How long does it take to activate a transferred number?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 17, 2005 Posts: 1

The ability to keep my existing phone number was a key factor in my decision to switch to Vonage. I would not have switched without this ability, but now I am very confused about this process and very frustrated with Vonage as a supplier.

My carrier (Qwest) released my number, disconnected my service and sent me my final bill on July 18. Somewhere, that phone number exists within Vonage because when I dial out from my "virtual number" the caller ID reads that I am dialing from my transferred number. The problem is, I cannot receive incoming calls to that number and I cannot forward the calls because that number was disconnected. The end result is that nobody using my transferred number can reach me.

If Vonage could explain to me why this happened and what they are doing about it, I would not be writing this now, but they can't. My ticket has been escalated and they have promised me at least three times that the problem would be fixed in 48 hours, but when I call back all they can tell me is that they are "working on it". They have not returned phone calls, as promised, or e-mails. Tonight they told me there isn't anything they can do because it has been escalated to a third party vendor. While that may be true, I am still a Vonage customer and Vonage is responsible to me. The fact that they chose to use a third party vendor is not my concern.

The lack of phone service is unacceptable to me, but I could tolerate it if I felt like they were doing everything they could to fix the problem and they cared enough about my business to report the progress back to me. As it is, I feel like they are avoiding me and are in way over their heads, for whatever reason. The worst part is, a $17/month customer doesn't have much clout so I am probably just at their mercy. Never in my life have I ever experienced such poor customer service by any organization and I will certainly warn my friends who are considering making the switch.

I see from this forum that many others have waited much longer than 30 days, which is not encouraging to me, but I do not see a situation where a number seemed to be stuck in the middle of the process, as mine seems to be. Has anyone else had their number released by their previous carrier, but not completely picked up and activated by Vonage?

I wish that I had read this forum before making this decision. I regret my decision to switch to Vonage and wish I was not spending my nights calling customer service representatives or voicing my complaints on a web forum. I wonder if I will ever get my phone number back - on any service - and if it will ever be worth what I have been through.

I also wonder how fast the problem would be fixed if a Vonage executive was without a working number for 30 days.

Regretting my decision to use Vonage in Spokane WA