge of $400.00 and less than three days it was entered on my credit card. I called back, and was told that along with $400.00 I had already been charged that if I did not send the receiver and another part back to them, they would charge me the cost. I tried to explain that I was 76 years old and could not get on top of my daughters house (42-miles away) to dismantle the part thery were asking for. I hired a man to remove the part. I called and talked to four different people in the Phillipines, but none could give me the address to send the parts, nor cxould I get the phone # to talk to someone in the U.S. Credit card came, they charges me $214.50. I received my credit card Monday, Yep, they charged me another $107.25. That makes a total of $721.75 that they have charged me since I stopped the service.
Beleive the old adage, "Buyer Beware" if you are going to be crazy and use this company's services. I am sending a copy of this to their local BBB, the State of Maryland BBB, the State of Texas BBB and thew Federal Trade Commission. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES! dO NOT DO BUSIN NESS WITH HUGHESNET! Don Mosely, ([protected]@yahoo.com)

On 06/23/2010 I called HughesNet to order the service cause I didn't think there was any other internet available here aside from dial-up. On the 29th, it was installed. That is, after waiting for the installer to get here about 2 hours later than he was supposed to be here, and an additional 3 hours for him to install it. The installer guy had so many phone calls from his wife, etc. the whole entire time he was here that I still can't see how he ever got done. That aside though, he stuffed so much cord into the wall where he drilled the hole that in order to get it out the hole is now twice as big. Still gotta get that fixed up. When he left, 2 of the 3 computers were connecting, I had to fix the 3rd myself. Let's also keep in mind here that this idiot had never seen a wired router so he had no clue about that and I had to do that myself also in order to get any computer to connect. Anyway, they do seem to think that if you sign an installer's paper, it magically is a contract. Even though, nothing on this paper says a word about contract, or 2 years, and so on. It does talk about their FAP (Fair Access Policy) but see, you don't know anything about this til after the fact. You don't see this paper til it's all installed and the guy's ready to leave your house. I, myself, play World of Warcraft on a daily basis. Um, people! This is not a service to use to play that game. lol You will have latency normally around 1100. You will see it higher, guaranteed. And this to me, is actually the only guarantee involved here, aside from not being able to stream video like they say you can. My highest latency I saw was over 24000. That renders the game unplayable. I thought I'd throw that in for anyone who sees this and also plays the game or is thinking of playing it. Also for anyone who has never tried HughesNet and wants to stream video. Ok, on with the story. lol It was down more than it was up. There were 2 full 24-days that it didn't work at all. I only used the service for about 3 weeks, we finally found out about our local cable company here who have "Xipline" which is very similar to Comcast's internet formerly known as "RoadRunner". It's available here and so that's what we have had ever since July 21st and very happy with it. Anyway, I called HughesNet the night before Xipline was to be installed and canceled my account, or tried to. The only good thing about this phone call was that by some miracle it only took 11 1/2 minutes total on the phone with them. That night HughesNet was completely crap, nothing worked for so much as browsing so I decided to cancel that night. The guy who I could actually understand when he spoke (shocker), named Mike, told me it would be closed on the 29th, 2 days ago. I did check, and it does say it's closed, but yet I can still login which is completely screwed up in itself. The 29th was the end of the trial time so I was ok with that. He also told me they would send me an email ON THE 29th with return instructions and an ID number. I have to put the ID number on the address when I send the equipment back. Here it is the 31st, and still that email has not come. Mike told me my 45-day time window for sending the equipment back would start from the 29th also. I emailed them on the 30th asking them to send this email to me. What do they do? They reply and send an email asking me "If it's not too much of an imposition, would you mind telling us why by answering a short survey?" (this was in the email after stating they'd seen I'd terminated my account) Uh, yeah ok, I figured I'll tell them why, I'll answer their survey and then maybe, just maybe, they'd send me my ID number. Still nothing! I guess they didn't like my answer. lol I mean, after all, I had already told Mike why I was canceling. When he asked what the reason was, I asked him "which one do you want?" lol He of course tried to get me to take a "complimentary" extention on my first month, which they can't even say is a free trial cause it wasn't free. I'm out about $170 bucks with them. He asked me if I wanted to upgrade and I stopped him and said "NO, I don't wanna upgrade, I just wanna cancel it!" When I called to order, the rep I talked to then said that my installation of $99 would be free by mail-in rebate. Well what he didn't tell me was that in order to get that $99 back through the rebate, you have to have 2 invoices to send with it, not just a receipt or first invoice. And with that, having 2 invoices means also that you're locked into 2 years of hell. So I'm out that $99 bucks. I canceled my debit card before I called them to cancel just in case they decided to try to bill me for something else. They're not getting another cent from me! They also don't tell you what plan you have either, only a price. The papers the installer gives you doesn't list that either so I can only assume at this rate that I had the lowest possible plan which allows for a whoppin' 200mb per day. That's crap! Their highest package only allows for 500mb per day. So with that, you can forget about streaming anything. They slow you down before that's used up too. It's so slow that simple browsing doesn't work, it's worse than dial-up. If it's so much as cloudy, it goes down, and if it storms, you might as well just turn off the computer and watch TV all day. Anyway, I filed a complaint with the BBB about them today before I came here to post my story. I'll update later when and if I ever get the email or get anything done. I told the BBB also that HughesNet should be shut down and put out of business for false advertisement. If I had the money to do it, I would file a class action suit against them, considering all the complaints I've read on this site, among other sites, it seems thousands of people are having a problem with this company. As for this so-called ID number they're supposed to send, 2 days late now and counting, I'll give them some more time to send it. But, if push comes to shove, I'll write the account number on that address and send their crap back to them that way. The ID number probably is the account number and they just don't say that. So I'll just guess at it if I have to. I'm thinking that they're purposely not sending it thinking that I'll wait for it and then after that 45 days has gone by they're thinking they'll get that $400 bucks outta me. I don't think so. That's my personal opinion of it so don't quote me. lol It would make sense though that the ID number and the account number is actually one in the same. They really don't want me to have to call them again about it, they really don't. I was nice the first time, as much as was possible. I was nice with the email asking them to send the ID number/instructions. If I have to call them again, it won't be nice for whatever foreigner with a normal name answers the phone next time.

