vonage telephone service sucks! Phone supports horrible

[jeff d]

THE GOOD: Just bought a wireless phone adapter/router pre-set with Vonage from Circuit City tonight. It was mostly plug-n-play, although one needs to follow the instructions well. We didn't so it made things longer than necessary - a couple of smart arse engineers we are. Service was on in 5 minutes after web registration since we did not need to port an existing number.

THE BAD: When I had to call customer service (and the 2x before for questions regarding getting the service), the wait times are dismal. They are nearly a joke. I mean, how can a company give their marketing department millions of dollars for very cool TV commercials without the reps to answer our calls??? If the service is good, we can expand their customer base for them. All I can say now (and I HATE saying this - SBC's customer service is better than Vongage. Ouch!)

THE UGLY: International calling to Eastern Europe is only a dream. Oh, I get charged for attempted calls, but there certainly is NOT any conversating going on. I hear snaps, crackles, and pops - but that's all I hear.

THE END: I'll keep the Vonage service, provided it keeps working, if only for calls in the U.S. and to Canada. SBC has driven me to drink and I cannot take them any longer. And I'm keeping my cell phone for calling cards to Eastern Europe. Vonage works and their web site account management screen is fantastic, but calls all over the world via VoIP? Not hardly. At least, not yet.

[lisawill@hotmail.com]

i just signed on with vonage and after reading all the posts about i am thinking i have been had. broadvox is another company that really suck eggs leave that company alone. they will send you a adapter and after you set it up it will not work. i called tech support and they couldnt help.

[Rolf]

Yeah I had the same problem with Vonage. I wanted to see if they would let me unlock my PAP2 and they wouldn't and just gave me a hard time about it and just ticked me off. They wanted me to only use my PAP2 adapter with their company.

I said scew you, and went with another company called instatele.com.
At least with this company, my adapter wasn't locked down and I didn't have to sign any contracts. The service is better, but now I'm stuck with a Vonage PAP2 door-stop! You want to BUY this adapter back from me Vonage???

[Guest]

I am surprised that Vonage is still in business.
They SUCK bigtime.
I transferred a line to vonage but never received the Phone adapter from them. My business line went dead I couldn't receive any calls. I had sent Vonage an email informing them that I hadn't received any equipment from them but they never bothered to reply. It's been over two weeks now !
I have been calling them everyday and have spent over 10 hrs on the phone with several ill-informed good for nothing service techs. One supervisor made me go and buy the phone adapter from the market. I did that but could never get it activated because my account wasn't a new account it was already active and the web activation is good only for neew accounts!!
So now I am told by another tech that I should return the phone adapter and wait for Vonage to send me a new one. God knows when that will happen. They have a Ticket open but nobody knows the status of it and nobody can help with it. Spoke to a rep called Tariq who said that they had many more complaints before mine and therefore don't have the time right now to attend to my complain !! Great service that was !!

The billing is very prompt but I still haven't seen any service and it's been two full days of complaints but no response. I HATE VONAGE

[Ryan Happy]

Vonage is GREAT. I have been thrilled and have had no problems. 1 technical problem with number portability, it was taken care of on phone in 10 mins. That is alright seeing that I have to wait longer than that with Ma Bell! And I save over $50.00/month.

[BlahFrickinBlah]

I have been on and off the phone for over a month now trying to get one of these spazs to fix my problem. The audio on my phone is horrible. I have TIVO...oh wait...HAD TIVO cause now it doesn't work w/Vonage. It won't update at all. I saw numbers for several people at Vonage like the press person etc...I called all of them tonight. I emailed them directly too. I will continue to do so. These people don't realize the amount of free time I have on my hands right now. I am their worst nightmare: a pissed off customer who is running on pure rage now.

[balla357]

[2MCHPSI]

I just had my own Vonage nightmare.

I called up and asked about getting a phone setup. They have a deal on the first month free and free adapter. I was thinking great. The woman on the phone from Vonage asked me a bunch of questions and asked do I agree to the terms for setting up an account? I responded .. first I have one question in regards to billing.

THe billing cycle is the 2nd of each month and they only accept credit cards as payment??? The phone adapter takes 7-10 business days, up to two weeks to show up. I asked if the biling cycle is the 2nd, they will not charge me for service until I get the adapter right??.
WRONG!
It took her 10 trys at this question to say they will bill no matter what. Her response was well the first month is free.. NO IT IS NOT, if I cannot use the damn phone until the end of the month. Free month maybe on waiting for service to start, but not a free month on using the actual service LOL..Give me a break.??. The Vonage customer service rep was such an annoying and rude person, I said just cancel my request.

Then she says I agreed to the terms and my account was activated. BS I still had a question. I told her she needs to cancel it NOW and I better not be billed. She then tells me she can't cancel my order and I need to speak with a manager in "customer care" (what a BS name that is LOL)

SO I call the number given and it was a recording ot call back the next day WTF??

I then snoop around and finally find a number with someone with a pulse and ask for them to cancel my order. I finally had to threaten to sue if they tried to charge my credit card since I did not agree to the terms, and a supervisor canceled my request. My card was not charged. Thank god

WHAT A NIGHTMARE, and I did not even use the Vonage service. My nightmare happened while trying to set up an account, and my fiasco took over 45 minutes of wasted time talking to morons. Stay away!

