Reviews for Vonage VoIP Service

Ratings

Posted: 09/21/2009

Great Offer - Two months free - Unlimited calls to India

Reviewed by: sathishselvaraj (xxx.xxx.211.98)

FANTASTIC SERVICE! LOVE THE SAVINGS. HERE'S A GREAT COUPON TO GET YOU STARTED!!2 MONTHS FREE of Vonage Phone Service.+.FREE ACTIVATION.+.FREE ROUTER! Go to: http://www.vonage.com/friend Under "Redeem Now" enter the code 2013771689 . Enjoy your TWO FREE MONTHS of service - pick whichever service you like! ENJOY!! and Enjoy the unlimted calls to India and other countries by selecting 24.99 plan...

Ratings

Posted: 09/05/2009

Vonage is solid, reliable service

Reviewed by: kamnet (xxx.xxx.94.63)

I've been a Vonage customer since 2004. Back when Vonage started there was almost no competition, today there are many options and challenges for VoIP providers, including Vonage. Vonage's main advantage is that they have been in the game long enough that they have been able to establish solid, fairly reliable service. Everybody is going to experience occasional issues, so it is important not to flip out over it, but instead take everything in stride.

While there are many other providers who can undercut Vonage's prices, be aware that with many of them (maybe most of them?) that you may also "get what you pay for" with less-than-stellar phone service, customer service, technical support and equipment. One good thing that can be said for Vonage is that they are consistant in every area - both good and bad.

As for me personally, I've only had two issues with my service in the last five years, both of them related to the Vonage ATA going bad. I have had one good experience (a device shipped to me overnight -- call went in at 10PM on a Tuesday & device arrived at 8AM on a Wednesday) and a mediocre experience (took 5 days between Vonage & UPS foul-ups to get me a replacement device from Fri-Tues). Both of those can be blamed squarely on customer service. Overall I do not have many issues with customer service, based in part because I work in customer service for a living, I know how to talk as well as discuss "the art of the deal". But when things have been bad, they can be VERY bad and I end up escalating the call to a supervisor or account manager to resolve.
Technical support, on the other hand, has always been rock-solid, quick and efficient, no issues for a geek like me.

One fact that many people might not be aware of: there is an excellent support site at http://www.vonage-forums.com/ that is operated by individuals who are customers and fans of Vonage's service. It is not a company funded or sponsored site (other than the referral fee the site gets if you sign up for them). There are many helpful individuals there who can provide you with assistance if you're having problems. There are also a couple of Vonage customer service and technical support employees who lurk on the boards as well, and occasionally reach out to individuals who are having extreme problems. Overall vonage-forum.com is a much better resource for assistance than calling Vonage's own web site & support forums. Give them a try first before abandoning all hope.

Ratings

Posted: 08/29/2009

This is almost a criminal interprise.

Reviewed by: donofed (xxx.xxx.223.39)

The service is of poor quality. There is a long delay every time you say something before it is heard on the other end. I consistently had to reset the device several times a day.

After switching to a different company. They continued charging me for 7 months after wards--despite receiving notice from my local cable company that I had switch service. Vonage has no regard for the law and FCC rules. I am likely to join any class action against them.

Ratings

Posted: 02/08/2009

Reviewed by: twex (xxx.xxx.114.208)

I started few months ago at 14.99 dollars, nor price escalated to 17.99 in only 4 months. last communication, price is projected to go even higher....i'm already looking at other services.

Ratings

Posted: 07/04/2009

A Vonage Veteren

Reviewed by: cwc3d (xxx.xxx.224.44)

I had Vonage service for 5 years. Very little trouble until lately. I was having severe audio drop-outs after a firmware update to the Vonage proprietary adapter. After being on the line with their useless customer service for over an hour, I was told that my problem was due to the fact that I was running my VPN the same time as making a call. This is despite the fact that I have 16Mb cable modem link, and the problem occurred even when I was out of town and I was taking to my girlfriend at home. They used to have great customer service, but now they use overseas call centers with scripted diagnostics.

My recommendation is: Stay clear of Vonage! There are better and cheaper services out there now.

