I was taken in by marketing offered by Vonage, a digital replacement to my typical land phone service; so I established an account over the phone with them. The Vonage representative assured me that I would be able to continue to use the phone number I have had for the last 20 years, and that if I decided to cancel for any reason I could do so within one month without penalty.
I extended my credit card for the initial charges to receive necessary hardware to activate the service about $50. After the equipment arrived I phoned Vonage to verify that my phone number would be transferred to their service. After sitting through a matrix of various representatives - a process that had me waiting on the phone for about 40 minutes I was finally told that my number would not be available for transfer.
I decided to cancel the service and get out while I was ahead; unfortunately Vonage operates their cancellation division on eastern standard time (their new accounts arm works 24/7). Being on the west coast, and working until long after the Vonage cancellation office is closed presented a problem. I attempted to cancel by internet but there is no facility to do so on their website (lots of places to sign up though). I actually lost track of how long it had been since I set up the account by the time I finally had a day I could actually speak to someone.
As it turns out, I was attempting to cancel on the 3rd of June and I set up the account on the 3rd of May. As I see it, I was within my one month grace period, as they saw it; I was one day over. The one day cost me an additional $130.00 in fees and charges. Understand that I never even plugged in a phone, just wanted to return their items and be done with it.
You could argue that I had plenty of time to cancel but Vonage narrowed the available opportunities for west coast residents, and they do not take cancellations on the weekends, so instead of thirty days to cancel; you really only have 20.
I set up the account in good faith, and would have kept it if Vonage would have delivered on their promises what I discovered through all this was that Vonage is using a veneer of deceptive advertising to lure in customers, and failing to disclose hidden charges during initial conversations. Further, I found that their customer service staff was all smiles until I attempted to cancel the account then I was treated like a rented mule. One individual laughed openly when I asked to speak with a supervisor.
To add insult to injury, I was told that Vonage would send me an email that included a mailing label and a Return Authorization silly me, I thought that the authorization would cover the return shipping charges which is what practically every reputable company dose to preserve good will. Vonage; guess again.
If you are seriously considering getting into a contract with these people, head over to one of their many websites and see how long it takes you to figure out how to cancel the service. You'd be better off with a couple of tin cans and a string.
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