What has happened to Earthlink service?

[lawpsych]

I'm wondering if anyone else has run into problems lately with Earthlink's customer service. I have, up until recently, been a very happy Earthlink customer, with several accounts, including one that involves hosting my professional psychology practice site.

Lately, I have received HORRIBLE customer service, including their refusing to refund money to me for DSL service that I have not received in 5 months. Has anyone else run into problems such as these with Eartlink?

I am terribly disappointed, and FURIOUS in addition. I am working on a rather scathing letter to Earthlink's CEO. One would think that their so-called "customer service" reps are being paid according to how much service they deny, rather than to how much service they can sell.

I even wondered tonight if I was engaged in an online chat with a live representative or an updated version of the old computer program, "Eliza."

I will appreciate any opinions you have to offer and any suggestions on how I should approach this matter. I have been told, for example, that I could not cancel my DSL service through email, even though I spoke to a rep on the telephone to do so initially. I cannot prove this, unfortunately, because this was the one time when I did not write down my "confirmation" number.

Interestingly enough, I kept raising the issue of the emails I sent in response to erroneous invoices I received from Earthlink, and pointed out that copies of these emails are resident on their own system right now. At the bottom of each of these emails was a message, instructing people to send complaints and concerns to a particular email address so that errors could be rectified.

Apparently, that policy does not extend to complaining about Earthlink's DSL service, or so a couple of dumb customer service reps told me. I argued that no matter what their official policy was in terms of the initial customer service contract, this was superceded by any additional instructions that were formally emailed to me by Earthlink.

I really believe that I am in the "right" here, and they are wrong. This little fiasco has cost me a total of $400.00 in bogus fees for service that I never received. Any thoughts on this scenario? Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to these concerns. I will be forever grateful for any help or insight you can offer.

Sheila