Helio's flame going out: stores to shutter, customers heading to Virgin?
By Ryan Block 
posted June 20th 2008 12:31PM
posted June 20th 2008 12:31PM
Alongside Helio -- more or less the last man standing -- the great MVNO goldrush also dies. Unfortunate that besides Virgin and a few local and M2M providers (like Amazon's Whispernet), pretty much no one was able to make it work. Then again, no one ever never said making cellphones and running any kind of carrier was easy.
Kajeet does need to go im still trying to figure out how they stayed in business pass a month. I live near there officies and have never seen anyone in the area with a Kajeet phone, the only place i've seen one was on display at a bestbuy
Two-year contracts... they were never different. Buh-bye!
Thats the stupidest thing Ive ever heard. Everyone knows Korean phones are the best. They're just having some problems integrating to the American culture. Give them some more time and money and SK Telecom will ruin apple's telecommunications industry. DMB will take over the world.
I said this would happen. I can even tell you what was at least the partial reason for this happening: the worst customer service out there... let alone in the cell phone market.
6 months to get SOME of my money back on the half-baked ocean.
Good-riddance.
On the bright side, perhaps this will allow Virgin to get some phones that don't look like toys.
lol, when u got caught using ur real phone in school, u use virgin moble phones to give to the teacher, haha
---------------------------------THIS IS A RUMOR-------------------------
HelioSKT(someone who works with helio and knows whats up with them) postest on over at HELIOCITY and said to everyone it was a rumor so there you go helio is not over yet
Okay so lets do a count how many MVNO's left
Tracfone
Net10
Virgin
7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless
Airlink Mobile
BeyondMobile
Beyond Wireless
EMBARQ ( Use to be owned by Sprint)
I Wireless
Jetterbug
Liberty
Locus
Lucky
STL
The only ones i count will be in business for a while will be
Tracfone/Net10 since there owned by America Movil
Virgin partly owned by Sprint & Virgin
Embarq sells sprint service as sprint. no real problems unless something happens to sprint.
Movida is still available, too. Gotta keep the Spanish-speakers happy.
Anyone ever stop to realize all they are doing is closing stores? We all have our panties in a bunch because we are speculating what is going to happen. For all we know Helio will continue under Vigin Mobile and become successful? Too many people have called the death of Helio over the past 2 years and been WRONG!! Let's wait and see? Am I the only one that hopes they will stay open and make the market competitive???
I don't understand all this Helio hate, unless of course it's coming from the Apple fanboys...
I've been a Helio customer since August '07. My phone works everywhere I love to go. Sprint has great coverage in my state (California). And I get to roam for free on Verizon's towers.
I've loved my Ocean more than any other cell phone I've ever used. Texting/Data-entry is a dream. I love the Opera browser. I've never, ever had any problems with my phone.
I'm on the cheapest plan, and I get unlimited text and data. My bill is about $65 a month. What's not to like about that?
I hope I get to keep my phone and my rate plan if Helio merges...
Apple would've been able to make the MVNO thing work, they are after all Apple, it's not like they're going to go out of business or be bought out any time soon.
My experience with Helio was kind of a mixed bag. Their customer service is absolutely terrible, but the Ocean is a great phone and the (sprint) network has worked flawlessly for me.
About a year ago, after getting royally screwed by Verizon, I switched to Helio and got an Ocean. It took them weeks to switch my number over. Every time I called customer support I waited on hold forever and each CS agent I talked to had no idea what they were doing. I kept getting transferred around from person to person, and eventually the call would "accidentally" get disconnected. Finally my number got switched over, but for the first week I wasn't getting most of the text messages sent to me (tested it with a few friends and 3/4 messages never went through). Customer service had no idea what the problem was, but it fixed itself eventually.
Once all that was worked out, all was well for a long time. The Ocean really is a nice phone and as I said, my signal strength has been great and I haven't had many drop outs to speak of, even in areas that were touchy on Verizon.
Then a few months back I made the mistake of switching my plan to get rid of unlimited internet, as I wasn't using it enough to justify the cost... and they accidentally charged me an early termination fee, overdrawing my checking account and causing me to bounce my car payment. Getting a CS rep on the phone took forever, but at least they were able to fix my problem on the first call this time, rather than the 8th. They refunded the charge, but I was SOL for the overdraught and bounced check fees, of course.
If they are truly going under, I'd have to say I'm not surprised given my experiences with their support/billing... but then again, Verizon was about as bad and my signal was worse. I hope they will let us out of our contracts rather than force us to go to a random company I have little faith in. If they do allow us to leave, I wonder how hard it will be to get my number ported, considering how long/difficult it was to get my number ported to Helio in the first place.
Ugh, basically.
Their Manhattan store on Broadway is always empty. Can't help but wonder how much money that location is siphoning from Helio
I loved my Ocean and the service was great too unless you had to contact customer service. there customer service skills were horrible. So I am back with Sprint using a Palm Centro and I love it.
fucking helio this is what you get for not paying me for working for your stupid ass compay im glad your going down in flames !!!
