Some Starlink customers say SpaceX’s customer service is ‘non-existent’ nearly 1 year after paying a $100 deposit and receiving no updates
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- Elon Musk’s SpaceX has left some Starlink customers waiting nearly a year for internet, they said.
- Some customers said they’re hanging on for Starlink. Others said they’ve requested a deposit refund.
Morgan Pace was trying to set up broadband for his 70-year-old father, who lives on a cattle ranch in Northern California.
In February, Pace signed up to Starlink — SpaceX’s rapidly expanding satellite internet network — and paid a $100 deposit to secure the service two months later.
“Months went by and not a peep,” he told Insider.
Pace said he checked his account and saw that he could lose his place in line if he took back his deposit. There was no contact number for Starlink customer service on SpaceX’s website, he said.
After 10 months of waiting for the internet, he requested a refund for his deposit.
“I think Elon is a very smart man and wish him the best, but I think his customer service for Starlink was non-existent,” Pace said.
Insider spoke to more than ten people who have waited nearly 12 months for Starlink’s internet service. However, they have received no updates from Elon Musk’s company on when Starlink will be available in their area and if the kit is on its way.
They sent Insider email confirmations of their Starlink purchases and refund requests, made from February onwards.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, made a few days before publication.
Jason Kirkpatrick, who is based in Michigan, told Insider that he paid $100 to secure Starlink in March but decided to request a refund in December because of the lack of contact from SpaceX.
Kirkpatrick said that when he logs onto his Starlink account, it says his deposit was refunded. However, he said he never got the money back, adding that he can’t get through to SpaceX to alert them of the issue.
He said he felt “cheated” out of his deposit. “Not sure how a company just can walk away with customers money without providing the service,” he said.
Another Starlink customer, Scott Alexander, told Insider that he’s been waiting nearly a year for his Starlink kit to arrive.
“Since then I have heard nothing but the generic excuse email that, we have all heard, noting pandemic and supply chain issues,” he said.
SpaceX sent emails to Starlink preorder customers last year, apologizing for shipping delays and saying silicon shortages have slowed down the production rate.
Alexander said his neighbor, who ordered Starlink three weeks before him, has already received his kit.
Starlink said in August that the global chip shortage was delaying the production of user terminals.
Keith Bosse, who paid a deposit for Starlink on February 25, told Insider that his order was pushed back from mid to late 2021 to the first quarter of 2022.
“Seems like if they can go to space they could at least send me an update via email?” Bosse said.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Troy Dubé paid 129 Canadian dollars for a Starlink deposit in late February but still hasn’t had any contact from SpaceX. He told Insider that Bell Canada is now available in his area so “it’ll be a matter of who gets me the faster service first.”
Dubé said it would be useful to contact SpaceX, especially after other people on the same latitudinal line near to him have received their Starlink kits eight months after he first ordered his kit.
“I currently have little choice but to wait it out,” Dubé said.
More than five other customers got in touch with Insider to say they had experienced the same silence after preordering Starlink. Insider first reported in September that customers were frustrated at not being able to find out when they’ll receive their kits.
Starlink has more than 1,400 active satellites in orbit, Musk tweeted recently.
