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MSN Rebate Problems |
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I am constantly frustrated and upset with attempting to use my computer to access the internet and e-mail my family. I have struggled for months to get help from MSN both by phone and online. I am paying $21.95/month on a 3-year contract (as I got a $400 rebate from MSN off the cost of a new Compaq computer 6/00), and I have such difficulty staying online or sending e-mail that I frequently have to give up. I have discontinued service from MSN and found another smaller Internet service provider who gives me good service. I have no problem staying online now or getting help when I need it with Inreach Internet Services. I have received a reply by mail from MSN telling me I will be penalized by cancelling my contract with them. As before, they have not addressed the problems I have had with their service while demanding the contract for internet service continue. I am 84 years old and have limited vision. I am living on a small fixed income and cannot afford two internet service fees per month. This situation with MSN has been very emotionally draining. I hope you will be able to help me end this contractual agreement as I am not getting the internet service from MSN that they have agreed to give me. Kay of Ooltewah, TN writes (6/3/01):
I received a phone call from an MSN representative a week ago. She informed me that if I refuse to pay the $338 termination charge (or whatever they called it) I would be turned over for collection. I explained that I had email problems for a long period of time that were not being resolved and she stated that -- Hear this now -- "MSN does not guarantee connectivity in your contract". That would be like signing up for telephone service that does not guarantee a dial tone. I put up with aggrevation for two months of not having email function. My children and grandchildren live overseas and I depend on email to connect with them. I kept my part of the bargain with MSN until long after they failed on their end. If they turn over the account for collection, it will go against my good credit record, not on theirs. I should have a reasonable expectation of connectivity. Dawn of Bayside, NY, writes (4/30/01):
I have tried to clear up this problem on several occasions by calling tech support where I would sit on hold for at least 45 minutes to one hour. On my first attempt at clearing up this problem the person I spoke with told me to go to their website and download the program from there; I asked her if this would be the same as loading the CD ROM in and she said no. Just before she hung up on me she said if this doesn't work to call back and tell the person to do and "escalate". When I followed all of the steps she sent me through it did turn out to be the same as loading the CD ROM and didn't do anything to clear the problems. I called back a second time and told the person I need to do an escalate and this time it didn't work again. I called back again and sat on hold again for a third time and this time the man I spoke with did an escalate and told me that someone would call me in about two days to complete whatever he was doing to fix this problem, but no one called, left a message on my answering machine, wrote or emailed me at my Yahoo e-mail address. (I had to set up an email address with Yahoo because of this situation). In addition to this problem, I had a minor billing question regarding a double billing I had received on my credit card statement. When I called their billing services on three occasions over a two day period I was told every time that they were updating their billing information and no one would be able to give me an answer and of course told me to call back again. This service is $21.95/ month and I am in a contract for three years. On my third call to the billing services, I asked to speak to a manager who told me he couldn't do anything and if I wanted out of my contract that I would be responsible to either pay back the $400 which I saved on the computer or 70% of the remaining time left on the contract. Lori of Walla Walla, WA, writes:On November 6, 2000 I purchased a computer that came with a rebate from MSN if I signed up for service with them for 3 years. I took advantage of this rebate and bought a computer. When I got home a friend explained to me that everytime I got on the Internet I would end up paying long distant charges because we dont have MSN local access in Walla Walla. I was never told this when I bought the computer from Staples. I immediately called the Walla Walla branch and they told me that I would need to contact the branch where I bought the computer. Which I felt was kind of funny because any other department store that you shop at you can deal with any problems from your purchase from that retail store in your own hometown. But anyways I did contact the Richland branch and the manager told me that I should have been informed of this when I bought the computer and he appologized that I wasn't informed and wanted the sales clerk's name so this wouldnt happen again. He stated that I had 14 days to cancel my membership with MSN but I would need to come back to their branch. At this point I was just glad that I didnt make a huge mistake that I couldnt get out of. On December 6, 2000 I went back to Richland Staples after I got off of work which was 45 miles from my house. This was 13 days after I purchased the computer. I went up to the sales clerk and told him that I needed to cancel my membership with MSN. He told me that I would need to come back the following day because they were