For three consecutive months I called Vonage, trying to cancel my phone service. Each time I've attempted to do so, I was inundated with an endless stream of questions and excuses. What was the problem? They ask. None (at the time) I'm just moving and prefer not to retain Vonage services. The first month I was told that since I had already paid for the month, I should just go ahead and enjoy the services and it would be cancelled the following month. One month later, another Vonage payment is drafted from my checking account. I call again and am told that my payment will be credited back to me and that my service has been cancelled. One month later, another payment is drafted from my account, and no refund had been issued as previously indicated. This time I call and demand that my service be cancelled. I am then told that they have no record of me ever calling to cancel my services, this time they not only do not offer to reimburse me for what has been stolen from my account, they inform me that I must pay roughly an additional $45.00 to terminate my service. I am also then informed that there are conveniently no records of my prior requests noted in the account. Meanwhile, I've not used this service for over 90 days and am out roughly $100 for my troubles.
So now I finally am able to have my account closed and must now dispute any charges with Vonage legal offices. Vonage must then investigate my claims and render a decision. I develop a theory about why my account was never closed in the first place and then decide to do a little investigating of my own. I call Vonage's account management division of customer services and pretend to be a quality control auditor with Vonage corporate offices doing a function survey of customer relations. I throw out some bogus information to authenticate my ruse, and within a short time I've gained the confidence of the first employee. Careful digitally record and document all information, including employees names and identification numbers, I ask a few seemingly routine questions about call volume and policies about handling cancellation requests. I then ask if there are any specific incentives for retaining customers that are expressed or implied as directed from management. Yes, I am told. We are expected to maintain a 60 to 70 percent save-rate. I ask the representative to elaborate. For instance if we take ten calls requesting a cancellation of services, we should only actually cancel three or four of them. (These are direct quotes). Do you ever feel like this policy interferes with the best interests of our client base, I ask. Please feel free to be candid with me, I am only trying to improve customer service and I value your opinion. Well, yes frankly. I'm told, If we feel unreasonable pressure to maintain a customer, we are likely to leave them frustrated and unsatisfied. I believe that if someone is trying to cancel, but is not unhappy with our services, after trying only once to keep them on, we should then just respect their request, because they are more likely to do business with us in the future. That's a beautiful observation. I reply.
We needn't indulge in some great leap of logic to understand what is happening here. This retention policy, a.K.A. This save-rate, has cheated me out of $95.73 and likely has cheated many others out of much, much more. Since they've conveniently neglected to note my account so consistently, I've had to cancel my debit card withdrawals from Vonage in order to ensure that they can't steal any more money from my family and I. Needless to say, they are sure to touch up my credit report for the cancellation fee that they are now unable to withdraw and doubtlessly, I will not be paying it.
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