Vonage Sucks
Since we are moving we need to sign up for new phone service. I had heard a lot about a Vonage, they offer a VOIP service that is supposed to be as good a regular phone line and much cheaper. So I suggested it to my wife, bad idea.
Shortly after signing up we wanted to talk to customer service about a simple problem with our new account. We waited on hold multiple times to speak to anyone in customer service, completely unsuccessfully I might add. The only way my wife was able to get anyone on the phone was to call the sales line for new customers, they answered that phone no problem, but still wouldn't help us since they're not "customer service".
So, completely frustrated by all this, we decided to cancel. We learned in an email that it's a $40 charge, and we must cancel by phone. We haven't even received the equipment ( we ordered it 2 days ago) and we already owe them $40, and, oh yeah, WE CAN'T GET THEM ON THE GODDAMN PHONE. $40 to cancel something we never received, is this a joke? It's clear they care more about getting as many customers as quickly as possible rather actually building a long term business. Fuck you Vonage.
Shortly after signing up we wanted to talk to customer service about a simple problem with our new account. We waited on hold multiple times to speak to anyone in customer service, completely unsuccessfully I might add. The only way my wife was able to get anyone on the phone was to call the sales line for new customers, they answered that phone no problem, but still wouldn't help us since they're not "customer service".
So, completely frustrated by all this, we decided to cancel. We learned in an email that it's a $40 charge, and we must cancel by phone. We haven't even received the equipment ( we ordered it 2 days ago) and we already owe them $40, and, oh yeah, WE CAN'T GET THEM ON THE GODDAMN PHONE. $40 to cancel something we never received, is this a joke? It's clear they care more about getting as many customers as quickly as possible rather actually building a long term business. Fuck you Vonage.
183 Comments:
Vonage sucked from a technical standpoint, too, when I tried them last year: After usually 4 minutes or so, people couldn't hear me on the other end anymore. Searching thru newsgroups, lots of folks reported the same problem. So I cancelled and switched to http://www.voicepulse.com. I am much happier with them, I have them now for ca. 1 year and never had ANY problem with them. They even switched me from a 617 to a 212 for free! Oh, and when I cancelled vonage, they didn't charge me $40. Although, since I am used bad service when it comes to cancelling ANY service for that matter, I tried something new with them: I told them that I have to let their "wonderful" service go because I had to move. They said no problem, your service can follow you around, IF you have cable or dsl in your service. I go "Oh well, in move to rural (insert your favorite out-in-the-boonies-town-here), which doesn't have ANY cable or dsl... And that was the end of it. I returned the equipment and was done.
Maybe they introduced the $40 fee later after my scam :-)
Thomas
www.thomasgumz.net
Vonage Sucks
Yes it does but not for the reason you state.
Shortly after signing up we wanted to talk to customer service about a simple problem with our new account. We waited on hold multiple times to speak to anyone in customer service, completely unsuccessfully I might add.
Yes this does suck but the company is undergoing "growing pains" Similiar to a gym that signed up too many members and didnt expand space or purchase more equipment.
The only way my wife was able to get anyone on the phone was to call the sales line for new customers, they answered that phone no problem, but still wouldn't help us since they're not "customer service".
This a stupid decision on Vonages part to allow calls to go through to people who are not qualified to answer particular questions. This does indeed suck.
So, completely frustrated by all this, we decided to cancel. We learned in an email that it's a $40 charge, and we must cancel by phone. We haven't even received the equipment ( we ordered it 2 days ago) and we already owe them $40, and, oh yeah, WE CAN'T GET THEM ON THE GODDAMN PHONE. $40 to cancel something we never received, is this a joke?
The joke is on you in this case. Had you paid attention to anything you were probably told, (note I said probably because I am willing to give you SOME benefit of the doubt), you would have understood that the $40 is more of a security deposit as opossed to a cancelation fee. Once the device that you did not receive yet is returned you would have gotten your $40 back. So this is where YOU look like an ass.
It's clear they care more about getting as many customers as quickly as possible rather actually building a long term business.
Open a business and lets see if you do not follow the same protocol or if it is as easy as you think it is.
Fuck you Vonage.
Im sure the people you spoke with feel the same way about you.
VONAGE= really poor service. If you desire a phone line that may or may not be in service at any time, by all means pay your money to vonage.
if you are a real person and need real phone service run away from vonage. there is generally enough competition for dial tone in major markets to provide quality service at reasonable prices.
I have had so many problems with vonage (lost calls(calling party gets an out of service announcement)calls to no where (call fowarded calls ring to nothing), poor quality (you think you sound fine but in reality you would sound better with a string and a can).
The killer is the delays to revert back to traditional dialtone.
Thank god I am free of VONAGE. Waiting to tap dance on the demise of the smoke and mirror "unphone" company.
FIND a deal that will actually provide reliable service. This may be ok for teenagers but adults need real service standards.
Vonage truly grew too fast.
Deceptive billing - I was billed three succesive days for charges that should have been "unlimited" according to my plan - I got my money back but not before spending over two hours of my life on hold for "customer service."
Dropped calls - I spent three days with all outgoing calls limited to 18 seconds. Yes, that was wonderful.
Poor line signal - I switched to Lingo and the line is clear. Vonage bit off more than they can chew. I canceled after two months. I have never seen such an inept company - and I hope they go under because as an early adopter I went with them and all I got was grief.
No phone company has ever messed me around as badly as Vonage. I wasted three weekends trying to configure this inert piece of plastic they call a Router, and never got close to a dial tone. Their customer support is a sick joke: I never waited less than an hour to talk to a human, and none of the supposed techies knew anymore about the subject than I did. Email queries for help received an automated reply and nothing more. I went out on the Vonage forums where, I was told, Vonage's top tech guys often lurk looking for emergency cases to help out. Bupkis. Now Vonage has the nerve to charge me for a "disconnection fee" when I was never connected to anything in the first place. Vonage truly sucks.
Vonage customer service is a set of monkeys that can not answer during 52 minutes and I continue to wait. And their sales department only knows how to apologise and can not transfer my problem to "customer service".
I have only one recomendation.
DO NOT TRUST VONAGE.
Forget to add that today is March 26, 2005
so almost 5 months since the original message, but vonage still the save pack of shit.
I TOTALLY agree...VONAGE sucks!!! I had the same experience as you did!!! I have had to call their freaking sorry customer service line 4 times on different days. Twice, they were having phone problems (which should have let me know NOT to sign up). Neither time was I hold hold for less than 20 minutes. If one of their brilliant customer services reps answered, they wasted my time by asking me all sorts of technical questions and then would have to transfer me to the "tech support" group (even though I pressed 2 for the tech support group in the first damn place). I had to sit on hold for yet another 20+ minutes until one of the tech support guys picked up!
I ordered the service at the beginning of February 2005, it is the beginning of April and just this week have I gotten my service to work! But you better believe that they billed me for 2 routers and the monthly service.
Vonage a big sucker. Dont ever try them.
Vonage sucks -- bad service, bad lines, scam you out of discount fee! Don't do it.
