As an early adopter of technology, I jumped onto the Vonage VoIP bandwagon. I did not have the best experience with the service (lots and lots of dropped calls) which could have been related to my cable Internet service. In any event, I decided yesterday to cancel the service as I no longer even have the modem hooked up. That is when the fun began!
I attempted to cancel using the number provided on their web site 1-866-243-4357 (they do not provide online cancellation). That number eventually links you to a foreign call center where I attempted to explain my desire to cancel at which time they told me to hang up and call a different number to speak with someone who could assist me in canceling my account (at 800-860-5491). There is an automatic recording at this number that indicates a wait time of 25 minutes.
Feeling that this is an absurd wait time, I decided to give my written request to cancel via e-mail to the Vonage customer service e-mail address. I got an almost immediate written e-mail auto response, including the following instructions:
"To cancel your account and provide you with all of the important cancellation information, we need to verbally verify the owner of the account. This is done to protect you from having another person terminate your service without your knowledge. We do not process request to cancel or to make any changes to account via emails we request you to call to Vonage Toll Free at: 1-VONAGE-HELP 1-866-243-4357.
Note their instructions are to call the first (wrong) 800 number that refers you to the "other" 800 number. Isn't this turning into a fun game?! I had read on many "I hate Vonage" message boards that you really do need to go through with this wretched process or risk a run up of your bill. Even if you cancel all Vonage transactions with your credit card company, Vonage considers you an "active" customer and continues to runs up your bill and will eventually track you down for payment.
Therefore, I set the phone on speaker and waited on hold for over 45 minutes! I finally got a real person who was not about to let me cancel (How about a lesser call package? Let me tell you about why our service is better than your current service . . . and on and on . . . ) Finally, with all the patience I could muster, I interrupted his monologue and begged him to please just cancel my service. Since I was a couple weeks shy of 12 months of service, he told me I wold incur a $39 disconnection fee, so "Wouldn't you rather stay a customer for at least another month?" Who in their right mind would change their mind at this point and agree to stay with this company after being put through this run around?
At this point (blood boiling), I began repeating, "I'll pay the fee, just please process my cancellation" until he finally agreed to put through the cancellation transaction. This a.m. I did get an e-mail confirming my cancellation with a $42 cancellation fee (I guess there is tax on the $39 cancellation fee?) and I have never been happier to pay to get away from such a wretched company. Do yourself a favor and NEVER SIGN UP FOR VONAGE!!!
I just waited 3 hours on hold to cancel the account!! They scared me into staying with them for over a year, saying I owed them money for the router! I never read or signed anything saying that I had to stick it out for a year.
I called that number on 4 different occasions and waited more than 40 minutes each time without an answer
After paying my final bill the way i got out of this was to add a invalid credit card number for billing 4111 1111 1111 1111 will pass the credit card validators but is not an real visa number.
I then changed my name and address to "Cancel my service" and left it at that.
Trapped in Vonage hell and cannot get out? Well, you are not alone! Of course, don’t expect to have Vonage Customer Service offer help – or for that matter, even answer the phone. And if they do let you cancel, they’ll take a nice hunk of service fee pie for their trouble.
However! Follow the light! – ‘Easy Way Out’s’ advice and using meaningless jargon to end the madness is the BEST ADVICE! However, to prevent anyone who has come this far in the search for answers from having to look further – here are complete codes: 4111111111111111 1209 123
Good Luck! We’ll see you on the other side!
i dont undersnd you code for vonage cancellation
I’ve had vonage and have tried to cancel numerous times… but I’ve gotten the "systems are down" routine along with the "cheaper and free account plans". I’ve finally shot off a witty reply email today. Before I blogged about my whole experience, I wanted to see if anyone else is going through what I am… wow! This is horrible!
My credit card on file expired — so now I am in an endless sea of phone calls to my "alternate" phone, emails and mailings that there is an "account error". I’ve emailed and called — nothing.
I’m not changing my credit card information — but I love the idea of changing your name to "cancel account"! will do that too! Thanks!
Jennifer
vonage is awful!!!!!!!!!!! i absolutely hate it! please do not sign up with vonage! i have had nothing but problems and in the past 28 days( the whole time i have had the account) i have sat on the phone with them for a cumulative total of over 15 hours! are you kidding me? that is rediculous!
i have been trying to cancel vonage for quite some time now. vonage has been taking $29.73 out of my account for several months.i cannot use vonage where i live i cannot get high speed internet out in the country area. the guy i spoke with argued with me insisting that i could. they have made more excuses than the law allows why they (vonage) cannot cancel my account. they are the biggest con artist in the usa. if i cannot cancel they will continue to take $29.73 out of my account forever! how frustrating!
