I wanted to sign up for the Ocean on May 13th, but I noticed that on the web site, the only option for contracts was a 24 month agreement. Given that Helio is a new company, I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to two years. I called Helio to find out if I could get a one-year agreement. The customer service rep that I spoke to was very accommodating and said I could have a one year deal. I mentioned a web promo code that would get me some other discounts, including the $30 activation fee waved, and $25 off the first four months of service, and she said that I could have all that, as well as a nice discount on the phone itself. I signed up then and there.

I got the phone a few days later and was pretty pleased for a while. I then went to my online Helio account for the first time and saw that my contract expiration date was 5/13/09….I called up customer support and explained my story to the rep, who told me that one year contacts aren’t even possible to set up in their systems. I told him that the other rep promised me that as well as the other discounts, to which he replied that none of that was showing up on my account summary. He said the best he could do was offer me a $20 credit….

(Photo: goblynalchemist)

I tried another rep a week later, hoping to hear a different story. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I got passed off to someone else who might have been a manager who took the name and number of the rep and promised to deal with her internally. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do for me. Even when I threatened to cancel the account, they didn’t budge.

A few days later, I did just that. I called to cancel the account. They wanted to know why, and I told them the whole story. Again, they didn’t seem to care that they were losing a customer. Thus ended my short stay with Helio service.

Typically, I thought start-up companies liked to KEEP their customers, not lose them. Coupled with some of the other things I’ve read, not to mention the coverage isn’t great, I really think Helio is destined to go the way of Amp’d Mobile.

– Chris

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