(1) Buy your adapter at a local retail store and use the retail activation. Preferably use the big box store (Circuit City, Best Buy, etc.) so it is easy to swap out if you do have problems.
That's how I did it, and that's how I'd do it again. I didn't need to transfer a number, but I probably would have done that part immediately.
Let's face it, though. I'm FAR too impatient to wait for new toys to be MAILED to me. I mean, C'mon. That's, like, WHOLE DAYS of waiting, when I want my toys NOW.
Just thought I'd give those considering Vonage a followup to my previous post regarding non-existent delivery:
henbacker wrote:
Hope this reaches someone who's considering Vonage BEFORE they buy into it.
We ordered Vonage over 7 business days ago, and included a request to have our home phone number moved from our current "land line" provider (AT&T) to Vonage. All seemed fine at the time, and we looked forward to the reliable service that so many other friends and family have from Vonage.
Almost immediately after submitting my order it is marked as being "processed". Within 24 hours it is marked as "complete", and I am happily looking forward to saving almost $50/month on our phone bill.
Unfortunately, now 9 days after placing our order, the Vonage equipment has not arrived. In fact, the link to DHL's tracking information comes back "no such package" from DHL!
Worse yet, our land line is now no longer active as Vonage has switched it over to their (currently non-existent) service, so we no longer have 911 service of any sort and are forced to resort to EXPENSIVE cell phone calls to talk to family over long distance.
Sent them two e-mails from their "promise to answer within 24 hours" customer service site. Neither were answered (it's now more than 72 hours later) .
Called Vonage's customer service from work yesterday, and the first time was told "our computers are down, why don't you call back later". No promise of them calling me back or thought of taking a message to look into my problem. The second time I talked to "Chris" who was slightly more helpful. He claimed that Vonage doesn't always post the correct tracking number to their website (!?!?!) but that he could look it up for me. He did, and (surprise, surprise) claimed our equipment would arrive "today or tomorrow". When I asked him if he could give me the tracking number he used to ascertain this fact he informed me that there was no tracking number (!?!?!?!). Of course, this flummoxed me, so I asked how he could guarantee delivery without a tracking number, and the basic response was "Vonage has that ability" but it's too complicated for you to understand. (Incidentally, I have a PhD in Computer Science.)
What I translate this to really mean is "Oops. We didn't ship your product by mistake. We'll overnight it to you to make up for it." To be honest, I'd rather he would have just told me that (although I would have demanded some sort of refund in that case).
By the way, the equipment *STILL* has not arrived two days later.
One more day, and this matter will be handed off to the Better Business Bureau!
So, On 11/3 (two days after the equipment was updated to be promised) the equipment had not been delivered (and DHL's tracking still had no record of it). So, I called Vonage Customer Service and got "Courtney", who basically admitted that the item had not been shipped, and had no idea why. She said she would immediately re-ship (another) phone adapter to me, overnight at no extra charge. Well, the no extra charge was almost true (Vonage billed me $0.01), but 3 business days (5 "real" days) later, there was STILL no phone adapter and again no record of DHL ever having received one.
So, I call customer support AGAIN. This time, I get "Michael". He quickly gets a grasp on the situation (something I'm not sure the other CS folks I talked to ever had), and says "this item must be back ordered. I'll have them ship one to you as soon as they come in - should be today or tomorrow". There's no way I buy into this, so I propose giving me a refund and having me buy one of these devices from Circuit City. He thinks this is a great idea, and says the refund will "post to your account in the next 1/2 hour". More than 24 hours later, the refund has not posted!
I did go out and buy the phone adapter successfully last night - interestingly a whole new stack of rebates was added to the purchase since last week, making it cheaper from Circuit City than anywhere else. HOWEVER, this just began an evening of frustration - I needed to call CS again to make sure the device's MAC address was associated with my (now transferred) phone number. This should have been a simple process (granted, I hold a PhD in Computer Science, so my perspective may be a little out of whack). The first guy I talked to (whose name I cannot even pronounce, let alone spell) simply had no clue what I wanted - he first wanted to give me a new phone number, then wanted to initiate a phone number transfer from my current carrier (and was totally clueless when I told him "well, that'd be Vonage"), and then he finally gave up and put me on hold for someone else. After 20 minutes of being on hold, I hung up and walked around the house cursing and blowing off steam.