I have been trying to cancel my Vonage account for 3 MONTHS. This is absolutely the worst service I have EVERY had. My telephone company can't even cancel the account. I'm on hold now - typing this email, waiting for their accounts dept. I wish I could tell the whole world NOT to use Vonage.
I signed up for Vonage on Feb 22, 2005 thru a Best Buy deal. I sent in my letter of authorization on Feb 23 to have my phone number transferred. Today is June 1, 2005 and my number is still not transferred. I have called repeatedly and although I haven't had problems getting customer service on the phone (unlike the other blogger), the front line support can't do anything but cut tickets and forward them to others who apparently can't do anything to expedite this. On May 23, I finally got a CS person to tell me I was scheduled to be switched May 30 (Memorial Day). Well that day has come and gone. I have asked for complete refunds on all months so far. Vonage is worthless to me until my number is switched. I certainly am not going to give the temporary number to my friends. So far I'm very disappointed with Vonage and wouldn't recommend them to an enemy let alone a friend.
I wanted to buy the name: vonagesucks.com, but funny as it is, it looks like Vonage knew somebody would want it so it directs to their own site! They screwed me out of $93.83 that I paid to get the router, business plan, etc. I NEVER used it as Vonage NEVER got the number transfered. Today I spoke to an idiot named Adam who said it was my "choice" not to use their "virtual" number while I waited for my number transfer (over 3 months and it still never got transferred) and he then expects me to pay to ship this router back? They have the nuts to email me an RMA# so I can pay for my own shipping to send it back, so in actuality I'm screwed out of more then $100! I am SO GLAD that they actually never got the number transfered as I was told a customer of Vonage's baby daughter died as she couldn't call 911 in because of Vonage when her baby was choking. I would NEVER recommend Vonage for a business. They truly suck and I will take them to court if I don't get my money back. It's just the principle of the thing.
Canceled the service tonight after 2 1/2 months of lies related to the port of my existing #!!!! DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE THAT I MADE BY GIVING VONAGE A TRY!!! Nothing but TROUBLE and the ROYAL RUN AROUND... I have not received the first incoming call on my Vonage phone after 2 1/2 months!!! I am sure we will all see them evaporate as a company... That is what their lack of service deserves. :(
I have been using Vonage for two years and didn't have any problems until the credit card on my account expired two months ago. I got the automated email telling me to go to their site to update my credit card info and reprocess the payment. When I went to their site the reprocess payment link was not there nor was the change credit card info link. I sent them an email saying this and they replied that it was fixed and I could do it now. Well it wasn't fixed. Soon my outbound service was suspended. After two months of back and forth someone from Vonage left me a voicemail at 5 PM the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend to call them back to get the problem resolved. During the weekend they terminated my account completely. I called the customer service department and was told by two different people that there was no way for me to pay the balance on my account and that I should just sign up for a new account.I then recieved another email from them requesting that I update the credit card info on my account which I replied to and they have never responded. I called customer service again three days in a row, got the same person on the phone each time he promissed that the problem would be resolved that day which of course it wasn't. So I finally decided to take the advice of the previous customer service rep and signed up for a new account ..... with VoicePulse.
I saw an article the other day that Vonage is signing up 15,000 new customers a week and only has 1400 employees. My take on this is that Vonage is just building up the customer base as fast as they can so they can sell the company for a quick buck for the VC's.
VONAGE would have to improve dramatically to just SUCK. They tried to charge me when service was not fully connected (I could not receive calls) when I complained they said "well you are using our features like call waiting" I said "you bumbling idiots, how can I be using those features it I CAN'T GET INCOMING CALLS?" Then I cancelled. They did refund the cost of the box i sent back and said in an Email that my service request was cancelled (the voice quality on outgoing calls was horrible anyway)..so yesterday they cancelled my service with my provider IDT. They shut off my phone service. Vonage tried to say it was not them but after a few hours i was able to certify that it WAS them that did it. So they sent an email today telling me how IDT could get my phone number back..problem..IDT does not have local service any longer so they can not get it back or provide me with phone service. So I had to call Verizon...they said that it would be illegal for them to try to do what Vonage was telling me to do and my old phone number was lost. So-- Verizon is charging me $110 to rewire my boc, and I have to pay another $20 a month for phone service and I am still without phone service and I had to change my number VONAGE SUCKS!!!!! I am suing them in court and complaining to the Mass Attorney General. Virtually everyone I talked to was incompetent. STAY AWAY. CALL THEM AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!!!
Folks...
Despite Vonage claims that their line quality is "indistinguishable" from a standard phone line, ALL my calls involved hisses, clicks and pops. Sometimes calls just dropped away without warning. Sometimes people could hardly hear me. I had tons of trouble sending faxes as my machine would try to send one page and then fail due to "poor line quality". I am a consultant and I need good communication with my clients; Vonage just didn't work for me. All of this is fine, since VOIP is cutting edge. I called Verizon and got two Centrex lines (one with Verizon Freedom unlimited long distance) with free installation for $96 per month. Two lines from Vonage were costing me $65 with the problems I was having.
I just tried to cancel my service and was told that the cancellation department was not taking calls because too many agents were "calling in sick". Them man took my phone number, game me a trouble ticket and told me that someone would call me back. I bet they are not doing that with new orders…
This really sucks. If Vonage doesn't cancel my account, I will cancel paying them by calling the credit card company.
At this point, Vonage is not ready for market. It is not really less expensive than Verizon Freedom either. My Verizon phone line works 100% of the time without the problems of Vonage. You get what you pay for…
Update...
I just got Vonage on the phone and was able to cancel my service with no further problems.
I like the idea of VOIP, but I'm going to wait until it matures a little more...
Today is June 16th 2005 on January 14th this year I signed up with Vonage. When I recieved my "device" it was a "Linksys" router. I did not need a router but Vonage said I must use it and to plug it into an open port on my D-Link. four months later it failed and took out my telephone and fax. Vonage senty me a replacement router and told me to remove my present and working fine D-Link router.... I did.
Two months later June 6th the "Vonage" supplied "Linksys" router failed and and damaged my new phone I had to purchas PLUS two desktop computers and one laptop computer.
Vonage blames it on "Linksys" and says I have to contact them. "Linksys" blames it on "Vonage" and says that I have to get it done by them.
I told them that it sound similar to when Ford blames the roll-overs on the Goodyear tires and Gooodyear blamed it on For and it took a class action lawsuite to bring it to closure.
Anyone want to be involved with a class action lawsuiite againt "Vonage" please email me at mg@greenmarkbenefits.com in the subject line please type "Vonage Sucks"
I signed up about a month ago using Best Buy, with the rebate it turned out to be free. It was easy to hook up and my phone line was changed over very fast. I recieved lots of emails from vonage telling me I have been transfered. As of today, I still have not had to call support. The only thing that suck about Vonage is when your talking with someone, sometimes your words get scrambled and the other people cant hear what you say and visa versa. So this is good for a cheap long distance personal use, but I would not recommend it for business use.
