Earthlink Internet Service

I’ve been with them since 1999, I recently changed to Time Warner and cancelled earthlink after my son showed me how I was paying just as much for crappy service with tiny bandwidth as I could for mediocre service with huge bandwidth and get rid of my phone bill (and AT&T). The earthlink agent I spoke to said since I had just been billed a few days before, I would receive a prorated refund. Fast forward a few weeks, no refund. I called and was told there was no record that I was told I’d get a refund, the agent repeated this to me several times in a very accusatory tone, like I was a liar. After calling him on this, he said he’s give me a 50% refund for the less than 25% of the services I used. Had he not insinuated that I was lying, I probably would have let it go, but after 15 years of being a customer to call me a liar just set me off. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she proceeded to tell me there was no record of my being told I would get a refund– again calling me a liar. After threatening to dispute the charge with my bank and explaining they could give me my proper refund or they would get nothing, I won. I wouldn’t recommend earthlink to someone I hated

I have been a customer of Earthlink since 2000, yes fifteen years. I originally relied on them for internet access and also email. As technology evolved I ultimately dropped my internet service but continued using them for email.
I have been paying $ 7.95 per month for some time now and realized that the service really wasn’t worth that much to me any more.
On the web site it states to downgrade or cancel your service call their toll free number.
To find the right department via the automated phone service was a nightmare but after multiple calls and about 20 minutes I finally got hold of Dave Torres who said he could help.
He looked up my account and thanked me profusely for being a customer for 15 years. He said that that was unusual (you’re about to learn why!).
I asked Dave to downgrade my account from the Premium email service. He asked why and I said it was because it was not worth $ 7.95 per month to me. He put me on hold and then came back to tell me that there were no less expensive options available to me.
I then told him that in that case I wished to cancel. He informed me of all the bad things that would happen if I canceled; like «losing all your information.» I said please cancel the account.
He put me on hold and then came back to offer me a $ 2 discount because I have been such a loyal customer.
I told him that if he valued loyal customers then he should have offered the $ 2 discount before I said I wanted to cancel. I told him that I don’t like to do business with companies that don’t value my patronage until I’m ready to leave. I asked him to please cancel my account.
The guy continued tirelessly to get me to accept the lower rate. I asked him to please cancel the account multiple times. We were stuck in a loop.
It wasn’t until I threatened to write a complaint about Earthlink and about him personally that he conceded to cancelling my account.
Gang, if this is how they treat a customer of FIFTEEN years then you do not want to do business with them.
Good riddance!!!

EarthLink has been a problem since day one back in 2006.
Most recently (Feb 2015), they lost over 120 emails. 60 from a person folder and 60 or so from my Inbox. What a bunch of losers!!!
The only reason I keep them is because all my tax docs are on their site.
But not for long!

Words can describe how dreadful their email service is. They charge you for any extra capacity, the UI is so old and out of date, it is extremely slow and filled to the brim with ads, my in-​box is always full of junk mail and their customer service is terrible. It is always someone from India named bobby. I have no idea how they stay in business. What a terrible company!

Dreadful, even unethical behavior in my opinion related to 4g service. They cut off service quickly and add surcharges for data to reestablish data, but cannot provide any evidence of usage. India call center is really bad. They try to pump up level of service but cannot respond to requests for information on activity/​usage to justify the charges. Repeated attempts to acquire detailed usage information. It was even very hard to cancel service. This may be worse than Comcast, which is quite a statement! (should be libel/​slander to say ‘worse than Comcast.’).
Systems and customer support are not well integrated, training is poor, policies are poor…

You have got to be kidding me. As a 20+ year customer of
I tried to cancel my email account with EarthLink that I have not used in over 5 years. There must be a place with fire and brimstone for customer service tactics such as these. Shame, Shame, Shame.

Let’s put it this way, I haven’t been with Earthlink for quite a number of years due to their awful customer service for starters. My fondest memory of Earthlink was trying to find the option to quit their service which was the equivalent of navigating through an endless cornfield from hell Oh, and I still get email every three months stating that my credit card has expired and in order to keep my services… blah blah blah.
That alone should tell you how efficient this !#$!hole of a company is.

