Don't replace your phone - Vonage not ready for Primetime

Posts: 110 · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:25 pm Post subject:

Wow, finally something good service out of all of that. I hope that they follow through with that.. the exchange for a new adaptor.

There are other Canadian providers that offer primary/virtual numbers outside canada, for example [ADMIN EDIT - PLEASE READ THE FORUM RULES]. But unfortunately the only have numbers for canada/USA/UK. Mexico isn't there. But I'll continue to look for you incase you in the future become too fed-up with Vonage.

Goodluck, I hope you recieve your adaptor in a fair amount of time.

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 21, 2005 Posts: 60

Some good news I think. I received the following email from Vonage Customer Care where they promise to credit me with the amount of the new Linksys router upon receipt of my old faulty PAP2.

Dear Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx,

Thank you for contacting Customer Care.

In response to your email, you will be credited back the amount
charged for the device when you send the old device back. We apologize
for the inconvenience from this matter.

Thank you for contacting Customer Care. Do not hesitate to contact
us in the future with any further questions or concerns that may arise.

Sincerely,
Ryan P.
Customer Service Representative

I'll let you know if first I receive the router, then whether I get charged custom's duties and then whether I receive a refund after sending in the defective PAP2. Understandably, I'm cynical after what I've gone through. This is now the third day without phone service. Is that acceptable for a primary telephone service?

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 21, 2005 Posts: 60

Ok. Got the router that Vonage sent out and no customs duties. Got it installed and worked first time out after getting a MAC swap by talking to customer support which by the way answered right away, no waiting..... Lol

Have just sent back the PAP2 to New Jersey and will now have to wait if my credit card is credited with the $156.78 previously charged. Did cost me $13.00 to send back the PAP2 which I guess I'll never see again.

A typical Telephone Co. user would not have liked all this and that's probably why companies like Shaw Canada can charge exorbitant monthly fees for their Voip plans as they hold your hand and have technical support on hand. The customer doesn't have to do anything except report a problem.

I think that any customer who is thinking of substituting his primary Telco line with a Voip alternative will have to ask him/herself if the $20-$50 savings is worth it.

Personally after having gone through this, I will no longer recommend Voip as a substitute for a Telco line just yet but most definitely as a secondary line.

By the way, I'm sure that my experiences would have been even worse with Vonage's Voip competitors. It's the entire industry that still has some growing up to do.

Posts: 110 · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject:

Wow, that was the most respectable opinion I've seen after someone dealing with what you dealt with. Its pleases me to see that you had the brains to believe that its probably the industry as a whole. Most would just switch providers going on to expect 100% the customer service they deserve with the next provider only to then finally figure out, well they are pretty much all the same when it comes to CS.

Well I'm glad it all worked out for you. I hope you get that credit.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:03 am Post subject:

dcongrav wrote:

A typical Telephone Co. user would not have liked all this and that's probably why companies like Shaw Canada can charge exorbitant monthly fees for their Voip plans as they hold your hand and have technical support on hand. The customer doesn't have to do anything except report a problem.

This has not been my experience with typical telephone companies. If you call a typical telephone company about a problem with your equipment they will tell you its not their problem but they will send somebody out for a hefty fee.

There are ways to avoid this, paying a subscription for inside wiring maintenance that could pay to rewire your house every few years.

Not too many decades ago my grandmother was still renting a phone from the phone company for more a month than a new phone would cost.

The real difference is in the nature of the service. POTS requires that you only have a $10 phone to make their service work. If the have phone breaks you run out to your major big box store and pick up a new one. Voip requires you to have an expensive electronic device. This is one of the integral trade-offs when you move parts of the telephone network under your control.

Posts: 18 · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:01 pm Post subject: POTS and other providers

scerruti wrote:

This has not been my experience with typical telephone companies....they will tell you its not their problem but they will send somebody out for a hefty fee.

... to avoid this, pay a subscription for inside wiring maintenance ... POTS requires that you only have a $10 phone to make their service work...