I signed up about a month ago using Best Buy, with the rebate it turned out to be free. It was easy to hook up and my phone line was changed over very fast. I recieved lots of emails from vonage telling me I have been transfered. As of today, I still have not had to call support. The only thing that suck about Vonage is when your talking with someone, sometimes your words get scrambled and the other people cant hear what you say and visa versa. So this is good for a cheap long distance personal use, but I would not recommend it for business use.
I cancelled vonage today and the customer rep challenged me on why I decided to cancel.
I said b/c I wans't using it and he said, "well lets take a look. You actually used all your minutes last month."
I didn't want to explain tha I had to use it b/c I was on hold with customer service TRYING TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT. Yes, 500 FRIGGIN minutes of hold time.
I have just been charged $40 for cancelling my "service", after paying $27/month for the past two months in which my services worked for 2 days. After many exciting conversations with call centers all over our fine globe, still no service.
These guys are all about building a million or so subscribers so that they can sell to Qwest or AT and T.
The management of this company is amateur hour central, so I am not surprised. They have "catered lunches" every day, due to the fact that their offices are in the bowels of New Jersey with no food within 10 miles. No one can eat the food though until Jeffrey "Meglomaniac" Citron gets the first plate. And if he's on 2 hour call? You go hungry, you selfish little buggers.
Rotten company that literally invented "banner spam".
Stay far, far away.
I just had the miserable experience with vonage that I came across this page. I just cancelled my account which never worked in the first place. They charged me the $40 cancellation fee (huh?). Reading the post on this page is scaring the hell out of me because I am out $100 and know it will be a battle getting my refund.
I will dispute the charges on my credit card if they do not refund me. Credit card companies protect consumers in the event that a product purchased was "not as described". This will get the money back and vonage will get stuck with a $15 + chargeback fee.
PS. I love the fact that Vonage registered vonagesucks.com.
VONAGE is full of SHITand nothing but SHIT, I got rid of my other service to try this mess and from day 1 I have been having problem and each time I called about it they would ask what the problem was I would then tell them its not 1 or 2 problems it 5 or 6.
true the service is reasonable but, if you never get to use it without it messing up it would be great. Half of the time people would call and the would be told that my is no longeg in service, I have even had those days where every # I would would be busy even theirs. I can go on and on but I won't but I really hate the way they treat people who work hard for their money like dirt.
I had two phone lines switched over to Vonage, so I got to have twice the fun. The first two months everything worked fine, then calls were dropped and people constantly thought I was on a cell phone and lost coverage while I was talking to them. I cancelled. Good luck doing that. Anyhow, because I had two phone lines they charged me $83 for my router. I explained that the two phone lines worked off of a single router. They said that didn't matter, but that if I sent back the router, they'd refund my money. I mailed it back, and received no refund. I called and they said they would only refund me $41.50 since I only returned one router (notice the convenience of their logic). So the service desk (good luck getting them on the phone) tells me that they have credited my credit card the $41.50. I asked for a confirmation number of the credit card refund. She reads off the number. Then I asked her to read it back to me again. She had made the friggin number up. What also scares me is that they must still have my credit card on file even thought I am no longer a customer. Honestly, this is the most deceptive, dishonest company I have ever dealt with. If anyone out there is debating using them as their phone service, please read the posts here. I also will tell you that I like to be cutting edge with technology and am fairly tolerant in what I'll expect for help, but Vonage has taken bad service to a level that will be unmatched by any business.
The only reason I am posting this now is because my freaking Vone-phone doesn't work (again). Two days running. I live abroad and rely on Vonage as a cheap way to keep an American exchange. I brought the "router" here and finally succeeded in installing it after a mere 3 hours on the phone overseas with the twats in NJ. Made those calls from a cellphone, so we can pitch 100 more bucks into sunk costs, not to mention the unwarrented denial of the $80 mail-in rebate. Short of using Skype, I believe I have no choice but to stomach Vonage's 40% downtime, faulty voicemail feature and cretinous support staff. Unless someone can suggest an overseas alternative !!! ricsat@mail.com
http://www.zlk.com/vonagefax.html
I rarely rarely swear but vonage will cause anyone to curse repeatedly over and over. 2 days minimum 20 mins on hold each time, still no phone connection-just like a lot of other ppl on here. Absolutely the worst customer service experience of my life to date. vonage I sincerely hope you go bankrupt asap. I hate you with al the venom I can possibly muster up inside of me
In the past 3 days, I have had 4 different people tell me they thought I had moved, because they kept getting "the number you have reached is disconnected or no longer in service" message. I call Vonage and they acted as if I was the only customer they ever had with this problem. Their customer service people are total morons and need to learn to speak/hear english. I have been using their service for a total of five days and I have spent 75 percent of time on hold with Vonage customer service and 25 percent of calls to people I really want to be talking to. I have told about 25 people never to signup for Vonage, because they could end up having the horrible service I have or even worse.
I just got off the phone with this criminal of a company. I cancelled the same day the equiptment arrived, was told a shipping label would be sent. Nothing has arrived. However, the dept that calls after you end svc called to inquire why I cancelled. I told them, and then she tells me "she doesn't see a request to end service"...immediately I smelled "crack head behavior"---meaning a damn scam. I got off the phone moments ago after spending 2 hours getting "nowhere". I didn't know if I cancel I would be immediately charged another $41.00! So I calm ly said...no problem, don't cancel me. This damn equiptment will be mailed certified mail/insured with my cancellation request attached. I will talk with my credit card company in the am.......They are running the ad like fucking crazy here in North Carolina, damn criminals!
Vonage does suck. I signed up for the service about 6 months ago. Tried it for a month and got discusted at having to constantly reset the hardware. This wasn't a service that I wanted to keep in the house with small kids. I'd hate to have to run downstairs to reset the hardware when I needed to use the phone in an emergency.
I called Vonage to cancel my account and the support guy said he could put it in a suspended state in case I wanted to try it out again at a later time. I said sure. That would avoid having to pay to reactivate the service.
About 5 months later I see a charge on my bank statement for around 9 dollars from Vonage. I call them up and am told that the original support rep just credited my account for 4 or 5 months worth of service. This wasn't really suspended. I was then told that an account manager would have to call me back. Three days later and no return call. I call back and am put on hold for about 20 minutes. I finally get my account canceled and the money credited back.
Watch this company closely!!!
I wish I would have did more research on the Vonage (gag) scam! I HATE them!!!
I still don't have service from July and I have been paying for it. They tell me that I have a "virtual number" available. What good is that?
The free month is a scam because all they do is charge an activation fee for every feature that you order.
I also found poor customer service, ie, on hold FOREVER, transferred around, then disconnected. What's wrong with these people. I think the only way that I can get rid of them is to cancel my credit card. They say they are protecting me and will not cancel my account over email!
VONAGE DOES SUCK! BUYER BEWARE!
Vonage sucks. 15-20 min waits to get an incompetent "customer service" person on the line and all they know how to do is tell you to reboot your router. They're always whining about how they have "issues" that they "are working to resolve." Why doesnt the Wall Street Journal or someplace similar blow the whistle on these assholes?
