Complain about a product or service

Virginia Broadband

David of Culpeper, VA June 23, 2009

This is a follow-up to the complaint I filed in January about Virginia Broadband. After this complaint and after VABB refused to respond to my emails, I reported them to the Better Business Bureau asking for a partial refund of the lost service in January. VABB did respond to the BBB and said they would agree to pay back the portion requested which was 66. This was at the beginning of February. When I still had not been refunded my money by April I contacted the BBB again and asked them to follow-up. VABB said they never received the BBB correspondence about the agreement The BBB said they would send the signed agreement to VABB via certified mail.

In May I still had not received the refund so I contacted the BBB again and VABB insists they never received the mail and blamed it on the Post Office. This is an ongoing theme with VABB; blame everyone else for their short comings. Anyway, VABB finally refunded my money. 5 days later I received a letter from the CEO, W. Manuel, that VABB was terminating my service. Their reason was that they didn't feel they could meet my high speed internet needs.

While I have had problems I had been a customer of theirs for 4 years and had to deal with all their growing pains as they brought their system up. I think when you pay for the highest level of service and at times have speeds worse than dial-up you have a right to complain. Anyway on June 15th, VABB terminated my service.

I called H. Chapman who is the Chairman of the Board of VABB and who I know through the local Soap Box Derby. Hunter said he didn't know me. Considering the he helped me build my son's derby car the last 2 years, I am pretty sure he knows who I am. Regardless of what I said, H. insisted that, even though it was bad public relations and put my business in jeopardy, it was their contention that they could not meet my needs and therefore supported W. Manuel's decision to terminate me.

At this time I am unable to support my clients. There are no other options for high speed internet that support the type of connections I need to have. Satellite and dial-up will not work. This action by VABB is strictly one of vengeance. Obviously W. Manual can't deal with being reported to the BBB.

What ever happened to quality customer service? This is something VABB knows nothing about. They are successful because they are in an area where folks really have no other options. No matter what it is still better than dial-up. I am friends with many of their customers and they all feel as I do, VABB's service is weak and the customer support is weaker. Many of them are looking at switching to satellite. It won't be long before another option for high speed internet comes to Culpeper and once it does I guarantee you, VABB will be done. The economic damage is that I can no longer conduct business and that more than likely I will be done as a consultant.

David of Culpeper, VA June 23, 2009

This is a follow-up to the complaint I filed in January about Virginia Broadband. After this complaint and after VABB refused to respond to my emails, I reported them to the Better Business Bureau asking for a partial refund of the lost service in January. VABB did respond to the BBB and said they would agree to pay back the portion requested which was 66. This was at the beginning of February. When I still had not been refunded my money by April I contacted the BBB again and asked them to follow-up. VABB said they never received the BBB correspondence about the agreement The BBB said they would send the signed agreement to VABB via certified mail.

In May I still had not received the refund so I contacted the BBB again and VABB insists they never received the mail and blamed it on the Post Office. This is an ongoing theme with VABB; blame everyone else for their short comings. Anyway, VABB finally refunded my money. 5 days later I received a letter from the CEO, Warren Manuel, that VABB was terminating my service. Their reason was that they didn’t feel they could meet my high speed internet needs. While I have had problems I had been a customer of theirs for 4 years and had to deal with all their growing pains as they brought their system up. I think when you pay for the highest level of service and at times have speeds worse than dial-up you have a right to complain. Anyway on June 15th, VABB terminated my service.

I called Hunter Chapman who is the Chairman of the Board of VABB and who I know through the local Soap Box Derby. Hunter said he didn’t know me but I just think he couldn’t put a name to a face. Considering the he helped me build my son’s derby car the last 2 years, I am pretty sure he knows who I am.

Regardless of what I said, Hunter insisted that, even though it was bad public relations and put my business in jeopardy, it was their contention that they could not meet my needs and therefore supported Warren Manuel’s decision to terminate me. At this time I am unable to support my clients. There are no other options for high speed internet that support the type of connections I need to have. Satellite and dial-up will not work. This action by VABB is strictly one of vengeance. Obviously Warren Manual can’t deal with being reported to the BBB. He is acting like a child, but frankly I am not surprised.

What ever happened to quality customer service? This is something VABB knows nothing about. They are successful because they are in an area where folks really have no other options. No matter what it is still better than dial-up. I am friends with many of their customers and they all feel as I do, VABB’s service is weak and the customer support is weaker. Many of them are looking at switching to satellite. It won’t be long before another option for high speed internet comes to Culpeper and once it does I guarantee you, VABB will be done.

David of Culpeper, VA January 29, 2009

The company provides wireless high speed internet access. For the last month we have experienced degraded service. We first contacted VABB on 1/5 to report that our service was down. The rep that answered that phone first said that there were no problems. Then after I pressed him to look further he responded back, You are right, there is a problem. Let us look into it and we will call you back.? As is always the case with VABB they never call back. The system did come back up within an hour but with a degraded signal. Since that date we have had nothing but problems.

Over the next 3 weeks we have attempted to get the issue resolved only to be told there is no problem, its our equipment, and its a windy day. My wife and I have been in the computer field for close to 30 years so we know a little bit more about this then most of their users. We dont accept these canned answers and push them for the truth. Their newest response is that someone locally has started using equipment that is interfering with the signal. My understanding is that this issue is affecting many of their customers. I would think most of them are just accepting the excuses VABB is making because they dont know better.

We feel that, for whatever reason, VABB is no longer able to supply their product as advertised. Their customer service, other than one individual Mark Chantry, is non-existent. They request that, when possible to please use their support email to report problems, yet they never respond to those emails. We pay for their highest service, yet since 1/5 we are lucky to have any service at all. VABB has offered nothing more than excuses. They have offered no compensation for the degraded service. They continue to collect their 89 a month from us.

I am a computer consultant that needs to be able to remotely access my customers computers. Because of this issue they have I have had a very difficult time supporting my customers. If this issue is not resolved I will start losing business.

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