Vonage Says "If You Hang Up We'll Cancel Your Account"
We don't know what the hell happened with this customer service situation, but somehow the CSR for Vonage decided that when Sarah abruptly hung up on him, she agreed by default to a service cancellation and $92 cancellation fee. That sounds like the kind of angry-CSR "mistake" that can be fixed with a second call—but according to the next CSR Sarah spoke to, that's just Vonage policy. What?
I am writing to you to vent my frustration on the poor customer service I received from Vonage today. For one the service sucks! It hasn't worked in about 4 or 5 months, and that's with spending about 12 hours total on the phone with "technical support."
The "supervisor" I talked to today told me that there was a $92 fee I would have to pay. I told him that I felt since my service hasn't worked in 4 months and that it still doesn't work today after all the hoops technical support put me through that I should not have to pay this "termination fee." The guy got an attitude with me so after I told him I wasn't going to pay the $92 I hung up. No where in the conversation did I tell him to go ahead and cancel my service. (Plus my account is credited till February. The guy also explained that if I would wait to February then that would be a whole year and I would only have to pay $40 to cancel the account.)
I just received an email that states that Vonage went ahead and canceled my account and $92 was debited from my credit card. As I write this letter I am talking to another poorly trained customer service representative that says that it is Vonage policy: If you hang up we will cancel your account!! Never would I think that hanging up the phone would cost me $92, especially when I never gave him the go ahead to cancel my account!
We're going to assume based on your email that maybe both of you were fairly emotional on that first call, or you wouldn't have hung up on the CSR without confirming exactly what was going on. That said, if you didn't explicitly authorize the cancellation, there's no debate here: Vonage screwed up. They can't say that silence = yes. Simply—and calmly—explain that since you never approved the cancellation, they need to revert the process and immediately reverse the unauthorized charges on your card. If they say you did approve it and refuse to re-open the account, ask for proof of your agreement, and in the meantime contact Vonage's Executive Support Team.
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Comments:
Wow ... looks like I'll be looking to use Magickjack as opposed to Vonage once I get my DSL provider to agree to drop my Landline line but still give me DSL
@amejr999: so all you have to do to cancel an AOL account is hang up on the CSR? I remember the good old days of having to beg and plead, threaten to sue, call back 10 times and file chargebacks to get AOL to cancel your account.
one more reason to not let companies keep your credit card or bank account on file. i always opt to use scheduled bill pay instead - same automated convenience without the company having direct access to your money.
@wickedpixel: Nothing wrong with a credit card. You have the ability to charge it back. In this case if they don't have proof you agreed to cancel you will get your money back. Just never ever use a debit card or a checking account.
I do see the point in this policy, however the issue at hand is that she has had a non functioning unit for 4-5 months. It seems to me that canceling the account was just the CSRs way of "sticking it to" a difficult customer while following policy.
They
should refund the termination fee, and anything else she has paid for the last 4-5 months.
If they balk I note that a credit card was the means of payment. So sounds like Chargeback time for the time that the services were not rendered
MagicJack FTW!!!
Vonage stinks. I joined about 2 years ago over the phone after seeing their commercial about no contracts and a 30 day trial. When I joined over the phone the rep had to read me the Terms Of Service. It was never mentioned about any termination fee, only about 911 service, setup fees, etc. When I canceled a year and a half later they hit me with a $40 disconnect fee.
The rep I canceled with never mentioned I would be charged, I got an email stating they took it from my credit card and my account was now canceled. When I called to complain they said theres a 2 year "agreement" when joining. My beef is this was never mentioned when I joined and there was no reason to check if their were additional terms on their website as my account was setup over the phone. Seemed very shady to me at the least and illegal at worst.
@TakingItSeriously: You should do some serious research on MJ before going that route. We had a MJ it was nothing but a headache.
Google for "MagicJack & EULA" and go from there.
@amejr999: Excellent, AOL used as an example of how something should be done. Lends the thread a certain Twilight Zone-ishness.
I've never had one single issue with Vongae in just over two years of service with them. Granted a large company is bound to make mistakes now and then but I love Vongae and would recommend it to anyone.
