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"Vonage Sign-Up Is a Contract for Phone Hell"
0.5 starson by OpinionatorPros: No real pros - "pros" were just for bait! Beware!
Cons: No customer service; getting charged for non-existent service; gross misadvertisement
Summary: I signed up as a new CNET member just to deliver this review and warn everyone through sharing my abyssmal experience. Vonage has let me down to such massive dissapointment and abandoned this customer. My business suffered because of their poor service. The fact that they haven't offered to make up for their poor service has incensed me enough to write this. In sharing this I hope someone else is spared the hell I went through with them.
I live and work for myself in New York. Fairly recently there was a lot of travelling I had to do, but I couldn't afford to be away from my office and my clients during that time. My business is my lifeline; it was not an option to put it on hold for as long as I was on the road. Enter Vonage and its seductive promises. I can take my number, even area code intact, for a fraction of what I'm paying for my traditional phone service. That means my clients won't need to learn a new number, I save money in phone bills, and I can continue to be accessible by phone anywhere there is cable.
Here I must emphasize why I must keep my number at all costs. For years it's been the main source of communication for my most loyal clients, my old friends, and family. It serves as a clever calling card, because by pure chance it spells out my company initials, year of birth and the headquarter's street address. And those of you who live in New York, know how rare the 212 area code has become. You can't get a new 212 number as easily as one used to. I am very attached to my number, affectionately and through business. Such an important, serendipitous number shouldn't be given up.
Ok, so I cancelled my traditional phone service, effective 30 days from the date I called to cancel. That's an extra 2-3 weeks more time than Vonage needs to pick up my number, or so a Vonage agent assured me. I enrolled in Vonage and set up the equipment successfully. Strangely, the phone didn't work, even though everything was set up properly, and my account was active and fully functioning online. I contacted customer support. After a 40-minute hold, the girl - and I say girl, because she had a high, toddler-sounding pitch and formed sentences like she didn't want to let on she was over 8 - could offer no explanation, except that maybe my number was still in the process of being switched to Vonage. I was advised to give it more time, while my case is forwarded to the dept. that tracks these numbers. I'd be notified if anything comes up. The asked if I tried calling my old phone company. So I did, and when I got a hold of their customer service dept. (within 3 minutes compared to Vonage's stupid hold time! My old company is Verizon, a huge conglomerate with a high volume of customers to attend to, and they're on it in 3 minutes - what's Vonage's excuse?) Verizon tells me it shouldn't be me contacting them about the matter, but the company who is taking up my number from them. Yet Vonage says I should be the one to fix it with Verizon. ARGH.
One, then two weeks passed without service or notification from Vonage. I contact Vonage by phone and email regularly, only to be met by long hold times like before, the same repeated words as before, and nothing more. My clients were having a hard time reaching me by phone. Some of my senior clients, averse to newer contact alternatives (like email) cannot be bothered to try new technology. A month goes by. My business is starting to suffer. Plus, Vonage charges me for that month, even though I never got service. I'm told that I must pay before they can work on any change to my account. Begrudgingly, I pay. They have my number, and I can't lose it. But I contact them later about having to pay for nothing. Also another source of long holds and no progress.
The next two months go on in this pattern: me waiting for service, being charged for said non-existent service, my business suffering from said lack of service, and me regularly contacting customer service over and over only to be put on 40-minute holds and no real answer. By now my only phone is my cell, and from the hold time alone, it's seriously costing me per minute. Ironically, I got into this mess to save on phone bills. But I can't give up. They still have my phone number. Plus I'm being charged for these months. I'd better have something for this.
By the fouth month since I first enrolled, I finally get that notification from Vonage. In all this time, turns out that Vonage dropped the ball, and never picked up my number from my old phone company. As a result, that number was disconnected and discontinued. I can't get it back, even if I return to my old company. After all this, Vonage does not offer to make up for their mistake that cost me alot, AND they charge me for that month as well!!
I finally cancelled my subscription with Vonage right then and there. YET, I continue to get charged for the next two months after that, even though my account is closed! I had enough and stopped giving them my money or any more of my time. I kept getting emails every week about the amount of overdue charges I'm racking up. Funny how they can get back to me so quickly now, huh? I just kept ignoring them, and only then, six months after I signed up, was I finally free of them.
Long read. But I put it all out there because I want everyone to know what they might be getting into. Try the competitor VoIP companies instead. Trust me.
- 16 replies to this review
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I recieved an e-mail Vonage stating that my usage history was indicative of a "small buisness". The e-mail stated that I was using over 5,000 minutes per month and that was inconsistent usage for residential service (meaning as a residential customer you cannot go over 5,000 minutes per month).
The e-mail stated that if I did not contact them within 72-hours regarding this matter that my service would be either suspended or automatically up-graded to a "small buisness account", which would in turn raise my rates from $34 to $49.99 per month. I contacted them back via e-mail and also spoke with them over the phone to no avail.
I felt forced to up-grade, as I could not afford the interruption in my service.
This is false advertisement as Vonage clearly states in every commercial as well as on their website that you get UNLIMITED CALLING but fail to mention that you DO NOT GET UNLIMITED USAGE. -
Hummm, I didn't have any of the problems you encountered. One thing I would suggest is to not cancel your existing telephone provider until you receive confirmation that the switch has been completed. I changed a home office business line in December and my monthly bill with Vonage was cut by two thirds with exceptional quality. I even considered switching my home service to Vonage but when Verizon realized I was considering another switch, they made some changes which cut my home phone bill in half.
