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Review 1/5/2008
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Around August or September of 2006 I was tired of my bland phone and saw an ad for Helio on mypspace.com.
The ad said "No contract, no ttermination fees, cancel whenever you want." That sounded good to me so i signed up. Little did I know I was embarking on a year-long journey straight through the gates of cellphone Hell.
The first problem came when I tried to port my number over from Verizon.
Second is their insane billing practices.
I signed up for 500 minutes and unlimited texts/pic messaging/surfing/ for around $65.
I went over my minutes one month so the next I upgraded to 1000 minutes.
The next month, in which the new plan took effect, I recieved a bill for more than $200!
What they did was double billed me. I was charged for the 500 minutes, and then the rest of the month for the 1000! I was essentially double billed for the same minutes. This is all before the technical issues began to happen with my phones.
The first phone that I bought, the Kickflip, was garbage and never received a single picture message.
One of the representatives asked me what carrier I formally had because I had mentioned I'd never had any problems picture messaging before. I told him it was Verizon. His response nearly made my head explode.
He informed me that since they are a new company, they don't have ay cell tooers of their own and that Helio uses Sprint's towers. Then he said, "Maybe Verizon is preventing you from getting your pictures because they have a grudge with Sprint or Helio?" At first I thought he was kidding and i chuckled, then he said something to the effect of, sometimes that happens.
After several more calls to tech support with no resoultion, they decided to upgrade me to the next phone up the ladder.
I receieved the Hero, and the same problem, over and over again. More calls to tech support and they finally sent me the next phone up once again, the Drift.
Same problem again.
While all of this was happening I noticed on the billing area of their website that I had a contract. I brought it up with one of the representatives and he asked me how I signed up. I told him I saw an ad on myspace.com and signed up. He said OK put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and told me to disregard that I will have no early termination fee and the contract is terminated but it will still appear on the website.
After a few more months of trying to get these garbage devices to work I decided to throw in the towel. I told the representative I'm switching to a new provider.
I got a Sprint phone and had to wait for 2 days for my number to be ported over.
A few months pass, and all is well with my new phone until i recieve a bill from Helio in the amount of $387.78!
I call Helio immediately and explainnto them the whole situation. The representative said it was an early termination fee. I proved to them, that two or three of their reps assured me I had no contract, and no termination fee, supplying their operator numbers and names.
After this I was told that it was because I didn't return my previous device, the Hero. I put it in the Fed Ex envelope Helio supplied me, affixed the address labels which Helio supplied me, and dropped it in a Fed Ex box.
All was finally well right? Wrong! my Homeric Odyssey continues! Thia past Novemeber, I again received a bill! Unitemized again, just a blank bill for nearly 400 dollars. Again I called Helio. Agsin they said it wass a termination fee, and again I told them I had no contract because I signed up through myspace.com. And yes, again they told me then it was because I didn't return the device. I assured them I did. The rep asked for the Fed Ex tracking number. I didn't have it.
This is where it gets good.
The rep told me to call FedEx, ask if they can find a tracking number on one package, from one random drop box. I knew it was fruitless but I humored them. I called FedEX and of curse they couldn't help.
I called back and explained they couldn't find it. The rep used my former cell number with Helio to trace my phone and told me she found it and the device is in the warehouse.
Case closed? Not quite!
This past week I received yet another bill for approx. $400.
Again the rep told me it was an early termination fee, again I explained that I had no fee, and again he switched his story to "You didn't return your handset."
After being on the phone and on hold for an hour and a half with their representatives, the situation remains unresolved.
I was given the number for Helio's fraud department. I called immediately after I hung up from customer service.
I called at approx. 6PM Eastern time. I recieved voicemail and it said the hours were until 9PM pacific. I left a very descriptive message and have yet to hear from them.
Do yourself a favor, have a root canal, a colonoscopy, or open heart surgery sans anesthesia before you ever consider going to Helio as a cell phone provider.
I am considering taking legal action, and currently discussing the issue with a lawyer friend of mine.
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