If you could give negative stars, this company more than deserves it. My service was supposed to be, $ 39.95 a month. They charged my accound, $ 395.95, which put me in a horrible financial situation. I called, and asked for them to reverse their mistake immediately. They told me it would be 4 to 6 weeks to correct their mistake, and basically to deal with it.
My bank went after the money, and got it back in 3 days, (Chase thank God), and I closed my account, opening a new one, so they couldn’t take any more out, «Mistakenly.»
What a horrible, reprehensible, morally bankrupt company! I’m spreading the word on these folks. I encourage you to do the same!

As a former Employee of EarthLink in the days of Garry Betty (RIP), I’m sad to see EarthLink give up on it’s Consumers when it comes to service. I’ve had an account with EarthLink since 1995… I worked there from 1996 to 2007 when 900 employees where laid off and Pasadena was mothballed. That Datacenter in Pasadena was by far superior than the Atlanta DC, but then operations were moving to Atlanta. (reflecting back the Mindspring acquisition was the death nail for EarthLink, and in comes Rolla Huff after Garry’s death… it is what it is, but it is not what it was.) Truth is, EarthLink’s consumer products died because the RBOC know how to play the long game, being in business as long as AT&T has been, you learn to have a much longer vision than that of the upstarts in the «tech sector.» Don’t push Ol’MaBell around, she will kick your butt when you’re not looking! But I’m on a tangent.
I was one of many that worked on the EarthLink Voice product. We rolled that product out, with Steve Howe at the helm, in 9 months. I cut the deals with voice software and hardware providers and even worked on the CALEA solutions. So I know what was originally put in place. And I doubt much has changed. And I also know «support» is provided by an overseas firm. Today I spent 45 mins with «support» to only be dropped in my third transfer…
So if you have VoIP you know that if you move, you need to update your physical address. Now as I was one of the people working on the VoIP roll out, I have an older account attached to an ATA device. So moving my phone is as easy as unplugging a small box and plugging it back into my new router…
As I write this, I’m attempting to use EarthLink’s Online Chat to accomplish this major task. Lisa Green is providing the support through (sales).liveperson.(net)… We shall see if we get the same answer they gave me on the phone.
I was told on the phone, that I could not make the change, as they «do not support it.» I’m not sure what «it» refers to, but… Now I wonder if there is an issue with the PSAP, which if it is, is likely an issue with Level 3 and EarthLink. The PSAP for those that don’t know, are the Public Safety Answering Point. The PSAP needs to be properly connected to the EarthLink voice network (which is Level3 underneath on the SIP side; or it was when I was there). The PSAP takes a data feed from the voice network to determine the location of the caller (landline) this allows them to dispatch help without the caller needing to provide the address, which happens from time to time. (but because I don’t know for sure if this is a PSAP issue, I need EarthLink to tell me what they can do… if they really can’t support E911, then I’ll need to port the number to AT&T; which I don’t really want to do, but will need to… my last connection to EarthLink will be gone… truly sad.)
So our on line chat continues… And Lisa just asked me to confirm that I have moved from Address A to Address Z… Now I’m being transferred to Joel P… a Customer Service Rep. Joel’s cut and paste skills or typing skills are not that good… my hope of this being fixed are on a decline…
Joel P is renewing my hope by asking me, to again, confirm my current address… btw, I’m now 90 minutes in… 45 mins on the phone… now 45 mins with Chat Support… but the clock is still ticking… Joel P says he is now trying to update my address for e911…
DARN, Hopes dashed on the rocks. Despair!
Joel P just said he can’t do it… he says he needs to escalate, and is sending me back to Tech Support… but wait, that’s just where I was… Argh…
Now I have Robert P that is helping me… he needs a few minutes to figure out what’s going on… and he is acknowledging that they have to research this… he has asked for my number so they can call me back. Robert P informs me it will be 24 to 48 hours before I get an update. So in the mean time, I’ll sign off here with a meh… I have little hope this will work. But all good things come to an end.
…to be continued…

I wish I could give them negative stars, I cancelled all my services at a remote office I was no longer plannig on using. They said they needed something in wirting on company letterhead which I obliged to. I wrote down exactly this «Please disconnect all services at blah blah blah «I recently found out through my accountant that I was still being billed for the service as of ¹¹⁄₁. I called the ask for a refund and I kid you now they are telling me that Please disconnect all services was to vague for a disconnect order.
These people are thieves

It appears that Earthlink is charging me monthly for a service they claimed would be a one-​time annual fee. Not exactly sure. When I called the 800 number, I went through five minutes of an automated teller before I was transferred into the depths of India. When the customer service rep answered, the background noise of other reps talking and laughing was so loud, I could not hear or carry on a conversation with the person on the other end of my line. It sounded like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. He was unable to answer any question without putting me on hold. He did this six times before we ever got to my issue. He also went through a series of «mandatory» statements such as «I see that you have been a customer for X years.» Then he would put me on hold. «I see that you have an email account with us.» Hold. And so on. 15 minutes into the call, I hung up. Silly me. My problem wasn’t solved. In order to figure it out, I’m going to have to call back.