I CANCELLED MY SERVICE AUGUST 13,2008. I JUST FIND OUT (IT IS FEB.OF 2009) THAT THEY ARE STILL TAKING MONEY OUT OF MY CREDIT CARD— I HAVE A CONFIRMATION # FOR THE CANCELLATION. I TALKED TO A REAL PERSON. (I THINK) I ALSO DID NOT KNOW THAT I WAS STILL “ACTIVE” AND COULD STILL USE MY ACCOUNT INFO. TO GET INTO MY ACCOUNT– ON THE STATEMENT I PRINTED OUT FROM MY BILLING HISTORY, IT SAYS THAT THEY ARE STEALING $30.00 EVERY MONTH FROM THE TIME I CANCELLED!!!WTF??? AND TO BEAT THE DEAD HORSE EVEN MORE, THERE WAS A $299.99 FEE- I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS OR WHERE IT COMES FROM,–I DID NOT KNOW–AS SOME OF YOU DID NOT KNOW, ABOUT ANY COMMITMENT TO THIS SH—- COMPANY. OR ANY CANCELLATION FEE. ISN’T THAT KIND OF THE POINT OF VONAGE–TO SAVE MONEY???? I AM TRYING TO GET A HOLD OF SOME (NIT WIT) TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON AND THEY OWE ME $299.99 OR AT LEAST THE MONEY THEY STOLE FROM MY CREDIT CARD–AT LEAST $150.00 SINCE I CANCELLED. I DID NOT HAVE MANY PROBLEMS WITH VONAGE———BOY DO I NOW.
I tried canceling my service 1 day before my supposed contract date. They said we have to charge you a cancellation fee of $39 and I said what for??? For canceling before some thing about 30 day cycle? I don’t understand how they can get away with this!! Of course I was on that phone call for about 30 mins, because of course trying to get me not to cancel and of course the whole conversation was scripted sounded like she was reading from a piece of paper in a mono tone voice and foreign might I add. I just want to get rid of it because the quality of service is bad. Dropped calls and calling my vonage phone from a cell phone and for some silly reason it called my cell phone back, I don’t even begin to understand that one. So to sum it up I have to call on the actual day of cancellation at the end of the month and I’m sure they will try to mess with me again. Can we get a lawyer involved in this since there is a huge number of people experiencing the same problems.
Is this legal??? This is worse than most cell phone companies, and so what if it portable, doesn’t mean its going to work. I am sorry to say that I would rather deal with a higher price from a legitimate phone company, example qwest or frontier. Don’t go with Vonage unless you want to get ripped off!!
I read your ordeal with Vonage and couldn’t agree more. I had such a horrible experience, and will slander their name as much as possible. The fact that they charge a $42 cancellation fee is even more ridiculous. THey are a horrendous company!!
They had the nerve to send me to collections for a disconnet fee that I refused to pay. I cancelled because I did not get service, had dropped calls and poor voice quality. Had to reboot daily sometimes 2 times a day. They Are the worst phone company
Vonage is the worst company in regards to customer service and quality. I had the service for about 2 months and it was horrible. Constant loss of service, dropped calls, poor quality. I could not make calls and the phone would ring, and when I answered there would be no one on the other end. At times I could hear the person that called me speaking but they could not hear me. If there were an emergency we would have died because we would never be able to place a call to 911. I lost service daily and cancelled my service,They then charged me $44 to cancel their poor excuse for a phone service, sent me to collections when I refused to pay a disconnect fee, and did not work with me. Under no circumstances should you consider Vonage as phone provider.
So I cancelled in April. Vonage promptly closed my acount. And then they opened it back up without me knowing and have been charging me every month since. So I call and cancel again last month using their awful call redirection hell through poor connections, foreign accents, and “no you really don’t need to cancel.” They hung up on me. So I call my credit card company to reverse the charges.
This month Vonage charges me again! I’m now calling my card company to block Vonage and I look forward to challenging Vonage’s creditors in court.
I am on hold with vonage now. This is good.
“I’ve been trying to cancel my account since April!”
