Nothing delivered as promised! Pathetic install problems, poor sound quality, unreliable service, terrible and deceptive customer service, long hold times, misleading information, impossible to resolve disputes, "our supervisors don't take phone calls" policy, cancellation request issues ignored, etc, etc. STAY AWAY from this fraudulent company!

Vonage Phone Company Beware!

Here we go again. I just read all of the complaints and they sound almost like the complaints I have. They told me when I signed up that it would work with a dish and come to find out, they lied to me. It didn't work. I called to cancel and waited for someone to give me information about sending the modem back, no one ever did. Now they have charged my account for the modem and a month of service that never worked. I called again to cancel after trying for 45 min. to get someone and thought it was cancelled AGAIN only to find out that the person I spoke with did not cancel at all. They charged me for another month. I called AGAIN, 3 times I have called to cancel. Now I have paid $49.99 and two months of no service and now they are charging me $97 for a cancellation fee!!! How can you charge a cancellation fee for something that NEVER worked!!!! I hate this company!!! I am telling everyone who attends my workshops to stay away and asking them to tell 10 more people. Maybe we can put them out of business!!! I hope so.

I signed up for Vonage back in December of 2006 I researched them for a little while and thought it was a better deal than Comcast at the time.

So I went on the Vonage site and signed up. During the signup there is an authorization you had to authorize Vonage to roll the number from Comcast to Vonage. Standard practice between phone companies; what the authorization says is me the verified owner of the number authorizes the new company to take the number. This is a FCC law which allows me the consumer to move to which ever phone company provides better service and/or pricing with out losing my number.

Vonage told us not to contact the current carrier because it could delay things and that the transfer will go through without a hitch. I did not have to contact Comcast and terminate because they where already informed of the transfer. The number took about 7 days to become active on the Vonage service.

After a couple of months my wife decided that she liked Comcast better and to avoid an argument I agreed to switch the number back. Since I wanted my own phone number and I liked the idea of Vonage VOIP service for my office I decided to add an additional number to my Vonage account before she switched our primary number.

So we did everything in reverse, we contacted Comcast and authorized the move of the number back and waited. They told us not to contact the other carrier because it could delay things. The number switched in about 10 days and everything seemed fine.

Here is where it gets weird. I wasn’t paying attention to the email about the Vonage invoices and just assumed everything worked as smoothly as when we switched to Vonage. Well about 2 days ago I looked at one of the Vonage bills and noticed that they where still billing me for both numbers.

I thought it was a simple clerical error and that they would rectify it. So I sent them this message;

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Subject: [vonage.com #13777846] Other

We had our 412-734-xxx transferred back to Comcast 4 months ago and I just happened to look on our bill and noticed that you have been billing me for that number. Comcast has owned that number for months now. I need credited for the 1-412-734-xxxx. The only number that should be on this account is the 412-894-xxxx. Comcast confirmed to me that they sent you all the termination/transfer and we have been receiving calls normally through Comcast. Frank
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They responded with;

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Dear Francesco Trama,

Thank you for choosing Vonage, the #1 rated digital phone service!

I understand you have transferred one of your numbers to Comcast and you want credit for non usage of service.

After further review, I am unable to process a credit as requested for the following reason:

I checked our records and found that your number 1-(412)-734-1770 is still active in your account. You will be charged for the monthly plan charges till your is Active.

I regret to inform you that we do not have the roll in porting out a number. Once the number transfer gets completed, you need to contact our Voice Support at toll free number 1-VONAGE-HELP 1-866-243-4357 to cancel your account. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused.

If you have any questions, your Vonage team is available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Contact us whenever and however it suits you!

- On-Line Help Center at http://www.vonage.com/help.php
- Contact Us at http://www.vonage.com/help_contactus.php
- Or call Toll-Free at 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357)

Thanks again for choosing Vonage, a better phone service for less!

