What Vonage Means To Me

Posts: 448 · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject:

JScott wrote:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!
I take ALL the credit!!!

How is the E-911 pilot in Rhode Island coming along? Any rumors when this might be available in other states? My biggest concern now that I'm doing the LNP and dumping POTS is the lack of a full-featured 911 service. Living in a dense urban area (with the corresponding crime) and having a young child, 911 security for the wife and family is a hot issue for me.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 2

The reason I switched at home was no matter what I did, SWBell always managed to get my charges up to $80-$90 per month per line. There was always a new plan that looke d good, but always the charges were the same.

It has been refreshing to experience "They do what they say they're going to do". I have some gripes as well, but overall am very satisfied, hence our plan to switch campus phones to Voip - see other post.

Posts: 23 · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:20 pm Post subject:

I have to agree w/ just about everyone on this page... there are MANY reasons to get Vonage. Everyone loves it for something... Even though I've been plagued w/ problems w/ it since October, I'm still holding out for them to fix things right, so I can continue to enjoy the service, and refer it to evey person I know....
Still, by biggest complaint is customer service.... it was wonderful for me my first few months, and since then it's continued to go down hill rapidly. I understand the company is trying to grow.. and it's happening faster than they expected.... but to have customer service emails sit unanswered or even acknowledged for upwards of 7-14 DAYS ...and waiting well over an HOUR to talk to someone in tech support... [making it worse if I have to call on my cell and because I can't use my Vonage line.] I just find this unacceptable. YES I am paying a hell of a lot less and getting a hell of a lot MORE than with my landline I used to have.... but still, $25 a month, is STILL $25 a month.... regardless of what I'm paying out, it's still MY MONEY that I had hoped to exchange for goods/services. Meanwhile, they're still happy to take my money, and I'm still sitting w/ the same problems.

JScott... don't get me wrong... I appreciate and give props to ANYONE working customer service and tech support. YOU ARE the ones keeping the company running... I respect that.... but if the company is going to attempt to grow by leaps & bounds, wouldn't it make sense to hire about many more JScott's at the same time? I wish Vonage the best... I hope that someone decides to take 10-15 min and try to sort out my issues... I'm willing to give them yet another chance.... but with TWO service tickets STILL open, and no answers in sight, shopping around to other services is looking appealing.

I'll get off my soapbox and wait.... again.....

-Andrew

Posts: 79 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:43 am Post subject:

I was just playin around, but seriously, I have NO control over the defective device issue. For one, I don't design or make them....2, I NEVER see those devices b4 they go out...they r upstairs in shipping & receiving.
I don't know if u have heard, but we r in a serious hiring boom. In late October we announced the hiring of 600 more employees before April 2005, most of which will b in Customer Care & Tech Support, so trust me, the effort is there. Phone volume has increased tremendously due to the new Television Ads Vonage has launched, and we have set 5 company records in the past 2 weeks for new account sign-ups in a day (most recent record, set yesterday was 3,065). So, please b understanding when it comes to the call volume right now.

Posts: 244 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:47 am Post subject:

I manage & program several different call center site for my Company both using TDM (Aspect ACD's) and Voip using I3. I can vouch for the call traffic and patterns.

I see the same thing all the time at our sites. It takes time to train the new reps and get them on the floor where they can make a difference. Im sure they will work on that.

Im anxiously awaiting a fix on the devices or a new one with no noise though.

Posts: 61 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:53 am Post subject:

The straw that broke the camels back for me with 'Bell-South' was the endless 'local' toll charges. They were only a few cents here and a few cents there but annoying. The one that put me over the edge was a call to a local 'Wal-Mart' within my CITY LIMITS. When billed $.12 for making the call I questioned the charge. I was rudely told that the stores telephone wiring when through a adjacent cities CO. Hum ..... I asked how was I to know and was told I should have called and confirmed that their exchange was 'local' ... since this area has hundreds of exchanges (seems like more added daily) I questioned the feasibility of calling and have always wondered why I can directly dial a toll call and not have to add the area code to at least let me know I am dialing a toll number. To make a long story short they refused to do anything and basically said 'take it or leave it'. An attitude they could get by with when they had a monopoly on local service. I dropped my service on the spot and switched to digital (cable) phone service until I found Vonage. Cable telephone was great but $39 compared to $24 (and all the bells and whistles) with Vonage. I caught hell from the wife for changing numbers a few times but survived and have a great sense of accomplishment every time I read about Bell-South losing customers and employees

Posts: 66 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:02 am Post subject:

Just wait until the "Big 3" (Your Federal, State, and Local Government Beaurocrats) start getting into your pockets again my friends...it's only a matter of time..it might be 6 months..it might be 6 years.. but I guarantee you this, the lawyers are hard at work Sad

Posts: 448 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:59 am Post subject:

pitroad wrote:

I asked how was I to know and was told I should have called and confirmed that their exchange was 'local' ... since this area has hundreds of exchanges (seems like more added daily)

AMEN to that. Fifteen years ago this area had 13 prefixes. Then it was 16. Today, according to Verizon's website, our community alone has not 16, but 64 prefixes. Our total local calling area consists of 107 prefixes and more are being added faster than I can keep up with them. Our extended calling service area (ECS) has hundreds more prefixes, and we're expected to "know" which of those 107 prefixes are local and which are not.

I guess most people don't really care about 25-cents anymore, and that's probably what the phone company is betting on with their ECS charges. After all, it's just a quarter. But jeez, all those quarters add up to many dollars over a month's time. All our friends and family 7 or more miles away are ECS/toll calls. It's remarkable we can send unlimited emails to the other side of the world for free, but can't call Mom who lives 10 minutes away without out paying a toll.

Like I said in my first post here, the ECS charges nickel and diming me to death were one of the major deciding factors in my decision to abandon POTS.

Posts: 89 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:49 am Post subject:

JSCOTT, Whats up with the E911. I believe that answer is still unanswered on this tread.

Thanks for a great service

Posts: 79 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:41 pm Post subject:

That's a good question....E911. All I know is that the company is supposedly working on getting it out to as many states as possible. I am in the dark as much as u guys on that issue.