Next, I decided to call CS again, but decide to call what I know to be the wrong "department", hoping they'll just transfer me to someone who knows what is going on. Ironically, I get someone who is actually wiling to try and fix things (in my angry state, I forgot to write down his name). After about 1/2 hour, he manages to locate my device on the network, but cannot get the phone number working. Reluctantly (seeing as he was actually helping), I agree to let him transfer me to a tech expert. After about 20 seconds of hold, I get "Joe". This guy was GREAT. He spent an hour working with me (getting a needed firmware upgrade off the net took forever - we almost gave up and began downloading the upgrade directly when it finally got pushed through), including calling me back twice when my cellphone dropped our call. Eventually, our phone was brought up and is now running, with the correct phone number. I'm able to use our wireless router, the cordless phones we have in the house work, and I can't believe that I finally found someone at Vonage who actually helped.
Now, the next stage in this saga will be getting a refund for the device that Vonage never sent me. There's always the Better Business Beaurau for that, though.
My advice if you're thinking of switching to Vonage:
1) Do NOT ditch your present service until you have the Vonage service working. This includes not transferring your current number until you are certain your Vonage service is working flawlessly.
2) Pray like crazy you don't have to deal with Customer Service. If you do, I'd recommend intentionally choosing the wrong department to contact. They'll probably forward you to an individual who can actually fix your problem!
Ugh. I really do hope the service works well. The hassle (and having no real phone service for the past two weeks) has so far not been worth the savings over our prior carrier.
Steve B.
_________________ Linux Advocate Microsoft Adversary Spyware free!
Just thought I'd give those considering Vonage a followup to my previous post regarding non-existent delivery:
So, On 11/3 (two days after the equipment was updated to be promised) the equipment had not been delivered (and DHL's tracking still had no record of it). So, I called Vonage Customer Service and got "Courtney", who basically admitted that the item had not been shipped, and had no idea why. She said she would immediately re-ship (another) phone adapter to me, overnight at no extra charge. Well, the no extra charge was almost true (Vonage billed me $0.01), but 3 business days (5 "real" days) later, there was STILL no phone adapter and again no record of DHL ever having received one.
So, I call customer support AGAIN. This time, I get "Michael". He quickly gets a grasp on the situation (something I'm not sure the other CS folks I talked to ever had), and says "this item must be back ordered. I'll have them ship one to you as soon as they come in - should be today or tomorrow". There's no way I buy into this, so I propose giving me a refund and having me buy one of these devices from Circuit City. He thinks this is a great idea, and says the refund will "post to your account in the next 1/2 hour". More than 24 hours later, the refund has not posted!
I did go out and buy the phone adapter successfully last night - interestingly a whole new stack of rebates was added to the purchase since last week, making it cheaper from Circuit City than anywhere else. HOWEVER, this just began an evening of frustration - I needed to call CS again to make sure the device's MAC address was associated with my (now transferred) phone number. This should have been a simple process (granted, I hold a PhD in Computer Science, so my perspective may be a little out of whack). The first guy I talked to (whose name I cannot even pronounce, let alone spell) simply had no clue what I wanted - he first wanted to give me a new phone number, then wanted to initiate a phone number transfer from my current carrier (and was totally clueless when I told him "well, that'd be Vonage"), and then he finally gave up and put me on hold for someone else. After 20 minutes of being on hold, I hung up and walked around the house cursing and blowing off steam.
Next, I decided to call CS again, but decide to call what I know to be the wrong "department", hoping they'll just transfer me to someone who knows what is going on. Ironically, I get someone who is actually wiling to try and fix things (in my angry state, I forgot to write down his name). After about 1/2 hour, he manages to locate my device on the network, but cannot get the phone number working. Reluctantly (seeing as he was actually helping), I agree to let him transfer me to a tech expert. After about 20 seconds of hold, I get "Joe". This guy was GREAT. He spent an hour working with me (getting a needed firmware upgrade off the net took forever - we almost gave up and began downloading the upgrade directly when it finally got pushed through), including calling me back twice when my cellphone dropped our call. Eventually, our phone was brought up and is now running, with the correct phone number. I'm able to use our wireless router, the cordless phones we have in the house work, and I can't believe that I finally found someone at Vonage who actually helped.
