Complaint Review: Vonage

I admit falling for the ads, and called Vonage in August 2007 to switch from my local phone company. The local phone company was BLEEDING ME DRY and $25 a month sounded good. I signed up and asked my number to be ported. And sure, since I was in the 60 day trial, I let them go ahead and set me up with an additional number. I can take the second device on the road with me? Great! I was hooked.

My number was never ported over. I has some oddball number and since the number was going to change when the port was finished, I never bothered giving it out. I also did not hook my outside port up to Vonage so that we could keep receiving calls.

After 45 days, my number still wasn't ported - even though I checked with them every week to get a status. I called and asked to cancel, and to also cancel the port so that I could keep the local phone company. Vonage said that the port was in the hands of the local phone company, and they couldn't change anything.

I called Cincinnati Bell - they actually had the port order! I explained that I did NOT want Vonage, and in fact only switched to get a better deal. Cincinnati Bell cut my internet and phone bill IN HALF for agreeing to stay with them. They then canceled the port, and all I had to do was call Vonage and cancel the service - I was still in the 60 day trial period.

After exactly 13 phone calls over the next 8 days, Vonage agreed to cancel my account. Sounds like a happy story, right? Well, to this very day, I still get e-mails from these bloodsuckers complaining that they are unable to charge my account (I canceled my old debit card when I canceled Vonage). On further inspection, they're attempting to charge me for a phone number I NEVER WAS ASSIGNED! I still don't even know where the 205 area code is, but I can assure you guys I never had a phone there, or a phone number for that matter. Also, this number was NOT a part of the original plan. They signed me up again after I canceled!

A follow up with these meat heads only yielded a cursory investigation, which concluded that the phone number was validly assigned because I am getting e-mails related to it. Huh?

I have since learned that if I do not pay the ever escalating bill (mind you, I never even made a phone call), I would be sent to a collection agency and my credit may be tarnished. All I say to that is BRING IT ON. I take very good notes and I know everyone who I talked to - including the nice gentleman from Cincinnati Bell, who can vouch that I actually canceled the Vonage service because HE WAS ON THE LINE WITH ME WHEN I DID IT.

Until then - I will ignore all communications from these assholes, and if there is even a whiff of problems from this bastardization of a company near my credit, I will bring the house on them.

Hopefully my take will help others avoid Vonage and possibly use my methods to escape (for whatever thats worth).

Thanks for reading.

Mambo no. 5
Cincinnati, Ohio
U.S.A.