Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/18/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed with The St. Paul Group (SPG) to receive service for 1G symmetrical internet. SPG provided internet service with upload and download speeds often in the 300 Mbps and under range, and nowhere near the 1G symmetrical that was advertised. I sent *** written notice in February and again in April about their service, but they refused to address the issue. Per their Service Agreement, I am allowed to terminate service immediately if *** has not corrected an issue within 30 days of receiving written notice of that issue. I sent them notice to terminate immediately in May, but they refused to acknowledge it. They continue to bill me in June, and they informed me that they intend to bill me until November. This is a breach of their own contract. I would like them to cease these actions.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/20/2024

  While we can certainly understand the clients frustration here, internet speeds are always 'best effort' and no one will get the 'advertised' speeds from an provider.  Ie; if you buy a 1Gbps plan from your residential provider, you will never see "*****Mpbs or "1gbps" if you run a speed test.  While we do understand that 300mbps upload is low when paying for 1gbps service, the clients first attempt at alerting us was an email sent directly and met with our firm's Vice President visiting the physical environment and testing speeds on the clients side within 1 week.  We checked our side of the internet link, and saw no reason while speeds would be low, so we asked the client to test his environment (since client traffic levels and server load can effect speed).  No official trouble ticket was ever opened for this first anecdotal 'complaint'.  No official trouble ticket was officially opened for the client's second 'complaint' either, but upon review of this complaint, i did look back and find one sentence buried in an email about port forwarding (which is a different topic).  

  The client's want to cancel the contract arose when we approached them with the fact that some of the invoice line items were initially given to build his infrastructure, were going to start being charged for.  We offered to cancel the additional services and go back to the original contract terms, but that offer was never accepted.

  This is an unfortunate situation for all sides, but we do not find material breach to be a true factor in client's request for termination of the contract mid-term.  We will certainly terminate the contract at the originally agreed upon date with no roll over or penalty, and we will not seek the additional service costs that we incurred to get his network set up and running and chalk that up to a learning experience for moving forward.

   

  Business Response

  Date: 06/20/2024

  Attached you will find a screen shot of Client's trouble tickets - never one about internet speeds.

  Attached you will also find the email that client references from February.  This was the email that sent me personally to check his speeds (and his screen shot of the speeds).  When we checked our end, nothing looked out of the ordinary, and we asked the client to let us know if he still experiences slow speeds.  We did not hear from them until April (after 30 days when we originally reacted to his message from February).

  I can also provide his email from April, where he did indeed bring up the complaint, but buried it in an email about port forwarding which was addresses and handled.

  Our feeling is that this client wanted 'residential' internet pricing, but enterprise level internet - and it was unsustainable for them.

  Im sorry that we all have to go through this.  happy summer!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/21/2024

   
  Complaint: 21867637

  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Please find attached a conversation with a St **** Group (SPG) technician. They were aware that internet speeds were not true 1G symmetrical as far back as early January. I had additional communications with SPG where they were informed about the speed issues, but they chose not to resolve it then. 

  Please find attached an internet speed test dated May 29, 2024. Please note the test results on ***'s network switch with no other devices attached. The service provided was clearly not 1 G symmetrical fiber. Please be advised that I have additional results at different points in time through neutral speed test services that show comparable results.

  SPG retained sole control of the router as well as the managed switch at all times. The only point of access that I had to access the internet was through SPG's network switch. Thus, the only metric that matters was the internet speed accessed from within the network switch. It is then logical to disregard their assessment that "nothing looked out of the ordinary" because they never tested or attempted to test access from the network switch.

  SPG's assessment of my business and intentions is a non sequitur. The crux of the matter is SPG provided inadequate service, and they are now in breach of their service agreement by refusing to acknowledge my letter to terminate.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ***