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Vonage Broadband Phone ripoff Promised 24/7 technical support which is not reachable. Violation of terms of service and redolent of false advertising. Holmdel New Jersey
When I first signed with Vonage, I was assigned a new phone number. The Houston area has two area codes: 713 and 281. They are not long distance calls. They assigned me a 281 area code, but friends from the 713 area code could not call me without incurring long distance charges (i.e., dialing a 1 first).
When I attempted to notify them about it, I waited on hold with Vonage for 30 minutes, after which an agent said that my area of town wasn't included in those that are reachable from the 713 area code, they could not assign me a Pasadena exchange and nothing could be done. I said to her "you've GOT to be kidding me." Nothing had been mentioned about this during the signup phase.
The next day, I called again and they stated that for an extra $5.00 per month, I could get a toll free number. Then someone else decided to reassign me a 713 area code, which finally resolved that issue.
If you switch to Vonage service with an existing land line number, you can retain that number. But if you don't, be very careful about the number they assign you.
I am still getting a lot of interference, other conversations walking on mine, phone calls just terminating and disconnecting for no apparent reason. Everyone I call says that I am breaking up on them.
I phoned Vonage about it this evening (May 15, 2006) and was on hold for a solid 35 minutes, supposedly to be connected to a Vonage USA member. After holding, a person came on line that I could not understand and said it would be an additional wait of 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, a recording sounded that said: "Some customers are reporting problems reaching technical support. Please try your call at another time." Needless to say, I was outraged.
They guarantee 24/7 service, but they do not follow through. I found that all of Vonage's technical support staff are all out-sourced to India. It is very difficult to understand people speaking broken English.
Their website states that you can reduce online, the amount of bandwidth used by the phone, to improve sound clarity. The web page that supposedly allows this to be changed does not function. The graphics are not understandable and don't function. I called yet again about that and they set it from their end.
But to no avail. Still there is unacceptable trash invading my line and I don't know what to do, except terminate the service. But I got it because of its affordability. Now I understand the meaning of "you get what you pay for."
I feel that their failure to provide reliable and reachable support is equivalent to false advertising.
Some people rave about Vonage, but I have nothing but bittersweet sentiments about the entire ordeal. Thank you for reading.
I have yet to find out
Robert
Pasadena, Texas
U.S.A.