REBATES!!!

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 6

After 6 months, I am not waiting any longer, no rebate. I am cancelling my account and calling my state Attorney general. I called Vonage and got the runaround, called GFS only to be told I need to wait 90 days after activation to get my check. They did some double talk when I told him it has been 6 months. THIS IS FRAUD AND NEEDS TO BE REPORTED. PLEASE follow those links to the FTC and tell them what is happening. The Better Business Bureau is worthless, don't waste your time, they will only tell you Vonage has many complaints and most are unresolved. The BBB is powerless.... email or call the FTC and your states Attorney General.
I was told there is NO problem with my rebate, it is just in process, I have copies of everything. These companies are just hoping we will all forget and go away so they can STEAL your money, this is illegal and must be stopped. Only YOU can do something to stop this. Evil or Very Mad

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 10

I signed up with Vonage in the beginning of June after buying a PAP2 from Radio Shack lured by the $ 50.00 rebate. After reading this forum, I decided to document the rebate transaction.

I recently mailed in the rebate form CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEPT at a cost of $ 4.42. Note that at the end of the day, my rebate will be worth $ 45.58 after subtracting the cost of the CERTIFIED MAIL.

I just checked web-rebate.com and found that the rebate status is at level three of five, "waiting for service period."

I will be checking the website again in early September to ensure that the rebate status has been updated to "approved for payment" and that the payment has been mailed.

Hopefully, my rebate will be processed as promised. I will update the forum next month.

It is a shame that consumers have to pay for CERTIFIED MAIL to protect themselves from the potential of a deceptive business practice.

edmecka.com

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:21 am Post subject:

Ed, please keep us updated as to how your progress goes. You are going about it in a right way as opposed to other people it seems.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 6

Yeah Ed, do it the right way, as I have. I have completed all the required hoops, having no errors as seen in tracking my rebate. Talking with GFS confirms this, and that I am over the required waiting period. Yet I am told to wait 4-6 more weeks. Ed, don't hold your breath. If you go past the required waiting period with no results, try filling out this form. https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
You may have to copy and paste it into the address bar, it is to the people who can help you.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 10

Not only will I go the FCC route... But I have contacts in the media who are chomping at the bit waiting to see what direction this takes.... Maybe even taking it to small claims court action and naming radio shack as a co-defendant since I purchased the unit from them. I checked the BBB rating on Vonage and they are members of the New Jersey BBB. That says alot about a company and complaints to the BBB are usually very effective when they involve a member business. The CFO is John Rego and the company is in Edison, NJ. They can't claim that they haven't been warned seeing that the REBATE topic is a hot issue.

On another issue, I have to make it a point to find out just how Vonage is dealing on a "technical level" with E911 here in New Jersey. We have a combination of PSAP and PSDP throughout the state, many are regionalized. One major 911/e911 slipup and the Sh*t will hit the fan.

Lets wait and see what happens.

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:14 am Post subject:

Good luck on the media and the small claims court route...Won't happen. I'll bet a cold beer on that..

Yes, they are a BBB member, here is the link.
http://www.trenton.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0221000011005249

And if the media is truly "chomping at the bit" over a $50 rebate that is late as opposed to real newsworthy items, then please tell your contact at the Weekly World News that I have found the Peruvian Bat Boy living under my deck with Elvis...

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 10

Lets sit back and wait to see what happens.... By the way a cold Coors light sounds good, your on!

Vonage is a NJ based company and I am in NJ. The State Attorney General would eat this stuff up if, in fact, so many consumers are being screwed as portrayed in this forum. But then again, maybe the rebate system does work and Vonage is doing a good job overall. Lets see where this goes.

I currently use Packet8, broadvoice, and voxee in addition to the new Vonage service. Packet8 has been solid the past two years while, in contrast, I have experienced two outages with Vonage within the past two months. Broadvoice and voxee are on my WiFi phones amd I have no complaints about either one. Both provide sip configurations so that you can use your own device.

For those who may not be aware, voxee only provides dialout service on a "pay as you go" basis. The cost per call in the US is .011/min billed in 6 sec. increments and offer the convience of PayPal payments.

So Vonage is no longer the only game in town and they should take a hard look at the changing market.

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:39 am Post subject:

Oh Ed, Coors light? Cheap bet! I prefer Sam Adams Very Happy

True Vonage is not the only game in town, but they have not been for a long while.

No Voip provider has 100% uptime. Others have also had major issues/meldowns lately. Look at SR. They had a huge meltdown about a month ago, almost ALL day...

Is Vonage 100%, no. But none are...Also you can get SIP configs with Vonage if you add the Softphone also..

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 10

Here in Hoboken, that bottle of Coors Light will set you back 5 bucks. lol

Its true that most of the Voip providers have had outage problems but the biggest problem yet to be resolved is the 911-E911 service.

I've looked at the Vonage softphone and for many customers its a great add-on for laptops. The real power of that extra "sip configurable" line is using it with a WiFi phone.

I recently purchased a sipura 3000 and would like to use my main Vonage account on the device with automatic fallback to a cheap POTS line. I called Vonage customer service and they said "no" to providing my main account sip information. I also plan to setup a linux box running Asterisk.

What, if I might ask, is your relationship with Vonage? Employee, investor, long time customer? Have you tried other Voip providers?

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:31 am Post subject:

Just long time customer, dual line user for both home and my work.

I have had CV besides Vonage, but really prefer to stick to the larger companies for stabilty ie not going under, in theory. I also have many friends that have used a huge array of other providers.

For me, Vonage has been a great tool for features, reliability, and most effectively money in my pocket. For a basic line through SWB here it would be around $35, and I pay a little more than that for 2 lines, $54/month I believe. With family scattered all across the US, and constant calls to my office in Dallas as I work remotely, the cost savings are RIDICULOUS.

The other good thing here in FL is the SWB jacks are hot just for 911, as my wife found out when she plugged a phone in and was surprised to get a dialtone. Also, with a large amount of minutes on Cingular and over 1000 rollover mins in the bank I am well equipped to deal with the occasional issue.

Verizon offered me $75 for unlimited long distance..Crazy when I pay less than that for 2 lines...

Would the rebate issue drive me crazy? Yes it would...but I know that I easily save well over $50/month using Vonage. You can also get them to credit $50 to your account if you apply a bit of pressure to the rep you are speaking with.

Either way, you are lucky as they did not offer a rebate back when I signed up. Very Happy