Vonage internet phone company

We signed up for Vonage about a month and a half ago. Immediately after getting it our phone service would not work. Suddenly our phone would cut out; we could hear the other person talking to us, but they could not hear us. Other times it would just disconnect. It was like using a cell phone in a bad-coverage area: sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn’t. We were forced to use our cell phone instead for calls where we absolutely couldn’t drop, or when we were going to be on hold for a long time (Who wants to wait on hold for a long time, only to be disconnected in the middle of the long-awaited conversation?).

We called Vonage for customer support, and were given some ideas on re-configuring our computer, moving the modem, moving the phone base, etc., which we did. Then we called the cable company, and when it could be scheduled, they came out. According to them, everything was fine, still bad service. Over the next week or so, we made two more calls to the cable company, and they would not come out anymore, said it wasn’t a problem on their end. The Vonage website didn’t give any other ideas, so we decided to switch back to the phone company.

The phone company had a waiting period and told us not to call Vonage ourselves or we would lose our phone number. They would call Vonage and the account would be canceled (which is how it worked when we switched from the phone company to Vonage). Vonage would not release our phone number for another week to ten days. Finally we got our new phone.

About a week later, Vonage debited our account in advance for the month of August. I called on Monday, July 31st to let them know the service had been cancelled. Not only would they NOT credit us our $31.00 back for the month of service we didn’t even use, they also CHARGED us $109.00 for an early termination. They said they give a 14-day grace period in case Vonage doesn’t work in your area. After that, we have to pay for the “rebate” on the modem. Sending the modem back ISN’T EVEN AN OPTION.

Basically, we got screwed by Vonage. First, it takes longer than 14 days just to realize the problem’s on your end of the phone, troubleshoot all the Vonage stuff, and to get the cable company out to your house. Second, you have to CALL Vonage to terminate service; it can’t be done on their website. How can you call to terminate when your phone doesn’t work? Third, they wouldn’t release our phone number for about ten days. I can’t terminate until after that ten day, so basically they’re giving a person FOUR DAYS to terminate their service.

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR VONAGE PHONE SERVICE.