Vonage really sucks. DO NOT use their service, they charge an early termination fee plus they charge you every month even after you cancel. NEVER USE THEM, EVER.
Vonage sucks-this many people cant be wrong-too bad I didn’t do a search on Google before signing up.
I have signed up for vonage in May of this year. Just about a week ago everything took a shit. Unreal!!! Not once did vonage or their s%*@#* customer service(if that is what you want to call them) give me a call to explain what was going on even while I was paying for their service. Month after month week after week they kept explaining “ohh it will be next week, a couple of days, and we’ll email you”-I never received an email or a phone call letting me know what the hell was going on.
Eventually after being completely fed up and not getting off the phone until I spoke with someone boy I get to speak with on of their “Elite” customer service guru’s. This did have an effect. My call was then shortly transferred to back to the main number to start the wait all over again.
Only now I have the satisfaction of total and utter disappointment in the vonage service or be that as it may VOIP. Quite possibly vonage is so lousy because they have sooo many people that are displeased calling them-just a thought.
My phone always breaks up-sometimes I have to call 2-4 times before it will dial a number-it will drop phone call- and make my voice sound like a smurf. This is all after an ongoing fiasco of vonage blaming my ISP Comcast- who; might I add offered everything in the world to get my satisfaction.
Vonage sucks! I would strongly recommend that you find away to pay for your land line phone service. You will undoubtedly be sad for signing up.
Sincerely,
J.R.
I wish I'd seen this before I signed up with this crap company. Nearly 4 months down the road, and they have yet to transfer my number over. In addition, I can now only use my internet connection for phone calls or surfing - not both. Anytime I plug that damn router in I can never access any websites. If I'm lucky enough to ever get through, it's for no more than 5 minutes. The hassle's soooo not worth the little bit of money I thought I'd be saving.
Vonage sucks is an understatement. I got screwed like everyone else. I sure hope people are smarter than I was and do a search on Vonage before they sign up. I never even got to use their service because of technical issues, etc. I currently don't have my original phone because they screwed up the transfer and disconnected me. Now I don't have a phone for 10 days. I had to call my original telephone service provider and get the line hooked up again. I have never been been taken this bad. What a scam!!!
Hello. I recently was hired by Vonage for tech support. I start my training there soon. I have dealt with a lot of tech people and I can relate to the frustrations on this board. They may have changed their tune because besides technical skills, they kept emphasizing customer service and hospitality skills were just as important. I was doing research to get a head start on the VOIP technology and trying to educate myself ahead of time so I can learn all I can about it before my training starts and get a jump start on things. I came accross this page and was wondering if anyone uses comcast or cablevisons VOIP services? I have been wondering how Vonage will hold off these and other companys as the industry grows. Also, at the end of this month, Vonage is moving to a much bigger building. An old Prudential building gutted and redone for Vonage. They are also supposed to be hiring 1000 new employees the last few months to gear up for this, so maybe growing so fast they can keep up with customer service. Their current space is very small and they are packed in like sardines. I also got the impression with the new hires and move, that they are going to be weeding out some people and get the company really going in a more professional atmosphere with more professional people. Just my observation. I am trying to get my career going so I have no choice but to take this job and hope that things will not be as bad as it sounds here and services will improve, but do you guys think that Vonage is setting itself up to be bought out, as one poster said? It is currently the leader in VOIP and made me excited to finally land a job with them. I am worried about job security and had these thoughts even before I came accross this board. I hope it works out and if I ever talk to any of you, hopefully I can help and not piss you off even more! Thanks! Anon.
Hello. I recently was hired by Vonage for tech support. I start my training there soon. I have dealt with a lot of tech people and I can relate to the frustrations on this board. They may have changed their tune because besides technical skills, they kept emphasizing customer service and hospitality skills were just as important. I was doing research to get a head start on the VOIP technology and trying to educate myself ahead of time so I can learn all I can about it before my training starts and get a jump start on things. I came accross this page and was wondering if anyone uses comcast or cablevisons VOIP services? I have been wondering how Vonage will hold off these and other companys as the industry grows. Also, at the end of this month, Vonage is moving to a much bigger building. An old Prudential building gutted and redone for Vonage. They are also supposed to be hiring 1000 new employees the last few months to gear up for this, so maybe growing so fast they can keep up with customer service. Their current space is very small and they are packed in like sardines. I also got the impression with the new hires and move, that they are going to be weeding out some people and get the company really going in a more professional atmosphere with more professional people. Just my observation. I am trying to get my career going so I have no choice but to take this job and hope that things will not be as bad as it sounds here and services will improve, but do you guys think that Vonage is setting itself up to be bought out, as one poster said? It is currently the leader in VOIP and made me excited to finally land a job with them. I am worried about job security and had these thoughts even before I came accross this board. I hope it works out and if I ever talk to any of you, hopefully I can help and not piss you off even more! Thanks! Anon.
LOL!! Anon;
If the company is a possible buyout, you have about 1 to 2years before a complete "shakeup" happens (been there, done that toooo many times)and as far as I can see? I will not be using vonage anytime soon myself.
Besides Internet-2 and ip-7 will be coming out soon (in limited supply at first) and the compression ratios are far better then currently implemented... I'm old school myself, remember dialup and the "tinny" ham radio sounding early days implementation of the concept of VOIP (though it was pre-IP)
If anyone else out there wants to know when it is safe to get on the VOIP bandwagon, you have about 4 or five years left before a standard format is agreed upon by all the companies and that "IF" the telecommunication industry supports it.
{Telecommunications Engineer Supervisor) James A.
www.mathematicsisflawed.blogspot.com
I wish I'd have read this eight months ago. I was like everyone who wanted to save a few bucks on phone bills, liked the idea of no real phone line, etc... well, the service was noisy and unreliable - so much so that I just used my cell phone to make almost all my calls anyway - so I intended to cancel my Vonage account.
I tried to cancel online, and learned that I had to call. Of course it was week-days only, and I seemed to always remember to do this on Sunday when I pay bills... so I forgot to cancel it... often.
Then I realized that my credit card they had was going to expire that month, and I figured that I would let the account "cancel itself" since they can't charge to an expired card... guess what, it didn't stop them. They continued to charge to it, and when I checkd the account they incremented the expiration year to 2009 all by themselves... I'm thinking this is totally unethical, if not illegal.
So today, I finally remembered to call Vonage and cancel the account, when I learned that they charge $41 to cancel "the line"... there is no damn "line", and when I argued the point with the mouth breather I had on the phone, he said it was part of the agreement... well, I guess they had the last laugh, but I'm going to follow up on this credit card angle with my credit card company, and see if what Vonage did to my credit card information is part of Vonage's agreement with them.
In short - instead of Vonage, spend the $25 to get the next level of service (more minutes) on your cell phone - at least you get what you pay for.
PS - It was funny that "vonagesucks.com" takes you to the vonage.com site... those guys know they suck...
