Customer Service Problems

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 24, 2006 Posts: 4

I have been a Vonage customer for a couple of years now. Frankly for the most part, I absolutely love it.. No problems, good connections, etc..

UNTIL I have to call customer service for something. Today it was poor fax calls. No problem. First person told me to adjust some settings on my fax machine. Great, I'll do that.. Then re-boot the pap they say.. OK..

Well, line 2 went away.. So I called back Should be an easy fix, right?? WRONG! "Reboot the PAP again, I fixed it" says the second person.. OK, Here we go again!!!

Reboot, nothing.. Call #3. First person insisted that my network was to blame. That I had to plug the PAP directly into the cable modem and disconnect the rest of my network.. Nope, can't do that.. This is a production network, and I am working from this location. An interruption of that sort would be VERY bad.. After a few troubleshooting steps.. I request level 2 support...

OK, Finally after 20 mins on hold, I get level 2.. You guessed it.. It's all in the network here.. I have too many levels of network., So, I ask him "Why has it been working just like this for over a year now, in fact, I have been using it all day" Reboot your network they tell me. Once again, I remind them that I cannot do that..

So, all in all, I have now been on my CELL phone with them for 90 minutes and have no resolution why my line 2 went away.. BTW, Line 1 is working fine, calls are coming in as normal, well as long as I don't have it unplugged for 15 minutes on end...

If anyone has any suggestions how to untangle this maze, and perhaps get to a tech that maybe has seen a Voip router once or twice, I would be VERY interested in hearing it.. So far, I am rating Tech Support a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks

Glenn May
Shrewsbury, MA

Posts: 23 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 24, 2006 Posts: 23

hai, in that case just disconnect ur fax from the pap2 and connect a phone to the fax port (i.e) line 2 in pap2 and check whether u r able to make/receive calls thro that 2nd line//if there is no prob in making/receiving calls then obviously ther is no problem with the Vonage device.............ther might be some prob with ur fax machine//
also check Ensure that all devices are well ventilated. (Devices can otherwise overheat and cause any of the possible issues.)
Have the customer lower the BAUD RATE of the fax machine to 9600 or lower...
Some fax machines have a resolution setting. Have the customer check for this setting and be sure it is set to "STANDARD
Many fax machines have a feature called ECM (Error Correction Mode). Have the customer check the machine for this feature and turn it OFF
ALSO remove if fax machine is connected to any splitter/phone jack//always connect it to the device directly.......
try these steps ........... all the best

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 24, 2006 Posts: 4

Well, Grand total of 5 Hours on the phone trying to solve this issue.. Looks like whatever the first guy did fried my PAP-2 and now I have to replace it..

of course, Vonage now has a policy that they can only 2 day the replacement parts to me. This is fantastic, considering that we are already into Thursday, and it's a holiday weekend.. Means I will be without my phones until TUESDAY!!! 6 days of no service..

Not an acceptable loss as far as I am concerned..

G

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 24, 2006 Posts: 4

Hoss wrote:

Well, Grand total of 5 Hours on the phone trying to solve this issue.. Looks like whatever the first guy did fried my PAP-2 and now I have to replace it..

Well, make that a grand total of nearly 7 hours before the dust settled...

Here is the outcome.. I went and bought a new PAP this morning at Staples, after the Account Management team offered to credit me for the purchase price..

Got home, called Advanced tech support to re-install it (Don't trust the l1 folks any longer)

This guy took one look at my PAP, and fixed the problem in less than 30 seconds.. 7 hours wasted for this guy to fix it 30 seconds later.. Really goes to show you how poor of technical support they have hired..

I think it is time for Vonage to take a hard look at their support structure...

Glenn May

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 26, 2006 Posts: 2

I just spent 3 days with no dial tone!
No telephone to call support and used up all the min. on my cell phone trying to get help.
Had dozen of emails back and forth with canned answers.
Why is there no LIVE tech support so people like me with no phone to use can get sensible answers right away?
I went out and bought a new "modem" a motorola VT1005 to replace my Linksys RT300 and finally got that one to work all on my own.
Anybody think I have any chance in Heck to get a credit for the modem I just had to buy? Smile

But, seriously how do I find the number to advanced tech support and are they in this country?
Thanks for your time,
Cindy

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 24, 2006 Posts: 4

Cindy wrote:

I just spent 3 days with no dial tone!
No telephone to call support and used up all the min. on my cell phone trying to get help.
Had dozen of emails back and forth with canned answers.
Why is there no LIVE tech support so people like me with no phone to use can get sensible answers right away?
I went out and bought a new "modem" a motorola VT1005 to replace my Linksys RT300 and finally got that one to work all on my own.
Anybody think I have any chance in Heck to get a credit for the modem I just had to buy? Smile

But, seriously how do I find the number to advanced tech support and are they in this country?
Thanks for your time,
Cindy

Cindy, The good new is YES advanced tech support IS in this country, and some of them.. Especially Chris knows what the hell he is doing hands down...

The number I used is 800 860 5491 which is the Account Management office.. HOWEVER The advanced tech support is in the same office space.. They can get you over there.. Worked for me.. Maybe it will work for you..

Best of luck.. Really, you may need it..

As for the credit.. Try it.. I got them to pay me for the new pap (That I have not had to use yet) and credit me 2 months of service due to their errors.. Then again, it was their tech that screwed up my PAP..

Glenn

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 26, 2006 Posts: 2

I will call them! Thanks; I will also ask for the credit!
Agian Thanks.
Cindy

Posts: 253 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 23, 2006 Posts: 253

a little tip for you cindy

if you really need help and nobody is able
to answer your calls

just mail those persons who know more about Vonage

here!!!

i bet you sure that they will help you...

have a nice day!!!

Posts: 87 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Feb 15, 2005 Posts: 87

Vonage needs tech support via text chat. Although this wouldn't be possible when troubleshooting a Vonage router...you'd get knocked offline when rebooting.

Because of the language barrier, I've resorted to text chatting with Dell for support. It works very well. At least I can read what they cannot pronounce.

I quickly realized that Vonage tech support was truly in India when I called on behalf of my mother-in-law and gave the name on the account as "Maureen". He proceeded to call me (a male) "Maureen" for the rest of the call. Haha! Eek

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 1

I am trying to get hold of Vonage customer service from account management since a week to suspend my phone as I am going on vacation for nealy a month time. Every time I call there will be a default message saying "this call might have wait time of 15 to 25 minutes". Even after waiting for 25 minutes there is no response. It just goes on music mode.

The nubmer I was trying is : 1800 860 5491 (I got this number from one of the CS of vonage).

I have called all other services like car insurance / cable /cell phone in no time and got the response so quickly. I just got fed up with only Vonage. I think I will give up this. May be just loosing $25. Sad