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Cancelling Speed Factory Service: How'd It Go?

NOT LEGAL ADVICE

I emailed them but haven't heard back. I used my Speed Factory web mail then printed it to a PDF (I should have also emailed a copy to myself at another address.) The reason for this is mostly to provide evidence to the credit card company that it was cancelled.

I would not worry much about being sued, the amount of money is too small. Even if they are silly enough to pursue it, they would have a tough case to prove. And even if they win, collection can be difficult and expensive. What they might do is sell the "debt" for pennies on the dollar to a bottom feeder type collections agency. In that case, you can simply send the collector a "cease and desist", which essentially amounts to saying "shut up, and if you want to sue, then go ahead and try". (To see the right format for this, google "Bud Hibbs letter")

Unlike many of the folks who are going to cry gloom and doom and that they will take you to small claims court, I actually have some experience being on both sides of financial disputes, some of which involved amounts worth suing over, some of which did not. All and all, for small amounts, litigation isn't worth it, even when you know you will when. When the "debtor" has a very legitimate argument (as you do) then only a complete idiot (yes, they may be idiots) would take legal action. Especially when you can get a little money by simply selling the debt to a low life. (Never settle with those guys - you are better off dealing with the lawyer when and if they sue, which they will not do for a small amount, and NEVER, EVER, NO MATTER WHAT, give them a checking account to draft, or pay anything without a "settlement in full and without recourse" agreement, in writing, and in your hands.)

So send them a certified, return receipt letter to their office address canceling your service FOR CAUSE, and state what the cause(s) are. Then, "Don't worry, be happy"

POSSIBLE CAUSES:

1) Protracted Interruption of service, not in the presence of any external mitigating factor

2) Complete lack of backups and emergency provisions by company

3) Unavailability of Tech Support

4) Shutting down of all communications during interruption of service

5) Failure to advise customers of situation and prospects for repair

6) Non- Working telephones at both local office and national headquarters including the telephone number place on the door during the outage

7) Your need to achieve a timely solution to the lack of service in the absence of any communication from, or ability to communicate with your company.

8) Lack of timely response by company

reply to SF_no_more
Hello All. I just called Speedfactory and was transferred to NextPhase. After going around a phone menu a few times I was prompted to leave my name and number and someone would call me back. Surprisingly, someone named "Ira" called back within 15 minutes! I asked him what the procedure was to cancel and he apologized for the outage and said that they have everything back up and it wouldn't happen again. I expressed my concern with the complete lack of communication despite the fact that their website was up and available (for me at least) even though the general internet wasn't and they could have put a simple message up there.

He also asked me if I'd be willing to at least finish out the month free and I told him I'd prefer to cancel. He then took my customer number and then I mentioned that I'd like to be reimbursed for this months charge and he said ok and then we got off the phone.

All in all it was relatively painless aside from the weekend of course and the fact that I've been calling since yesterday (not counting the times I called with the "all circuits busy" message). This was the first time I've called that it redirected to NextPhase directly.

At any rate, I'll be watching my credit card bill and if I don't see a credit in the next 2 weeks I'll be contacting my credit card company directly. Hopefully I won't need to and I can put this thing to bed and move on.

FYI I called ATNEX around 3:50am Monday Morning (yes, AM!!) and they said I'd be hooked up by Wednesday. I changed my router Monday afternoon around 2:30pm and I was up!!!

reply to SF_no_more
I called today, they took my name down and said "ok thanks". I asked whether my credit card would be refunded and Joe Tech said "sure", and that was it.

I'm fairly certain I'm going to have to call again Thursday and be significantly less friendly.

That was my experience as well. I called, quickly got a human, stated I would like to cancel my account and they took my name. I've already stopped payment on all future charges from Speed Factory to my credit card, so we'll see what happens.

reply to SF_no_more
It was pretty painless for me as well, but I will be watching the credit card bill like a hawk.

reply to SF_no_more
I have been on hold with Speedfactory for almost 20 minutes trying to cancel my service. Did anyone shoot them an e-mail requesting to cancel and, if so, did someone from Speedfactory confirm via e-mail that your service was canceled? Frustrating...

Did anyone shoot them an e-mail requesting to cancel and, if so, did someone from Speedfactory confirm via e-mail that your service was canceled?

