My Helio Nightmare

I am posting my experience here so that hopefully it will save others from going through what I am still going through with Helio. If you are shopping for a new cell phone, you should read this first:

I was shopping for a new cell phone a few months ago, when I saw an online comparison featuring 10 "hot" new cell phones. I had never heard of some of them, including one that I thought looked really cool and did all the things I wanted in a new phone--the Helio Ocean.

For those that don't know, the Ocean is a slider with a full QWERTY keyboard and a relatively large screen good for internet use. I had never heard of Helio either (the cell phone service provider selling the Ocean and the service plan for it). Well, I went ahead and ordered an Ocean, and that's when my problems started.

It cost me $320.97 for the device itself (just the hardware which incl the Ocean and accessories, plus shipping). The service plan and acitvation were billed separately, pretty standard stuff. So I get the phone, activate it and start using it. So far so good, until a few days later when I was surfing the net and the Ocean suddenly shuts off with no warning. Blip...it goes completely dead. Black screen and all. I couldn't even make a call, it just wouldn't respond or turn back on until several minutes later it powered back on after repeated attempts.

This is not good, I thought. Hope it doesn't do that again!!! But, the next day, again while surfing the net, it did. This time I had just finished charging the battery so I knew that wasn't it. I called up Helio from the device and the guy in customer service said he thought it needed to be reprogrammed, but I would have to call back on a land line so they could access the device. So I called back on a land line, and of course they wouldn't let me talk to the same person even though he had given me his extension and told me to ask for him...not possible said the new person, so I started all over again with her (AAarrgh!), explaining what had happened and that the guy I had just spoken with there thought it should be reprogrammed. Oh no, she said, Helio's policy is not to reprogram unless blah, blah, blah...so I had to get very insistent with her until she finally relented and walked me thru a reprogram of the phone.

OK, I thought, that should be the end of that problem. Wrong!!! The next day the same thing happened again while netsurfing. This kept happening over the next several days. And each time, the Ocean would not come back on until it was good and ready, sometimes up to 20 minutes later. This was getting frustrating to say the least, and for someone doing business with this device which is what it's touted for, it could be costly. And what if I had to make an urgent call during that time...I'd be out of luck.

Well by this time I decided I didn't want the Ocean and would just send it back. Helio has what they call a 30 day customer satisfaction period during which if you send back the device and cancel your service you get a refund. Or at least that's what it says in their contract...but the reality for me has been quite different.

I packaged up the device exactly as it came with all the original packing, even down to the protective cellophane covering the screen, and shipped it back. The tracking info on UPS showed it got there within the 30 days from my order date, so I had documentation of it. Should be no problem getting a refund, I thought, since I had met all the requirements for it.

Also, within the 30 day trial period, I had contacted Helio customer service again(they call it Member Care--seems like they forgot the care part!), this time in writing so I had a record of it, and notified them that I did not want to keep the phone and wanted to cancel the service. I have a record of this email along with their response, in which they claimed there was not justification for sending the phone back and I would have to have it reprogrammed again since there was no record in their computers that they had already reprogrammed it, even though they had!

To the time of this writing, they have not only not refunded the money for the hardware I returned, they have not responded to further written correspondence asking them about it, have not cancelled my service plan even though I told them in writing to do so and no longer have a phone, and they continue to send me bills. I paid the first bill which included the first month's service, airtime and activation. But the bills keep coming.

If you think this is bad, wait till you see what I had to go thru when I wanted to port the number over...

I decided to go back to my old cell provider and just get a new phone with them, but I wanted to keep the number Helio assigned with the Ocean. So I called my old provider and told them I wanted to port the Helio number over to their service and assign it to a new phone. OK, they said, it takes 3 to 5 business days. I said fine, and they started the process. I waited, and waited and finally a week later I called them to see what the holdup was. They said Helio still had not released the number. I waited another couple of days and still nothing. Finally, two weeks later, I had had enough. I got on the phone with Helio again, demanded to speak to a manager and had to threaten legal action against them under the federal law that covers this. She became condescending and not very nice to me, but the number was finally released later that day. During this entire 2 weeks I was without a cell phone, which was a major inconvenience for me in my work.

I had no choice but to file a dispute with VISA for the $320.97 charge to try to get a refund for the device itself. I have not disputed the $138 I paid for the first month's bill, at least not yet, since I thought that would be the end of it. But since they are still billing me for an account I can't even use and notified them in writing to cancel, I'm not sure what I'll do on that yet.

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UPDATE 10/3/07

VISA has awarded me a temporary credit for the returned phone ($327) pending the final outcome of their dispute investigation. Fortunately for me I documented pretty much everything and supplied that to VISA, so I expect they will ultimately rule in my favor. I'll let you know.

Still no word from Helio and no resolution to the monthly billing.

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UPDATE 10/15/07

I received yet another monthly bill from Helio along with a past due notice for last month's bill. This is airtime I am not using because of course I haven't had a phone for 2 months and the number was ported to a different carrier...yet they haven't figured that out yet. A classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

So I called them up again, and this time insisted on speaking to a supervisor directly. I was eventually routed to one after being put on hold and then transferred back thru the voice prompt routine again. (This time I got lucky though, I only had to explain the situation to 2 different people--lol.) So I finally got a supervisor and she put me on hold for a while then came back and said, yes, they can see you haven't used any airtime since you said you sent the phone back and it was within the 30 days, so they will wipe off the last 2 months charges (I still had to pay the first month's bill, which I had already done, and I am ok with that). I asked for and received an email confirmation that my account was closed.

Hopefully this is the end of this sorry affair. I just wanted to try a new cell phone and had to go thru all this!!!!

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UPDATE 11/9/07

Well, sadly, that wasn't the end! Helio just sent me another bill, despite the email saying my account was closed. Only this time, the bill showed the credits for the airtime as they promised, and then a big fat charge of $320.97 that they're calling "Insufficient Funds" and a late charge tacked on of $1.24. Unbelievable!!! First of all, the $320.97 was credited back to me by Visa to my debit card in settling the dispute because Helio did not credit me for the Ocean I returned within the 30 days. So now Helio is trying to charge me for that with a bill! Second, how can you charge a late fee if you haven't billed for this before? Well, I will now have to get on the phone and spend more time trying to straighten this out. What a poor excuse for a company Helio is. I will keep you posted on how this comes out.

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UPDATE 1/9/08

After three more phone calls to Helio during December, which consumed nearly two hours more of being put on hold repeatedly, being transferred to other people and having to explain the entire situation yet again, I finally believe this may be the end of this "30-day trial"--which has now lasted 6 months--Helio assures me they have zeroed out all charges and that I will not get any more bills. So far I have not, and if January passes with no more surprises, I will begin to believe this is really done.

Bottom line, do yourself a favor and save yourself major hassles and headaches--JUST SAY "NO!" TO HELIO.

No one should have to go thru this kind of awful treatment of a customer by any company, whether it is deliberate or simply because of incompetence. If Helio is doing this to me, I suspect there may be many others having the same issues. I would like to hear from anyone who has had similar problems with their service or devices.