DL likes MagicJack phone service, and prepaid for five years in advance. That was probably a really good deal until he decided that he would rather have a MagicJack Plus. That model doesn’t need to be connected to a computer. Much more convenient, but one problem: DL’s prepaid years wouldn’t transfer. Now he wants to sue them in small claims court, but they won’t tell him where to serve the papers. He turned to us for help.

He writes:

I had a regular Magic Jack and wanted to upgrade to a Magic Jack plus but since I had paid for 5 years of service in advance and they said the years were not transferable to the MJ Plus I didn’t do it. Then there was a 48 hour offer where the years would be transferable, so I did it. Only the years did not transfer.

Now they say there is no way they can move the years service, and it is my fault because I did not click something or press something. I have spent at least 7 hours attempting to straighten this out in online chat.

I have repeatedly asked for their “agent for process” in my home state so I can take them to small claims court, But they have not given it to me and in fact cut off the chat. I have saved several of the chats.

You don’t need the company to give you that name and address. It’s not hard to find yourself. If a company does business in your state, it has to have a registered agent. You just need one piece of information: the name of MagicJack’s parent company. That’s YMAX Communications. Take that information to the government agency in your state that registers corporations. Here in New York, for example, that’s the Department of State. You can search their database online.

This record will contain the address and phone number of the company nearest you that is the registered agent. Call them to make sure they’re still the registered agent, then serve ’em with papers. If you do, be sure to let us know how things turned out.

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