Try this one on the schills.
My nightmare over the past ten days has been just getting a first dial tone. Since I am anonymous I can brag (please forgive me and here the good news) that for nearly 30 years I have been an intergrated circuit design engineer designing mostly telecommunication chips for Intel, Fairchild and many other great companies. In dealing with Vonage, I have been treated like a technical idiot, insulted, and lied to by Vonage personnel repeatedly. In well over 30 calls made to them they have failed to enable my service.
I have signed up with another voip provider already and will formally cancel my Vonage "service" on Monday.
I believe the electronics industries has set very high standards for ethical behavior since long before I joined so I am infuriated by these corporate billinng scams. I expect my billing odessy to start Monday. I wish I had read this blogsite before I tried Vonage.
The Bangalore Indians I talked with were polite and professional but they refered me to American based tech support who were, with the exception of one apologetic tech, insulting, incapable of even understanding how a problem is traced and isolated, or they occasionally lied about what was going on.
I was deliberately polite but was cut off twice during a converstation and about eight times during call transfer. When I requested they stay on the line until a "live" transfer was complete the transfer always succeeded. I called them from "ma bell" lines that are clear on calls to other companies but the quality of the Vonage office phone system was the worst I have heard since the 1950's... Static, cutouts, and a very distracting echo. If they cann't manage their own office phones...
I feel I screwed myself by not investigating before I bought a "Vonage Only" Linksys RT31P2 router. Caveate Emptor. I a have mostly linksys home-office setup and have never before been disappointed with their hardware. The only help I found in tracing the origin of the no dial tone problem was from a linksys tech via live chat in the wee hours. There was an initial delay but he helped isolate the problem witn just a few Q and A's. The phone software on this router is solely controled by Vonage; hence no dial tone. Conveying this linksys info to Vonage Tech's did not deter them from pointing fingers in technically ridiculous directions.
I will be waching this blog site as I try to get my refund for a service never turned on. I hope VISA can help with a refund but that may not be the only way a person who wrote his first computer program in 1965, designed his first integrated circuit in 1978, hacked into a computer in 1979(by request of the computer owner), built his first wire wrap and pc board computers, in 1979. and has singlely designed and layed-out a 1.7 billion transistor chip... can extract his due from these criminals who rip of the innoscent and trusting and stain my industry. Stay tuned.
Yes they suck big time! i ordered service with the no questions asked 30 day money back blah blah blah. After 2 days of working ok, the device malfunctioned. When I tried to cancel, I let them talk me into trying another device when they offered 2 months free service.
The new device never worked properly, so I cancelled again, shipped back both devices and did get my 40.00 back. I was without service for weeks waiting to get my number back. then to top it off, they had the nerve to hit my card for $99.00, 39.00 forcancellation, device etc.
I called and emailed aand they are supposed to issue a credit. I intend to complain to the BBB in New Jersey and here in Georgia.
They dont just suck, THEY SWALLOW!!!!!
Addendum. I plan to up my cell minutes as someone suggested, and purchase the Cell phone/home Line interface from Phonelab that lets you use your hard wired home phones to make cell calls. I can carry my existing phone number to Cingular, gat a 3rd phone on the family plan for 9.99 month. Free long distance, unlimited nights and weekends! I think this is the solution for me!
VONAGE SUCKS period..we never get a solide connection over the phone, its always delayd and cuts out and it pisses me off. CRAPY PHONE COMPANY
To James .... welcome to Vonage Hell. Be advised, the average time a Vonage employee stays is under 6 months. Maybe in pretty Holmdel it will be 6 months and a week. Where you are has no bearing on how they treat you. How can we be taken seriously if we can't even keep our own internal phone systems working? How can we be taken seriously if we can't even keep our own internal customer service system up more then 50% of the time? Probably 20% of every call that comes in to us gets dropped by US (sure makes our customers happy when their phone company can't keep a phone call going). Go Avaya Go! Probably 80% of every incoming call whether it comes through India, Phillipines, Canada or the US sounds like the customer is talking underwater. 3/4 of the idiots they call "team leads" know 1/4 of what us reps know. Probably half the people they hire can't even spell (I'm sure you've read some of the illiterate comments on accounts and in tickets). Who interviews these people ?? The idiot team leads! Read some of the (alleged) other Vonage employee posts on here .... illiterate. Most people with half a brain leave within 6 months.
It's pathetic, it's demoralizing and it's downright sad. (Most of this was copied from Damien's FUCK VONAGE site - didn't know there were 2). By the way, did you know Vonage owns www.vonagesucks.com. LOL
They transferred my line BEFORE making sure I had the equipment. I received the equipment SIX days later. I have a dial tone, but you can only hear every other words being said. Day #7 - all day on the phone with them and still not a usable connection!
Customer service is the worst I have EVER experienced, long waits on hold and most barely understand English, no less anything about the service!
I am in the US Military. I signed up for vonage in 2003. worked fine for couple of months. In january of 2004 I was deployed overseas. a few weeks into my deployment my wife emailed to say the phone was not working. My friends emailed me to say when they called my number they got a hair salon. Frustated, i tried calling VONAGE from overseas to fix what i thought was a simple mixup. boy was i wrong and did it cost me.
I coulndt get anyone on the phone and when i did, i got the worse runaround. I finally emailed them and threatened to go to the media. i received a call (overseas) from a manager who apologized profusely and said he would refund the current months charges and the cancellation fee. he told me if i ever change my mind and wanted to come back he would annotate the account to make sure i was not charged any fees.
Fast forward tonight 21 December 2005. I saw a commercial and in a moment of insanity i called vonage to sign up again.
I waited on hold for 15 minutes and when the idiot person answered the phone i explained that i am a returning customer and wanted to sign up again. she transferred me to "CUSTOMER CARE" i waited on hold there for 30 mins, explained what happened, only to be told unless i could prove that a manager told me he would waive the fees, if i wanted to come back i needed to sign up like every customer and pay the fees.
needless to say being called a liar did not sit well with me.
bottom line STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!
they have no concept of customer service.
Yes, they suck. Funny how you MUST use your web account to forward calls unlike the traditional PSTN lines where you can use *72.
Problem with Vonage is that their web site is down frequently which means you can't forward or un-forward calls because they have no other means of controlling their features.
I just called their Customer Service Dept. (in India) and was told to log onto my web account to un-forward my calls. Idiots, I had already explained that their site was down. They then said they knew the site was down and should be up "in a few hours". Unless a few hours means 72 (3 days with this problem), there's a different problem. Each time I call they say they know there's a problem with the site and I should check back in a few hours. Maybe the FTC should make them stop selling new service until they fix the problems with existing. BTW, they sell you equipment all day, but beware that they may not have any numbers in your area. This happened to me also when I went to activate, there were no numbers in my city (yes, they do provide numbers here, but were "out of stock" for more than a week).
Yep, Vonage Sucks big time..
- Uninformed when ordering of a $56 cancellation fee (we have unauthorized charge removed from credit card
- Phone sometimes fails to ring when people calling
- No indication of new messages, until checking email.