I’ve used Earthlink as my ISP since 1996. Remember dial-​up? Yeah, way back then. This was when Earthlink was groundbreaking: unlimited dial-​up access for a flat fee when everyone else was charging for each minute of usage; they offered this way-​cool new browser call Netscape Navigator (which had Netscape Mail with it); their tech support was superb, too! Personal usage of the internet was pretty novel then, and so much of it was unfamiliar to everyone. The people at Earthlink enlightened me about so many technical issues.
Ah, but that was THEN. This is NOW.
The problem with starting and then staying with an ISP from so long ago is that you are deeply tethered to your email address, which happens to be @their domain. Ugh.
When cable internet became available in our area and Time Warner (Comcast now) partnered with Earthlink to provide cable internet here, I just went ahead and stuck with Earthlink. That dug my hole even deeper, it seems, because I became more and more beholden to them.
We’ve had our go-​rounds with Comcast lately: signal and service issues for our television and our internet, outages, equipment problems (Comcast lines). After a complaint to the BBB where Comcast’s national HQ is located, our signal issues seem to be resolved. Or have they? Or is Earthlink somehow involved?
Let me back up a bit. I started to become disenchanted and wanted to end my love affair with Earthlink a couple of years ago. And, ironically, it had to do with my email. Since I always use an email client, I channel all of my email through that software and was actually quite unaware of some of the goings-​on behind the scenes: I was failing to receive emails, only to be notified by the sender that the email had been returned to them. Perplexed, we’d try over and over to send the email only to have it never get to me — and then we figured out the problem. Earthlink was blocking all emails that had an attachment that was over 1 MB large. Since I do volunteer website work for a national dog rescue group, this was preventing me from receiving photos of dogs that needed to be posted on the web so they could find a home. When I contacted Earthlink about this, naturally I got India. They didn’t think ANY photo (s) needed to be over 1 MB at all! They actually tried to argue the point with me! So I started my break away from Earthlink and opened up a Gmail account for communication with the dog rescue group. No problems since.
Then, in all of Earthlink’s wisdom, they put a spam filter in place that automatically deletes ALL email they (and let me emphasize the THEY) consider spam. Oh, I still get the penis and breast enlargement emails, the ones that attempt to sell me everything from a college degree to Russian love, but an email from my brother’s office was auto-​deleted as spam. Jeez.
The icing on the cake came last night. Right before dinner, I paid some bills online. Internet working perfectly. Closed my laptop, made dinner and hubby and I enjoyed our meal. After dinner, I open up the laptop and — nothing. No internet.
After calling Comcast, resetting the router, modem, doing that again, plugging a hard-​wired computer directly into the modem, unscrewing and reattaching the coaxial cable from the wall followed by an endless progression of restarting of equipment, Comcast deemed that I was not receiving a signal because of Earthlink. Hold on while they transfer me to Earthlink tech support.
When I finally get to them (oh, so many minutes later), the heavily-​accented guy on the other side is audible, but not loud. He keeps trying to adjust his volume, he tells me, because he wants to be louder. I’m confused. Then a series of beeps at regular intervals begins. Okay, I get it, I’m being recorded. And here’s the killer:
«Let me explain to you about the different levels of Earthlink tech support.»
Right away I knew what he was talking about. I was going to be CHARGED to talk to him!
«Am I going to be charged to talk to you to get you to deliver service to me that I’m paying for, but not receiving?» I ask. «Well, yes, but there are different levels of support,» he tries to explain. Oh, I’ve had it. I immediately hung up.
Eat it, Earthlink. I’m DONE. As soon as I shift over all of my contact/​account information for sites I’m registered from my Earthlink to my Gmail address, you’re OUTTA HERE.
This is how a customer of 17 years is treated?
Don’t say that you all haven’t been warned.
**And, on a curious side note, right after I hung up from the money-​grubbing tech support guy, I launched my browser on my laptop. Well, whaddaya know?! I had a connection. Magic? Magic!