Now, the next stage in this saga will be getting a refund for the device that Vonage never sent me. There's always the Better Business Beaurau for that, though.
My advice if you're thinking of switching to Vonage:
1) Do NOT ditch your present service until you have the Vonage service working. This includes not transferring your current number until you are certain your Vonage service is working flawlessly.
2) Pray like crazy you don't have to deal with Customer Service. If you do, I'd recommend intentionally choosing the wrong department to contact. They'll probably forward you to an individual who can actually fix your problem!
Ugh. I really do hope the service works well. The hassle (and having no real phone service for the past two weeks) has so far not been worth the savings over our prior carrier.
Steve B.
I'd also add: 3) Never deal with anyone but "Joe"! Very frustrating! Enjoy the service now that you have it and good luck!
Just curious, do you think "Joe's" real name could be something like Rajanishad Krisnamurthyzzybalubah?
From the accent I heard over the phone, that would seem most likely. I would say that most of the CS folks I've talked to after 5PM sound like they're coming from India.
"Joe" did speak English very well, though. Better than many of my American college students, in fact!
OK, I'd thought this delivery issue was fixed, but, yet ANOTHER problem arose from this experience ...
henbacker wrote:
Just thought I'd give those considering Vonage a followup to my previous post regarding non-existent delivery:
henbacker wrote:
Hope this reaches someone who's considering Vonage BEFORE they buy into it.
We ordered Vonage over 7 business days ago, and included a request to have our home phone number moved from our current "land line" provider (AT&T) to Vonage. All seemed fine at the time, and we looked forward to the reliable service that so many other friends and family have from Vonage.
Almost immediately after submitting my order it is marked as being "processed". Within 24 hours it is marked as "complete", and I am happily looking forward to saving almost $50/month on our phone bill.
Unfortunately, now 9 days after placing our order, the Vonage equipment has not arrived. In fact, the link to DHL's tracking information comes back "no such package" from DHL!
Worse yet, our land line is now no longer active as Vonage has switched it over to their (currently non-existent) service, so we no longer have 911 service of any sort and are forced to resort to EXPENSIVE cell phone calls to talk to family over long distance.
Sent them two e-mails from their "promise to answer within 24 hours" customer service site. Neither were answered (it's now more than 72 hours later) .
Called Vonage's customer service from work yesterday, and the first time was told "our computers are down, why don't you call back later". No promise of them calling me back or thought of taking a message to look into my problem. The second time I talked to "Chris" who was slightly more helpful. He claimed that Vonage doesn't always post the correct tracking number to their website (!?!?!) but that he could look it up for me. He did, and (surprise, surprise) claimed our equipment would arrive "today or tomorrow". When I asked him if he could give me the tracking number he used to ascertain this fact he informed me that there was no tracking number (!?!?!?!). Of course, this flummoxed me, so I asked how he could guarantee delivery without a tracking number, and the basic response was "Vonage has that ability" but it's too complicated for you to understand. (Incidentally, I have a PhD in Computer Science.)
What I translate this to really mean is "Oops. We didn't ship your product by mistake. We'll overnight it to you to make up for it." To be honest, I'd rather he would have just told me that (although I would have demanded some sort of refund in that case).
By the way, the equipment *STILL* has not arrived two days later.
One more day, and this matter will be handed off to the Better Business Bureau!
So, On 11/3 (two days after the equipment was updated to be promised) the equipment had not been delivered (and DHL's tracking still had no record of it). So, I called Vonage Customer Service and got "Courtney", who basically admitted that the item had not been shipped, and had no idea why. She said she would immediately re-ship (another) phone adapter to me, overnight at no extra charge. Well, the no extra charge was almost true (Vonage billed me $0.01), but 3 business days (5 "real" days) later, there was STILL no phone adapter and again no record of DHL ever having received one.