“Why can’t I get a hold of anyone to cancel my account?”
“Why can’t you do it?”
OK, here’s how it went. The procedure was to get me to hold, repeat information and hold again whenever the script could not be followed. She claimed that my request to be cancelled was not in her notes. I demanded a written copy of those notes. I head to repeat this about twenty times as she was very good at weaseling around this. She claimed that I “was interrupting her” as she had an incredible script to work with. Vonage is apparently contracting the cancellation of accounts with a very experienced company. I got her to promise to email me her notes so I would have legal documentation that I wanted to cancel. She states that she “cannot” refund my unused service for the last several months, even though she states she is in charge of billing.
“Thank you for being a valued customer and using our service, have a great day.”
I’ve been talking to other people who work at major telcos and they are frequently bringing back customers who went with Vonage. They are laughing at the cancelation fee even though there was no contract. Oh, that cancelation fee was not discussed in the phone conversation, but a form email stated they were sticking everything they could to me. At least they sent something stating a cancelation.
This is customer service from HELL. Can we fight this?
I have been on hold with Vonage and it is now the year 2035. I am from the future. Vonage is a nightmare. DoNOT use VONAGE SUX
I have been reading consumers' posts regarding Vonage's practices. I work for a consumer rights law firm and I'm investigating Vonage's actions. I would like to hear from consumers about their experiences with Vonage.   If you are interested in sharing your story, please email me at abby1100ny@yahoo.com.
LIKE MANY, I TOO HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CANCEL THIS SERVICE SINCE MARCH OF 2008. I WAS JUST A FEW DAYS PAST THE 30 DAY TRIAL PERIOD SO NOW I AM TRAPPED!! THE EQUIPMENT THEY SENT ME IS USED TO BEGIN WITH AND NOT IN THE BEST LOOKING SHAPE. I NEVER EVEN HOOKED IT UP.
VONAGE HAS NOW DRAINED MY BANK ACCT. AND CAUSED AN ALMOST $200.00 FEE FROM MY BANK OF WHICH THEY CANNOT TAKE OFF UNLESS VONAGE REVERSES THEIR FEE, LIKE THATS GONNA HAPPEN!!
DURING ONE OF THESE FUN COVERSATIONS WITH A FAST TALKING ALMOST UNDERSTANDABLE PERSON, I REQUESTED A COPY OF THE TAPE THAT THEY KEPT REFERRING TO FROM BACK IN MARCH THAT I SUPPOSEDLY AGREED TO KEEP THE SERVICE, AND I WAS LAUGHED AT AND TOLD THAT THEY WILL NOT SEND MY THE RECORDING. HUM, WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? OR DID THEY EVEN RECORD IN THE FIRST PLACE?
WHAT ARE OUR OPTIONS? HAS ANYONE TURNED THEM INTO THE BETTER BUSNESS BUREAU?
THEY ARE STEALING MY MONEY AND I WANT IT BACK!!!
Hello,
I hope you are still getting gathering information on Vonage. My information is below:
I had called Vonage in June 2008 to cancel service due to phone not working because roommate had changed dsl service plan, planning to move and getting married and did not know whether I would be using there service any longer, the woman would not hear of it, instead she placed me on some kind of hold and I was not charged from July thru Dec, and then on 1/4/2009 I received an email from Vonage telling me that I had been charged for $10.01 when I have not used their service since June 2008. So when I called them to see why I was being charged and to cancel the vonage service once again. The first time I called I was told only the Account Management could help me, the second time I called I was told their computers were down and that I would need to call back, the third time I finally talked to somebody in the Account Management department she did not like my tone and hung up on me, the 4th time I called after I had found vonage’s Account Management phone number on a site about vonage’s horrible customer service, I managed to talk to Brenda with Badge #1865 and finally after demanding my account closed and her arguing with me trying to keep my business, she finally conceded and supposedly closed it and I did receive my email for the cancellation just now. This company is absolutely the worst company I have ever dealt with, they try all kinds of tactics to just get the customer to give in and keep their service! Brenda put me on hold at least 6 times and between the holds doing her best to keep my business, she told me she could give me some options, at that I told her the only option I wanted to hear was that she was canceling my account with vonage! Where the phone call should have been very short, it was at least 10 to 15 minutes long. Each time I called I had to answer several minutes of ridiculous questions, each of them said the same thing, and each of them did not want to hear that I wanted to cancel my service with them, each tried to talk me out of it. Somebody really needs to take a look at this company, something is really wrong when customers cannot easily stop service when they want or need to.