- Plenty of complaints regarding static, echoes, dropped words.
- No online way to cancel..lots of hoop jumping.
Cheap? Yeah, but you get what you pay for.. believe me.
I won't waste any of your time with an explanation. JUST STAY AWAY, A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
Wish I'd found this site before getting Vonage. Note to self, always type company name + sucks into Google before signing up.
I waited 30 min to cancel. Can't cancel from the web site is slime. The person on the line didn't work for Vonage and was just going to send them an email. Gee, to bad I couldn't send the freakn email. I also had to provide a phone number so Vonage could call me to confirm and if I wasn't home I get to repeat the process. After some screaming the person was able to cancel service. Imagine that, no screaming = no help, screaming = help. Wish they'd just said on their web site they waited me to scream. Could have saved some time.
The reason I cancelled was unclear call (echo), dropped words, etc... But the biggest problem was I couldn't use most auto phone services as they couldn't recognize the tones 50% of the time when I pressed the keypad. Even their email system had problems recognizing key pad presses.
Too bad. Except for not being able to use the phone to communicate I really liked the features. My bottomline is they make cancelling so difficult as to be dishonest. I wouldn't trust them in the future even if they solved the technical problems.
$40 cancel fee was a surprise since they say "No annual contracts". The $40 fee was buried in the fine print...dishonest. However I think the $40 is worth it. When you divide it between all the people I'm going to email about Vonage, many who were interested and wanted to know how it worked. So it's really just pennies per saved friend, friend of a friend, etc...
I use to work for Vonage and can tell you they suck to work for as much as there phone service. Caller ID never works, Calls fail, and no one cares to fix and resolve issues in that place. I couldn't tell you how many times I had to lie to customers because my hands were tied and not able to do my job as we are not given the tools needed and our T3 guys would not work on the tickets correctly. Vonage is all about becoming number 1 in lines activated rather than number 1 in customer service. After leaving Vonage I canceled out my phone accounts and was charged a termination fee of $44 even though I was once an Employee. Since then I signed up with www.SunRocket.com who I heard bad things about from customers when working at Vonage and reading on the web. I must say as with any VoIP service it's hit or miss but customer service and tech support should not lack. With SunRocket I get Customer Care and Tech Support via phone, email or chat online fast. I have since signed up for there service with NO ACTIVATION FEE, NO SHIPPING FEE and NO TERMINATION FEE where Vonage charges $30 Activation $10 Shipping and $40 plus tax term fee. I also got a Uniden Cordless Phone with add on handset FREE worth $70 in the stores. They also got me my eqp in one business days and did not charge me until they shipped. Vonage bills you the moment you sign up and your lucky to get your eqp in 5 business days. I also paid SunRocket $200 for the year and that comes to $16.66 a month and gives me Unlimited calling within the US, Canada and PR. They also unlike Vonage all you to use $3 worth of International calling free per cycle and two directory assistance calls (411). After there directory assistance is only $.79 not like Vonage $.99. SunRocket also offers D-Ring numbers and gives you two free with there own voicemail boxes and allow you to point them to who ever you wish unlike Vonage who cant offer it at all. They also allow you to block numbers you dont want to call you and block unkown callers again something else Vonage doesnt offer. SunRocket can also display your name on outbound caller id so when you call a friend they know who is calling unlike Vonage who displays nothing but a number. If I were you I'd look at SunRocket.com as they are trying to build a good customer service and phone service before numbers like Vonage. They are very upfront as I saw when opening my box. They gave me 911 dialig info, a book with there Terms of Service and ect. Everything Vonage didnt give you to hide all of the fees and cost.
One of the problems with vonage is that a lot of the CC agents lie. For example, A ticket gets created and you will be told that it will be done in 2 hours. IT is a flat out lie. IT goes in to a queue where a Team Lead looks at and decides if all information is there and correct, if approved get movre to the queue that it needs to be in. If that queue has a few hundred tickets in it, yours will sit for hours if not days. If you are told 2 hours, ask them how do they know it will be done in that time frame. What ever thay tell it is a lie. Youe ticket could be number 500 - 1000. If there is an emergency tickets may not get done until the emergency is over. So there is no way that a CC agent can ligitimately give you any time frame at all.
Not Always vonage's fault.
Some people have spyware on their PC and refuse to acknowledge it. Viruses and spyware can use up resources on the network, and yes one PC commected to the modem is a network on the internet. Try disconnecting the PC from the network and if your phone call is clear, then it yopur fault. Other people get a wireless router and plugg it in with out securing it. Treaying it like an appliance. It is not your toaster oven, refrigerator, nor microwave. It is computer equipment. All computer equipment requires YOU to LERAN about it maintain it and manage it. If YOU choose NOT to do any of those it is your fault. IF 30 people are using your wireless router for internet you did not do the right thing. Too mant people buy these things and do not even learn what they actually do, Do you buy a car without looking at it's options? Do yousign legal documents without reading them? apparently many do. The number xfer process is callede LNP, Local Number Portability, or transferring your number. As I have done this before the LOA, Letter of Authorization does ask if you have DSL service and if so you can not xfer thre number because it will disconnect the internet service. When the LOA returns with and error that you can not xfer the number because of DSL, many people go back and answer no to that question. WHY would YOU do such a stupid thing. You have been told NO and you chose to do it any. Is not that the behavior of a child jnot an adult. READ the pages when you sign up! Sign up yourself and not let the CC agent do it for you, it is the same process and you won't mis-spell anything. To be an adult is to be responsible.
I hate Vonage..I've had them for about two months and this morning the straw finally broke the camels back. After working with support for 2 hours with my routers, switches and phone lines, I got an idea, I said, let me switch to instant voice mail and see what happens...sure enough, no voice mail, no call forwarding, no nothing...All of the problems are on their end and I just spent two hours trying to diagnos the problem in my office. I canceling this week and will tell everyone I know that VONAGE SUCKS.
My business partner moved away for a few months, and thought it would be a good idea to get Vonage so we can talk anytime on the phone for free. Big mistake! First he had lots of problems with his hardware, now when we talk, the reception is horrible, and we often get cutoff. vonage should spend less money on their commercials and more money on perfecting their product. Thanks for ripping people off Vonage!
I hate Vonage with a fiery passion. CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE SUE THEM FOR FALSE/MISLEADING ADVERTISING, AND DECEPTIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES???????
yes, they really really sucks. haven't received my money back even i ship item back for them month ago.
Here Here - I could not agree anymore. Incompetent customer and tech service reps., a defective router, and a poor service in general. After well over three hours of calls to customer and tech service the service 'worked.' Even with the lowest bandwith all of my calls were choppy. When I spoke to the tech service rep he blamed the problem on my ISP. The only bright spot was speaking to an American customer serive rep informing him that I was canceling my service. The customer service rep was great. He explained what I had to do inorder to keep my number. I guess he has plenty of practice.
