Don't Switch to Vonage

Posted Fri May 8, 2009 12:00 pm, by Julie L. written to Vonage

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If you're thinking of switching, DON'T. My service with them has been a hassle from the beginning, when I decided to pay for the account set up by giving my bank routing number. When, after a week, my account still hadn't been charged I was advised by the call center agent that a payment done in this way could take up to 2 wks. I spent over an hour on the phone with different people only to be told that there was no way to go back and fix it. I was disappointed but resigned to waiting; however, the girl I dealt with first had the brilliant idea of closing the initial account and opening a new one paid for with a debit card. I told her this sounded like a hassle and there was no way to garantee my account wouldn't be double charged, but she insisted on "helping" me in this way and practically browbeat me into agreeing. I did so, spending an additional 45 minutes on this task. I was reluctant to try this because I had put just enough money in my account to cover the set up fees and OF COURSE they double billed my bank account for the account I closed over the phone!

It gets worse. I was so angry I tried to call the executive office, but they carefully control the access so that you have to email them and if you're lucky they get back to you in a few hours. Finally, an executive response team member contacted me saying the amount had been refunded, and that should have been the end of it, but NO it gets worse. After about 5 "business days" there was still no refund credited and of course I got the runaround with the co telling me to call the bank and the bank saying we can't do anything you have to call them back.

Finally after a week and a half with no money to buy anything I was able to convince someone at my branch to reverse my overdraft so at least I could buy food. I faxed the bank the email from the exectutive response team saying the money had been refunded even though it hadn't appeared in my account yet. That same day the "team member" emailed me saying:

" In response to your fax, I checked the status of your refund and found that the refund was credited to your account but wasnt pushback back to your checking account. As of 3/9/09 the refund was pushed back and should take 3-5 business days to post. i do apologize for the delay."

In addition, Vonage promised me a month free for all the inconvenience, but of course, that never happened either--this is how they pay attention to their customers.

So everything had been relatively smooth but I wondered why I wasn't getting emails saying my bill was due--until a few days ago I checked my account and saw that they had been auto billing me since march and the woman I spoke to explained that this was the co policy and the only way they do billing. Of course, none of the agents I spoke to when I signed up explained this and it is surely buried in small print in the account agreement. I avoid automatic billing because of overdraft risk and this month my vonage charge indeed caused my account to go negative, for a total of two $35 fees.

To make matters worse, one day I found that when I made calls no one could hear me--I spent the day screaming into the phone and using all the minutes on my cell phone when I finally figured out what the problem was: I had been downloading a lot of files on my laptop and it overwhelmed my computer and caused the outbound call problem. Of course, the answer to this technical issue wans't listed in their FAQ's

They should refund this month's fee because they never gave me the free month for all the hassles I initially had. Additionally, I would like to set up manual billing.

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Re: Don't Switch to Vonage by Radar F. Posted Sat May 9, 2009 @ 4:44 PM I agree they are horrid! We had them for 2 years and had the same issue type of issues. You issue is not an exception...their customer satisfaction ratings are low. Reply Re: Don't Switch to Vonage by vzjackl1 Posted Sat May 9, 2009 @ 9:52 AM I have had Vonage for the last 6 years, in fact several friends and family members recently switched to them. None of us has EVER had any problem... ZERO. I had to call them in the past and found them to be nothing but helpful and efficient. So honestly, I feel bad that you had these problems, but they ARE not the norm, I think they may be the exception!! Also it is VERY clear on the page where you enter in your credit or checking account information that your monthly payment will be by autodraft every month... you even NEED to check a box stating that you understand that!!!! you say you did not receive the free month they offered you... you did NOT even know for several months you were being billed by autodraft!! so how would you know you did not receive the free month... If you go and sign into Vonage.com and go to the billing page you will be able to see everything spelled out in black & white... your monthly invoices, billing, and any credit statements you received!! I don't mean to sound rude... but it truely sounds as if you signed up for Vonage on a whim, and really did not fully understand the type of service you were signing up for. They are an INTERNET phone company, therefore it is just kind on common sense, that they try to keep paperwork to a minimum and do most things OVER the internet. I might recommend doing na little research in the future before signing up for services, and completely reading EVERYTHING, because honestly, the ONLY way you could have missed the fact that they autobill every month, is you were not completely reading everything through the sign up process. Reply