Hi,
I cancelled my UK Vonage account 7 months ago. It took two attempts to terminate my contract. They eventually managed it. I heard nothing more from them until I received a phone call (7 months later) from a debt recovery agency telling me I owe Vonage £41.00. I told them I have received no letter or invoice from Vonage (honestly) and could they send me an invoice now. They told me it would cost £25 which would be added to my debt!!! This is terrible customer service – I did not rate the quality of the calls highly either. I strongly recommend avoiding this company. There are plenty of VOIP companies springing up – pick an alternative.
A neighbor of mine called me on my vonage line, we talked for a few minutes and hung up. I received about 10 more calls showing her caller id till 2:30 AM. Each time I answered the line was dead. I tried calling her back but her cell phone was off. The next day I called and chewed her out only to later determine it was a vonage problem. I am lucky she is still my friend. My girlfriend on her vonage line was talking to her daughter on her cell phone and kept seeing call waiting caller id’s come up from the daughter she was talking to. I am lucky she’s still my girlfriend. Guess who talked her into vonage? Tonight the phone rings every 2 minutes with IDs from people that called earlier and arent really there now.
Now it’s time to cancel vonage and I read the forum notes descibing the nightmare I am about to go through. (like my life’s been fun to this point) I typed this whole thing 10 minutes ago and forgot I had unplugged my modem to stop the calls and had to retype it. Tomorrow night my neighbor, girlfriend and I are going to get together to try to figure out what to do about cancelling. Is that what they refer to as a “vonage a twah”?
Tom
I had the same problem with the “vonage pirates” I could be on the phone talking to my father in West Virginia , and the line would just go dead ,I’d try to call back and not be able to get through it’s just plain damn embarassing . I tried also to cancel this service and I got the same” run-a-round the rosies” that a guy in another one these blogs got , what They’ll do is keep you on the line trying to keep you as a customer by making you [what they call] a better deal , and mind you; I wasn’t calling them from my vonage phone because the piece of shit hasn’t worked in a month , I had to call them from my pre-paid cell phone [ which as you already know was running up my minutes] . And I finally gotten through all the hoop-lah that the operator was giving me, and she was just about to disconnect it when she told how much it was going to cost for disconnect it was 118.00 I told her she was crazy and if she did that; it would overdraw my account at the bank and they better not touch my account , or I would be in contact with my lawyers office, she started getting a little scared [ OH DON’T DO THAT MR.COOK] . So I think I am going to pay my lawyer a little visit and look into this scam that I believe vonage is running, they shouldn’t be allowed to scam people by false advertisements and pipe dreams I’ll keep you posted on what my lawyers come up with, they might not come up with anything but you never know , but if they keep doing this to people they might just have a nice little class action lawsuit going against them in the future. e-mail me if I’ve said anything that might interest you.
I never realized how horrible Vonage was until I tried to cancel! My sister has the same problem as well. I have had this crazy phone service for almost 2 years now and wanted to cancel when I moved in with a friend and didn’t use it anymore. The servie was horrible, always sounded like I was in a tunnel somewhere if BFE!!! People hated calling me and I hated answering the phone!! When I told them I wasn’t even using it they told me about the cancellation fee and I could not pay that at the time. They told me they would just charge me the bare minimum and would give me a credit, well the credit never showed up on my account and I was charged again the higher rate. I have been so frustrated with this company. If you or anyone else gets a class action lawsuit against them please let me know. I would gladly stand up against this company for ripping people off all these years!! It has been very frustrating indeed!!!!
Thank You,
Robyn in NC
… yes … my niece signed up with the scammers … er … Vonage and when the service didn’t work after weeks of trying and troubleshooting in her apartment (it actually ended up knocking out her Internet connection whenever it was plugged into the modem) they offered her the more “economical” option (to pay a lower monthly fee) vs cancel and pay the early termination fee. VONAGE SUCKS and it has for years. DO NOT SIGN UP OR YOU WILL BE SIGNING UP FOR NOTHING BUT AGGRAVATION!
Like many of you, I have been through the high pressure "please don't cancel" rukus with vonage. They have a very scripted cancellation process.
 I'm wondering where that cancellation fee is buried.
This is what they told me the cancellation fees were located.
