On March 22, I ordered Vonage service by phone. I already had a router, purchsed from a retail location that did not have on-site sign-up. Everything seemed fine until I got the confirmation email that indicated *two* accounts were set up and charged to my account. One account/charges was correct, but the other, besides being for another line I didn't ask for, also included a charge for another router, which I specifically said I did not need or want.
I called to cancel the second account and was told everything was fine and a refund would be processed and no router would be shipped to me - then I get an email with the confirmation tracking number for the router they sent after they said they wouldn't - so I called again.
I was hung up on when I asked to speak to a superviser, and when I called back, the CSR answering claimed that *she* was the superviser. After 30 minutes arguing with her, she finally admitted she wasn't a superviser and had me hold another 20 minutes. (at this point, total time on phone with them was over 4 hours between the 2 calls)
The *superviser* then told me I would have to wait for the router to arrive at my house and ship it back to them before they could process my refund in "about 10 business days." This was the refund they'd told me was already processed the week before. He then informed me that they would have to charge me a cancellation fee to cancel the account (that I was told was cancelled the week before) but that the charge was only "temporary" and would be refunded as soon as the received the router back.
So the refund, taking "10 business days" would not even be started until I received the router, took it myself to a shipper, paid for the shipper myself, arrived at a warehouse and was ultimately imputted into their system -a process which would take 2 weeks alone.
I told the superviser, and emailed Vonages billing disputes and legal department that they were not authorized to place any charges to my debit card related to this account that was fraudulently opened.
When I checked my bank statement, I discovered that of course they'd charged for the original fraudulent order, the shipping for the unit I didn't want, the cancellation fee, *and* 11% tax on the cancellation fee. These charges overdrew the account and caused $60 in OD fees. I called back wanting a credit on my active account equal to the OD charges and was told they would only give me 1 month free service - which I later discovered was already available when you ordered service online.
They only give a "return authorization" that is good for 14 days from the day you receive the email. Since I got the email right when I called, and the unit itself didn't arrive for a few days, my time was cut down to 10 days. Then I had to wait to have a day off and borrow a car to take the unit to the shipper - time cut down to 4 days. It was going to cost more money to ship the unit back to Vonage to make sure it arrived within the 14 days than the original cancellation charge!
I FINALLY got a CS rep from the U.S. (all others had been foreign call center employees who were worthless if your problem wasn't on their set script) who offered me a $10 credit to cover shipping, and extended the deadline so I could ship it by regular mail.
It's now been nearly a week and I haven't gotten any confirmation they've received the router and are issuing the refund.
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