When I switched back to Bell South I was surprized that we were going to pay me to come back with a VISA debit card for $25.00. Bell South waived a number of fees for added benefits like Identa-Ring. Bit more importatnly the cistomer service was great. I also know that I may be paying more for my service the service will be reliable.
Thinking about switiching to Vonage. Do your self a favor and forget about it.
I tried Vonage for about a month, taking my land line no. over to them. Ring tones and reception was variable. Lots of dropped calls and rings with nobody there. Then I discovered nobody from my prior carrier, Cavalier, could call me. They just heard ringtones but no connection. I tried from one of their phones with my wife standing by, sure enough. Four calls each to Cavalier and Vonage, each blamed the other. Vonage saying Cavalier hadn't released the number or completely switched it over, Cavalier saying Vonage had not ported the no. properly. Grrrr. I had to go back to Cavalier, and am trying their voIP service. Recommendation - stay with your own carrier and don't get caught up in the warring tactics between them. Most phone providers are getting smart and now offer phones over high-speed cable as well as traditional land lines.
Don't Worry,
They are imploding from the inside out, the board is totally out of control.
Verizon will put them away with their offering that'll combine IP/VOIP/TV in one
package.
i decided to gt this "thing" due to the fact hat i'd be paying like 15 less a month on my bill....GOOD LUCK TRYING TO GET AN AMERICAN TO HELP YOU, THEIR PHONE LINES SUK, THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE SUK, IM GONNA STIK WITH THEM JUST BECAUSE...BUT I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THEM, ALSO, BUY THE ROUTER AT EITHER BEST BUY OR SOMPLACE, RELLAY
VONAGE IS A PIECE OF SHIT SERVICE..ASSHOLES CANCCLED MY PHONE NUMBER AND GAVE ME A NEW ONE..SAID I CANT GO BACK TO MY OLD ONE..FUCK YOU VONAGE!!!!!!
VONAGE SUCKS!!!, THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS, YOU CANT UNDERSTAND THEIR ACCENTS. I SPENT 2 HOURS TRYING TO SETUP THE SERVICE ONLY TO BE TOLD THAT "VONAGE DOSENT WORK WITH AOL CABLE MODEM SERVICE .THE REP TOLD ME IN BROKEN ENGLISH THAT I COULD SWITCH TO ANOTHER ISP." THE SALES REP KNEW I HAD AOL BUT STILL SIGNED US UP FOR THEIR SERVICE. MY LAND LINE WAS ALREADY CANCELED. NOW WE ARE UP THE CREAK.I AM GETTING TIRED OF PEOPLE LYING TO US AND COMPANIES STEALING. CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS DEGRADED IN AMERICA IN THE LAST FEW YEARS AND IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. I AM GOING TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FCC,FTC, POSTAL INSPECTOR AND THE ATTORNY GENERAL IN MY HOME STATE .!!!!!!!!!
So I gota ask. How many of the complainers have active anti-virus and anti-spyware runnung? How many of you have checked your bandwidth at say testmy.net? How many would rather complain instead of being proactive and verify status of your PC and bandwidth. Over the years I find winers and complainers do NOT do what is required just to own a PC let alone routers and phone adapters. For instance why bother secure a wireless router. They would rather blame the company instaed of theur laztness.
I agree - VONAGE SUCKS. I have wasted 3 days straight - hours on end trying to speak to someone to cancel my service. I have been hung up on -lied to! PLEASE HELP!
Vonage is a joke!! I'ts as hard as hell to try and reach someone to answer a question. We tried to cancel and they said we had to wait 8 days to get our phone service switched back to Qwest.
Vonage will have an IPO (Initial Public Offering) for there stock soon. I was going to sign up but at the last minute I decided not to sign the letter of authorisation. Sixteen calls later and three charges to my charge card I am still on "hold" as I type this. This company is a scam to defraud stockholders and make a few people rich. I hope the proper authorities are watching this IPO and all the principles involved. We don't need another ENRON. Elliot Spitzer where are you?
I am a former employee and you are all so right. They even treat the employees in the same manner, riding every fine line they can and crossing the line as well. As a Former employee stay far away from vonage I am positive you will not see much good come from vonage in the upcoming months. My only feelings are for those that have ported their numbers.
Just to recap for those who think "Oh just a disgruntled employee" Heed my warning. I am not disgruntled I am appauled at their buisiness ethics. This is not just a new company, do not excuse their behaviors for that. They have a mind set and mentality like no other company that I have seen. What it boils down to is someone (you should all know who that is) is going to rake in alot of dough when all is said and done. It will be done at the expense of many folks. Vonage I will give about a year before it is scooped up and someone has run off with your money. This someone is not a very nice person who only cares about what's in it for him at any expense. Do your research very well and you begin to see what Vonage really is and what is going on. Investors you have got to be off your rocker investing unless you have an close inside deal and that would put you right in the seat with you know who. I dare anyone to challenge what I say, see you in the scruff because unless your down whith it that's where you'll end up.
Oh I got you ALL beat! I had vonage for two years and BOY did they suck! the quality of the call (or lack thereof) the customer service (or lack thereof yet again) so I ported my number over to Verizon last year. Problem is the stupid monkey losers over at Vonage stilll kept my number and gave it out to someone else about 10 days ago. So this guy has MY number at the same time *I* do and it's not even Vonage's number to give out! This guy answers all my calls and hears all my voicemails. It's insane. I am calling corporate tomorrow and thinking of suing the crap out of them.
After I placed my order with Vonage, the representative took my email address and informed me that Vonage would send me an email regarding my order. I had my equipment overnighted, but did not receive it the next day, so I spent time on the phone again (excruciating may I add). This next phone call (of MANY), I informed the rep. that I had not received the email, nor the equipment. I therefore verified my email address with them at this point to make sure they had the correct email address, which they did. [I could write pages on my conversations with them and how incompetent they are], but I will skip to the following:
I called in today because I could not log-in to my Vonage account. My login or email address was being reported as invalid, so I asked the rep exactly WHERE they were sending the reset password. Today they had the WRONG email address. So now, some other person has had access to my account. I told the rep that they are going to stay on the phone until I receive this email. She stayed on for about 2-3 minutes, then hung up on me. Guess what, I still do NOT have the email, and it's been 20 minutes. What kind of email takes 20 minutes?
(If this sounds aggravating, I have left out many, MANY details of how many times they asked the same question, why they STILL have the WRONG billing address for me - which I have changed 2-3 times on previous calls already, and many other irritating tidbits about how incompetent their customer service actually is).
When I entered "vonage sucks" in the search field I never dreamed anything would come up, but it did!! I hate that phone company so much. Let me tell you that if I get a charge for $40 for canceling that sucky service, I'm gonna go off.
I just went through the same thing. See this thread over on anandtech that I started:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=38&threadid=1810359&STARTPAGE=1
I just took a shit on my Vonage router because I hate them so much. Been waiting now for 57 minutes to get customer service.
Vonage sucks ass. After calling them 5 times in 2 days, being on hold for a total of 112 mins I have finally gotten rid of them. I have never had such bad customer service. After I told them that I wanted to disco my service, the call dropped. Hmmm One time it could happen, but 4 times??? Screw them.