Sincerely,

Vonage Customer Care
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I responded with;

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So let me understand this, you are charging me for a number you do not own? When I transferred my number from Comcast to you, Comcast immediately Terminated billing for that number once they received the roll over notification. Vonage on the other hand continues to bill customers even when they where notified of a similar roll over request.

That some how does not seem legal and is completely unacceptable. I can not believe that even now that I sent you a complaint regarding incorrect billing, Vonage would still bill me for a number they are perfectly aware they do not own if I do not call them first.

Well now I'm wondering how many others you scamming, scam a month or so from customers that are not aware or this ridicules business practice. I was going to keep my second number but given the latest I will be terminating the entire account and notifying my five friends of your business practices and lack of customer care, hopefully they contact a couple of their friends, and so forth. I'm sure they will terminate this scam.

In addition I filling formal complaints with the FCC and local internet regulating agencies because in my opinion this is a scam and last I looked I still have plenty of options to be heard and Vonage be revealed.

Francesco Trama

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Now remember that Comcast has had my number and billing me for months now. Even after I told them (Vonage) they don’t own the number, they where still going to charge me for something they don’t own or route. Remember Comcast has already notified them and they (Vonage) switched the number to Comcast already. So Regardless of me calling them or not is irrelevant. So Vonage is very much aware of the disconnect.

So anyways, I tried calling them this morning to cancel and the customer service was closed, so I called them around noon after I received this message from them;
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Dear Francesco Trama,

I understand you have ported your number to another carrier and you are concerned about the charges.

Though your number has been transferred to a different carrier, you need to call us to cancel your number. This is why you are still being billed for the service. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

You will be billed for the service as long as the number is active in your account. For security reasons I am unable to process cancellation requests via email.

Please call our Account Management Department at 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357) to remove your number. We are here to help you Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST.

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So now they admitted they know it’s ported, they don’t run it and yet they still billed me for it.

So at this time I’m a bit angry because the logic is escaping them. They are charging me for a number they don’t own and are aware they don’t run. What’s so hard to understand? Simple right? Wrong!

I called them and got on the phone with their rep, and she said she needed to verify who I was to cancel. I kept my cool and answered her questions. She then came to the big question “Why are you canceling?”.

Trying to be mature about this I explained to her the entire situation that although the number has been ported, they know it’s ported, they where notified it was being ported, they did the porting, what’s the point of calling you if I already authorized the porting? Crying out loud they already received my authorization through my new carrier.

It not like I’m still waiting for them to move it, nor have to authorize Vonage to let it go. Its already moved by my authorization that I gave Comcast.

She then paused, and said well what I can do it is credit you 50.00 or half the amount of the incorrect billing if you stay.

I responded with, why I should lose 50.00 of the 100.00 you robbed from me for? You incorrectly kept billing me for 4 months and now you want to keep 50.00 of the 100.00 that you should not have taken. I said no I want it all and if you cant credit the correct amount terminate the account and I will deal with this legally.

She puts me on hold for 10 minutes and returned to say are you sure you want to cancel, I said unless you credit me the entire amount that you incorrectly billed me for, yes terminate the account.

To my amazement and utter shock she said that there will be a 39.99 early termination fee for each phone number. One of which the they don’t own and haven’t owned for 4 months now.

I responded with this is going be the best legal and news story ever. Have a nice day.

I then got and email from them which stated;

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Dear Francesco Trama,

Your Vonage service has been cancelled and we successfully processed the below amount to the credit card on your account.

Vonage Account Number: 1005018770
Date Processed: 08/13/2007
Debit Amount: $79.98

A disconnect fee of $39.99 per voice line is charged to all customers plus any applicable taxes per our terms of service. Your total debit of $79.98 includes the disconnect fee, all pending charges, credits and applicable taxes. For more information about the return policy, please visit our terms of service:
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So I am now in the process of filing paperwork with my attorney, credit card company, FCC, and every news outlet that will hear me.