[antvinman]

First I'm going to qualify saying I have used Vonage for over a year and that I will likely never visit this forum again. I Googled vonage looking for something and came accross a whiny post about Vonage on this forum and can't leave the untruths unapposed.

Here is my advice:

1. If you know diddly about computer networking, skip Vonage...
... and every other voIP service. Stick with land lines.
2. If you are not technical and have to call tech support for other things
such as internet or your computer, skip voIP. Stick with land lines.
3. If you want cheap calls but not willing to wait a couple weeks
to transfer service, or you don't want services to overlap...
Absolutely skip Vonage.
4. If you cannot do your own research on technology and get help from
ppl who are the real experts ( those who use the product at home
just like you would) skip Vonage.
5. There are NO Vonage repairmen that drive white vans and don white
helmets to come to your house and point out your user errors.
6. voIP is a new technology. Do not expect it to be like ma bell. Expect
differences.
7. If something doesn't work, send it back. Do you gripe on forums when
something you bought at Walmart is broken?
8. Of course you should rule out your lack of knowledge and user error
immediately.

My basic opinion is that Vonage is not worth $70/month. The sound quality is not the same and it is technically not as stable as a landline. Neither is my cell, in fact. However for $17-$20 a month what I get is a decent line out to call my family and $50 goes in my pocket. After a year has gone by, I don't even think about what service I have. If these things don't appeal to you, there is no reason to go with Vonage.

[jenesys]

Thanks for your 2 cents worth antvinman, but I'd like a refund on that please.

From what I'm reading, most people here have very valid complaints and in no way fits into your belittling and demeaning list for morons.

I would never recommend Vonage for anyone. It took 2 months for my number to change over (but it actually did transfer!!) and just last night it hosed up my internet. I have no DNS Domain because of them and have to unplug my phone to use my internet. Of the many times I've called, I've spoke once to someone who speaks English as a first language. After the first few times of calling and having to repeat my phone number over and over because the east Indians don't seem to understand my accent free, perfectly clear English and after many times of me saying, "excuse me, what did you say???", I've become very frustrated. Now when I call, if I get someone with a heavy accent, I tell them that I want to speak to someone who is American or speaks clear English. If they continue to insist on helping me, I keep repeating it. Then when they ask me my phone number I refuse to give it until they transfer me to a supervisor who generally speaks better English. I don't give a sh*t what anyone says, I shouldn't have to learn Hindi to get good customer service whether I'm paying $5 a month or $25 a month.

[ebedoz]

I bought Vonage.

[Tod]

Hi ebedoz,

I read all the postings here but i found your story is really good. I will never go with Vonage after read your story. Also i will forward this msg. to all my friends and family so they can be aware of this horrible support service of Vonage.

Thanks a lot.

Bye for now.

[erickloss]

I am a systems integrator. I work with data, phone, TV and security systems everyday. I set up systems for colleges and hotels. I tried Vonage for our new office phone system. I could not get it to ring through consistantly. Calls were not completed, some were droped. For one week I had no phones at all. Customers would write e-mail or call my cell phone to ask if we were still in business. They would get messages saying that my number was disconnected or that it was not valid.

I spent over 11 hours on-line or on hold trying to get help. Most of it on hold. When I called to cancel service I told them that I needed to keep the number and it would take a few days for the phone company to coonnect me again. They cut me off right then. I had no phone service. Qwest could not reconnect me with that number unless it was active. I had to spend 3 hours trying to get Vonage to activate the number again. Then they gave me a temporary number for 3 days, which no one knew to call, before I got my old number and same crappy service back. When I was finally connected to a land line again they gave me a $12.50 credit for my troubles.

Vonage should be put out of business. They ruined mine for almost a month. They have a cruddy prouduct, lousy service and tech support and terrible business practices.

If you have to choose between two cans and a string and Vonage. Take the cans and string. You'll be happier with the service.

[tkstaple]

I have had same bad experience with Customer Service at Vonage. I ended up cancelling the service because of it and paid a hefty price. My experience was only for 2 months. They do not do what they say they are going to do and bait the customer along. I initially had recommended this service to friends however now I am telling everyone I know not to sign up for Vonage service. It was a very costly mistake.

[voterobformayor]

i see here there is alot of people who are upset with my company...i call it my company because i work for them. for all you people who wait on hold for 40 minutes to speak to me thank you...i want to let you all i know i fix stuff and i get your problems straightened out not everything works for everyone remember that and everyone gets screwed out of some money one way or another by a corporation. (not saying my company screws people over) but this is america we live in....and for all you techies who complain about voice quality and call processing problems you should understand VOIP cant be stable when its running over the internet which is more unperdictable then the weather...we try our hardest to please everyone and im sorry some of you got the short end of the stick...you think i sit at my desk and try to piss people off all day? i sit at my desk all day and try to make you people happy...so imma go to work tomorrow and make some more statisfied customers and for you people who think vonage sucks..id like to see you come up with a better phone service for that cheap...never forget you get what you pay for