Just try canceling your service!

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 18, 2006 Posts: 4

I know the account is active. I can't get these nitwits to shut it down.

Posts: 76 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: May 18, 2005 Posts: 76

We had two numbers with Vonage. We cancelled one over the phone because we used it maybe for 5 to 10 minutes a month tops. Vonage tried like crazy to have us keep the account but since we were not cancelling our overall service, I think that might have played into a no hassle over the phone cancellation.

At this point though MorganLD, if you've called in twice and not gotten the account cancelled, I would follow the TOS and send your cancellation via registered mail. At that point, Vonage can either play by the rules THEY established or they have a legal situation on their hands - which they enough of right now. Yes it's a pain in the rear but this way you have every legal recourse at your fingertips if they do not cancel your account. Until then, they can simply claim you did not follow the TOS which is your binding, legal agreement with Vonage and keep on charging you.

Sadly, Vonage will not be the last company in your lifetime that will do this to you. Gotta love corporate America!

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 14, 2007 Posts: 7

rgnok wrote:

So you cancelled your service, IN WRITING, and you continue to get bills? Just send a copy of your written cancellation notice, including the date, along with a copy of any future bills, to:

Customer Care Billing Dept.
Vonage
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733

Assuming you had a credit/debit card on the account, if they are actually CHARGING you past your obligation after you notified them IN WRITING of your cancellation, open a dispute with the bank, sending them a copy of the same information.

Yup, AMEX Centurion. Except I don't need to explain ANYTHING. I just tell them it's not my charge, they don't ask for any backup details, they just tell the merchant to go F themselves.

I love CS people and other companies that try and strong arm me. I ask them nicely once, then in writing, if that does not work, I call AMEX, and in 30 seconds, PROBLEM SOLVED

Posts: 414 · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject:

jungleland wrote:

Yup, AMEX Centurion. Except I don't need to explain ANYTHING. I just tell them it's not my charge, they don't ask for any backup details, they just tell the merchant to go F themselves.

I love CS people and other companies that try and strong arm me. I ask them nicely once, then in writing, if that does not work, I call AMEX, and in 30 seconds, PROBLEM SOLVED

Let me start by saying I don't condone any of the practices you are claiming Vonage does in this thread. I would be just as angry as you are at Vonage if they pulled that with me. Thankfully my Vonage works great and I have no reason to cancel at the moment. Hopefully Vonage people see these sort of complaints around the web and fix the problems.

Now, before you go calling your credit card for every little thing let me give you some further information on chargebacks/disputes. When you tell your creditor that a charge is not valid there is not automatic assumption that you are correct, if that was the case then no merchant anywhere would be accepting your credit card as it would be too much of a liability. A notice of the chargeback is sent to the merchant and they are given the option to dispute or accept the chargeback. If there is documentation on your account saying you should be canceled and there is no further usage past that date on your account they will probably just accept the chargeback with no problem. The problem comes in if there are no notes on your account or if there is ANY usage past the point you have disputed payment. If there is usage, you knew the account was open and the merchant may have the right to dispute the chargeback on those grounds and the credit card company will most likely agree with them. Also, with most credit card companies they will charge the merchant a "fee" regardless if the chargeback was disputed or not, so it still hurts the merchant even if you are disputing a valid charge.

So, in closing if you can back up your dispute, then by all means, go for it - it's your money, do what you need to get it back.

Posts: 84 · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject:

Why is everyone canceling? I have been with Vonage for 2.5 years, and have had issues, but less than when I was with verizon. Is anybody ever happy with ANYTHING anymore?

Posts: 83 · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 1:14 am Post subject:

Not everyone is cancelling but it seems that the process of cancelling has finally pushed people to the point of frustration.

Im glad that those who are having problems cancelling are airing their situation here and letting the word out on how bad some experiences can be to cancel...that way maybe someone who is thinking of signing up will know beforehand what "may" lie in store for them if they should try to enter the world of VoIP...and maybe through this "word of mouth" this will alter the way Vonage responds to those who wish to leave...

I cant complain about my service and have no near future plans of leaving...but if i did leave and had a hard time of it, I wouldnt even consider returning....

Posts: 55 · Full Forum Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 55

I think there is a lot of anxiety over the lawsuit and Vonage's outlandish spending and lack of profits that have people concerned. However, after reading Vonage recent quarterly results, I am not as concerned. They are still growing, although cancellations have gone up ever so slightly and they seem to be reigning in their spending and reducing their losses. So I am not as concerned as I was two months ago. Remember, they have 2.4+ million subscribers and if you read about 100 people canceling here on this board, that is such a small percentage - I mean really really small.

Posts: 114 · Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 9:43 am Post subject:

I cancelled months ago and didn't have any problem. The number was ported to another Voip provider, I called, got through in about 2 minutes, requested to be cancelled, they tried to keep me by offering a free month, I rejected the offer, and that was that.

For the person who asked why people are cancelling. My decision is based on the other Voip provider charges far fewer fees, they're a much smaller operation (customer service gets answered immediately and provide accurate answers), and they offer far more in terms of useful features (anon call block, caller-id customization, scheduled privacy, number-based blocking, anti-telemarketer, etc).

-Craig

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 09, 2007 Posts: 1

is the absolute worse. Talk about not caring about the customer. I even had them pass me on to the superiors. Vonage already had my money so nobody cared.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 25, 2007 Posts: 2

I cancelled well over a year ago now after porting my number to viatalk. I used the phone also as I was instructed to by a csr. This guy said my account was cancelled, and I acknowledged I had to pay the next bill as it was due the next day anywas so no biggy I paid it. A month later, they try and bill me again, but I had already cancelled my card for other reasons. Well, today I get a phone call from a collections agency as well as a letter in the mail from the agency stating I owe 2 months bill. I tried to be polite to the lady on the phone but that didn't pan out so well, as she was pretty persistent that I owed this money. I told her, the months in question, if they were to look they should see that I had cancelled my account and prior to that had my number ported out so the time in question there was no phone number with Vonage. That does not seem to matter to them she keeps referring to the tos specifically 2.1 about the written letter with in 10 days. I told her I was instructed to call in by a csr, doesnt matter. My lawyer seems to think though that with all the emails back and forth that I have from them regarding this plus section 2.11 of the tos and also section 2.1 last sentence...I paid the last full cycle, so he does nto think he will have to much trouble takign care of it. We shall see.