I think they have scammed thousands of customers on bogus policy that says you have to contact us for a roll over, when you have already contacted and authorized the new carrier to speak in your behalf. Its absurd and I bet if you look further into this I bet there will be a lot of 24.99 over billings they have over charged people for. This is not about the money with me.

You can contact me at 412-418-5486 or [email protected]
Francesco Trama

I purchased the V-Phone from Vonage for my portable. I asked for overnight delivery and was immediately charged for the purchase price and the device was shipped.

The device arrived and immediately locked up my portable. I attached it to my desktop. It immediately locked up the desktop. I called their tech support and was transferred to India where I got someone who could not speak or understand English and knew very little about the V-Phone device. I spent four (4) hours on tech support only to find out that the device was faulty out of the package. I was forced to do a presentation to the Air Force on my cell phone in a remote location with poor service because I depended on Vonage.

The replacement device arrived about three (3) days later. I plugged it into my laptop, but the device could not register on the internet. I called tech support and got someone who could not speak English. I asked to be upgraded to the next tech support level. After two (2) more hours, the device registered. I went home that night to use the device to call my daughter. I could hear her, but she could not hear me. I called tech support and got someone who could not speak English and knew absolutely nothing about the product. After esclation to the next tech level, they were unable to correct the problem with the second device.

I, at this time, decided I had had enough of Vonage and asked to drop the account. They said I would have to call the next morning when that department was open. I called the next morning and was immediately put on hold for fifty (50) minutes. When an attendant finally came on, I was told that there would be a deposit put on both devices and my money could not be returned. NEXT, THEY SAID THAT WOULD SEND ME AN RMA FOR EACH DEVICE. NEXT, I WOULD HAVE TO TAKE MY TIME AND MONEY TO RETURN THESE USELESS, MALFUNCTIONING DEVICES TO VONAGE!!

This, simply put, is above and beyond the definition of injustice! Do not venture into the world of gross corporate incompetence and customer mistreatment that you find rampant in Vonage.

I ordered vonage in April 2007. The guy told me that i would have 2 months free and billing would start on June 28, 2007. He also told me that I had a 30 day money back guarantee from the time i install my phone. The equipment was supposedly sent by DHL. I never received it. I called them and they said they would send it again bc DHL left it at the door? I never got the 2nd shipment bc they never sent it. However on May 29, they billed me 39.99 for invoice fee and then May 30 29.00 for invoice fee. I called them to cancel because it just was not working. They said i could have all my money refunded after i file a lost shipment claim with DHL, and when i called DHL they said their policy is that the shipper must file the claim and vonage knows that very well. when i looked at my bank statement later that day on line, I saw that Vonage charged me another 39.99 disconnect fee. (DISCONNECT WHAT?) I called them back and was disconnected 3 times, after waiting 10-20 minutes each time waiting to talk to a credt supervisor. When i finally got someone they said they would refund me the disconnect fee. They did that but then I called them again to fight for my money back guarantee. They refused me saying i was 1 day over the 30 days. I had an argument with the guy jonathon something or other and after HE HUNG UP ON ME, he went back and recharged me the disconnect fee. They sent my bank account to overdraft and when i called them again I spent over 3 hours on the phone with them. 1.5 hours with one guy who just repeated that he was very sorry. Then I was sent to a guy named george higgins and he told me I would not be refunded any money. I told him that their terms say 30 days from the activation of service and that the original salesperson told me no charges till june 28. and that the other girl said i would be refunded all my money if i called DHL. He said no way. I was not getting a refund. He said their terms are written on the site and the salesperson was wrong and will be coached. He also said that VONAGE's policy doesn't issue credit FOR NON SERVICE!!! I asked him WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? that means that you charge for no service and steal the money?!!! He did not care that they overdrew my bank account and that my rent was due. Vonage is a disgusting company and i suggest that anyone thinking about it get a can and a string, because that is worth more than being ripped off so blatantly. I wish everyone who reads this stays away.