I signed up in Sept. 1009 for Hughes Net Wireless service in the country near Easterly, Texas. First off there was a very hefty sign up fee, then out of the blue a $147 fee for the post the satellite went on, then $`115 a month for service (not including anything but the internet). The service was awful. Six to eight hours a day the Internet was down. The service number they gave me wasnt even in service and I NEVER reached anyone who could help me. Due to an unforeseen problem I had to move the last week in December and agreed to put the service on suspension for six months. At the end of six months they began taking the 115 out of my checking account again. When I called to cancel because I wasn't even in an area they serviced anymore they told me they would cancel for $400. I asked for help with that because I am now in a nursing facility and they told me very strongly that I would pay the $400 and there was "no way out of it." I told them I was willing to pay them an early termination fee but I thought the $400 was ridiculous and got three people on the phone all of whom told me I would pay that amount. These people need to be investigated first for the bad service and second for taking advantage of senior citizens.

I was under the impression that for the price I was paying for HughesNet, unlimited high speed, all the time. Now after installation, which they claim is free, isn't. Had to pay for mounting. Also pay extra to outside company for the pole to mount it (dish)on.

Was not made aware of the FAP, until AFTER...As I was using the Internet, and then I didn't have any.
On top of the "price per month" you have to pay additional fee's (tokens if you will) to keep doing what I normally do. I do not download, music, movies, etc. I pay bills online and read emails.

My meter starts just sucking down. They are misleading and a sham. I have informed HughesNet to come and remove all equipment immediately, but all they do is send DONOTREPLY emails.

I have had it with this company.

