🚀 go-pugleaf

File under: Wireless Web Connect:  Wireless Internet, Ricochet, Novatel,
Metricom

I think I just canceled my Ricochet wireless service with Wireless Web
Connect. But you know what? I'm not sure.

I started in September of  2000 with the stand alone Ricochet modem. It
wasn't too useful because of its bulk, nor as fast as promised, but when I
needed it, worked. Sometime around the new year, I saw and bought a Novatel
Merlin PC card at a Fry's Electronics. It was quite cool. I could stick it
in my laptop, or my Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC and life was good... Until the
card burned out. I went to sleep one night with it playing music from the
BBC, the next day the card was dead. Both the laptop and the iPAQ said it
was an unknown card, and in fact putting it the laptop tended to make the
laptop hang.

I called Novatel and after around thirty minutes of the tech telling me
"that's very interesting... now lets have you do this... now restart the
laptop" my laptop stopped booting. I sighed, told him I'd call back when I
got my laptop running again, then thought better of it. I  called my
Wireless Web Connect representative. I told him the story and told him since
I wasn't happy with my Novatel experience I'd like to order a Sierra
Aircard. He said he could only take orders for new clients, but if I called
WWC's sales line they should be able to help me out. [By the way, the sales
rep is a nice guy. I'm not cheesed at him in the slightest.] I called sales
and since they were not answering the phones directly, I left a message
detailing what I needed and asked them to call me back. No call.

I sidelined everything for a couple of months until I realized I was going
to be traveling again. I called the WWC customer service line on May 8, and
after only ten minutes or so on hold,  got to tell a customer service
representative (CSR) what I needed. She understood, and said it was in
stock, I'd need to pay $300 for a new card... and probably $30 for an
activation fee. I complained about the activation fee and she said she'd
check with someone about it. I said "fine, ship it standard. And since it
will be a few days, can we turn my old modem back on?" She did do that. The
modem never arrived.

On May 18 I called back and talked to CSR #2. She couldn't find an order.
She could see the re-activation of my old modem. She could see who CSR #1
was, and she could see the serial number of my dead Novatel modem. She
thought I may be able to get the Aircard as a warranty replacement for the
Novatel, but if she couldn't, she'd have to charge me for it. She didn't
mention the $30 activation fee, so I thought I was doing good. This time I
wanted it shipped FedEx. It was to arrive Monday May 21. The modem never
arrived.

I called May 24, talked to a third CSR, who initially, could find no record
of an order being placed. I'm on hold a while. He comes back online
apologizes and says he'll personally ship the modem May 25, and I'll have it
on Saturday May 26. I was in the process of telling him to cancel my account
when what he said sunk in.... I'd have the modem in a day and a half. I
agreed and sincerely thanked him.

Guess what. Today May 25, customer service rep #2 calls. She doesn't sound
quite as nice today. She apologizes for the problems, attributes it to me
buying the Novatel modem from Fry's and says. "I'm sorry, but what you will
*have* to do is..." I lost it. I didn't swear at her, what I said was"Cancel
my account, this isn't worth it. Cancel my account." Then I hung up. Bet you
guys $50 she didn't cancel my account. Based on my experience with them,
I'll be calling them for months, trying to stop them from billing me.

My advice is stay away, far away from Wireless Web Connect. It seems like
something is terribly wrong there. This whole stupid train wreck of a story
took place over seven different phone calls and two months of time. If I'd
been trying to weasel a better modem out of them without paying for it I'd
feel better somehow, like cosmic justice had been served.  But I was asking
them to take my money, if necessary, just please sell me something that they
all said they had in stock,  and send it to me.

Good Luck. You've been warned.