I’ve been trying to cancel my Vonage account since I moved from TX to CA last Nov. It is extremely frustrating to call them and been through countless waiting and dropping calls. And when I finally talked to a woman in account cancellation, she drive me nut with all those ridiculous questions. After giving her my old service phone number, account number, my email address used to sign up for the service, she started asking me about the amounts they’ve been charging me. That’s odd, don’t you have all those information on file, Vonage? But fine, with my credit card statement on hand, I started citing out the amounts they charged me each months since Nov, 07. Note that they’ve been continuing to charge me even I have cancelled the service last Nov.
I thought I am about home free, but no! she then asked me what is the latest charge? I stated the amount they charge me for the month of Mar. She said that’s is not the latest charge. So it much has been the one for April which I do not know since I haven’t receiving credit card statement for April yet. At this point I am really mad, and I can hardly believe what they are trying to do just to avoid cancel my account. The rest of it is ugly, and I see no point repeating it here.
I just hope people is aware of this practice at Vonage, and think twice when they want to sign on their their VOIP service. It might not worth it.
I tried to speak to a customer service rep.
I listened briefly to a recording — the one that tells you what to say for each option.
Poor customer service is like an epidemic in this country.
I was looking for a different phone company. I have Comcast triple play and when money got tough, you can’t get pay the phone first and let the cable go. It all goes out. So I wanted to split at least my phone and perhaps Internet. Vonage was the seemingly logical choice having been around a while but the complaints I read now are exactly the same I read from 4 years ago so they don’t seem to be doing anything to address the complaints against them. So for me Vonage is out.
Thank you.
Use magicjack.com $20/year for unlimited local and long distance. Crystal clear and reliable. I am using it for 3 months with no problems. Just plug it in your usb port and u r eady to call.
After having Vonage for less than a month I lost 2 computers and a tv because of their equipment. Anyone else have problems like this. Maybe we do need to get a class action suit going against them. The service is terrible. The calls get dropped, just a horrible service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not use vonage !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY, GOT CARRIED AWAY WITH THE BOLD (AND CAPITALS)
DO NOT SIGN UP WITH VONAGE!!!!!
I AM BEYOND PISSES OFF!!! HOW MANY TIMES, AND HOW MANY PEOPLE DO I NEED TO CALL TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT???? UPON SIGNING UP, I WAS TOLD I WOULD BE RECEIVING A $100 GIFT CARD, WHICH I NEVER DID, AND THAT THERE WOULD BE NO CONTRACT OR CANCELLATION FEES. I WAS LIED TO, NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE!!! AFTER NUMEROUS REPEATED CALLS, I HAVE REACHED THE END OF MY ROPE!! THEY WANT TO CHARGE ME $158 TO DISCONNECT!!! I WILL PURSUE THIS MATTER BY CONTACTING THE TV MEDIA, AS WELL AS MY LAWYER!! IS THIS COMPANY THAT RETARDED???? DO THEY NOT REALIZE THAT WITH SO MUCH BAD PUBLICITY (I SHOULD HAVE READ ALL THESE REVIEWS PRIOR TO SIGNING UP) THAT EVENTUALLY, THIS COMPANY WILL FAIL!!!???? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR, AND LEARN FROM SOMEONE ELSE’S MISTAKES, BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR OWN!!
VONAGE CAN GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!
When you contact the media and anyone else about Vonage and their practices ripping people off, please have them contact me. I have been done the same way. My # is 813-863-0397. Thanks everyone. Let’s band topgether and take these people out of the business of doing people dirty!!!!!! Especially how hard they hit people who are disabled and on a fixed income.
Thank you for steering mein the right direction, I was about to change my ATT package due to the costs, but their customer service is good, so again sorry about your misery but you saved me form some. Hope an angel wings drifts some good luck air your way for giving us the heads up! Gracias/Thanks!
I’m waiting for vonage to slander one of these major phone co. [by name] in one of their big trumped up commercials we’ve all seen on tv, that makes me want to puke my guts out. I tried cancelling with them and I had the same trouble most of you have had . they tried to make me pay a 118.00 disconnect fee , I said no ,so I went to my bank and changed my account so they would stop robbing me 30.64 every month.I tried to pay the final bill through the mail "OH NO, THEY WOULDN’T HAVE ANY OF THAT!!" So they can either bill me through the mail or they won’t get a damn thing.
