Nomad Internet customers confess how they got “taken”

Late last month we reported that the Texas Attorney General had filed suit against Nomad Internet and several of its principals. We commented that Nomad promises to deliver high speed wireless internet service with no limits, no throttling, to RVers and other customers. And with the promise of “no contract, no cancellation fees,” apparently thousands have signed up for the ride. We wondered if any of our readers had gone along for the ride, and asked any to share their Nomad Internet experience. Many have commented, and their experiences are revealing.

“No-experience” Nomad Internet experience

For a number of those who wrote, they never really got to the point of having a Nomad Internet experience. That is, they paid money, but never received their equipment. Take Matthew S., as an example. “I bought the full package based on multiple YouTube videos touting the great hardware and service. I was told it’d take one to two weeks to receive everything.

“After four weeks, I began contacting them every few days. Each email or chat response told me it’d be sent within a week. Of course, nothing has come. I notified them I wanted to cancel, but no response — and no refund.”

The story was similar to that of Richard T. He signed on the line at the end of March. “Never received the modem,” says Richard. “Followed up and they said running behind, should ship in seven to ten days. Never received, asked for a full refund, was assured they will be shipping shortly.” Adding insult to Richard’s injury? “I’m still receiving emails from them as most recently as last Saturday for ‘Specials.’ What a scam!”

Show us the money

So what’s to be done when your money vanishes but the equipment doesn’t appear? Jourdan A. was like several others who contacted us with their Nomad Internet experience. “We purchased the Nomad router and received an email confirming our order, saying that we would soon receive shipping info. Three weeks passed without any shipping information.

“After reaching out to Nomad to cancel the order, the phone number provided was a dead line and the email chat support didn’t solve anything either. Had to dispute the charge to cancel and file a fraud report with our credit card company to have charge of $299 reimbursed back onto our credit card.”

A reader chats with Nomad’s owner

Several mentioned canceling credit card charges. This wasn’t apparently something new for Nomad. Clear back in 2020, Will B. had a problem with Nomad, when his equipment never showed up. Will got on a “chat session” with Nomad, which he says eventually ended with him chatting with the company owner, Jaden Garza.

Will is a business owner himself, and after waiting for seemingly nothing, Will used the magic word, “chargeback.” Nomad told him they were immediately canceling his order. Will was taken aback, as they did nothing to try and straighten the problem out. Why? Nomad’s representative responded, “We take threats of chargebacks seriously. Once they are made, our policy is to cancel the order.”

Eventually, Nomad’s Jaden Garza came online. Here’s Garza’s response, in what some might call “a play for sympathy.”

Garza: “I am the owner here. Unfortunately, I have been scammed. And scams look a lot different. People don’t email you. More importantly, for me, it’s not easy to confuse the delay in shipping when the world just moved through a global pandemic for a scam. When I am working with a company, I try to understand what the people there are going through. I don’t make threats. But again, that’s me. I do thank you for your original order, good luck in your search.”

Some had service … but then again

“I have been scammed,” eh? If you believe the Texas A.G., a whole lot of people got the scam from Garza and Nomad. But what about others who actually got their equipment and did have service? What was their Nomad Internet experience?

Here’s the word from David B. “I had Nomad for over a year and experienced reasonably good service. However, as soon as they started selling the new products (basically making you buy it if you wanted to keep their service) everything went to crap.

“When I got the new device, I knew immediately that it wasn’t going to work. I contacted them and was told to communicate with customer service through Twitter. As soon as I started talking with them on Twitter, they blocked me. Fortunately, I was one of the few who received a complete refund. But it was like pulling teeth to get it. It’s such a shame! They were a good company until they got greedy.”

“Verizon disaster”

Catherine L. tells a similar story. “We would be fine for a couple of months, then all of a sudden nothing. They would replace the SIM card only to have it happen again. Then the Verizon disaster – buy the modem and all will be fine. NOPE! Communication was terrible – I sent email after email and voice mail after voice mail with no response.” All this runs in line with the complaint filed by the State of Texas. They say Nomad was ripping off internet providers, who responded by chopping service off. Catherine’s final word? “My advice? Quit them now or, better yet, don’t even start!”

Those who actually got their equipment and did have some sort of service may be worse off financially than those who never got their equipment. Here’s Jessica J.’s Nomad Internet experience. “When I first started my service the Internet was good for about two months and then it just died.

“I had multiple interruptions and days where I couldn’t even get one device to connect … had an entire week without service and they didn’t even offer to give me compensation. I had three months that I couldn’t connect but still had to pay for it. My Internet was turned off like everyone else at the turn of the year and then a brand new plan, all better, now I’m paying $99 a month. Then when out of the blue they changed it again and now I pay $109 a month.”

Those who had service seem to have done worse financially than others

So how did this work out financially? We’ve already seen how Jessica kept paying for service she never really had. But it gets worse. “They charged my card incorrectly multiple times and wouldn’t give me a refund, only credit. Then they didn’t use the credit for the next bill and charged my card. I needed that money for another bill so I lived on my credit cards that week because it took over a week to get the money put back into my account because I refused another credit.”

We could go on with the sorry stories we’ve heard from RVtravel.com readers. But hang on, we did receive ONE positive comment about Nomad. Dennis M. writes that he currently has a Nomad cube, equipped with a Verizon SIM card. “I’ve had no issues with the service except for the first weekend it was in the house,” wrote Dennis.

And those YouTube influencers

Weighing Dennis’ experience against the many others we’ve heard about doesn’t do much to balance the complaints against the company. Matthew S., who we spoke about above, adds this thought: “This is also a reminder that so-called YouTube ‘influencers’ are not to be trusted. They implore viewers to focus on experiences, yet incessantly sell stuff — and all because they were given a free product/service and paid a commission. It’s called into question my faith in these RV YouTubers and whether they have any integrity whatsoever.”

What’s new in court?

So where does it all stand? As of mid-week, we checked with the court where the Texas A.G. filed suit. A judge signed off on a temporary restraining order earlier this month. As might be expected, Nomad is constrained from selling internet service unless they have a specific legal agreement with the internet providers. The company bank accounts are frozen—no less than ten of them.

The order does allow Nomad to continue to operate. To that end, it will be allowed access to $768,848 a month for “reasonable ongoing business expenses” until trial begins. Jessica and Joshua Garza will be personally allowed access to $1,000 a week for their personal expenses, and those of their five children.

While the Garzas continue to bump along on their allowance, when might unhappy customers see justice in court? At this point, trial is set for May 20. Hang on, that’s not this week. That’s May 20, 2024.

As we urged in our last article, if your Nomad Internet experience isn’t so hot, and if you feel you’ve been victimized by Nomad, let the Texas Attorney General know. You can call for help at 800-621-0508, or file online.

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