short-handed. I explained that i couldnt come back because I live 45 minutes away. He then contacted a manager and handled my cancellation with MSN. I paid the extra $400 for the MSN rebate since I was no longer eligible for the rebate. I figured it was all over and I wouldn't have to worry about this anymore. I accepted the fact that I had a responsiblity in traveling 45 minutes to get this matter resolved. Then I received my Visa bill and MSN had two charges on it, one on Dec 1 for $21.95 and the other on Dec 28 for $21.95 which also threw me over my credit limit and I was charged $25.00. I called MSN and told them I wasnt receiving service from them that I cancelled and they aren't authorized to debit my visa card. They told me that I would need to contact Staples because they never sent the cancellation through. I again contacted Richland and Kevin told me he would work on this and get this corrected amnd give me a call. This was Monday. By Tuesday I still didn't hear back so I called again. Kevin stated that he contacted the corporate office and left a message stating this matter was urgent because he didn't know how to handle this situation. He still hasn't heard back. Shannon of Milwaukee writes: I purchased a TV at Best Buy for the $200 off the purchase price of the TV if I agreed to sign up with MSN access for 2 years. The first month or 2 was not too bad other than low bandwidth, but then I received an email that MSN was dropping 2 of the 4 dial-up numbers in the Milwaukee area. Ever since then I have had nothing but problems with the internet service and MSN internet support. Dialing in can take 5-30 minutes everytime just to get hooked up online because of a constant busy signal. I also get disconnected an average of 6 times per day. I have certificates for many areas of computers and A+ is one of them which is strictly involving computer hardware and software. I have also written a few tech notes for my last ISP on how to fix many common problems with internet service and users' modems. But everytime I have contacted MSN support, they send me a pre-typed note on a few adjustments I can make to my computer which I have already performed. I have even demanded that they give me other suggestions and I still get the same pre-typed message. In one of the emails I sent, I demanded that they send me something different for more suggestions and told them not to send me the same pre-typed email and sure enough I get the same pre-typed email with my original email. Because of the problems with MSN access, I am having difficulties with my online schooling for my MCSD course for my MCSD certificate (which coincidently is run by Microsoft). This is a $6,000 course. I also have an extra 180 phone calls at $.05 per call thru Ameritech. This is emotionally tiring because for 4-6-8 times a day I lose 5-30 minutes each dial up, after getting disconnected trying to get connected and all I get for a response is the same pre-typed reply over and over. I have even tried to discontinue my service and go thru another ISP, but literally everytime I have called the numbers that MSN support has given me (in the pre-typed emails) I am disconnected from the phone calls due to their high volume incoming calls and not enough operators on their end. One of the numbers that MSN sends me Qoute "You may also contact Customer Service at (800) 386-5550 for the information about access numbers." This number when dialed will tell you that this is not the support number and gives you another number which leads to another number. Which eventually gets the message that all operators are busy and to call later and you then get disconnected from the phone call. This is an average 10-20 minutes of wasted time. Also, when calling these numbers the very first thing they tell you is all of the website links they have to help you, which is a waste of the consumers' time when they, or I, are trying to talk verbally one on one with somebody about not being able to get connected to their internet access. If all of this sounds like it is running on and on, then MSN is to blame because that is how they have treated me. On Nov. 24, 2000, Michael of Worcester, MA, wrote: Bought a Hewlett Packard Computer with agrement to sign for 3 years of MSN internet service provider. Recieved $400.00 instant rebate on purchase with promise of unlimited Internet acess for $21.90 monthly. The MSN net service is programmed to be frugal. It disconnects without warning at times when it senses a lack of activity. This is done to open up other channels on an overloaded network. This happens so often and it is s at times so difficult to to re-connect that it is impossible to do downloads that take anymore than a couple of minutes. I often will get up to get a drink or go to the bathroom only to return and find that the machine has been kicked off the net. I talked with MSN and they say that this is a built-in feature of their latest browser product. I contend that this dysfunctionality is so intense as to render false the promise of unlimited internet access. At times it takes hours to straighten out the problems. This is not unlimited access, it is an unfairly controlled access that masquerades as unlimited access. I would like to sue out of the contract for a percentage settlement and procure a different net provider service. Lori of Bristol, PA, writes: I give you my aol email because very rarely can I get on MSN. Isn't there some type of law that you should receive a service that you pay for? We pay MSN for internet, but they do not provide the service, unless it's convenient for them. |
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