Avoid anything but the $40 early termination fee

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 29, 2009 Posts: 2

A great posting today on Craigslist in Atlanta. It looks like it would be well worth it for every new customer to scour Craigslist looking for used Vonage adapters (especially if they are this price) before getting one from Vonage. If enough customers did this, it may actually help put an end to Vonage's aweful business practice of nailing customers as they walk out the door. Heck, they might even try to fix things for a change.

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Vonage v-Portal telephone adapter / router.

You can use this as a telphone adapter for Vonage or as a standard router without Vonage if you like.

I bought this 3 months ago and ended up cancelling Vonage due to voice quality issues. Actually, my take on Vonage is that they suck, suck, suck. But for every 100 complaints about them, there does seem to be at least one person that loves them to death, so I guess it does work for some.

So, I'm giving this this away for $0.02. Here's why. When I cancelled Vonage they hit me up for $141.58 saying that not only did I have to pay them their standard $40 early termination fee, but also $80 for the adapter + shipping charges + taxes ++. They would not let me return the adapter for the $80 credit! Of course they only pay perhaps $10 for these things, so they are just trying to screw anyone who cancels over for a bit more money. Now, instead of letting them do this to some other poor soul, I would rather give this thing away to anyone interested in trying Vonage so that they don't ever have to worry about getting stuck with all those extra fees. If it doesn't work out, the total cancellation fee should only be around $40, rather than $141,58!

The only thing I ask is that if Vonage does indeed suck as bad for you as it did for me, that you turn around and give the adapter away in the same fine fashion to someone else that just wants to give it a try. No sense letting Vonage continue this silly practice with anyone else. At least you won't be out another $100 by having to refund all of the original rebate+the shipping charges+taxes.

I would also like to see everyone else on CL that is trying to sell their Vonage adapters (no doubt because they did not like the service either) give them away as well. Seriously!! Be kind to your fellow man. Smile

Note that every single time Vonage stared in with all the echo and dropped packets, I could go up to my office and get on a perfect call using AT&T CallVantage and my wife and kids could do the same using Skype on their iTouch's. Vonage service/technology does have a problem!

Posts: 99 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Dec 25, 2007 Posts: 99

The PROBLEM is....and I'm speaking from experience,

The person that's giving away or selling a used adapter MUST call the Vonage Billing Department and have them release the adapter ( MAC address ) so it can be reused.

NOTE: call the billing department NOT tech support....tech support will tell you it can't be done.

Plenty of horror stories from people buying and trying to use a used adapter.

......................I recommend ONLY buying NEW equipment................

Posts: 293 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 22, 2006 Posts: 293

Seriously, I hope no one tries this with used equipment. There are too many stories where this doesn't work.

I agree with PSJ. Go with the new equipment.

Plus, I can never get over how many things just get written off to being Vonage's fault. Seriously, there are so many, many possibilities as to why the service has issues, that have absolutely nothing to do with Vonage itself.

So for the the original post, I've had essentially flawless service for many years. Dang, that must be a Vonage problem too.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 29, 2009 Posts: 2

Analyzing this a bit, I see two problems...and not one is about the service quality itself.

1. Turning the adapter into a profit center in a less than straightforward way is tantamount to a store owner being rude and offensive to a patron that just did not get what they bargained for. It's was cute on Seinfeld "no soup for you!!", but far less cute when you are the one getting stuck.
2. Taking extraordinary steps to try and force all customers into buying new hardware when there is plenty of viable used gear sitting on shelves and drawers is certainly NOT environmentally friendly. So let's all just fill up the landfills a bit more and waste, waste, waste because Vonage wants to make sure that if you aren't satisfied for some reason, well then they will sure have that extra $100 penalty to throw at you just for leaving.

So, there it is. If a used box works (and I would bet 99.99999% of them on Craigslist or eBay do), just activate the darn thing and show the customer that they made the choice through good, quality service. If you can't do this (or are afraid to), then I guess all that is left is to glorify the customers that do get great service (every service provider has a fair pool of those after all), but then continue to craft every way possible to limit the options for those unfortunate souls that just found a better alternative elsewhere. And as for the environment...nah...screw the environment by abandoning thousands of telephone adapters and power supplies if it keeps even one moderately happy customer on the Vonage service.

Posts: 293 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 22, 2006 Posts: 293

Whether or not I agree with this Vonage practice is beside the point. My point was simple. The advice on re-using Vonage adapters is bad advice. Whether or not the company should allow the re-use of adapters has been discussed many times.

The point I wish to make is this. It would not be rare for someone activating a used adapter to not experience frustration in that type of process. Plus, I don't know that even Vonage would have any idea what to do if the customer tried to cancel that "new" account.

So for simplicity sake and peace of mind, anyone trying to sign up as a new customer, needs to go with the new adapter.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 24, 2009 Posts: 13

here's a novel idea... read the terms of service before jumping into anything... not just for vonage service but anything.

Posts: 293 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 22, 2006 Posts: 293

kayana wrote:

here's a novel idea... read the terms of service before jumping into anything... not just for vonage service but anything.

I'm not sure the OP even read, or understood what the purpose of this website was for.

Posts: 172 · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:15 pm Post subject:

My first ATA was a used PAP2 off eBay. It couldn't be activated due to the previous person having not paid their bill. I went to best buy and bought a brand new one. I wouldn't wast time with used equipment. You never know if someone paid their bill or not.