Need an alternative to Vonage help desk

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 5

I'm on my seventh call to the technical help desk about my Linksys RT31P2 router. We had a power outage last week and the Vonage service has been down since. The internet portion of the router is functioning fine, but the phone adapter is not connecting. Two factory default resets and several reboots later , the router still doesn't provide a dial tone. The phone adapter lights on the router just wink on and off every three or four seconds. My problem is compounded by living in a rural portion of California that has very poor cell phone service. I have trouble maintaining a cell call to Vonage customer service. My cell phone will drop it's connection while moving between the router and my computer while talking to the tech. I end up having to call back and start over from scratch. When I try calling from my work landline, I usually end up with a help desk person telling me I need to call from home. Kind of a catch-22. It's getting a bit old.

I think the help desk and I have exhausted all the possible fixes available through the several attempts at contact. I need to get my hands on a new router. Is there better way of doing this? Can I use an alternative phone number to access somebody else outside the traditional customer service route?

Posts: 164

Try reposting with a better subject line.

"The Subject Line Is Important. Never use the words: Please, Help or Vonage in the subject line. The subject should be relevant to the topic or question. Ideally the subject line should be able to summarize the question. Using a relevant title will greatly increase the chances of an answer. An example of a bad title is: PLEASE HELP ME! An example of a good title is: WRT54GP2 and telnet timeout settings. Using all CAPS or BOLD is not allowed"

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 13, 2006 Posts: 16

Vonage is a good and cheaper alternative to the usual landline telephone service, but it's not for everyone. If you have to depend on a phone for safety or security, or for business where time and money could be lost, just get service from the local phone company and stop messing around. That's my opinion.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:10 am Post subject:

If all else fails, call the customer service number, and follow the prompts to cancel service. You will be connected to a "customer retention" rep who is assuming you want to leave and may have more leeway to keep you.

Explain exactly what you did here - because the symptoms point pretty clearly to a fried phone side of the adapter. If it is under warranty, then they will most likely swap it out. If not, then you'll have to buy a new one, or they may make an exception if you're really nice to them, but stick to your guns about canceling if they can't swap the unit.

If you know of anyone else with broadband and a phone line, you can take the device there. Ask your employer about doing a quick hookup on your lunch break or after hours - depending on their firewall, Vonage may actually be able to see your unit from there, especially if you have a friendly network group who can put your router out on the DMZ for a while.

Worst case (meaning you lose your phone number), you can cancel the account and get a new adapter and start a new account.

I'd highly recommend a UPS for your Vonage device. Put it and your modem and other low-powered equipment on it and you don't need a very big one. I'm running my cable modem, laptop, speakerphone, router, and Vonage router off an APC Back-UPS 500 ES and I've got plenty of capacity to spare.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Sorry about the subject line, but that's what the request is. I want a better resource than the current help desk at Vonage.

I can live with the fact that the Vonage system is not fallible. Neither is the local phone company. My phone service was not very good with the POTS. Vonage was/is an improvement. I don't expect to have to repeat myself to a help desk person eight or nine times to get help. There's no cumulative trouble call being created when you call their help desk. The tech just starts from scratch each time you call. That's not right. The techs should be able to look at a trouble call log and see the history for the account. That would be a better way to ensure high customer service.

I could go to the local Staples and buy a new router and have the MAC changed on the service. But the stores only stock the more costly wireless router/adapters, so I'd be stuck with paying and extra $40 for features I don't need.

One thing that strikes me as funny. The techs always insist that you call from the router, so they can walk you through the troubleshooting steps. How is one supposed to do that if you don't have a phone working?

I've had an UPS on the equipment since day one. I've been through several power outages with this system in place. The router always came back to life. Last time the power came back up, the router didn't recover.

Enough carping. I'm going to try to use my cell phone one more time with the help desk. If this doesn't work this time, I may be calling customer support to cancel my account. That might get me a new router.

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Posts: 14

yah. I can't access voicemail. I am not calling customer service or ts Smile

I have an answering machine, and I'll make due. Those guys may or may not be good technicians, I've never had to find out. I can tell you that they don't care, avoid issues, hang up on pepole, treat people rudely, etc.
Who knows it might take 2 seconds to get voicemail, but no thanks. I prefer my Vonage without the side of abuse and apathy.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Well, ninth time was a charm. I got a tech who actually found my call log and read it. Got him to agree that it was a bad Linksys RT31P2. I was informed that my router was out of warranty and that I'd have to purchase another. I gave in and bought one from Vonage. I later went through my owner's manual and papers. Found out that the router has a year warranty. I've only been a customer for around six months. I have about six months left in the warranty period. I placed a call to billing. Sounds like they operate out of the same office as tech support. I explained the situation and request a refund for the price of the router (I'll give them the shipping.). I was told I'd be hearing from somebody higher up the chain of command in a few days.

Keeping my fingers crossed.......

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

What happened?

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 5

Well, my wife called the customer service folks a couple of times (From the new RPT300 router we received.). We found a rep who wanted us to scan our old router's warranty statement from the manual and email it to them. We did this and also sent a scan of our welcome letter. The customer rep said we had a case and told us to send back the old router to the Vonage depot in Ohio. We did and sent our FedEx tracking number to the rep as instructed. After I didn't hear from Vonage for about a week or so after they received the old router, I sent off another email to the service rep. Again, the rep requested the FedEx tracking number (Which was already sent.) to verify that receipt of the router. Once verified, I would be getting a credit for the router I just purchased. It's been a couple off days since I sent the FedEx number. Still haven't seen a refund.

It's concerns me a bit that Vongae can't determine when I started the service and what the warranty terms on items they supply to you. They should have that info on hand.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

Ahh, that sounds like what the problem is with MY router. It blinks like yours and doesn't ever get a dial tone. I'm just going to cancel my service with them since I can get Optimum Voice with a free router instead of having to buy a whole new one. At least with Optimum Voice if the router fries they give you a new one, they don't make you pay for it. I noticed that Vonage's website says they offer a 30 day warranty on routers which is absurd IMO.