My husband and I signed on to Hughesnet in 2009. The installer came and set it up, all seemed well except we did not get the promised speeds that were advertised. A few months later the speed was abominable to say the least. When I called I found out about a Free Access Policy (FAP)...basically we could only download s500mb/day. I had no idea we had this restriction. Basically once you exceed this FAP you literally have no internet for 24 hours. Luckily we had our air cards but this was no consolation. The service we received was close to $100/mo...for speeds we rarely if ever experienced on top of a FAP restriction we had no idea existed. We were under the understanding if we cancelled early it cost us $400.00. Needless to say my friends, we continued to pay, unfortunately for inadequate service.
I called Hughesnet today to finally cancel and lo and behold, we learned it would cost almost $1000.00 - AND - we have to pay to have the equipment removed. This is lousy internet service and I would not recommend this service to anyone under any circumstances. There should be a class action law suit filed against Hughesnet for misrepresenting their product and overcharging for promised internet speeds that don't exist. Even when the service is working properly there is no way we ever experienced the speeds they were touting. Buyer Beware!

This is possibly the WORST company on earth. they claim speeds of 150kbs/sec but i have NEVER seen above 30kbs. they even outsourced their customer service to india so you cant even understand the people at their customer support line. they also charge $60 a month for internet service thats WORSE than dial-up. if you are thinking of getting hughes net DONT because i guarentee you will regret it. this company gives america a bad name and they deffinately deserve to be sued for liabel.

As of the 18th, I will no longer have internet service.
----- Original Message -----
From: mark [protected]@hughes.net
Subject: Hughes internet service

HI, My name is Mark Walleman
On May 11th 2010, I went to a Hughesnet Website to order internet service. I got a confirmation e-mail thanking me for my order and they included site requirements for installation. On their site, The purchase price was listed as $398.97 and if I ordered by the 11th, there were rebates of $100.00, $99.00, and $75.00. That would bring the total installation price down to $124.97. I went ahead and ordered and thought it was odd that the order confirmation e-mail didn't give any receipt for the amount of the purchase. I thought it would be included when the installers came out. I was called and installation was sceduled for the 19th. I specified where I wanted the dish installed and it was within the requirements that I was given. When the installer came out, he argued with me that the dish would work fine mounted eight feet lower on the wall even though that position pointed the dish directly into two trees. I relented and the installers put the dish where they wanted. I should have stopped installation right then when I saw the problems they had getting a signal. The main reason I was switching to satellite was to be able to use a "Majicjack" internet phone system. The phone system required at least 80kbs upload speed and the hughesnet system was supposed to deliver at least 128kbs upload speed and that was well within what I was supposed to have. After the installers had left, I tried to install the Majicjack. I could place calls ok, but couldn't talk due to almost total breakup of the voice. I could hear who I called most of the time but they couldn't make out what I was saying. The Majicjack Tech support had me go to speedcheck.com and find out what speeds I was actually getting from Hughesnet. As it turned out, the actual upload speed I was getting varied from 10 to 45 kbs, but mostly fell around 15kbs. That was less than half the speed that I had been getting from the DSL line that Hughesnet was replacing and wasn't even close to the 128kbs that I was told I would get. I contacted Hughe's customer support and Tech people. The only solution Customer support had was to try to sell me an "upgrade package" to ensure that I wpould get a faster average upload speed for a higher monthly fee. Their Tech support people told me that it wouldn't matter how much speed I purchased because due to "Latency" in their system, the Majicjack would not work. The Majicjack people gave me no problem returning their hardware. I then contacted Hughe's Customer support to find out what I had to do to claim my "Rebates" and to question why my speeds weren't even close to what they advertised. I was referred to their literature that said "Speeds were not guaranteed". I told them I understood that I would not always get top speed, but evpected something reasonably close. I tested my speed on many occasions and the average overall speed is 1.75 out of a possible 5. I pointed out that it the same as them selling me "up to a dozen eggs" but when I got the carton, there were only three or four eggs in it. The rebates are another story. I asked about the three rebates, and was told that two of them were on their rebate site and the $75.00 rebate had to come from the dealer that sold me the service. I was given the rebate site address. I told customer service that I never got a receipt for the system and nowhere on the installation paperwork or the order confirmation that was e-mailed to me, was there any information whatsoever identifying who the dealer was or even a phone number. I had to press the customer service person to even give me the name and phone number. I was never given the address of the dealer. I tried to call the dealer with the number that I was given, and all it did was ring. There was no answering machine active. I then looked up the name of the dealer that was given to me and all I found under that name was a health insurance provider. So much for the $75.00 rebate. On the rebate site I was furnished; there was only a $100.00 rebate listed and a second rebate of up to $200.00 if you subscribed to a big ehough plan. There was no $99.00 rebate anywhere to be found on that site. The $100.00 rebate stated that it couldn't be used in conjunction with any other rebates and couldn't even be applied for until after two billing cycles and then wouldn't be issued for another six to eight weeks. There was no information on the ordering website that stated it would take up to four months to get your rebate and that only one rebate could be claimed. The site I ordered from showed three rebates and a total price of $124.97 with their calculator giving the impression that the rebates were instantaneous. As it turns out, the only thing about Hughes that is "instantaneous" is them charging your Visa card. When my billing became veiwable after the system was installed and I had registered, I brought up my bill. The charge they put on my Visa, is $498.97. I called Customer service again. I was told that the extra $100.00 covered the Unit, installation, the first month of service, and taxes. Even the online bill contained no itemization, just a charge figure. They also advertise a "30 day moneyback guarantee". I called to cancel on the second day and was pushed until I agreed to wait for the thrirty days which would be on June 18th. Today, on the 14th, I called and told them I wanted to cancel. I was told I would not be refunded the whole purchase price and that I would have to send the unit back at my own cost. They told me I would be out the $200.00 installation fee. I told them there was no information in their "moneyback guarantee" that gave those stipulations. The customer service person said he knows that there is no disclosure on the Hughesnet site that lets you know how much you won't be refunded. I told him that I wanted them to come and remove the dish and was told they would do that for an additional $100.00, but I would still have to send back the parts they wanted and would have to dispose of the rest at my own cost. At this point I lost my temper and the SOB is lucky he is in India or Pakistan or wherever he is because if he was closer, I would personally deliver the modem to him myself.
People really need to know what a blatant ripoff Hughesnet is so they don't get victimized the way I am.
If there is any way you can warn people, it would be a good thing.
Thank you, Mark
[protected]
735 Loyd Rd
Pulaski, tn 38478