@amejr999: Ah, but the customer also stated "I'm not going to pay the 92$". Any CSR with a few brain cells should take that to mean "Don't do something that will auto-charge me 92$ that I said I wasn't going to pay".
But common sense isn't that prevalent in call centers.
Charge back
I would be somewhat willing to bet this policy is not applied if you're not under contract.
When I canceled vonage it was a PAIN to get them to actually cancel my account: between waiting on hold to talk to the right department (that was only available M-F), and their insistence I stick around even though they were charging me about $12 more a month than a comparable provider.
@TakingItSeriously: The Magic Jack really works? I always just thought of it as one of those "As Seen on TV" offers that could go either way...
Call them up and request "dry-loop DSL". If you know what your'e talking about, they'll cave. We have dry-loop and it's fine, Verizon gave us no problems.
Vonage is crap. It's VoIP for people who don't know there is better VoIP out there.
@AlxFherMana: YES the MagicJack really works! I was stuck in a hotel in Dubai this fall with a broken ankle (caused the only lost-time incident in the plant that month, but oh well). I guess there isn't a much worse place to get stuck than a Dubai 5-star hotel, and I had Internet included in the room rate. The charges to call home on the hotel phone were insane, and I hadn't purchased a local SIM for my cell. I just plugged the MJ into the hotel phone and into my computer, called up my guy back home, and chatted away. It wound up costing me less than buying SIM cards would have, purchase price of the MJ included.
@humphrmi: That's an awesome website! And so patronizing!
That aside, isn't this case a little different because it's a matter of opinion and not some fact a person didn't bother to look up?
I'm (honestly) curious about the VoIP Jack Doyle up there recommends.
Given the number of people that have complained over time about having trouble canceling their Vonage accounts, just take the cancellation as a win. And look into the chargeback for those bad months.
Welcome to overseas outsourced CSRs
@kranktank: Because you're out the cash -- the fundamental cash, from your bank account -- while it's in dispute. And if someone overbills you by $920 rather than $92, you might suddenly not have your rent / mortgage payment when you need it...
(I do actually have a few things auto-bill to my debit card but they're really seriously fixed charges, not things like my cell phone.)
@AlxFherMana: I love my MJ. Works like a charm as long as I'm not torrenting like mad on my PC. I especially like that I can now switch to use a pc headset instead of a phone if I want.
Amazing how such a crap service has been so great to me the past two years and I don't plan on trying to cancel my service anytime soon. I'm very happy with Vonage thank you very little.
@TakingItSeriously: I've been using MagicJack for over a year and it has been great! I have no complaints about it.
Write back when you've tried to cancel an account. I was thrilled with Vonage, until I decided I no longer needed a line besides my cell phone. Cancelling was a nightmare.
Folks, VoIP is bad for many reasons. Unfortunately, this is one of them.
(And for advance argument sake, Verizon's FiOS uses a seperate channel of fiber, not your Internet connection, for phone calls)
one word: OOMA
We got it this week and it's great -- there's a little lag when calling/speaking with those on cell lines, but overall we are very pleased. $210 for the box, and from then on it's free. As soon as our number is ported, goodbye Vonage -- and we've had Vonage for 3.5 years, so hopefully we won't have to pay *any* service charge. (But I'll be sure to be polite)
@amejr999: Actually, AOL had just the opposite. They called me up back in 2003 and said they were "re-activating" my AOL account with two free months. I said "Not interested" and hung up. About three months later, I started noticing charges on my credit card. I *NEVER* signed back up with them.
When they re-activated my account with two free months... they just started charging the credit card they still had on file. I was never able to get them to refund my money, either. I fought with AOL phone reps non-stop, and I gave up and conceded $60 lost in charges just to get them to cancel the damn account. Canceling was more frustrating than the weeks before my final exams prior to graduation. :|
Man, the onslaught of Vontage commercials that used to be on was enough to make me stay the hell away. Guess it was a good decision :)
@Jack Doyle: yes, i love my skype service. way back when they were first starting out one of their upgrades made skype incompatible with my win2k and when i asked for help, a programmer spent two weeks sending me new versions of backwards compatible patches until we found one that worked.
