"Wow...." "Send it to collections???"

More reason no one paid any mind when we got our newly minted junk Internet Service Provider. 

Actually, someone might have read the fine print but the master board who chose to use Hotwire, refused to do anything about what I'm going to write. 

We have a 10 year contract with the service, our community picks up the tab for the basic of the basic fees (how gracious 😉), but each resident / household is responsible for the taxes on the service to their house or unit, plus anything they add on from the a la carte menu. 

So.. 

My mother told me someone posted to the private community Facebook page that they are moving. They went to cancel what's in their name with Hotwire, and Hotwire immediately sent them a bill for over $1700. 

Yes, you read that right. The guy received a bill for one thousand, seven hundred dollars.

I'm going to leave out names, but cut and paste part of the original post with some comments. 

Original Post:

"I am moving at the end of the month and contacted hotwire and told them discontinue on 8/1.  Well, they evidently got it wrong (imagine that) and made it 7/1.  So I got the bill below.  Tried calling them (holiday so not open) tired chat (did not work) and sent them an email."

The guy posted a screen cap of the bill, but for the sake of anonymity, I'm not going to share that. 

The bill is for $1714.04 with $90.55 "past due". He has auto pay on. 

Comments:

- Edited to add my comments are italicized and I did not do any grammar / spell corrects. WYSIWYG.

• (User) - "Dumbest thing the board ever did. Getting Hotwire."
• (User) - "agreed, agreed, agreed. We need an investigation"
• (User) - "dumb board"
• (Original Poster replying to first comment) - "I beg to differ 😂 I could fill you in on a lot more things. But I'm working to make things rite"
• (Original Poster replying to Investigation comment) - "investigation underway"
  
  
• (User) -  "Funny ( not really) you should say that , if anyone cares to look back in the original notes, I did tell everyone that I read from another customer elsewhere that when they moved they got one hell of a bill for the remainder of the entire contract! They said that they were told they were liable to pay the bill for the rest of the contract length! I’m just communicating what was stated, that along with an entire horrible novel of info from many other communities ! This is what we were saddled with! I’m sorry ( not sorry) but somewhere something is gonna have to be changed and HW legally needs to be terminated for breach of contract! You cannot tell me they’re isn’t at least 1 lawyer in all of SW Fla that can’t rectify this ! When all several hundred residents give ALL their complaints it will be equivalent to a Stephan King novel! We’re not talking one tiny upset customer that had no service on Easter or Christmas Day, we’re talking an entire community multiple times for multiple issues! I’m no lawyer but I’m also not stupid! I’d be more than willing to do the work on putting together the Stephen King Novel for legal representation ! [ORIGINAL POSTER NAME REDACTED] sorry to see that your moving away but best of luck in your new journey especially w/o HW! And I hope that you get this debacle fixed without issues! I have a feeling that your only 1 of many that will have this issue" 
• - edited to add: I do have to point out, this user is a person who has been writing her own novels of problems on Facebook about things. She seems to be one who likes to instigate in places... known among a lot of people to be a shit stirrer. 
• (User) - "Yes, I remember your warning that if someone signed up for additional services, like faster internet speed or more TV channels, they were agreeing to a 2-year contract and if they canceled before the 2 years was up, they would be billed for the balance. I remember that."
  
  
• (User) - "That seems like a crazy termination fee. Why should you get saddled with that? A new owner will simply take over the contract. Ridiculous!
  
  
• (User) - "You might want to turn off auto-pay so that charge doesn't go through. Then when they send you future bills to try to collect that balance, just keep disputing it."
• (Original Poster) - "good advice and I did exactly that"
  
  
• (User) - "Give them the name of “Our Lawyer “ to call! We do have one, right? Lol That can’t be real!"
  
  
• (Original Poster) - "I just heard back from HotWire they confirmed that the charges were because we "contracted" for 1G high speed internet for two years and the charges are for the balance of time remaining on that commitment. Then they asked me to send documentation (purchase or lease) that Hotwire is not available where we are moving. I checked and hotwire is not available in [CITY & STATE REDACTED] where we are moving and sent the documentation. So they have agreed to drop the charges. In sum, I have to say that this was handled fairly although it nearly gave me a heart attack. And, my only complaint was that this was not presented very clearly when they were setting things up. I would hope that our HOA would have highlighted this along with hotwire with a warning that it could cost a lot of money in penalty."
  
  
• (User) - "When I mentioned it I was basically told I was crazy and it wasn’t true! ( of course I may be crazy , lol but it was true!! ) ! I tried to tell everyone as I read hundreds of reviews literally and that’s why I decided nope , not gonna do it!"
  
• - Edited to Add this was the trouble maker from the longer message

The guy was paying for the top gun speed they were offering, apparently. I think the monthly charge for the 1 gigabyte speed was going to come out to $40 a month for the first year and $45 a month for years 2 through 10, but I could be wrong. It was all a blur when the sales guy was here because Hotwire was in such a rush to get everyone signed up so they could get in the homes and Comcast out. 

We had originally signed up for it, but because we were having so many issues with everything and were still within 30 days of signing, we were able to get out of the contract and went down to the tier the community pays for. I think otherwise, we too, would be stuck with this, even though we're not looking to personally cancel. 

When my mom originally told me about this guy, I said I'd have let it go to collections. What are they going to do? It's either make the board pay the money or make it go to collections and let it do the same rotting medical bills do when those go to collections. But then again, my mom had to provide a lot of detailed background information when she bought this place, so if the board was handed the bill or if it goes to collections, the board can still do something highly dirty to the people leaving. 

Which wouldn't be surprising, given what they're doing now to people. 

This definitely shakes some branches within the community, because a lot of people are on that Facebook page. Sure, the original poster does like to be a loud mouth for a lot of subjects, but if more people get wind of this, I'm sure there will be more of an uproar. Especially since there are plenty of houses for sale inside these gates right now, and I don't think anyone really knows enough to contact Hotwire to cancel service under their name. The seller will be in for a big surprise if they get a bill... surely something like this would follow you, due to banking information or SSN or other data. Like I said, the community needed personal information to buy the house. So they can use that information maliciously if you renege on anything. Yet, try to do that to them, and you've got enemies and lawsuits and everything else.

Until this can clear itself up, do your research and make sure you know what you're signing

Cheers;