About to try canceling with them now, found this blog while searching for a number to call to cancel. (Takes deep breath)
just cancelled my acount with vonage, after the 20 mins of bullshit from the operator i finally just said "look cancel it i don’t want it i am not going to want it, just cancel my shit" then i hear about the $39.00 cancellation fee… been with vonage for about a year and a half now…still a cancellation fee?? WTF i didnt even know i was in a contract !!
DONT GET VONAGE CRAPPY CALLS HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BS FEE’S.
I just got off the phone with vonage to cancel my service and since I didn’t call before the 30 day period, they want to charge me $114.19 just to get it canceled. And i can’t get my money back from the service I didn’t even use.They took money out off my account without notifying me first for the second time. I wasn’t told that money would be taken from my account to pay the vonage bill. I’m just so frustrated that i can’t even think straight.
I just contacted Vonage to cancel the service, then they said they are gonna charge the cancellation fee because I still have 11 more months left to end the contract.I thought I signed on for 1 year service, but they said it’s for 2 years service……. I was waiting for a year to cancel it, but I have another year left to end the contract… I will pay the cancellation fee because that’s the only way to stop having the poor service.
I just got off the phone with Vonage. I cancelled my business and home line. It took me over 40 minutes to cancel two lines. This is after I got 2 drop calls. What a pain to have to pay $43.29/line to cancel (includes tax). They do ask all sorts of security questions and try to keep you as a customer. I failed with the security question for my residential line. I forgot what I had used for the pin # and security questions, but I did not what the last bill amount was. The representative went through here all speak TWICE after I told her at the beginning that I wanted to cancel my business and residential lines. She stated that she was a manager and that she can help me with my situation. She even tried to get me on a $24.99 unlimited plan when I told her I am only paying $4.99/month!! There must have been a lot of people cancelling today because she had to put me on hold a few times because there system was REALLY slow.
I have been with Vonage since December 2004. I tried cancelling last year, but decided to have them drop me down to a $4.99 plan that has no minutes. My family and I hardly talk on these lines. It just didn’t make any sense to keep paying for them.
It is quite embarrassing talking on the Vonage line and people thinking that you are on a cell phone in the middle of nowhere! I am now going to use my iPhone a lot more! Thank goodness this whole nightmare is over. I will make sure I check my bill for any unnecessary charges.
Vonage hidden fees burried and not listed openly.
I have been reading the complaints here and other places and there seems to be varying disconnect charge amounts.
I was charged $140.00 to do so. This amound billed to my Credit Card naturally-
The charge is being contested. Seems the charge was made to my card within 7 minutes of cancellation.
Had the Card cancelled and another issued. (Different number).
It would be in all our interests to start a class action suite to get the fund returned from the customers it was
taken from.
Also would be a good idea to contact any news media (TV) in your area and see if they can help.
I’m on a Mission here. It’s not the money, I hate being handled. Posting all the facts about Vonage on every site and News Group I find.
Also am contacting the area media and the area BBB. FCC is on the list also (LMAO on this one).
B
I just called the Vonage Account Management line at 888-288-7435 and was able to easily cancel my service – took about 5 minutes. I’ve been a customer for probably 3 years and have had no issues with my service other than I haven’t used it much in the last few months (we use cell phones for everything now). The operator was very friendly and didn’t give me any high-pressure tactics to keep my service. Just my 2 cents…
I had an account with them for over 3 years … and called the number that you suggested (888-288–7435). Got through right away and was firm but polite with the agent. I told her we couldn’t afford to have internet service any longer (not true) and she tried to refer me to a cheap internet company. I told her we couldn’t even afford that since our whole family had lost our jobs (not true either). She then said,if I live in New Jersey that Vonage may have some jobs available. I told her no thanks. I just verified that the number was indeed turned off and the whole transaction took about 12 minutes. I may use them again since I had no major problems with them in my experience… but I read all of the horror stories from other people. Good luck!
You obviously work for Vonage. The service stinks, the product is garbage and they outright lie to you.
