One October 10, my business partner and I received a direct mail promotion from Vonage that defined the promotion that they were running. Voice over IP (VOIP) phone service.
We were contemplating the pros and cons of a VOIP service and determined, based on the conversation we had with the Vonage Rep that informed us that the agreement we were entering into was MONTH TO MONTH that we had somewhat of a risk free relationship.
Vonage was running a 30 day money back guarantee - we felt that we could determine if the service worked for us or not within that time.
Two weeks passed after having one of the three phones before Vonage Customer Service was able to troubleshoot/diagnose the problem. That phone we called in and cancelled shortly after that but within the 30 days. We shipped the modem back as well directly to Vonage.
One the second of the three phones we had a similar experience - it took Customer Service more than two weeks to get that phone working - we kept that phone up until Thursday, June 5.
The third phone works with the exception of the voicemail that has never worked.
My beef is simple. One June 5 I called Customer Service to cancel the service and to request a refund for the charges that they had continued to take out of my business account for the first line we cancelled. There should not have been a penny taken out since the service was cancelled and the modem was shipped back - they owe our company more than $250 for that one line.
It gets better. When I attempted to cancel the second line, Vonage informed me that the first line was never cancelled and that they never received the modem and that they were going to charge me a $130 cancellation fee because there was a contract I agreed to for all three lines.
Funny how they failed to mention that during the phone order for the service. Hmmmmmmm???
Plus they were going to charge me an additional $130 for the second line that I was cancelling.
So not only did they steal $250 out of my business account but they charged me an additional $260 for a total of $510 plus dollars!
If they had disclosed to both my business partner and I that this was a one or two year agreement we certainly would not have agreed to have their service. But since we were told that it was month to month that is the ONLY REASON why we wanted to try their service.
That is referred to a non-disclosure or terms or commonly known as deceptive trade practice.
Chase bank has already given me approximately $90 of the $250 Vonage stole out of our Business account and I am working closely with their fraud department to obtain the balance.
I warn every consumer out there to avoid Vonage - they simply don't care!!!
I hope that this information gets into the hands of the FTC and they they intervene and protect other Consumers from future theft.
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