Disconnect and rebate recovery fees

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 29, 2007 Posts: 2

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I was having audio problems and adjusted the bandwidth to no avail. Called to cancel my service and was told I had a $99 disconnect and rebate recovery fee charge. I was never told about either of these when placing the order. Evidently you have to keep their service for a minimum of 180 days in order to avoid the rebate recovery fee which is actually an equipment charge. After numerous emails sent back and forth I filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, FCC and Consumer Affairs. Any other ideas?

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I was told there would be charges if I canceled my service after the free 30 day service. There is a 12 month commitment after the 30 days.

Here is a snip from the terms of service:

2. SERVICE TERM.
2.1 (a) Service Term. Service is offered and paid for on a prescribed recurring basis for a term that begins on the date that Vonage activates your Service and ends on the day before the same date in the following period (“Service Term”). Subsequent terms of this Agreement automatically renew for the same Service Term unless you give us written notice of disconnection at least ten (10) days before the end of the applicable Service Term. You are purchasing the Service for the full Service Term, meaning that if you attempt to disconnect Service prior to the end of the applicable Service Term, you will be responsible for all charges relating to the then-current Service Term, including unbilled charges, plus a disconnection fee, if applicable, all of which will immediately become due and payable. You will also be responsible for charges for the following Service Term in the event that you do not provide the requisite ten-day disconnect notice as described above.

2.1(b) Other Commitments. If you accept an equipment upgrade or other promotional or plan benefit, such as a free month of Service, free installation, a rebate or other incentive, there may be a commitment associated with the benefit you accepted (“Commitment”). To the extent there is a Commitment, it begins on the date you activate the new equipment or accept the promotion or benefit. The Commitment period will be disclosed as part of the promotion or plan. If you disconnect service prior to the end of the Commitment period, you agree to pay Vonage a recovery fee in an amount equal to the difference between the price you paid and the regular price of the good, service or other benefit you received at the time the Commitment period began. Recovery fees are cumulative and in addition to any other charges or fees you may owe Vonage, including any disconnection fees.

That is from their website, but there was also this in the packaging from Vonage with your adapter.

Posts: 208 · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:21 am Post subject:

Over on Wikipedia's article they said it's 2 years now or you get a disconnection fee for physical lines.

Anyway, the rebate fee is there so people don't sign up, get a free router, and then cancel on them after getting their discounted router.

If your service wasn't working, you probably should have cancelled within the first 30 days during the mbg period, I think.

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

the 2 years is if you sign up for the year long rate which is discounted by a month in total and you pay 1 year in advance.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:54 am Post subject:

No, the cancellation fee does not have anything to do with whether you do the year-at-a-time or monthly billing. It is related to when you signed up for service. From the Vonage FAQ:

3.6 Disconnection Fee (Does Not Apply to Business Plus Customers). You will be charged a disconnection fee of $39.99 per voice line if your Service is disconnected, subject to applicable state and local laws. However, if your Service was activated on or after February 1, 2007 and is disconnected after two (2) years following your activation date, the disconnection fee is waived. If your Service was activated on or before January 31, 2007, the disconnection fee is waived if your Service is disconnected one (1) year following your activation date.

Posts: 2257

mara0503 wrote:

Any other ideas?

Well, if you still have your line and want to try and fix it, there are a bunch of people around here who might be able to help, or at least to narrow it down for you.

Have you run the Voip speed test to see if your Internet connection can handle Voip well? Are there particular times you had problems?

If you still have your Vonage equipment, take a peek at the sticky thread entitled "what to post when you have technical trouble with Vonage", get that information together, and start a new thread with it. Maybe your problems can be fixed. Maybe not, but if you still have the gear it's worth a shot.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 29, 2007 Posts: 2

Thank you all for the feedback. The audio problem always seemed worse in the evenings and on weekends when the Internet was in high use. I adjusted the bandwidth as suggested but got no improvement on the audio. Everytime I made a call during the above times people would only get snippets of what I was saying so I ended up using my cell phone.

You are right about cancelling within the first 30 days however I thought I could get it to work. My mistake.

I got a response from the complaint to the BBB regarding charges and was told that I received a Terms of Service agreement in my Welcome Packet. I looked through the Welcome Packet and didn't find one. I went to my "Dashboard" page and couldn't find it there either. I finally went to New User and found it there. I was not told about the criteria until I cancelled the service.

Now they want my bank routing number and account to draft charges. I will not give out this information since I've read about horror stories "online" about numerous drafts coming out of other consumers accounts. I did offer to make a partial payment by check however, they refuse to give me a mailing address and state they don't except paper checks. I don't want to pay the full amount until my case is closed with the BBB, FCC and Consumer Affairs.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:50 am Post subject:

OK, outbound audio is the result of non-functional or improperly configured QoS. Here's a quick primer on QoS:

http://vonage.nmhoy.net/qos.html

.. this is just in case you decide to go with any Voip service in the future, as they will all be plagued with this problem if there isn't enough bandwidth to send the voice.

As far as your billing, can you offer them a credit card? That's what I use to pay them, and it's a heck of a lot safer than giving out bank account numbers. I can understand your wanting to wait until things are resolved. You may also want to call Vonage again and explain that you never received the ToS in your signup packet. Maybe you'll get a sympathetic rep who can waive some of the fees - worth a shot.

I assume you sent back the equipment already - do you have a rebate that is owed to you? If you sent back the equipment and it didn't have a rebate on it, I don't see how they could charge that back to you. The $40 cancel fee is probably a lost cause, though.

Posts: 153 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 11, 2007 Posts: 153

NateHoy wrote:

OK, outbound audio is the result of non-functional or improperly configured QoS.

That's only true if the traffic that's competing with your Voip traffic is also originating from within your own network.

mara0503 wrote:

The audio problem always seemed worse in the evenings and on weekends when the Internet was in high use.

If his observation is correct, and he's not referring to other people at his own location using the internet along with him, it would appear to me that he's on a heavily loaded segment of his ISP's network.

His next experience might be better, not because the problem was Vonage, but because his ISP might implement an upgrade or reconfiguration in the meantime, and/or the neighbor who is using the internet heavily might move away or to another ISP.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:22 am Post subject:

That's very true, it could have been a neighborhood-wide problem. I assumed (possibly incorrectly) that he meant the Internet was in high use in his own household, not in the neighborhood.