Ok, I just called to cancel and while I did not have to wait on hold forever, their phone "computer" requires you to speak clearly or your screwed. So I get thru to a woman who had a very thick accent and state I want to cancel my service. I swear I think it was a robot – she kept saying the same things over and over again, sorry to lose you Mrs.Kacee, do you not like your service Mrs. Kacee, your lucky because you won’t get another bill Mrs.Kacee – which I thought weird but anyway back to my story. My service has not worked since August when my modem lights (that i purhcased) just went black without warning and we had no service. I deicded to go with Comcast Digital Voice but they could not port over my weird number from Vonage, so I paid 2 bills for several months forwarding calls that came to the old number to my new Comcast number. My bill is taken automatically out of my bank acocunt every month on the 7th, so today I finally decide I’m going to cancel the service because everyeone has the new number by now I ask her when I will get my refund you know the difference between today 10/24 & 11/6 when I’m paid up thru she says to me AGAIN..how lucky I am that I will not get another bill and that VONAGE has a policy to not do pro-rated refunds for customers, which blew me away but she directed me to the website so I coudl see it under Terms of service so Ok, I say to her just set it up to disconnect on the 4th…guess what???? She cannot do that either!!!! I’d have to call on that day to cancel they do not set things up in advance but she again reminds me how lucky I am thaT I will not be getting another bill. I’m sorry but isn’t that sort of illegal?? Maybe not, but I had to hang up with her no use arguing with someone who obviously had very little knowledge of the English language and I was getting a headache dealing with it. Maybe that is how they stay in business – make you crazy enough you just say ok and get off the phone – are they not held accountable for their actions, not regulated?? I don’t see how.
Just don’t use Vonage – after many phone calls… with many different reasons for not being available, unable to help, disconnected calls… just plain bad customer service.
I needed to cancel my service after changing internet providers – that reduced me to a slower connection that isn’t fast enough to handle Vonage bandwidth requirements. No faster service is available in my area. Vonage refused to believe me – and kept trying to push me into another internet provide package. Honestly, I don’t need Vonage to be my answer to Internet service, as a web designer I have that one covered.
I would not recommend Vonage – I paid the disconnection service after calling back three times. The first time, I was told that my account was one day shy of being disconnected without having to pay a disconnection fee. When I call back a day after the disconnection window – they moved my date off to my next billing cycle. SO I could disconnect for $39 or be billed for another month for $39… they did say I would get a refund the following month. But from my experience with Vonage customer service they have not been honest or helpful – and frankly I don’t believe they would issue a refund for unused service.
In total I spent 5 hours to have my account discounted – it was worth it to me to pay the disconnection service of $39 – to be done with Vonage.
As other people have stated, i have had a horrible experience cancelling my service. I got vonage so i’d be able to fax, but something went wrong from the begining. I cancelled my service thru cust. service and numerous times via email, all to no avail. The phone has not been used nor has any other services yet they continue to bill me. Ive changed my credit card to avoid them taking funds from my acct. This company is a scam. PERIOD!!! They sell you pipe dreams is all. I plan on suing them if they continue letting my bill add up. I cancelled..thats it.
It took me over an hour to sign up even thoug I kept telling the chick I really had to go and that should have been a warning to me. They charged my credit card $5 (?) and then I never recieved anything. So I called to find out what was going on and they said I wasn’t signed up. Hm. What about that charge? All right, fine, let’s do this again. Another hour passes and the rep assured me I was all signed up. Now, wouldn’t I like to have a toll fre number? It’s FREE to start and then only $4.95 per month. Unlimited calls, you say? Really? That can’t be. Yes, I was assured, $4.95 and unlimited calls AND minutes for a toll-free number. Well, hot damn, who wouldn’t want that? I saved my confirmation number this time! Checked my new nline account, clicked the bill tab and what the heck? $14.95 for activation on the toll-free number? *sigh* So I call back (three frustrating calls and I haven’t even usd the service yet!) and try to explain my situation and by this time I’m a pretty miffed. Apparently the person didn’t like my tone and they HUNG UP ON ME. So I called a different number and explained to the lady (someone in the U.S. this time) everything that had gone on and she told me, no, it is not unlimited minutes and calls for the toll-free number. WTF?! Cancel that then. The service has been decent, with the exception of the caller ID (gee, it only shows caller ID NAMES if the other person has Vonage, otherwise it just shows the city they are calling from. WTF? That’s not really caller ID the, is it?) and call waiting issue (I’d get a call, switch over, the person would hang up and I’d switch back to the first line, but it wasn’t disconnecting that second line and I’d keep getting that incessant beeping and ALSO that tied up that second line so that I couldn’t get any more call waiting calls – grrr!). Calling to try and get those issues figured out I was HUNG UP ON again. Not disconnected. HUNG UP ON> And the last one I wasn’t even getting loud with the chick. She just got frustrated and hung the hell up. I switched to Vonage to save $30 a month on my phone bill (Canadian calls were killing me). I don’t know if it was worth it if this is the kind of service I can expect. And now I’ve been reading that if I do decide to cancel I may lose my phone number. I wish I wouldn’t have made the change.