Vonage has been nothing but a nightmare since I signed up with them over 2 months ago. They are unable to transfer my phone number and after making near 20 calls to them and my current phone provider I have finally decided to give up! I spent 3 hours trying to cancel my service tonight, most of that time being on hold. When I finally got ahold of someone and told them I wanted to cancel my service they hung up on me! Another call later someone said I would need to talk to a supervisor so they transferred me to a "supervisor" who had to keep asking someone else questions. When I told him I wanted to speak with the person he was asking the questions to he hung up on me. Another phone call later they told me I would need to call the billing department, so I did - they said they would not refund my money, laughed at me and were complete idiots! I HATE VONAGE! I HATE VONAGE! I HATE VONAGE! I have since called one of the big whigs in the company. I found the number on the bbb site. Vonage has had over 500 complaints in the past 36 months! What kind of company is this???? Vonage is a SCAM!!!!
I am a systems integrator. I work with data, phone, TV and security systems everyday. I set up systems for colleges and hotels. I tried Vonage for our new office phone system. I could not get it to ring through consistantly. Calls were not completed, some were droped. For one week I had no phones at all. Customers would write e-mail or call my cell phone to ask if we were still in business. They would get messages saying that my number was disconnected or that it was not valid.
I spent over 11 hours on-line or on hold trying to get help. Most of it on hold. When I called to cancel service I told them that I needed to keep the number and it would take a few days for the phone company to coonnect me again. They cut me off right then. I had no phone service. Qwest could not reconnect me with that number unless it was active. I had to spend 3 hours trying to get Vonage to activate the number again. Then they gave me a temporary number for 3 days, which no one knew to call, before I got my old number and same crappy service back. When I was finally connected to a land line again they gave me a $12.50 credit for my troubles.
Vonage should be put out of business. They ruined mine for almost a month. They have a cruddy prouduct, lousy service and tech support and terrible business practices.
If you have to choose between two cans and a string and Vonage. Take the cans and string. You'll be happier with the service.
Found your page after searching for "vonage sucks".
My saga with Vonage began in late Dec 2005 (today is mid-March 2006). Their web site told me that my phone number was portable to their service (this was very important), so I decided to give them a try. After 30+ days of waiting for my phone # to transfer (and multiple phone calls to their cust service line), I received an email stating that, lo and behold, my number could not be ported. This was a deal breaker.
I called 866-VONAGE-HELP and after 15 minutes of hold time, finally talked to a rep and explained my problem. He said that the web site should not have stated that my number was portable ("it must have been a technical glitch"), and he agreed to refund my initial cost as well as the $40 cancellation fee.
Here it is over a month later, and no refund. I spent over an hour on the phone today, being transferred between India and the US. I was actually lied to by an Indian rep, who said I had already been refunded weeks ago (nothing on my credit card statement!). I finally got through to rep in Billing who agreed to refund me the $100+.
STAY AWAY! BAD VONAGE! BAAADDD! :-)
My god, but they suck...
SIMPLY PUT......THIS COMPANY IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA TODAY!!!! Vonage sucks big time. It was a nightmare from the start. My phone did not work for 2 months. I lost my phone number that I have had for 10 years. I sent the unit back the day I received it and tried to keep my old phone number on, and got nowhere with them. I never got my "Money back guaranty". They claim they never got the modem back, and they lie. Worse of all incompetent personnel, and SHAME ON THEM FOR OUTSOURCING TO INDIA, although their New Jersey Headquarter reps are not much better. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE AND I WAS RIPPED OFF. They lie, they suck AND SHAME ON THEM
put it together....
former ceo should be in jail, for ripping off investors and will do the same shortly with this ipo horseshit. he couldn't float it on his own dough plus 1mil subscriptions!
then they hired a tyco clown to put on the company face. total morons.
Thank you for doing your country a great favor. After wasting the better part of a week dealing with these Vonage clowns, I'm venting here, telling my credit card company to block any future Vonage charges, and referring any future correspondence from Vonage to my attorney. If I have to pay an attorney a few thousand dollars to dispute a $27 monthly fee (after cancelling my service) and a $40 "termination" fee from Vonage (the final indignity), it will be money well spent. Hell will freeze over before another penny of my money goes from my pocket to theirs. I'd rather line the pocket of a lawyer . . . quite a statement given the reputation of lawyers . . .
Hello everybody
We have now been waiting now for almost 2 months for our number to transfer with Vonage. They are a horrible company to deal with, no returned phone calls or emails, and every time we called they would string us along and tell us that the number transfer would happen soon. Now, 2 months later, they are telling us that they cant transfer out number. They wont even give our money back for the special vonage portable phones that we purchased. Somebody should email this web page to Vonage and see what they have to say for themselves. The local phone company isnt much better so we dont have many choices here. (calgary, Alberta). This is the worst customer service we have ever had, and being in the service industry myself, this is truly unacceptable. If they do not transfer our number, and do not refund for the phone system, they will find themselves in court over something that could have so easily been prevented, had somebody in that company stepped up and did thier job properly or just would have been straight up with us from the start about the number transfer. BOYCOTT VONAGE!!!!!
Don't just gripe - get your money back. Vonage's contract is illegal. It was set up in New Jersey so that anyone who complains has to travel to NJ and go into arbitration on trying to get ther money back. However, if you happen to be from California, you have more protection of your rights than the rest of us. You can file suit against Vonage as a class representative and help us get our money back from these guys. Go to http://www.fazmiclaw.com/vonage.html and sink some teeth into Vonage.
Vonage sucks, they charged me a 39.99 fee + tax to get ride of their service, however it took them 4 calls, 3 months and many hours to get them to do it. They charged my cc for 3 months after I called the 1st time. I signed up for a month to month deal. How can I get charged a disconnect fee if I cancel before 12 months. Thats called a 12 month contact, I didn't sign one of those. I think there needs to be a law sue for misleading advertising!!!
I am amazed to see this blog. If only I had read this before I got involved with Vonage. After reading through the comments I see that I am not alone. Vonage does suck amd I have had the same horrible Customer Service that is written within. The story is pretty much the same as the others, great customer service at sign up but you are on your own and at a hefty price. They wouldn't even take the VOIP router back and charged me $121 to cancel and keep it. How can they operate like this. The Feds should look at this.
They belong in hell
I ordered vonage on February 3, 2006 and 3 days later I cancelled because I found a website about the complaints against vonage. I called and spoke to several people after having to hang-up from sitting on hold so long. I finally spoke to someone in accounts department and he wanted to know why I was cancelling and then stated a whole bunch of bs. Since I had not received the equipment yet i told him that I would be refusing it from the post office, which I did. It came the next day. Now I received a monthly charge on March 7, 2006 for $27+ for a service I never had. I was on the phone from 6p-8p cst. I continued to hang up after 40 minutes of holding and call back in hopes of getting someone competent. They either did not speak good english or they spoke english but were very rude. Then I had to speak to another department but of course they were not in. No more c