Complaint Review: Vonage - Brielle New Jersey

On November 9th I became a client of Vonage but quickly found out there was a problem with the number transfer. I spoke to someone shortly after and had the number transfer cancelled. During this phone call no mention was made by the Vonage representative that I needed to make a separate official call to have my account cancelled.

From the conversation it was presented as if from this phone contact my entire account was going to be cancelled. This could only make sense since if I had no number to use with Vonage, how could I even use the service?

I made a follow up e-mail on November 27th requesting information about when my money would be refunded. It took two days for someone to get back to me informing me that I needed to call 1-800-860-5491 to cancel. My response the next day was one of confusion since I thought I had already cancelled my account as per my previous phone conversation. I made a request for more information on November 30th which still, to this date, has not been responded to.

After waiting a few days for a reply from customer service that never came, on December 6th I spoke to a Vonage representative at 1-800-860-5491 as requested. During this call, I was told that everything was taken care of and that my $40.84 would be returned to me as soon as the router was received by Vonage. Thinking that everything would finally be resolved in only a matter of days, I was quite surprised to later find a charge of $27.24 on an account which to my knowledge had already been cancelled twice!

I made a call on December 19th with reference # 3520472. When I spoke to the customer service rep I was told that there was no one available who could help me and that someone would call back the following day. That, unfortunately, never happened.

On December 21st I called Vonage again and spoke to representative Kevin Hasbrouck who informed me that this account was still active and that no record existed of my call on December 6th, well within the 30 day limit to get a full refund. He was kind enough to FINALLY cancel the account and said that all monies would be refunded to me. He was also the FIRST PERSON after all my communications with Vonage to mention that I needed an RA in order to get the money back for my router

The very next day I received an e-mail notifying me of a final charge of $111.18! I responded to this e-mail recapping some of the information previously presented and a request for a reply. As of this date, no response has been made to my request.

On December 28th I called again and after over an hour of waiting I spoke to a Vonage Manager named Victor. He stated that the charges on this account could not be taken off by him and that sending an e-mail to the Vonage website was my only recourse.

How I am to cancel service in good faith within 30 days when the very people who are supposed to be assisting me and keeping me from having to write letters like this are not supplying me with adequate customer service?

I made several attempts to cancel as per Vonage's instructions but was faced with a customer service that failed at every turn. From the delays in responding to me (and in some cases failing to respond altogether) to the misinformation given me after my first phone call when the number transfer was cancelled to the withholding of information about the RA number and failure to act upon my cancellation requests. This ineffectiveness can best be summed up by an e-mail I received on December 22nd requesting a phone call to verify the cancellation of my account when I had already done so over the phone the previous day.

To refuse a complete and total refund of money for a service I have not used for one minute and tried to cancel is not only inconceivable but also a total rip-off. By leveling these charges against me when Vonage knew that my number transfer had been cancelled only shows that Vonage is a company who charges for service even when it knows that such service cannot be provided. And for that Vonage is a company I am afraid I cannot nor will I recommend to anyone.

Leonardo

New Rochelle, New York
U.S.A.