I sent a snail mail, which generally has greater legal standing, on Monday. Haven't heard a damn thing by phone/e-mail/snail. Like many of you, I'll be watching my credit card and disputing any further charges from them (which I more or less expect, since the whole incident reveals them to be total bozos).

reply to SF_no_more
I got a bill in email and send back an email saying I already canceled. Robin from Nextphase emailed me back and said that she would take care of it and I will not be charged.

Since this whole thing started I have not been successful getting anybody from the Atlanta office on the phone, but have gotten through to a person at the home office almost every time. Robin, the person I talked to several times, was most helpful.

Tom

reply to AU76

reply to SF_no_more
I just received a bill via email today. I replied to it also and said that I had canceled my service yesterday (the only time I have been able to get a human on the phone) and that I won't pay the bill. My CC company told me that I have to wait for the transaction to go through before I can dispute it, but it's still pending right now.

Let's hope that SF doesn't add to this fiasco by charging in advance for service not rendered (or wanted, in my case).

reply to SF_no_more
After a phone call and an email yesterday, and a phone call and an email today, I am in theory no longer a speedfactory customer.

10 minutes after sending the email today, someone from SF called and terminated my service. He says he issued a $37.xx credit to my account. I really think they should refund everything, but at this point I don't feel like the fight.

The guy on the phone was super nice. Just as SF employees have always been. I hope they get their act together so I can come back. Not exactly pleased with the customer service or the speed of my current provider.

I called SF again yesterday in an attempt to confirm that I had been canceled. They claimed that I would receive a callback... I didn't. I am about to send a fairly unfriendly e-mail, because I just want to be canceled so I can stop dealing with these people.

reply to SF_no_more
Suggestion: send them a fax. I did on 15th and today they called me to confirm that they received my fax and that my accounted is closed with the remaining portion of bill being credited back to me.

reply to SF_no_more
There is only one truly acceptable method recognized by courts and credit card companies everywhere - canceling with a certified mail return receipt letter. Anything else is depending on the good behavior of folks whose behavior we are all wondering about. It is hard to prove that emails and faxes were received. Certified Mail is considered a done deal as soon as you hand it to the clerk at the post office. Trust me guys, it is the only good way to protect yourself.

reply to SF_no_more
I actually got a response from an email request last week. I think I send my request on Thursday evening once I had my new connection up, and I got a courteous response from a rep at NPWireless on Friday morning. My account was cancelled, but apparently they were unable to stop the automatic billing process which was set to charge my account on Saturday. The rep assured me that if a charge was made, they would make a credit back on my card. I contacted them this morning to alert them to the charge, and they claim they will be making the credit. I'll just have to wait until I see my CC bill to be sure, but right now I have no reason to not trust them--they've been very nice so far with allowing cancellations with no questions asked.

Just to note, I was on the 2nd month of a new contract, but I've yet to hear about or see anything resembling a cancellation fee for breaking the contract. I doubt they'd want to screw things up much more, so I'm hoping they're not going to go after anyone for that.

reply to SF_no_more
I had an awful time trying to cancel, and I'm still not sure it went through.

After getting a new service provider, I called at the beginning of last week to cancel. I talked to someone that said it was cancelled and that I would probably get a refund for last month's charges. I'm not too concerned with being refunded for service charges of the month that my connection worked, but I just don't want to see any new charges.

Apparently, last week's conversation was nothing but hot air. I checked my credit card statement to find a charge from Speedfactory. I tried to call again, and I kept getting the run around from NPWireless employees. They couldn't cancel my service but could only take down my name and phone number.

I'm supposed to hear back from someone regarding this, but I don't have much faith in that happening. I'm probably going to have to dispute the charge with my credit card company.

reply to kommers

reply to SF_no_more
I have had good luck e-mailing with Dick Hutt. (dhutt at npwireless.com ) Confirmed my cancellation and refund (which I haven't seen yet, but most CC refunds usually take a few days).

Ditto on that. I've also been conversing with Mr. Hutt, who has been extremely pleasant. I did see a charge hit my CC the day after I reported getting the automated bill, though I have yet to see the credit appear. I plan to wait a few more days, just to be sure it's the bank that's being slow.