Once upon a time there was a great service called Rover. They sold great little 4g Wifi Hotspots called Pucks. Funny name, but it’s exactly what they looked like.
I loved this service because I only paid for what I used and wanted. I used the service for work, travel and on my boat. I was able to accomplish all this by paying for exactly what I wanted. I could buy a day at a time, a week at a time or a month at a time. I could do all this via a reliable web interface using my credit card. The device had a web portal that allowed me to monitor my useage, dates for expiring service etc. etc.. The few times I called Rover customer service, they responded with straight forward customer service reps that spoke clear English as their first language.
Then along comes Clear.com. Maybe they were the parent company, I don’t know. They sent notices saying there would be a seamless transition that would allow for the same services but they would be integrated with Clear. My account would “automatically transition” to their new version of “pay as you go” services. So I was supposed to anticipate that my Puck experience would have no problems at all.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
August 7th after the transition. I power up my puck and looked for the automated prompt for paying for another month. No such prompt. After 20 minutes or so of exploring the options, I try their live chat option. No one responded for 20 minutes (I clocked it). So I pick up my cell and called the customer service line. After being shuffled around because “you have no account sir” with lots of hold and no answers in an hour and a half, I quit for the night.
August 8th – Day 2 of my experience with the transition. I try again. I put three more hours into the effort. Again, I got the run around that “You have no account sir, we can’t help you”. They transfered me to a “Rover” specialist who were just as helpful. They ran me around to download new firmware and confirmed they could ping my device. I was reassured that I would be able to connect because of some “manual” account set up they initiated and it would take an hour for my account to be active.
August 9th – Still no service and no account. I start the evening off again with a call to customer service. After being run around for another two hours of “chicken and egg” nonsense, I finally got someone who said “your only choice is to start over and set up an account” to include all the start up costs. I was fuming but gave it a shot.
Instead of a “smooth transition”, it turned out to be a “you are a brand new user and have to pay a sign up fee”. NOT what the company promised or advertised. I was told that to pay on a month by month basis I would have to call back and stop monthly billing and then make arrangements to pay was I go.
The service started immediately.
August 27 – I’m in an area that has no Clear service and traveling to areas that also won’t have coverage. I call customer service to stop the auto payment as I was told I could and they tell me that my only choice is to “pay my bill in advance or cancel my account”. Fuming I of course canceled my account.
I believe in the 4G Wifi technology because I experienced it at it’s best. Rover as a service was great.
Clear as a service – Complete Fail. I will NEVER do business with them again.
The service and company, incredibly sub par.
I loved this service because I only paid for what I used and wanted. I used the service for work, travel and on my boat. I was able to accomplish all this by paying for exactly what I wanted. I could buy a day at a time, a week at a time or a month at a time. I could do all this via a reliable web interface using my credit card. The device had a web portal that allowed me to monitor my useage, dates for expiring service etc. etc.. The few times I called Rover customer service, they responded with straight forward customer service reps that spoke clear English as their first language.
Then along comes Clear.com. Maybe they were the parent company, I don’t know. They sent notices saying there would be a seamless transition that would allow for the same services but they would be integrated with Clear. My account would “automatically transition” to their new version of “pay as you go” services. So I was supposed to anticipate that my Puck experience would have no problems at all.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
August 7th after the transition. I power up my puck and looked for the automated prompt for paying for another month. No such prompt. After 20 minutes or so of exploring the options, I try their live chat option. No one responded for 20 minutes (I clocked it). So I pick up my cell and called the customer service line. After being shuffled around because “you have no account sir” with lots of hold and no answers in an hour and a half, I quit for the night.
August 8th – Day 2 of my experience with the transition. I try again. I put three more hours into the effort. Again, I got the run around that “You have no account sir, we can’t help you”. They transfered me to a “Rover” specialist who were just as helpful. They ran me around to download new firmware and confirmed they could ping my device. I was reassured that I would be able to connect because of some “manual” account set up they initiated and it would take an hour for my account to be active.
August 9th – Still no service and no account. I start the evening off again with a call to customer service. After being run around for another two hours of “chicken and egg” nonsense, I finally got someone who said “your only choice is to start over and set up an account” to include all the start up costs. I was fuming but gave it a shot.
Instead of a “smooth transition”, it turned out to be a “you are a brand new user and have to pay a sign up fee”. NOT what the company promised or advertised. I was told that to pay on a month by month basis I would have to call back and stop monthly billing and then make arrangements to pay was I go.
The service started immediately.
August 27 – I’m in an area that has no Clear service and traveling to areas that also won’t have coverage. I call customer service to stop the auto payment as I was told I could and they tell me that my only choice is to “pay my bill in advance or cancel my account”. Fuming I of course canceled my account.
I believe in the 4G Wifi technology because I experienced it at it’s best. Rover as a service was great.
Clear as a service – Complete Fail. I will NEVER do business with them again.
The service and company, incredibly sub par.
21 Buzzards 