Comments on: 5 reasons why Helio’s “Total Happiness Guarantee” is baloney

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:59:20 +0000

I’m truly shocked that people have had so many problems with Helio. Now I’ve never called their Customer Service Support but I’ve never had a reason too. Let me start off by saying I picked up my Helio from where I work, Fry’s Electronics back in 2008 and we had a contract deal that survived all the way up till now which also happens to be past Virgin Mobiles buy into Helio for ownership and though their merger with Sprint. Sprint is cutting all services for Helio phones 05/25/2010. Now the contract deal was as an employee I got 50% off my bill after taxes so I payed $38 and change a month which was really awesome. The only thing I didn’t like about their service as a whole was the fact I could stand in the same place and go from 3G sergice to 1X service. (1X being analog I would assume.) But that aside sometimes it would fail to send a text, not a surprise because all phones can do that including my now new Sprint Rumor2. But today my Helio Heat after 2+ years of great service died on me today, thankfully to PCLink Pro, a program I had to download to sync my Helio Heat to my PC to get pictures on/off it I was able to salvage my contact list. (It was saved still from the last time I hooked it up, I never synced it to the website.) All of this said I can’t believe people had so many problems with Helio but more over anyone I knew who had the Ocean except one person loved it. One Co-worker wishes he could still use it with Sprint but I checked while I was at their store today and you can’t.

By: sd619

sd619 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:52:07 +0000

it’s crazy to hear all these bad things about helio; i have had nothing but good experiences with their customer service when i’ve had to be in contact with them. the two times i’ve had to have my phone (ocean) replaced, everyone i’ve been in contact with has been a total peach and willing to help. the 2nd time i had to have it replaced i was even a couple weeks outside my warranty and after speaking to a manager, she graciously let me exchange anyways. got a brand new phone each time, not refurbed. i’ve had several techs spent countless minutes on the phone with me when the phones were breaking down each time (before i’ve had to send them in) and they’ve always been very helpful and patient. i’ve had great reception, and i love the ease of texting, calling, internet, and pics on the ocean. and no disrespect against anyone with limited english, but all the times i’ve called i’ve definitely never had trouble understanding the representatives. and that’s more i can say for when i used to have cingular. weird. guess i’ve been lucky but i’ve loved helio ever since i got it (2006). now i’m just nervous that now it’s actually virgin mobile that things will change.

By: navarre

navarre — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:51:36 +0000

Has anyone noticed a change in the service or customer support since Helio was bought by Virgin Mobile. I speak English and I have a really difficult time understanding any of the Helio reps.

Thank god I don’t have the problems some of these other people have had but hell I have only had it since december.

By: JEFF

JEFF — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:48:35 +0000

FOR AMANDA, OR ANYONE WITH KNOWLEDGE ON HELIOS BANKING. I HAD TO SUE HELIOS IN SMALL CLAIMS TO GET MY MONEY BACK (I WON). THE TROUBLE I HAVE NOW IS FINDING THEIR BANK. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THEY BANK, OR PULL THEIR PAYROLL FROM? PLEASE EMAIL ME @ JEFFGROPPI@GMAIL.COM. IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK, SUE THEM IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT, AS THEY WILL NOT RESPOND. THEY ARE JUST COUNTING ON PEOPLE BEING LAZY, OR UNINFORMED ON THEIR OPTIONS. ITS EASY TO DO, SO GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:25:15 +0000

I too am interested in a class action suit against this bastard of a company. They have screwed my husband I over since day one. We both have ocean’s. Or as I like to call it the baked potato,since it is useless. It is the shittiest phone I have ever come across. It is only good for text. They said it is 3g. It’s not.It’s run off an analog tower! I have a poor connection at the beginnig of every phone call. Usually when the person is saying “Hi. This is so and so.” It breaks up right as they say their name. Now this does not work well for me, especially since this is my business phone. Almost every single time I check voicemail and hang up. It gets stuck in voicemail and the only way to get out of it is to turn the mother off. I am a busy hairstylist and don’t have the time to fiddle with the frickin baked potatoe’s idiosyncrasies. My husband has volumes of logged conversations with customer service trying to get some relief from our helio shackles. They all lie. They all tell you a different story. The bottom line, it is your fault you signed a contract with Helio. Now suck up the shittiest phone service ever for two years. We both have replaced our oceans within less than a year. We both are responsible adults that have not dropped or immersed these said phones in water. Why do they suck so bad? Right now as I type, my husband is on the phone with their customer service trying once again in vain to get us out of this contract. He has talked hours and hours to them. They always act like the have no recollection of past problems. Why are’nt these logged on their end? They also “accidentally erased my entire clientele phone list”. That cost me business and was embarrassing when people called. Customers were miffed I didn’t recognize their numbers. I had to explain that Helio is shady and to stay the hell away from them.

By: HELIOSERVICE SUCKS

HELIOSERVICE SUCKS — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:28:02 +0000

ANYONE KNOW OF CLASS ACTION SUITS AGAINST HELIO YEY ?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:31:17 +0000

It’s sad to say, but I’m glad I’m not the only one. I originally signed up in June (beginning) with the Ocean refund promo of $100. Well, I did exactly what they said on their refund form (3 days later). I received an email from their “refund” company that said it’s being processed and ready for final validation. They gave me a tracking number and their website to track it. They received the paperwork on June 17th. It is now December 9th and after SEVERAL emails and phone calls to Helio and the rebate company, all I get is the same response. Helio says they can’t help because they don’t process the refunds. The rebate company keeps telling me it will be another 6-9 weeks. No one will help. All I want is my $100 refund!!! I’m so frustrated at this point, now I want to cancel my contract. I absolutely refuse to pay the ETF because as far as I’m concerned, the fact that I never received my $100 rebate constitutes as a contract change and I should not be charged an ETF. I have since reported both companies to the BBB (still waiting on a response from them). I hope to get this resolved soon. Either way, I’m terminating the contract and moving on. I’ve wasted too much time, energy and money into a worthless company who doesn’t care about it’s customers.

By: Will

Will — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:17:30 +0000

I have a helio ocean, and as much as i liked the device for its features when i first got it, IM FED UP WITH HELIO. Lets start with the fact that my device broke within the first year of ownership. I returned it for a “new” one (knowing i was getting a refurb), and alas i got a new shiny helio in the mail. now i’m thinking to myself “wow, great customer service, they even included a new background,” but i thought wrong. The device was BROKEN on arrival. yeah that’s right, it didn’t work right: all the keys were messed up and the only thing i could get it to do was turn on…couldn’t turn it off without removing the battery. anyways this lead to a TON of bs from the customer service dept., needless to say now i own both a fin and an ocean, and i am counting down the days to Aug. 2009, when i can finally leave helio and get a blackberry.

and even now, my ocean doesnt function properly

btw- sorry for the lack of correct sentence structure and the like, i just am not in the mood :D

By: Mobob

Mobob — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:54:48 +0000

Having the same problem with Helio as well. Some attorney would have a hey day on this company with a class action suit. I believe this company has caused so much pain in people’s lives that it simply can not go on any longer. It is beyond ridiculous.

I have now been told three times that my refund check has been sent since May and here it is August and still no check. When I called this time (to corporate office) they now tell me it was not sent and that the spreadsheet was incorrect. I wish I had NEVER heard of Helio!!

By: jesse

jesse — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:36:03 +0000

the reason helio’s refunds were taking so long is because every single check whether $20 or $200,000 had to be signed off on by the then controller mike zemetra. this included refunds, this included purchases, literally every check that went out. it was an odd policy that i’d never seen before in a company that size to have its entire cash flow held hostage and bottlenecked by one single person