My Vonage Nightmare! Finally Resolved
Vonage is an internet telephone service provider that offers local and long-distance telephone service at low prices. You are supposedly able to keep your own phone number and everything.
I signed up for it more than a month ago. The Vonage rep tells me I'm good to go and that it takes about 20-30 days to transfer the telephone number but issues me a temporary Vonage phone number in the interim.
Here's the scam: Your own phone number is not always available for transfer to the Vonage service but by the time you discover this (by design) your thirty day risk-free trial is expired and the price of your Vonage equipment goes up fifty dollars which you have to pay on top of a 40-dallar cancellation fee. In my case I knew ahead of time there was a possibility that my own phone number might not be available and the Vonage person lied to me and assured me that my number was indeed available.
In order to cancel their service, you have to speak with a Vonage customer service rep by telephone.
I called three times. Each time it took ten minutes to get through to a rep, the rep put me through an excruciating pitch on why I should keep the service, transfer it to a friend etc etc ad-nauseum. Then, the rep tells me I have to speak to someone else in order to request a refund/cancellation etc. After twenty minutes on hold with bad music the line goes dead. Three times they did this to me.
I tried to cancel by e-mail and they came back with some nonsense about being unable to process a cancelation by email--no doubt to avoid creating a paper-trail.
At this point I'm out $80 but I'm really getting in the mood for a pound of flesh so I'm letting everyone know to avoid this scummy rip-off company.[:(!][:(!]
I would appreciate any creative ideas you might have in order that I might "reach out and touch" these SOBs. Please be as creative, devious and nasty as you like. This is starting to feel therapeutic to me. Yes, a pound of flesh served bloody and rare--no bludgeoned.
Thanks,
Rusty
I signed up for it more than a month ago. The Vonage rep tells me I'm good to go and that it takes about 20-30 days to transfer the telephone number but issues me a temporary Vonage phone number in the interim.
Here's the scam: Your own phone number is not always available for transfer to the Vonage service but by the time you discover this (by design) your thirty day risk-free trial is expired and the price of your Vonage equipment goes up fifty dollars which you have to pay on top of a 40-dallar cancellation fee. In my case I knew ahead of time there was a possibility that my own phone number might not be available and the Vonage person lied to me and assured me that my number was indeed available.
In order to cancel their service, you have to speak with a Vonage customer service rep by telephone.
I called three times. Each time it took ten minutes to get through to a rep, the rep put me through an excruciating pitch on why I should keep the service, transfer it to a friend etc etc ad-nauseum. Then, the rep tells me I have to speak to someone else in order to request a refund/cancellation etc. After twenty minutes on hold with bad music the line goes dead. Three times they did this to me.
I tried to cancel by e-mail and they came back with some nonsense about being unable to process a cancelation by email--no doubt to avoid creating a paper-trail.
At this point I'm out $80 but I'm really getting in the mood for a pound of flesh so I'm letting everyone know to avoid this scummy rip-off company.[:(!][:(!]
I would appreciate any creative ideas you might have in order that I might "reach out and touch" these SOBs. Please be as creative, devious and nasty as you like. This is starting to feel therapeutic to me. Yes, a pound of flesh served bloody and rare--no bludgeoned.
Thanks,
Rusty
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You gotta be over 50 to even know what a Rusty Nail is.
It contains Scotch, doesn't it?
I would just threaten the letter to the Attorney General. It is a precise and definite threat. Government attorneys work for free, and they love filing suits along these lines. This is one of the truly good services that Govt. provides, protecting the little guys. Companies that are pulling marginally legal stuff are scared to death of getting the AG mad at them.
Try that one, and give it a week and see if they start answering their phones, before you go on to the class action suit threat.0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
You gotta be over 50 to even know what a Rusty Nail is.
It contains Scotch, doesn't it?
I would just threaten the letter to the Attorney General. It is a precise and definite threat. Government attorneys work for free, and they love filing suits along these lines. This is one of the truly good services that Govt. provides, protecting the little guys. Companies that are pulling marginally legal stuff are scared to death of getting the AG mad at them.