My experience with Vonage has been great, and I recommend it to all my collegues and friends. -
One other thing, I noticed a lot of people want to blame Verizon for not releasing the number but I used to have Verizon and now have my phone services through Charter Communications (my cable TV company) and when I switched and kept my same nuumber there was no delay at all. So, I don't think it was Verizon's fault I think it's like he said Vonage dropped the ball and robbed this guy! I think they're incompetent crooks
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I was thinking about subscribing to Vonage but after reading your review I think I'll either keep what I have or try another VoIP. I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you sharing your hellish experience with Vonage. I have read quite a few negative reviews about their customer service but this is the worst. I'm convinced
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I understand your frustration, but isnt it that the one who has an hold with your phone number is verizoN??ofcourse vonage wants to get your number immediately so that they will have all the reason to bill you.and they have all the right since you are with them once number transfer is completed.I dont think vonage is to be blamed by this.i myself have an account with vonage but i am extremely satisfied with the service.havent you think that verizon is the one whocause the delay of the number transfer for them to keep you as a customer??think about it!!you have to weigh things out before making a conclusion..:)
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I also have Verizon and was thinking of switching to Vonage... I went straight to the website once I googled it but then went back to the google results page and though "hmm, I wonder what their reviews are like.." Thank you for taking time out to warn me... definitely not going to make the switch to vonage!
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I have two Vonage accounts; unlimited business with fax (1.5 yrs) as well as unlimited residential (2 yrs). I, fortunately, didn't experience the same problems you did. My phone number transitioned within 10 to 14 days. (There was a lag between the time the old company turned it over and Vonage activated it.) <br><br>Very sorry for your experience. The service has worked well for me once I got it up and running. Good quality and high availability.
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Because of your review I will not use vonage, I hope this makes you feel just a little better. You did cost them a new customer and they lost money today... thanks and I hope your business gets back to normal...
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I was told by Vonage reps that I have to disconnect the demodification cable from my previous carrier in the box outside of my house in order to get all the phones in my house work. However, I wonder if I should do that b/c I am afraid after disconnecting the cable outside of my house and vonage service still not work in all phones in my house I might have permanently disconnect my previous carrier and never can get back!! (Now, only one phone is working, the one that connect to Vonage device) If anybody knows about this, please let me know!! Should I just call Vonage up and d/c their service to prevent myself from all the headaches I have been dealing since the last 2 months?
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Some comments in response to this review have blamed the original poster for cancelling his/her number with Verizon. Even though this was a mistake, it COULD have and SHOULD have been noticed by any of the customer service reps before the cancellation was final. The poster makes clear that there were several calls to Vonage about the problem. Apparently, not one of the Vonage reps bothered to research the issue. Sounds like the reps actually told the customer "I don't know what the problem is." This is terrible customer service. <br><br>Customers make mistakes, have questions, get confused. Thats what customer service is for, to address and resolve customer problems. <br><br>Don't blame the customer.
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I can confirm that Vonage has several methods they follow to keep from actually cancelling your service so they can continue to bill you. This happened to me and a friend of mine.
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You say in your review that you canceled your phone yourself. This was a poor move. Everybody knows that you are just supposed to sign up for vonage with your old phone number and it all happens automatically after you agree to it. If you cancel your phone number with verizon, you lose it. Period. Read the directions next time.
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Ya know, I'm getting tired of reading reviews blaming Vonage for problems and slowness with porting over an old phone number to the Vonage service. You people should really take time to learn how this works before blaming Vonage. Vonage can't implement the new phone number UNTIL THE OLD COMPANY RELEASES IT!!!!! Think about it for a second and you'll get the picture. Old phone companies are getting lots of people leave them for VOIP services or for cell phones. They don't want to have you leave, and they want to make the other services look bad so they DELAY. DELAY, DELAY in releasing your old number for use. Verizon is one of the worst about it too. I've had friends also try to keep their same phone number just switching dial up carriers, and had the same problems. Want to see a fast response though? Sign up for a Verizon cell phone account and ask to have your number ported and it gets done literally in about 2-4 hours. That's right... HOURS!!! I just converted 4 phones from Nextel to Sprint and the numbers were ported by the time I left the store. Traditional Telcos that have to release their numbers to any type of competitor delay massively so that the other company looks bad. The other company then gets swamped with calls about this and can't keep up. You really want to get results, stop blaming Vonage (or whoever), and write your congressmen about the things the big Telcos are doing to try to make number portability more difficult than it needs to be.
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I was so diappointed with their service. The phone was never working properly and the guys always put me on hold forever. I basically had to call them ever other day to fix the phone problem. I dont think I should pay for a phone service that is not working and so unreliable at all. <br>When I try to cancel ther service, they told me the computer was down and will return my call.....Liar...they never return my call and continuing to charge me the monthly fees. When I finally cancel the service (after 3 calls to them), they wont even refund me the charge. <br>They offer a service from hell.....I also file a complain at BBB. Hope to warn everybody who is trying to switch to them. <br>I think their commmercial should change to "People do stupid things.....like switching to Vonage."
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I have Vonage. I transferred my number from Verizon. I never cancelled my Verizon account, it was automatically cancelled when my number was transferred away. That's what Vonage told me to do. Sorry you have had so much trouble and lost your number, hopefully others can learn from your mistakes.
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They even tell you not to do that - as soon as you submit the transfer request it cancels your old number automatically.
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