Vonage Charging Me for Replacing a Broken Router

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 03, 2005 Posts: 7

I sent this email to vonage a while back:

Quote:

My router (phone adapter) restarts continuously when its under high traffic (peer 2 peer programs), I get random "lan cable disconnected" messages in both my computers when this happens, my phone line also dies in the meantime, after 30 secs or so my lan and internet its available again for some time and then it happens again.

I'm tired of this phone adapter, it used to work fine, but these restarts are a hassle now, what its the procedure to replace this faulty router.

I got this response:

Quote:

Thank you for contacting Customer Care.

We understand from your email that you are experiencing issue with your Vonage device and would like to replace it.

We would like to inform you that Vonage will replace the defective device but you will be charged for it as your device is in out of warranty. This may take up to 2 working days.

Alternately, you could also purchase a new device from a Vonage authorized retailer such as Sams Club, RadioShack, Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Fry'sElectronics, Office Depot or CompUSA and activate it online.

I feel like i'm getting screwed, I thought vonage would replace faulty adapters for free.

Any thoughts?

Posts: 323 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jan 29, 2006 Posts: 323

The products are only replaced free of charge when under warranty, which is 1 year for all of their devices I believe.

After this time they charge you for a new device or you can purchase one at a retail outlet yourself as they mention in the message to you.

This is their standard policy because they don't rent the equipment to you, they sell it to you. (Granted it is usually free after rebates and what not, but this is still considered a sale)

The downside of this is what you are encountering, but the up side is you don't have a monthly rental charge like most people do for things like cable boxes and cable modems.

Given your issue about heavy traffic you might consider purchasing a normal router and placing your Vonage device behind this. You would want to enable QoS on the main router, but this might help your overall situation.

If you do some searching in this forum you will see many comments that the Vonage devices are good VOIP devices, but poor routers.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 03, 2005 Posts: 7

After some research I think I will be grabbing a WRT54GL + Thibor Firmware (for QoS) and a D-Link VTA for vonage.

I think this should work fine, any suggestions? I use the net mostly for web browsing and peer 2 peer downloading (utorrent).

as for Vonage i read that the D-Link VTA delivers the best phone quality possible and works great, I am also open to other suggestions.

Thanks in Advance

Posts: 114 · Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:01 pm Post subject:

That's just about the combination I have, and it works great. I don't have the GL, but the v4 (which I hear is identical to the GL). I love the D-Link VTA. I got it from Compusa for about $30, and then got a $50 gift card.

I also have a Hawking HBB1 which handles QoS. The WRT54G will also be able to do it fine.

-Craig

atinoco wrote:

After some research I think I will be grabbing a WRT54GL + Thibor Firmware (for QoS) and a D-Link VTA for vonage.

I think this should work fine, any suggestions? I use the net mostly for web browsing and peer 2 peer downloading (utorrent).

as for Vonage i read that the D-Link VTA delivers the best phone quality possible and works great, I am also open to other suggestions.

Thanks in Advance

Posts: 135 · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:34 am Post subject:

well vonage will replace your device,
the reason that vonage might not replace the device is because your device is beyond the warranty of 1 year,
but if your device is on warranty, they will replace it for free, but you have to send the device back to vonage for 14 days, because if it you didnt return the device, vonage will think that you ordered a new device and you will be charged
as for buying from a retail, it is convienient for you because you dont have to pay the shipping fees that will be charged to you,

Posts: 605 · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:04 am Post subject:

As much as I enjoy Vonage, if they did not replace my device for free after being a customer for almost 2 years I would be forced to switch providers.

Posts: 72 · Full Forum Member Joined: Mar 21, 2006 Posts: 72

KDWycha wrote:

As much as I enjoy Vonage, if they did not replace my device for free after being a customer for almost 2 years I would be forced to switch providers.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! So your view is that someone should replace something free of charge even though it is out of warranty just because the initial rebates meant you didn't pay for it to start with. Try that argument with your cell phone company (without agreeing to a contract extension).

Posts: 72 · Full Forum Member Joined: Mar 21, 2006 Posts: 72

atinoco wrote:

After some research I think I will be grabbing a WRT54GL + Thibor Firmware (for QoS) and a D-Link VTA for vonage.

Why do you need to change your Vonage adapter? From your initial description it just sounds like the router function of it isn't up to the job. If you are going to use a separate router then this will no longer be a problem.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 29, 2006 Posts: 4

DMS1 wrote:

KDWycha wrote:

As much as I enjoy Vonage, if they did not replace my device for free after being a customer for almost 2 years I would be forced to switch providers.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! So your view is that someone should replace something free of charge even though it is out of warranty just because the initial rebates meant you didn't pay for it to start with. Try that argument with your cell phone company (without agreeing to a contract extension).

If they used quality devices this would not be an issue.
I have a dead VTA sitting here right now that is not even 4 months old. Maybe they should offer renting the devices since for the most part they are low quality equipment. Like the cable company does.

Cell phones rarely break they either get water damaged or physical damage.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 28, 2006 Posts: 10

I recently sent a bad router back to Vonage (I worked with tech support and had a valid RA#).

They sent me a replacement DLINK router. The one with all the firmware bugs in it. The new router is a piece of sht. Locks up every 8-12 hours which breaks phone and internet service. DMZ is not programmable because of firmware bug. Router lockup erases all port forwarding settings - another firmware bug.

To boot, Vonage has recently charged my credit card for $116 for this new router. I have only been a Vonage subscriber for about 9 months so I'm under the 1 year warranty period.

On top of that, I had to pay the shipping cost to send them the bad router. I went with Vonage originally to save some money. I'm now spending money shipping their terrible hardware back. They've also charged me $116 (including shipping) for the additional router which with the firmware problems should have a street value of about 5 bucks. Interesting how they get to charge me shipping but I have to pay my own shipping to send back their crummy product. One way street apparently.

Last night I spent 1 hour on the phone with level 1 Vonage tech support and they had me reset my router and sent me on my merry way. The router will lock up again. They documented my complaints in my account detail, including the firmware bugs, and then the call was over.

I'm cancelling my Vonage service. Customer support is terrible. Quality of products and phone service is totally unreliable at this point. They have given me a "take my money and run" feeling. As far as I'm concerned Vonage has breeched their contract of reliable service with me, thus I do not expect any cancellation fees.