I purchased Vonage on May 3,07. I called and spoke with a Vonage rep to ask questions & make sure I understood. My #1 concern was the return policy in case I was not impressed by their services. I recieved a 2 months free new movers promotion. I already had phone service with a local provider so I wanted to transfer my phone number. I had to pay 41.00 to purchase the Vonage equipment & was told I have till the end of my promotion period to decide if I want to keep the service, I asked the rep exactly when my promotion date was to end & she replied July 3,07 I would be billed & must cancel before then.
I recieved my equipment a few days after ordering & opened box, I never even had to take the equipment out of the box before deciding I did not want to keep the service. I looked thru the "quick start" guide & realized not only do I have to hook up the vonage device to my computer/cable modem, but also to a phone jack. I decided right away I did not want even more cables than I already had & closed up the box & contacted Vonage. Not only did I stay on eternal hold, but everytime I called them I would keep getting disconnected!
When I finally reached them, I was told I needed to keep my account open so that my local phone company could transfer my number back. I contacted my local service provider to make arrangements to transfer my number back. Unfortunatly, a technician for my LSP had to come to my home to install a "port switch" in order to transfer my number back from Vonage. I was told they would put in the request & Vonage could take 10-14 days to do so!
Funny how Vonage is quick (2 days) to transfer my phone number to them, but s-l-o-w as a turtle to give it back! During this time, I had no local phone service as I waited to transfer back to my LSP, I did not want to take the time to set up the Vonage device & USE the new equipment because I wanted to protect the equipment to rest assured it could be returned for my money back as guaranteed! Unfortunalty, my LSP gave me the next available time/date to have a tech come to my home to install the port switch, the date which was June 8.
I called Vonage & a-g-a-i-n was on hold for about 25 minutes & thennnn... Disconnected! I called back again & after holding for another 15-20 minutes I spoke to a rep & asked that my account be noted stating I had started the process of transfering my number back to my LSP & upon completion I would be calling Vonage to close account & get a return authorization to return the Vonage equipment for my money back as guaranteed. Never did this rep bother to advise me that I must cancel my Vonage service within 30 days of activation, not within the 60 days of my "free trial" period as stated by previous rep. Even though I reitterated the details of my previous conversation with the current rep via the telephone.
On June 8 07 my LSP came to my home and installed a port switch to transfer my number back from Vonage, I was under the impression that my number would be transfered that same day, however that was not the case, I called my LSP & was givin the date of June 22, the day the transfer would be complete & my phone would be in working order & the day I could cancel my Vonage account.
Finally, Monday June 25th, I called Vonage to cancel my account & get a return authorization to return the Vonage equipment (again after eternal hold) only to be told by the always robotic, script reading Vonage representative, that there would be a cancelation fee of $95.00! Needless to say... My blood started to BOIL! I explained the whole story to her from the begining, and just as I suspected, I recieved the robotic, "I'm sorry, I apologize for the misunderstanding" read from their text book Vonage training manual, and the "there is nothing we can do for you." This continued for at least 10-15 minutes before I requested to speak to a higher authority. She confidantly informed me that NOBODY at Vonage would be able to assist me. Again, I was transfered to another robotic Vonage rep that again repeated the same phrases used during all my conversations with all the previous reps I have spoken with. Although my account was documented with all of my previous conversations & my first request to cancel this account (may 17th) 2 weeks after initial sign up, he continued to repeat himself, "I'm sorry", "I apologize", "there is nothing I can do for you." Even though I did not use not even 1 minute of their service, Vonage device was still in package, & tons of documentation stating I have tried to cancel this account & that I was misled by many Vonage reps!
Also, The very first day Vonage took my phone number I started recieving TONS & TONS of voice message's directed to my email, messages by unknown callers & foreign countries, most of which were solicitors! I plan on starting a class action lawsuit if anyone is interested. Please respond to this post, I will be setting up a web site & will get started!
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