Thats one service I won't be getting.
well, start swearing uncontrollably at the CSR and if they hang up... call 'em back and say, "that you want your account cancelled and there will be no fee because THAT'S MY POLICY." I seriously hate corporate america. bunch of coniving mother fuckers!
@lestat730: Rule of thumb is that the more often some advertised, the more likely there's something wrong with what's being offered.
I ended up having to change my credit card number to get these idiots to stop autobilling my card.. they wouldnt cancel my account..
Count yourself lucky..
@STrRedWolf: It's not *all* bad. We've been using Vonage for a while without any real hassle I can recall. As an added benefit I can be snotty with the cable company when they call up claiming they can save me money on my monthly phone bill with their plan "starting at just 33.00". I pay around 20 now after fees.
FIOS is about the only thing that might lure me off of it, but honestly with all the installation and hardware problems I've heard of, even they'd be a tough sell.
@kranktank: Oh my god, that is so false. I thought the same thing, but you have no idea how untrue that is. I have had Bank of America and Commerce Bank. Both times I had situations where I had to do chargebacks.
The first time Victoria's Secret opted me into some bogus "vacation package" when I placed an order from their website. Months later I got charged by some travel company for 99 bucks! I tried to do a chargeback, and BofA WOULDN'T LET ME! They said that since the company had all my info, I must have signed up. They were no help at all. I had to file a complaint on Planet Feedback, where tons of other people complained of the same scam. Not only did the travel company refund my 99 bucks (which took about a week, I was out of the money), but Victoria's Secret sent me a 40 dollar gift card. Yet my own bank told me to screw off.
The second time someone somehow got my cc info and ordered 300 bucks worth of stuff from Toys R Us. I caught it the next day, went to the bank, filed the fraud report, cancelled the card, etc. Two weeks later, I notice my money hadnt been returned, I call and they tell me "Sorry, since you have shopped at ToysRUs before, you have to deal with the merchant".
I had to go to the police, file a report, the cop told me they wouldnt fax it to Toysrus for me, so I faxed it to them myself, and of course Toys R Us told me they wouldnt accept it untless it was faxed from the police... It was a nightmare. I finally called the bank back and got a different fraud lady who took pity on me and gave me my money back, but said that if Toys R Us fought them over it and tried to say I placed the order, they would take it back from me.
DO NOT USE EXPECT YOUR BANK TO DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, PLEASE TRUST ME
If you catch on to any of these things that Vonage does...your too smart to have a Vonage account. If you watch those ads its blatantly telling you: You have to be mentally retarded in order to use our service.
Lestat, I enjoy this general paid advertising principle;
If it's so good, one of your friends would tell you about it, or you'd read about it somewhere. The more frequent the advertisement, the more the company is relying on the "surrender by repetition" formula. Marketing departments probably shiver at thoughts like these.
@STrRedWolf: Actually, VoIP can be a lifeline for people. I'm in Norway, but thanks to VoIP, I have a U.S. number that my family can use to contact me and I can call them without spending an arm and a leg on international charges. It's also quite helpful for when I have to deal with my bank or credit card companies.
@Jack Doyle: I think what he means by "crap" is "absurdly expensive". Phone service from Vonage and the cable companies only looks like a good deal in comparison to regular land-line service. When you compare it to the likes of Magicjack and Skype (which I use) it starts to look like a rip-off. For example, Skype is 2c per minute to land-lines and to a lot of countries as well. There are no fees unless you want optional services, such as your own inbound number.
The bottom line is it's worth looking at all your options before jumping into something like Vonage.
@INsano: Slightly OT: I just last week participated in a survey about an ad for a perscription med that asked "have you seen this ad?" and "what did you think?". In the Open Ended Response section, I told them that anytime I saw an ad for a 'scrip medicine targeted at the general public, I assumed that meant they couldn't persuade doctors to prescribe it without being nagged by their patients.
Sorry, I disagree. AOL has the same policy. That's because when you called at the beginning, you said "I want to cancel my account". Since you never took that back, they did as you asked.