So, I call customer support AGAIN. This time, I get "Michael". He quickly gets a grasp on the situation (something I'm not sure the other CS folks I talked to ever had), and says "this item must be back ordered. I'll have them ship one to you as soon as they come in - should be today or tomorrow". There's no way I buy into this, so I propose giving me a refund and having me buy one of these devices from Circuit City. He thinks this is a great idea, and says the refund will "post to your account in the next 1/2 hour". More than 24 hours later, the refund has not posted!
I did go out and buy the phone adapter successfully last night - interestingly a whole new stack of rebates was added to the purchase since last week, making it cheaper from Circuit City than anywhere else. HOWEVER, this just began an evening of frustration - I needed to call CS again to make sure the device's MAC address was associated with my (now transferred) phone number. This should have been a simple process (granted, I hold a PhD in Computer Science, so my perspective may be a little out of whack). The first guy I talked to (whose name I cannot even pronounce, let alone spell) simply had no clue what I wanted - he first wanted to give me a new phone number, then wanted to initiate a phone number transfer from my current carrier (and was totally clueless when I told him "well, that'd be Vonage"), and then he finally gave up and put me on hold for someone else. After 20 minutes of being on hold, I hung up and walked around the house cursing and blowing off steam.
Next, I decided to call CS again, but decide to call what I know to be the wrong "department", hoping they'll just transfer me to someone who knows what is going on. Ironically, I get someone who is actually wiling to try and fix things (in my angry state, I forgot to write down his name). After about 1/2 hour, he manages to locate my device on the network, but cannot get the phone number working. Reluctantly (seeing as he was actually helping), I agree to let him transfer me to a tech expert. After about 20 seconds of hold, I get "Joe". This guy was GREAT. He spent an hour working with me (getting a needed firmware upgrade off the net took forever - we almost gave up and began downloading the upgrade directly when it finally got pushed through), including calling me back twice when my cellphone dropped our call. Eventually, our phone was brought up and is now running, with the correct phone number. I'm able to use our wireless router, the cordless phones we have in the house work, and I can't believe that I finally found someone at Vonage who actually helped.
Now, the next stage in this saga will be getting a refund for the device that Vonage never sent me. There's always the Better Business Bureau for that, though.
My advice if you're thinking of switching to Vonage:
1) Do NOT ditch your present service until you have the Vonage service working. This includes not transferring your current number until you are certain your Vonage service is working flawlessly.
2) Pray like crazy you don't have to deal with Customer Service. If you do, I'd recommend intentionally choosing the wrong department to contact. They'll probably forward you to an individual who can actually fix your problem!
Ugh. I really do hope the service works well. The hassle (and having no real phone service for the past two weeks) has so far not been worth the savings over our prior carrier.
Steve B.
So ... everything was working - I was happy. The very next day, I get an e-mail from DHL saying I should expect a package from Vonage. It arrived yesterday, and -surprise, surprise - it's the phone adapter whose delivery was supposed to be cancelled and refunded (the refund had still not posted).
So, I call CS and get "Nicole". She says , "well, this shouldn't have happened, it's all screwed up, and I don't know how to fix it. I'm forwarding you to Account Management". How very helpful. After being on hold for about a minute, "Niel" from account management picks up and asks for my account (phone) number. After I hear him type it in, he promptly hangs up on me, with no explanation as to why. Unbelievable!
And, I call CS again, this time getting "Shaun". Third time seems to have been the charm. He spends over 45 minutes with me getting me a refund (apparently the shift leader tried to refuse me a refund in this case !?!?!). He also gets me a return authorization number for the product that should never have been delivered. Catch is, I have to pay for the return delivery!
Anyway, the refund has "posted" to my Vonage account, although not yet to my credit card account. Time will tell on this one.
I have one nagging concern now, based on the total incompetency of the folks I've encountered at Vonage. I fear that when the extraneous phone adapter whose order should have been cancelled arrives back at Vonage's Edison, NJ headquarters, some numbskull is going to decide that this means my account should be cancelled. Again, time will tell on this one. I'll be sure to post the (hopefully) final results of this one.
In my prior post, I made two points about Vonage "service". I'd like to add a third:
3) when calling customer service, don't expect more than 1/3 of the people to actually help you. In other words, expect to make 3 calls to CS to accomplish even the simplest of tasks.
Ugh. This really had better be good phone service to make up for all the time I've lost this past week, not to mention my frustration level.
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