Who here uses Vonage phone service

[CatWoman]

Vonage to settle investigation involving 32 states

NEW YORK — Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. has agreed to pay $3 million to 32 states to settle an investigation into some of its business practices.

In a filing Monday with the Securities Exchange Commission, the company said it also agreed to provide refunds to affected customers.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said his office received complaints from consumers who said they found it difficult to cancel their service with Vonage amid pressure from the company to keep their accounts.

Texas officials said that Vonage also failed to clearly tell potential customers that they needed to have high-speed Internet service to use Vonage, which offers cheaper calls by sending voice data over the Internet just like e-mail and Web pages. Officials said those unable to use the service had to pay cancellation and other fees.


The 32 states are sharing the $3 million settlement to cover legal and other costs, and any refunds owed by Vonage are on top of that amount. Claims can be filed through attorneys general for the participating states.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20091116/us-vonage-settlement/

[ipfilter]

1. I had them.

I was charged $39.99 on my credit card when I canceled my account. Apparently, buried deep in their fine print, I agreed to this charge when I started my service. This of course seems to contradict their "no contract" advertising at the time. I called them and ask nicely for them to refund the charge and they told me to call my credit card company and dispute the charge. This is exactly what I did and I never heard from them again.

[EFerrari]

2. My mom does but she's never tried to cancel her account.

Hafta say, this seems to be pretty standard practice right now. I used to get charges to my account from cancelled monthly payments all the time. Finally, I just closed the thing because it was ridiculous already.

[rocktivity]

3. And to think that I used to joke that Vonage shamed me into joining

because I HAD a high-speed internet connection and was literally throwing away money on regular phone service!

:woohoo:
rocktivity

[old mark]

4. We signed up for it when it first came out several years ago - totally fucked.

Got absolutelu NO phone service at all - not one call through them, had to get an entirely new phone number and pay out a new user charge to get our old service back. Vonage then blocked all calls to our new number from any Vonage user for over a year, kept sending us bills for service we never got.

They are the second worst company I have been scammed by in my life, the first being DirecTV, but that's another story.

Vonage provided nothing to us except bills and blocked calls, well over a year of angry communications with them.


mark

[CatWoman]

5. hmmmm

I had Comcast phone service and switched over to Vonage, and am much happier for it.

Comcast was completely ripping me off!!

[rocktivity]

10. Comcast has offered me phone service but I've refused

because I don't like the idea of getting phone, cable, and internet from the same place. When Comcast cuts me off due to nonpayment :blush: , my Vonage automatically bounces to my cell phone.

Vonage made it very clear to me that a high-speed internet connection and a backup phone number (I'm paying $20 every three months to Virgin Mobile/Sprint) were mandatory.


rocktivity

[mike_c]

8. wow!-- that's the utter opposite of my experience....

Switched to Vonage five or six years ago-- I'm on my third phone router. In fairness, I spilled water in one of them. But anyway, I love the phone service and it's cheap, compared to my old land line costs and the cell plans most folks I know are on. Vonage has done great by me!

[sam sarrha]

12. we got disconnected nearly every time we used it

[Missy Vixen]

6. We've had Vonage for several years now

We're very happy with them and their service. I'm especially happy with a $24.99 a month phone bill, as opposed to the $2-300 per month we formerly paid. (We're long distance to everywhere in the Seattle area...)

The only drawback for us is no dial tone if the power's out, but we still have cell phones.

[sam sarrha]

7. they SUCK.!!! they owe me $350.... offered me 1/2 what they owed me if i took it in 60 seconds...

[elocs]

9. I use Prescient for my VOIP phone service and have had no problems.

http://www.comtech21.com/cust_support.php

I pay $7.50 a month plus 2 cents a minute for all calls, but I don't make or receive many calls. Usually my monthly bill is $15 or less and I used to pay my local company $30 a month with long distance being extra.

[Nederland]

11. I use Voip.com and love it

It's a flat rate plan that is only $200 a year--that's $16.66 a month. It's 19.99 a month when you pay month to month. That plan gives you unlimited minutes to US, Canada and Puerto Rico. I have a sister in Brazil and calls there are only 2.72 cents a minute.

VOIP in general is great, especially if you are already paying for Internet service. There are lots of great companies out there. Personally I would never use Vonage because they are more expensive and seem to spend all their money on advertising instead of better service.

[mike_c]

13. totally off topic but every time I see your posts I think of...

...frozen dead guys. :rofl:

[L0oniX]

14. I have had them since they started up. The only complaint I have is...

the charge started at $14.99 for 500 minutes minimum plan. Now the bill is $25.14 ...that's some f*cking price creep!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. Wow, I was thinking of trying Vonage because I'm so unhappy with my phone company

My phone bill has more than doubled in the last 4 years and I never call anyone. I just get billed up the ying yang by my present phone company for just having service. I guess there's no way to win, short of just buying a tin can with a long string.