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I AGREE WITH EVERY NEGATIVE COMMENT MADE ABOUT VONAGE. I TRIED TO CANCEL SERVICE BECAUSE I MOVED ACROSS COUNTRY TO LIVE WITH MY SON AND HIS WIFE. THEY HAVE PHONE SERVICE BUT NOT WITH VONAGE; THANK GOD. MY HEALTH PROBLEMS INSTIGATED MY MOVE AND I EXPLAINED ALL THIS IN AN E MAIL SINCE CUSTOMER SERVICE DOSEN’T WORK AND WHEN I ASKED TO SPEAK TO A SUPERVISOR HE WAS TOO BUSY, NO WONDER. THEY NEVER ANSWERED MY E MAIL BUT ONLY SENT BACK WHAT SEEMED TO BE A FORM LETTER THANKING ME FOR WITH VONAGE. I’M GOING TO CALL NOW AND AGREE TO PAY THE RIDICULOUS SUM OF $250+
As of today I am starting my 3rd year and I still can’t get away from the cancellation fee. I have called each of the last 3 days and get a different story and to call the next day and the fee would be waved per the contract. Today they said them “system” does not recognize yet that it has been 2 years ” but tomorrow it should”. There is no other higher person you can talk to except for the supervisor. The corporate headquarters is nothing more than voicemail no matter what extension you try. It is a very well crafted machine to rip people off. They do have every possible scenario planned out and scripted. The best you can do is cancel your credit card. They will report you to the credit agency for the $39 cancel fee. You will just have to live with it or let them win and pay to get away from them. Its a brilliant scam.
I could not use there service so I had someone else take over my contract. We did the three way call thing and all and everything got switched but my credit card. So for three years they took money out of my account. I tryed calling Vonage they would not do anything about, I called the lady that took over my accout and she never called me back. I finally got it cancelled yesterday, but who is going to give me back all this money that I payed out on a bill that was not mine. Vonage would not put a stop to it they said I had to contact the other lady and yet kept taking money out of my account knowing that it was not her credit card.
Recounting problems w/ Vonage reopens too many wounds. Here’s a straight-up VoIP service for $23 per month total w/ great service & the contact name, http://bit.ly/9IlYdV & click on VoIP. This is just to help
I have had a HORRIBLE experience with Vonage customer service. I have had an account with them for 11 months, and never signed an agreement for a year’s term. When I called up to cancel my account as I am moving to another country, the customer service rep that I spoke with did everything in his power to get me to keep the service, and informed me that I would have to pay a cancellation fee of 24 pounds. When I got off the phone (service not yet cancelled) I felt manipulated and frustrated.
Two days later, I called again to cancel my service. This time, the rep that I spoke with was not as pushy, and agreed to cancel my service immediately (which is not what I had asked for). However she never mentioned the cancellation charge. When I asked her about it, she admitted that there would be a cancellation charge, at which point I told her that I was not willing to pay a cancellation charge when I had never signed up for a year’s term, and that I would like to speak to her manager.
After 15 minutes of waiting on hold, I got through to a manager, who tried to tell me that I only had two options – cancel my service that minute, and pay the cancellation charge, or CALL BACK the day before one year of service. I tried to explain to him that these options were not acceptable to me – I wanted to be able to set the date of the cancellation in advance, and not have to call yet again. He continued to repeat the same script – these are your only two options. Eventually, I lost my patience and started yelling at him that it was unreasonable for them to tell me that I had to call back on a later date to cancel my service when I had already called twice. He finally agreed to put a note on the system to cancel my service on the date requested, but said that he could not guarantee that my service would actually be cancelled. This is insane.
I would advise avoiding Vonage based on their customer service alone! They are deceitful and find ways to wring money out of you that has nothing to do with the service they provide.
Totally Agree! Never ever fall a prey!
Never ever get deceived by the so called international calls. I used this for a year and after 12 months when I wanted to cancel they took out one more month’s rental in advance (12+1). They do not care for your concerns and money. Total and complete unscrupulous company in the name of free internet phone service.