Not all problems can be fixed by replacing the phone, and yes they may blame your (or your buildings) internal wiring.

I live in an apartment building and saw an example of the Telephone company taking several hours to fix someone's wiring on the 6th floor, When they fixed the their jack in the living room they left my apartment stating their bedroom wasn't important and they are only responsible for one jack (the demark)

This may not be typical of all apartments but older apartments
1.) only support 1 or 2 lines per unit.
2.) run the risk of having someone else below or above you, taping into your line for illegal long distance use or eavesdropping.

I don't believe in putting on my faith in one service and always have a backup plan. I have a bare bones regular phone line (POTS), 2+ free or inexpensive Voip services which provides free incoming calls which include inexpensive by the minute outgoing calls.

I even have internet lite cable service in case DSL goes down.
I ended up with both hi speed services when it took 2 days for cable to get their service working and then discovered (http://www.vonage-forum.com/voip-speed-test.html) that DSL was more reliable and would support more Voip connections then my current Cable connection at the same price.

Unfortunately there is a cost to Vonage's soft phones including (I've read elsewhere) a cost to discontinue using it, but would be a cheaper alternative than a Cell phone or POTS but would only help you in this single situation and not protecting you against internet/vonage or power outages.

P.S. if wish to plan for all contingencies, Cable should be your primary hi-speed service. If DSL goes down as a result of losing your phone line then you may not be able to make a Voip call on the slow internet lite cable service unless you use bandwidth saver or an alternate provider like Skype

Posts: 336 · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject:

I think if you are going to use Voip, you should definitely have a cell phone or some other phone as a backup. Losing complete service is bad, and if you do not have an unlimited cell phone plan, that's even worse. At my home I have 2 Voip phones. One is Vonage, and the other is Primus. So if one breaks or goes down, I have another one to use. Both phones cost me $19.99 per month. I'm still saving money. With the long distance and features my phone bill was over $100 per month! Since I have joined the Voip revolution (over a year ago), I have saved approximately $880 which I am thankful for. So I might recommend Voip to my friends, but I would recommend it with some warnings.

For the most part the adapters should not break down. Mine is 1.5 years old now and never had a problem with it. It is not typical to find messages on here talking about broken adapters. Although it would anger me if I was asked to go through the same series of checks 3 or 4 times by different people who seem to be in a state of confusion. Plus the surprise charges to your account is definitely not pleasant. I hope that they do credit your account. Did you put a note in with the PAP2 stating that you are expecting a credit once that is received by them?

It is a shame that you had to wait so long for your new adapter/router. I'm glad that you got it and it is working fine.

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 21, 2005 Posts: 60

Thanks for your words of support DarKev. I included in the package that I sent to Vonage a copy of their email to me which authorized the credit to my account upon return of the PAP2.

By the way, apparently I will receive my rebate of $65.00 for my original purchase of the PAP2 adapter but I'll have to wait an additional 4 weeks. In other words, after more than 5 months since I bought it, I'll receive a rebate.

Am I the only one that thinks that 5 months is a long time to wait for a rebate?

This is not specifically a Vonage issue but certainly reflects poorly on them. They are spending I understand more than $400 dollars to gain one customer and I wonder how much on retaining them.

Unless something new comes up, I think this is the end of this saga.

Thank you to all who gave me moral support!!! Lol

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 12, 2005 Posts: 22

Thanks for posting your experience here, it helps everyone like me who is mulling over the whole pots vs Voip choice. Good luck with the service.

JT

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 16, 2004 Posts: 12

I have been with Vonage for almost three years now and in that time I have had to send back my unit twice. Both times they charged me for the unit then credited back the fee when they received it back from me. As for the shipping charge I incurred, the first time they offered to credit me $9.95 to cover the cost. The second time they offered it again when I asked but then I didn't get it. When I called back the guy I spoke to wouldn't give it to me. So I asked to speak to his supervisor and when he came back on the line he gave me the $9.95 credit to my account.

It's worth a try!