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After 28 months I still can not get my second Starlink dish and account activated. You can't find an address, phone number or email to contact the company. They

After 28 months I still can not get my second Starlink dish and account activated. You can't find an address, phone number or email to contact the company. They do offer a chat function to a helpdesk (which is not the Starlink/SpaceX company) but of course these people can't do anything for you, certainly not activate your account! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the worst. My other account was working for two months but then Starlink changed the payment form GUI and suddenly they no longer accepted my European bank accounts or Apple Pay or iDeal payment systems anymore, only credit card numbers. European people rarely have credit cards and certainly can't suddenly aquire one while roaming. And of course it would only work if you had a working roaming internet... wait a minute.... When I eventually had opened a new bank account with a credit card at great cost and expense, Starlink of course did not accept it. No recourse, no contact, no payments, nada. Anyone want to buy two revision 3 Starlink dishes, as-is, where-is, never been used? [1]. [1] From an Australian personals ad: "Rain gauge for sale, as-is-where-is, never been used". A joke told by Bush Tucker Man Les Hiddens while traveling in the Australian outback desert.

IshKebab 3y ago
> European people rarely have credit cards What? Almost everyone has a debit card and credit cards are very normal. I found some stats: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit... 50-60% is not rare. And presumably they didn't specifically require credit cards rather than debit cards, which are even more common.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  Your link is the worldwide view. Just the European one [1] shows that only 11 out of 38 countries have an adoption of CCs >50%, 16/38 are at >40%. Additionally, just because we have credit cards doesn't mean we use them in daily life. SEPA based payments work out far better. [1] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/Europe/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
  - morphle 3y ago
    >just because we have credit cards doesn't mean we use them I concur, using credit cards is rather dangerous, especially online and in app forms for both buyer and seller alike [6]. >SEPA based payments work out far better Indeed, but since recently (2018?) European banks couldn't confiscate your money on a whim, like the US credit card companies did for decades. Now European banks do too, just like PayPal [4]. Enshittfication was first coined by Cory Doctorrow [3] here [2] and it applies everywhere now [1]. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5 https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64a... [2] https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification [4] https://emerchantauthority.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-paypal-account-gets-frozen/#:~:text=the%20resolution%20centre.-,Why%20PayPal%20Freeze%20PayPal%20account%3F,or%20to%20comply%20with%20regulations https://emerchantauthority.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-paypa.... [5] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=freeze+bank https://hn.algolia.com/?q=freeze+bank [6] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=chargeback&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
    - relativ575 3y ago
      > I concur, using credit cards is rather dangerous Your link is about chargeback. I'm pretty much exclusively using credit cards for daily payment and I can't even remember the last time I got any problems. I never pay interest either. I get that you don't like or trust credit card, and it isn't popular in Europe, but don't be generalizing. Even in Europe my credit cards work well, except for the unpopularity of Amex.
      - morphle 3y ago
        >I get that you don't like or trust credit card I do not get why people insist on defending the credit card companies and their ungoing enshittification and changing rules and laws[1]. I would prefer you refuting my central argument[2]. Credit card laws and rules have many more problems than just chargebacks. For two decades online payment webpages stole credit card numbers and stole money from people. I could list many more documented cases. Elsewhere someone argues that debit cards are not credit cards. I agree. Of course Starlink forms reject debit cards too. [1] https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-company-declines-your-credit-or-debit-card https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-company-declines-your... [2] https://paulgraham.com/disagree.html https://paulgraham.com/disagree.html
inemesitaffia 3y ago
You can't activate? It's preactivated. You also have a local Telco regulator and a consumer rights regulator too
- morphle 3y ago
  > It's preactivated. Do you have proof of that? I have proof they have never been preactivated. I'd like to learn if it's different elsewhere or elsewhen. I have needed to activate and re-activate more than a 100 starlinks to date and it never was easy.
  - ayewo 3y ago
    I’m confused. Upthread [1] you said you were trying to activate your second Starlink dish but now you claim to have activated more than 100 Starlinks ? [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39547910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39547910
    - fiberhood 3y ago
      In these comments there is a distinction between between activating the private personal Starlink accounts of user morphle and activating the Starlink accounts of other people by the same person on behalf of a rural internet coöperative in other countries. We also helped rural Spain, rural Ukraine and on other continents and islands with setting up optical mesh and satellite internet, most of which had Starlink links as backup.
      - inemesitaffia 3y ago
        If you buy the product direct, you get Internet out of the box. The idea of activation only makes sense for transfers and buying at retail.