Ratings

Posted: 07/02/2009

Terrible Customer Service

Reviewed by: tonySJtony (xxx.xxx.71.23)

When the number porting did not work properly after 20 days, I cancelled service. Vonage refused to acknowledge the cancel until after 30 days and billed me for the 2 years early cancellation fee.

It would cost more in legal fees to fight for the refund, however I'm waiting for the class action suit against this low life company!

Ratings

Posted: 07/01/2009

Vonage Will Fee You to Death with Terms and Conditions

Reviewed by: srrudin (xxx.xxx.144.163)

I have been a Vonage customer for 5 years and have been very happy until 5/29/09. Felt the need to offer this review because I believe that Vonage is no longer working for its customers.

I was on the annual plan for service that I paid in January of each year. I received a note from Vonage that they are changing their policy and I will be billed on July 1 for my renewal. This would be 6 months prior to my current renewal. In order to prevent being billed in July, I changed my account plan to bill monthly assuming it would start at the end of annual contract. This was not the case. The new monthly contract went into effect immediatly, disregarding the annual commitment. I immediately contacted Vonage about the issue and they were unwilling to rememdy quoting their 27 page Terms of Service.

Since they were unwilling to remedy my 6 months of lost service I informed them that I would not be staying with them. They did not care. They continued to quote Terms Of Service even though they were going to lose a loyal customer.

I followed thru and ported my number out of Vonage and then they started the fee attack. They would not recognize that the number was ported even though the new carrier was providing me with the service. Since they refused to recognize the transfer they felt it was ok to continue billing me until I could prove that the ported number was ported. It took me a month to get Vonage to stop billing me only to learn that I would be paying a $39 cancellation. I was happy to pay it so they could stop charging me unreasonable fees.

The net of my story is that this did not have to happen and could have been worked out with the Vonage of a year or 2 ago. I believe that they are currently losing customers at such a tremendous rate, the only way they can maintain revenues is to charge fees rather than correct the issue. This is a short term strategy that projects loudly to me the condition of the business.

I am not bitter, just very disappointed that such a good company has gone so bad. The net cost to me for this experience was about $250 and 6 months of denied service.

Ratings

Posted: 06/29/2009

Military BEWARE! 2-Year cancelation fee with NO MILITARY CLAUSE

Reviewed by: adina77 (xxx.xxx.158.34)

Vonage has purposely refused to verbally (of course it's in your HUGE service agreement in the fine print that no one has the patience to totally read!) inform people that they are committing to a 2-year contract with them.

When I signed up for service, I asked the salesperson if there was a service term, because we were military and might need to disconnect if we moved, and they didn't tell me that there was a 2-year commitment, they instead told me that I could "take Vonage wherever you moved to, so you would never have to disconnect." I didn't see that at the time as them evading the question, I thought it was neat that the number could be carried with us wherever we went.

Now we have moved and we don't have good internet service, and cannot use Vonage. They have NO MILITARY CLAUSE so there is no exception to this 2-year rule.

Either I keep paying them monthly (and they have me in an "uncle" situation because they have my credit card information and I have authorized them to charge me every month) or I pay a disconnect fee of about $40.

I said uncle and will warn military people to use something else. . .maybe Skype or something else like that (similar and people have been much happier with it from what I've seen and we used it while my husband was deployed to Iraq.)

Ratings

Posted: 06/29/2009

Vonage

Reviewed by: Terry O (xxx.xxx.64.75)

Vonage is a money pit. I had it for a few years, just too lazy to cancel, I guess...the reception was never clear due to my internet connection (DSL), and I could not get it clear using filters, calling support, even by buying a new phone with a different frequency.
My service got canceled when I changed checking accounts. I called them to see about getting it reconnected, and they said I had to go through the whole sign-up process again. And the guy in customer service actually started yelling at me. I hung up on him.
I will NEVER use Vonage again...stay away from them.

Ratings

Posted: 05/28/2009

Worst product and customer trapping clauses in contract

Reviewed by: dannypatel (xxx.xxx.16.3)

They have the worst customer service and product, it never worked for me and when I tried to cancel they charged me $130 even though I canceled within 30 days. Their money-back guarantee is a lie and they will do everything in their power to nickel and dime the customer. Worst, they refuse to escalate your call when you have issues with the quality of service they provide.

DO NOT EVER GET THIS SERVICE -- IT IS A TRAP.