I terminated my service in march 2012 after being a customer for 10 years. They offered me a courtesy 90 day no charge extension. I declined that offer but I was denied the declination. Whatever, if you want to keep my account open when I don’t need it, your problem is what I was thinking. In that time f fame I kept getting email notifications that they were charging my cc account. The first couple time I received these notifications I called them and after 30 minutes waiting I would connect to someone in India named Patrick or Andrew who woul assure me that the emails were just an accounting thing but that my card was not being charged. Checking on my cc Ccount on line showed no charges so I took my defenses down. I had other things take precedence (death in the family) that took my attention off this after a couple months and this week I was looking at my cc account and noticed they have been charging my credit card again. After calling them. They agree that I canceled my account and don’t understand why I was charged over the past year but all they can do is give me credit for 2 months. I called my cc company and they have credited over a disputed charge the lastn6 months, so I’ll be out about $ 120 but that is not that big a deal if I can warn others about the captive trade practices of this company.

I have had highspeed internet access from EarthLink for a few years now. Never experienced any issue. Have not had to make any customer service calls.

What a pathetic business. I was stupid enough to buy Earthlink service.
What a mistake. I got the run-​around for 3 weeks. Evidently the techs «decide» whether or not they want to fix Earthlink service, and blow you off it they don’t feel like it. The supervisory staff is non-​existant. I was transferred to India when I asked to speak with a supervisor. I tried 5 separate times to get help, and couldn’t even understand the person on the other end of the line. Someone living in India answered the call each time. Go somewhere else. This place is a disaster.

Make that MINUS 2 stars.
Story update. Because I was a fool with a stored credit card to pay my bill, EarthFINK decided to ding me for a «reactiviation» charge 3 days after I canceled. After causing near financial ruin with the unexpected $ 95.00 fee, and over an hour of «chatting» with the «Support Specialist» online I was able to convince them of their error and have the charge reversed.
If you are stuck with this crappy service, so sorry for you. One bit of advice though– do not use the phone support. It will raise your blood pressure and you run the risk of scaring everyone within earshot. Hop online– provided you have an actual connection– and try the chat support. This group seems to at least had access to a clue– after you wear your fingers out trying to show them their errors. By far the WORST company I’ve EVER done business with.

If their idea of customer retention is to put you on hold for almost fifteen minutes while transferring you to a call center in India, then I am glad I am no longer among their customers.

Yeah — I agree — they suck. I used to have this service also, and I prob had to call them a coupla times for tech support. Since I’ve worked in high-​tech, and I can usually try my best to figure out what the problem is, I usually don’t have to call anyone unless I really have to. Well, each time, I *really really* had to, and they were running through the scripted steps but knew nothing more. I can’t get over the premium price we have to pay for internet, cable, phone, etc. only to get people who have a communication/​technical knowledge gap!
First of all, their support was overseas.
Second of all, they weren’t able to help me.
Third of all, they’re over-​priced for the sucky service that you get.
I ended up at SONIC. Use them — they’re local (to California).

I hate this service… I have been with them since they started as Netcom and I am just waiting for a better service to take it’s place and well my term run out. I hate the fact that I have to talk to someone in another country. When are the US companies going to get it and realize that a 3% return on your business isn’t going to work for that long. I am just waiting to leave and when I say my good bye’s I hope they are listened too. Well who am I kidding since I am a nobody. The point is this… As Peter D. said, when it works it works ok, when it doesn’t… It is the worst you can imagine. I hate to give up my email addy but I guess that is what cleaning house is all about… Then the ones you don’t want to contact you can’t. hahahahah
The service isn’t all the cheap either as the sub thru covad. Now that is a company that ROCKS!

I’ve always appreciated EarthLink, in that it doesn’t boggle you down w/​unnecessary software for connectivity. Many of us just want the service not the bloatededness of these proprietary experiences.
I can’t get high speed @ my house, and I’ve been forced to temporarily dust off the dial up login *gasp*. There are no open networks, and I’ve been researching my USB wireless modem options.
While it’s not DSL or cable, both of which I miss dearly — at least I’m online @ home.