vonage: high pressure cancel

<< ajax security: upcoming webcasts look promising | Home | skiing and zune >>

vonage: high pressure cancel

posted @ Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:06 AM | 7 Comments |

i've been a vonage customer for about 2 years (28 months according to them). all-in-all i was satisfied with the service. sometimes the quality wasn't that great, but as a technical person i understand latency, etc. however, vonage still doesn't pass the mother-in-law factor test from a quality and reliability standpoint...i think VOIP technology is there, but if you are relying on a 3rd party (ISP) for the connectivity, it can become troublesome.

at any rate, as part of the new year, i've been just generally looking for ways to 1) cut recurring liabilities and 2) remove some hardware from the home office. i decided vonage was something i didn't need anymore. so i called to cancel.

yikes. i didn't think it would be that painful.

vonage: why are you wanting to cancel today
me: well, just trying to reduce some costs
vonage: you've been a member for so long, are you sure you want to cancel?
me: yes, thank you
vonage: can i talk to you about different rate plans
me: no, just want to cancel and eliminate a cost
vonage: would you consider reducing the rate plan to something more affordable?
me: nope, just want to cancel and eliminate a cost
vonage: so what phone will you be using then?
me: well, one of the 3 that are already in my home probably, i just want to cancel
vonage: why not use vonage as a backup?
me: because i just want to cancel.
vonage: have you considered asking a friend or family member about using your vonage account?
me: nope, just want to cancel
vonage: what about a co-worker
me: i'm not interested in reselling my contract, just want to cancel
vonage: okay, please hold for 2-3 minutes while i note your account
me: (thinking) 2-3 minutes [which it did take] to 'note' my account...yikes

it was really a painful cancel process that i hadn't experienced before in other cancellations i've done. vonage cancelers beware!

tags: vonage, voip, sales, cancel, budget

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:06 AM

Comments.

Cameron said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

They keep that crap up and someone will nail them. Someone will record one of those phone calls, the media will get it and have a field day.

1/17/2007 8:03 AM
natron said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

In the spirit of fairness, I cancelled my vonage and had a completely different experience. I had roughly the same experience you did with the service, it was good, but not stupid old people good. In keeping with the theme of the post, I'll put it in dialogue form.

VONAGE: Why are you wanting to cancel today?
ME: I just got another package deal from my isp for phone, internet, and cable. it'll save me a few bucks.
VONAGE: And approximately how much will you save?
ME: I don't know.
VONAGE: Your account contract isn't up for another 5 months. If you cancel now you'll pay a fine. I'll credit the remainder of this month to your account, and change your account to a free, inactive account until the end of the 5 months and then shut it off. Is there anything else I can do for you?
ME: No
...

1/17/2007 9:00 AM
Wolfgang said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

well, this is a bad experience, but not as bad as this guy trying to cancel aol:

http://media.putfile.com/AOL-Cancellation

1/19/2007 3:04 AM
Louise Morgan said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

I started my frequent phone calls to cancel Vonage in June, 2006. To this date, Vonage is still taking money from my bank account every month and every month I call and tell them I've cancelled. If they would check the phone number, they'd see there has been no usage of it for eight months. No one at Vonage seems to know how to cancel my account!!!! I am constantly put on "hold", transferred to another depart-ment, or told I would have to call back. How difficult is it to cancel an account?
The last time I was put on hold, I had to hang up because 40 minutes had passed, and I was beginning to fall asleep!
Does anyone know what I can do to get rid of them without having to change my bank account?

1/29/2007 5:28 AM
sal santise said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

verizon cancel my telephone and my dsl,reson,couldnt pay the 163.00 every month they been charging me for the pass 2years.

4/14/2007 1:50 PM
Barbara said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

If you can Vonage and they don't what would happen if you took your credit card information out of the billing? I need to cancel 1 of 3 lines I have and considering removing all together because when I signed up my bill was 60 something dollars now its 80 something dollars. Is there anyone to complain to or to turn them into if you cancel and they keep charging?

4/18/2007 7:29 AM
emily said:

# re: vonage: high pressure cancel

March 31, 2007 10:05 AM
I have similar story, but have found little on what you can actually do to cancel the account?
Other than go through the trouble they put you through and from many of the post it actually may not work.
Anyone know?
I signed up almost a year ago actually Apr 2 2006 and today I wanted to cancel it. I was informed to my surprise I would be assessed a 39.99 charge to do that. I did not recall seeing that notification when I signed up. It was advertised as hassle free no contracts. But after looking at the Terms of Agreement it does say if cancelled before 1 year you get charged a fee.
I informed the rep I want to cancel it then on that day the Apr 2nd 2007 so I not get a fee she told me she could not do that. And instead launched into a high pressure sales tactic to switch my plan at the end of my billing cycle the Apr 2, 2007 date to a 2 month free then charged 9.99 for 100 minute plan each month instead.
I asked her to speak to someone else that could help me she told me that she would not transfer me and she was not going to escalate the call any further. She then told me after the free months if I still wanted to cancel I could and would not incur a charge for cancelling my account and to just try and see if it worked better for me.
Another point she kept hounding me as to why I wanted to cancel. I do not consider that any of Vonage business. I am the customer if I want to cancel I should be able to with out being badgered. I did not want to tell her that I was cancelling because my house caught on fire and I lost everything including my father to the fire. I have almost nothing and am staying with relatives temporally and that I simply could not afford to have Vonage anymore. I just did not want to bring that up or think about it. But I was being forced to relive the whole thing just to justify to her why I wanted to cancel when it was really none of her business.
So apparently she has made a change to my account that I am going to get the first 2 months free because in her words they are helping me. And then be charge the 9.99 a month after. The point for me is I don't want Vonage anymore I just wanted to cancel the account. And if I was literally 3 days shy from the 1 year agreement, how hard and uncompassionate is that? She simply could have told me to call back or that she scheduled it to be cancelled on the 1 year mark. Instead I was badgered and subjected to strong arm tactics to keep me on Vonage.
And for me I actually liked Vonage. I had very few connection problems. I thought after I was well and better on my feet I would subscribe again to Vonage because I liked it so much. I told her this at the beginning of the call and she thanked me then preceded to badger me about why I wanted to cancel.
I need to know what legal way can I go about canceling the account?
I read in other post if I change my address information and credit card information to something else they cannot contact me or charge me? Is that legal? I would have completed the 1 year agreement before changing the information before they attempted to charge me again
Also I could contact my bank and inform them to refuse any charge from Vonage that it was in dispute and to consider any attempted charge from them fraud?
Or cancel the credit card number from the bank?

An update to this I finally decided to cancel the credit card number from the bank. And informed the bank vonage was trying to make a fraudulant charge. I did this on the end of the bussiness day of my one year. I also disconnected the Vonage router same time. Something was telling me that even though the rep told me I would not be charged for the first two months that they would try anyway. Sure enough the bank has recorded several attempts by them to charge my now cancelled card. And I have recieved emails explaining there failure to charge my account. And to please contact them to resolve the issue. Ah huh!

5/4/2007 2:41 PM