Try that one, and give it a week and see if they start answering their phones, before you go on to the class action suit threat.
I know what a Rusty Nail is, I'm only 22[:)].0 -
quote:Originally posted by sig232
We have had vonage for a couple of years now. Got in when the price was less than $20 per month. Free long distance and it works great over my comcast network. It cut out all those scam local and federal taxes added on to the regular phone bills.
We also lost our old phone number but managed to get used to the new number. Yes, I do believe it is a scam when they tell you they can get your old number transfered, plus the old phone company is very pissed off at the business they are losing and they don't cooperate at all.
But who cares, its hundreds of dollars cheaper per year!![:0][:0]
Sig232
I know its a good service--thats what irks me the most. I just have hundreds of friends, patients, businesses etc who might lose contact with me if I get a new phone number. There is no mechanism for listing a telephone number in the local phone book either! New number plus no listing is not realistic for me. I'm glad you like their service though, its good technology and undercuts the local phone companies. The local phone companies are as notorious as the cell phone companies for making deliberately confusing thirteen page phone bills, cumbersome policies etc--it realy surprises me the the Vonage people are dumb enough to follow suit.0 -
Alan Griggs
I took your suggestion and threatened Vonage with a complaint to the Attorney Generals office. Two days later, I realized I had two e-mails and two phone messages from the Vonage people only too happy to accommodate me. They gave me a refund and gave me the adapter-device in case they ever become able to offer me their service with my own phone number.
Thanks to all for the suggestions and support!0 -
Great news, Rusty Nail!
Like I said, these corporations who are pulling shoddy tricks are scared to death of the state AG. If he files a class action suit against them it will likely cost them millions.
This is truly a great service that government provides, looking out for the little guy.
To be fair, Susie gave you the idea before I did, I just reinforced it.
Now, time to celebrate!
Rusty Nail
Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 oz Scotch
* 1/2 oz Drambuie
* 1 twist of Lemon peel
Mixing instructions:
Pour the Scotch and Drambuie into an old-fashioned glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Have one for Susie, one for yourself, and one for me.0 -
I have Vonage and won't go back to the old fashoined Ma Bell. Only gripe I have with Vonage is I can't fax using Vonage, this gets irritating. One of the things I love about Vonage is when I return to Iraq I will be able to match one of my Vonage lines up with KBRs phone system and call home for free. The wife will still be able to make calls on the second line since all calls are free but it will have a Houston TX phone number and anyone calling that line will be calling Houston. This alone will save me $100 a month just in phone cards to call home. With the long drawn out phone calls I have made to my KBR friends in Iraq and other long distaqnce calls that last well over two hours (I'm worse than a woman on the phone)Vonage has paid for itself many timies over. Just add up what it would cost for 10 hours of long distance using AT&T on the landline and compare it to $24 per month for Vonage[:D] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Pa Redneck
I have Vonage and won't go back to the old fashoined Ma Bell. Only gripe I have with Vonage is I can't fax using Vonage, this gets irritating. One of the things I love about Vonage is when I return to Iraq I will be able to match one of my Vonage lines up with KBRs phone system and call home for free. The wife will still be able to make calls on the second line since all calls are free but it will have a Houston TX phone number and anyone calling that line will be calling Houston. This alone will save me $100 a month just in phone cards to call home. With the long drawn out phone calls I have made to my KBR friends in Iraq and other long distaqnce calls that last well over two hours (I'm worse than a woman on the phone)Vonage has paid for itself many timies over. Just add up what it would cost for 10 hours of long distance using AT&T on the landline and compare it to $24 per month for Vonage[:D]
Pa Redneck
Your are so Right! I'm definitely not trashing the Vonage Service--in fact, I will probably subscribe whenever they get a contractual agreement that will enable them to "adopt" my phone number.0 -
Susie!
Many thanks, Allan Griggs pointed out that it was actually you who first proposed the Attorney General solution and it worked like a charm![:D]0
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