Complain about a product or service

MSN Rebate Problems

MSN • Billing Problems • Broadband • Sales Promotions • MSN Messenger • Negative Option • Rebate Problems • Service Problems

Janet of Pinole, CA, writes (6/21/01):
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 signed up for the $400 rebate when I purchased my HP PC in December, 1999 with the agreement that I would use and pay for MSN Internet Access for 3 years. I was OK with that, as long as I was able to use the Internet as promised. In Feb or March of 2001, I began having problems with MSN email. I would call support and have to go thru all that process over and over again. This went on for well over a month. The problem was with their email server, not with my PC or email setup. I finally gave up, cancelled my MSN and went with another ISP.

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 purchased a computer from Best Buy and with that purchase they had an offer of $400 off the total computer purchase if you signed up with MSN right then. It sounded like a good way to save money and I was going to need an internet server anyhow, so I took the offer. Since I purchased the computer and signed on, on January 26, 2001 I have had only problems with MSN. My email had never worked for either out-going or incoming mail, chats or anything else relating to email.

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.

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