After SIX months of fighting with HughesNet's customer "service" department, I finally filed a complaint with the BBB. I had read one of the complaints on this site where a gentlemen had success with the BBB complaint he filed, so I decided to follow suit. Oddly, when you look for HughesNet on the BBB, they have an A+ rating! If you're on here, I'm sure that's a complete shock to you, as it was to me, because everyone on here would probably give them a big red F! BUT... I implore you to file a complaint with the BBB. HughesNet obviously doesn't care about its customers being harrassed and bullied by its customer "service" people, but they do care about their BBB RATING. I filed my complaint after being sent to collections for money I did not owe. A week later, I got a call from the executive office (based in America of all places) and was told that my account was zeroed out and received an apology for the mishap. Filing the complaint is very quick and easy online, so get on it! Good luck!

Hughes.net is I guess ok if that is the ONLY other option other than dial up that you have. Word of caution-If there is a possibility that DSL, cable or ANY other option may be available within the 2 years that you are in contract with company then wait. I did not mind paying the $400.00 disconnection fee because I would recoup my money in less than 6 months with the price difference with DSL. Hughes.net was quick to bill me for the disconnect fee but when I called them to find out when someone was going to pick up the modem and take the dish off the roof I was informed I was to mail them back. First off there is NO ONE to speak to in America. I spoke to 3 different people. 2 in billing and one in tech support. Do yourself a big favor and DO NOT call tech support! This man I talked to had no idea what I was asking. He asked me several times if I wanted the address to mail this back and apparently did not know anything about removing the "nob on the dish". When I asked if there was a number someone in America, I was told there is not a number for Hughes.net in America. I finally got someone on the phone that spoke and understood english. She told me that I was emailed a manual to return this equipment. I told her I never recieved this and could she resend it. She said she was not allowed to send out the manual. ? She did tell me how I could view it. I got tickled when I pulled up the manual and this saw...
If you have questions...
If you have questions or need help, call Hughes Customer Care, toll-free, at [protected].