Very Unhappy

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 11, 2008 Posts: 3

I was lied to about every issue that mattered to me so that I would accept the offer. I had numerous unauthorized charges placed on my credit card, and the equipment would not work with my router leaving the other 2 computers in the house unusable.

I was assured that I would be able to recieve a specific custom number by the representative. This was important to me so my children would be able to easily remember it. I had asked her several times if she was sure that if I was to accept the service, I would be able to recive that phone number. After signing up, I was sent an e-mail that led me to believe that this was incorrect, so I called to find out that indeed I would not be able to recieve the number, and that I was forced to accept the number that they had chosen for me.

I was also told by the representative that it would be a free 30 day trial, and at any time during that period if I wanted to cancel, I could do so without charges or penalties. I had also asked her directly about this when she read the fine print stating that there would be a 39.99 cancelation fee, and a 79.99 security retainer on the equiptment. She assured me that this would only apply if I decided to cancel after the 30 days. I followed that up with a "are you sure?" twice. After signing up, I was told that this was not true as well, and that it did still apply.

They had sent the equiptment to the wrong address, although I was able to track it's location. When I set up the equiptment, it would not work with my router. I have 3 computers in the home, and in order to use the phone it had to be connected directly into my main computer, leaving the other 2 unconnected to the internet.

I had numerous issues with Vonage and every time I had called to resolve them I was sent to someone in Asia, Philippines, or south America that was very difficult to understand, and was not able to understand me. There was one representative from New Jersey that was helpful, knowledgeable, and courteous who had promised me a return phone call. When several days had passed, I tried to reach her or her office, and was tied up with an hour and a half of verifications and transfers to people that could not connect me to the United States. I had spent an accumulated 5 hours on the phone dealing with the issues that I had with the service. From the time of accepting the offer and discontinuing service was 5 days.

Posts: 229 · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:40 am Post subject:

Okay.

Posts: 94 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Sep 15, 2006 Posts: 94

Just curious, is there any residential phone service available where you can pick your phone number (i.e., including the last four digits)? I was only aware that this was possible for business, who are willing to pay more for the "good numbers" that end in 0000, 1111, etc.

Obviously the Vonage representative was mistaken -- I'm betting that they thought you meant picking your area code -- but I'd be surprised if you could find a competing carrier that would let you as a residential customer pick your own number.

Posts: 183 · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject:

Interesting that you ask, I thought the same thing. Many years ago when I moved into my first house, I had to setup my phone service with AT&T. I don't know if it is typical with them or not, but the personal let me pick my number as long as it was available. She gave me the available exchanges and I was able to pick from those and then finally gave her a few different digits for the last 4. She found one I liked that was available and assigned it to me. It was no big deal back then... but heck that was when it was Ameritech before SBC bought them and AT&T bought them. Oh how things have changed... Smile

This is why I was dead-set on transferring my number into Vonage (as well as the fact that everyone knew that number). Anymore though, I don't think having an easy to remember number even matters. My other half doesn't know anyone's telephone number unless it is in phone's address book. I guess everyone just points and clicks on a name in their phone these days!

Okay... I'm starting to feel old here.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 18, 2008 Posts: 2

Quote:

Interesting that you ask, I thought the same thing. Many years ago when I moved into my first house, I had to setup my phone service with AT&T. I don't know if it is typical with them or not, but the personal let me pick my number as long as it was available. She gave me the available exchanges and I was able to pick from those and then finally gave her a few different digits for the last 4. She found one I liked that was available and assigned it to me. It was no big deal back then... but heck that was when it was Ameritech before SBC bought them and AT&T bought them. Oh how things have changed... Smile

This is exactly the way Vonage handled assigning my temporary ( I didn't want to port my existing number at that time until I was sure my wife would be happy with it). I was allowed to pick from available numbers. The number I got was my choice. So far my experience with customer service has been nothing less than great.