Last Night Had 0, Tonight Have 1300?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 01, 2006 Posts: 1

After 30 years in IT, I'm pretty sure I know when I've refresehed a cache. That was not what I experienced.

I checked periodically on the evening of the offering. At first, I got the "not allocated yet" message. Later, I refreshed the browser and actually got a message saying that allocations were being posted. A little later, I refreshed again, and it had gone back to the message saying that the allocations hadn't been made yet. This message was there the next few times I checked. A few minutes later, I refreshed again, and the site said I was allocated zero and owed zero. This was a fresh message, not a repeat of a cached message.

The prospectus had said that if they were significantly oversubscribed, shares would be allocated by lot. So I assumed that I just missed out on the draw.

I breathed a sigh of relief the next day as I saw the price plunge. Although I had received e-mails from Vonage whenever a change was made to the prospectus, I received no notification of any type saying anything had been allocated to me - not from Vonage, not from the underwriters, and not from the brokerage with which I had set up the limited account. So I had no reason to check any forums or to check the IPO site again. I had no idea I was already the proud owner of a plunging stock.

I went away for the weekend, and when I returned Monday night, I had a confirmation in the mail from the brokerage firm showing the allocation of 1300 shares and the amount I owed. Only then did I have any reason to return to the IPO site to confirm the bad news.

At that point, I had already lost over $5,000 in an investment I didn't even know I had. As some have pointed out in this thread, if the price had doubled since the start of trading, this would not be a problem. However, as others have pointed out, the problem is not simply finding a way to weasel out of an investment that didn't perform as I had hoped. The problem is that I wasn't tracking the investment as I would have if I had thought that I was a participant, instead of merely a spectator. I therefore had no opportunity to mitigate the loss, though no fault of my own.

However, as far as I can tell, the problem wasn't the fault of the underwriters or my individual broker, so I felt the only ethical course was to pay the broker for the shares allocated to me while I sort things out.

Nevertheless, I feel that this process has been severely flawed, and that it has resulted in losses that I was not given an opportunity to manage, in an investment that I didn't know I had made.

I am reviewing my options.

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 25, 2006 Posts: 25

Balto wrote:

After 30 years in IT, I'm pretty sure I know when I've refresehed a cache. That was not what I experienced.

[sic]
However, as far as I can tell, the problem wasn't the fault of the underwriters or my individual broker, so I felt the only ethical course was to pay the broker for the shares allocated to me while I sort things out.

Nevertheless, I feel that this process has been severely flawed, and that it has resulted in losses that I was not given an opportunity to manage, in an investment that I didn't know I had made.

I am reviewing my options.

Balto,
I certainly can feel for you, and wish you all the luck in the world.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, and am positive you know what you are talking about. You have articulated the exact feelings of a majority of the participants in this fiasco. BRAVO!
Please keep us apprised to your progress...
Good Luck and Godspeed!

Posts: 243 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 18, 2004 Posts: 243

Come to think of it I to saw zero allocated BUT I also saw that I owed $8500. I remember making a post that evening when everyone was waiting to see the allocation and I posted what I had. A couple of people asked how I knew because they showed zero allocated.

I replied that I saw the amount due and did the math with $17 a share to figure out my allocation. Later that evening I checked the site again and then it showed the number of allocated shares.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 25, 2006 Posts: 13

Any news on the post-allocation front?