IshKebab 3y ago

> European people rarely have credit cards What? Almost everyone has a debit card and credit cards are very normal. I found some stats: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit... 50-60% is not rare. And presumably they didn't specifically require credit cards rather than debit cards, which are even more common.

mschuster91 3y ago
Your link is the worldwide view. Just the European one [1] shows that only 11 out of 38 countries have an adoption of CCs >50%, 16/38 are at >40%. Additionally, just because we have credit cards doesn't mean we use them in daily life. SEPA based payments work out far better. [1] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit_cards/Europe/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
- morphle 3y ago
  >just because we have credit cards doesn't mean we use them I concur, using credit cards is rather dangerous, especially online and in app forms for both buyer and seller alike [6]. >SEPA based payments work out far better Indeed, but since recently (2018?) European banks couldn't confiscate your money on a whim, like the US credit card companies did for decades. Now European banks do too, just like PayPal [4]. Enshittfication was first coined by Cory Doctorrow [3] here [2] and it applies everywhere now [1]. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5 https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64a... [2] https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification [4] https://emerchantauthority.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-paypal-account-gets-frozen/#:~:text=the%20resolution%20centre.-,Why%20PayPal%20Freeze%20PayPal%20account%3F,or%20to%20comply%20with%20regulations https://emerchantauthority.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-paypa.... [5] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=freeze+bank https://hn.algolia.com/?q=freeze+bank [6] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=chargeback&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
  - relativ575 3y ago
    > I concur, using credit cards is rather dangerous Your link is about chargeback. I'm pretty much exclusively using credit cards for daily payment and I can't even remember the last time I got any problems. I never pay interest either. I get that you don't like or trust credit card, and it isn't popular in Europe, but don't be generalizing. Even in Europe my credit cards work well, except for the unpopularity of Amex.
    - morphle 3y ago
      >I get that you don't like or trust credit card I do not get why people insist on defending the credit card companies and their ungoing enshittification and changing rules and laws[1]. I would prefer you refuting my central argument[2]. Credit card laws and rules have many more problems than just chargebacks. For two decades online payment webpages stole credit card numbers and stole money from people. I could list many more documented cases. Elsewhere someone argues that debit cards are not credit cards. I agree. Of course Starlink forms reject debit cards too. [1] https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-company-declines-your-credit-or-debit-card https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-company-declines-your... [2] https://paulgraham.com/disagree.html https://paulgraham.com/disagree.html

inemesitaffia 3y ago

You can't activate? It's preactivated. You also have a local Telco regulator and a consumer rights regulator too

morphle 3y ago
> It's preactivated. Do you have proof of that? I have proof they have never been preactivated. I'd like to learn if it's different elsewhere or elsewhen. I have needed to activate and re-activate more than a 100 starlinks to date and it never was easy.
- ayewo 3y ago
  I’m confused. Upthread [1] you said you were trying to activate your second Starlink dish but now you claim to have activated more than 100 Starlinks ? [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39547910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39547910
  - fiberhood 3y ago
    In these comments there is a distinction between between activating the private personal Starlink accounts of user morphle and activating the Starlink accounts of other people by the same person on behalf of a rural internet coöperative in other countries. We also helped rural Spain, rural Ukraine and on other continents and islands with setting up optical mesh and satellite internet, most of which had Starlink links as backup.
    - inemesitaffia 3y ago
      If you buy the product direct, you get Internet out of the box. The idea of activation only makes sense for transfers and buying at retail.