Not paying you to work at one of their stores? I would think that a lack of basic grammar skills would disqualify you from working for many a different "compay," even a "stupid ass" one. Well, maybe those of that type would actually employ you, but that's all up to speculation.
Helio the worst ever experience. Took 6 months also but only got money when they refused to answer the credit card company. Almost criminal.
For once I have to agree with the Apple fanboys, when Helio started making claims about how much better their device was than the iPhone, they forgot one critical element: the iPhone doesn't look like a tampon applicator.
I think some of the posters of comments here have plenty of reason to be upset with Helio. I have experienced some issues early on with their customer service at times not being so helpful, but the issues were resolved when I talked with the manager or rep at the Helio store. Being a Helio customer from summer/fall '07 to present day, I've really enjoyed the service immensely. I really hope nothing changes on my end.
I used to only be a talk/text user, and now I enjoy watching YouTube videos, web browsing, GPS, amongst a host of different things on a very intuitive and well rounded (literally!) device, the Ocean. Very few people are mentioning positive things about helio like... as opposed to many big carriers, a Helio member does not have to resign their entire 2 year agreement for doing something as simple as adjusting their call plan (Sprint is especially nightmarish with this one). Also, you know those hot $99 nationwide/no roaming unlimited calling plans that pretty much every major carrier has (and that you may now have)? Thank Helio for setting that as an industry standard in the current market.
What many, if not most of the users posting comments here is missing the boat on is the very first line of the article. You know... the one where there's mention of dropping the axe? Layoffs. This means that perhaps the very sales rep that helped me get my Helio, who has shown extreme dedication to taking care of me, who has gone to bat for me in dealing with issues as they've come up, who has been professional and made solid recommendations to me, who has called me to let me know there's a lower rate for my unlimited everything plan (the list goes on).... that same *person* no longer has a job to pay rent, electric bills, etc.
Reading some of these comments, I have to wonder if anyone has stopped to consider them at all. I'm sorry that you were out a couple hundred dollars, maybe even six hundred, let's even go to a thousand... but these folks are out a heck of a lot more than you. Besides, if you were in the right, then you won't have to pay them anything, can get it removed from your credit, etc.
It really irks me how many people are so quick to go on a bitchfest these days and lack any sort of compassion or consideration for the whole picture. If you haven't ever been laid off before, I hope you get that experience. It's a humbling one for sure, and has the opportunity to build a great deal of character.
I'll brace myself for the flaming most likely to commence shortly. I might actually respond if someone replies with intelligence beyond "Fuck Helio, burn!" or "Ha ha eat shit and die!" For those inclined to leave responses like that, I really don't give a damn.
Hey I just wanted to say thank you for your comments.
I was laid off last fall due to some company restructuring and have had a hell of time finding work. Being laid off is a horrible experience to go through and I would never wish it on anyone. Imagine you’re having a great month in terms of sales, life is good. You sit down to eat your lunch and get a call from your manager and a HR rep. They say, “Hey, just wanted to let you know that the company has decided to wipe out your position and that you no longer work for the company starting now. The company will provide you with some money to help you out for a few months, thanks for your efforts, and good luck.” Click.
It’s always easy for people to bash a company when it doesn’t affect their life. I agree the customer service sucks. But put it in their perspective: these people probably get paid shit, overwhelmed with a lot of information, and are yelled at all day by angry customers. At least Helio used Americans that I can understand for its customer service.
Rumors suck and it's unfortunate that the web spreads this information way too easily. Helio has a lot of potential and I hope it finds a way to keep going. I have had every model of Helio’s devices from the Kick Flip up until the Ocean and I am looking forward to checking in out the Ocean 2. I like my Helio Ocean and the service it provides. Helio has been inovative by forcing the other companies to make changes with their plans which are still higher priced and not consumer driven. Oh well. Shit happens.
And for the people that want out early, too bad. You more than likely can’t break your contract based on a rumor. You should be able to do it once there is an official statement. That is, if there ever is one made.
"I agree the customer service sucks. But put it in their perspective: these people probably get paid shit, overwhelmed with a lot of information, and are yelled at all day by angry customers. At least Helio used Americans that I can understand for its customer service."
Regardless of what a person gets paid, they should take pride in their job. There's no excuse for poor customer service.
Cool, think I can get out of my contract? :)
even more reason for me to try and get the LG secret. whenever it comes out. which hopefully is soon and for under $300
so long ocean, it was fun while it lasted. even though lately my service reception on the phone has been crap.
HAHA what a Lie!!! None of this is true. it has already been debunked as inaccurate.
actually its true. helio stores closed today. http://www.fiercewireless.com
Helio went down as it should have. The customer service was HORRIBLE. After overpaying two months in a row because their overseas call center kept telling me I went over my minutes (on an unlimited plan), they literally would turn my unit off every five days for non-payment. After spending an hour or so each call with them, it would be back on, off again five days later. The last time, I told them to keep it off and they breached the contract, not me, by not providing what I paid (and overpaid) for.
They had the nerve to send me to collections. My response to that was served on their Los Angeles office back in April.