Just the other day I received a Vonage newsletter in the mail. In the newsletter it discusses the new WiFi phone, how our troops are using Vonage to call home, a letter from the CEO, their 2005 advertising campaign, including TV commercials (woo woot woo woot woo) and last but certainly not least, it discusses Vonage's 911 service and how you must activate it. Made me wonder if the Texas lawsuit against Vonage caused Vonage to make a "special" newsletter just so they could mail it to all their customers explaining you must activate the 911 service. I'm sure a lawyer probably had a hand in telling Vonage it was a good idea to proactively notify their customers about 911 to help negate claims in the lawsuit that Vonage is "not doing enough to proactively warn its customers about the limitations in Vonage's 911 service", i.e. you must activate it. Well, I decided to include a photo of that page in the Vonage newsletter here, but since it's a bit blurry (USB camera), I'll past the newsletter text below as well.
9-1-1 Dialing is not automatically set up for use. You must activate 9-1-1 Dialing for each of your Vonage phone numbers.You will need to fill out a short form to specify your physical address. Vonage offers 9-1-1 Dialing to all customers. When you dial 9-1-1, your call is routed from the Vonage network to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for your area.
Please visit http:://vonage.com/911 for more detailed information about 9-1-1 Dialing and to activate it now.
Ok, one more photo from the newsletter showing the TV commercials.
I know once you see these pictures (and the background music), the "woo woot woo woot woo" theme song (also from Kill Bill Vol 1) will pop in your mind and it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You're welcome!
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Originally I thought Vonage was a great idea. But quickly found out otherwise.
I have had nothing but poor voice quality. Dropped out calls. And the WORST customer service I've ever experienced. They blame everything else but their own service and equipment. So, after spending countless hours over several weeks checking my computer, my DSL provider, my phone company and my software, turns out it was a faulty Vonage device they sent me. So after some nagging from me and several calls, they finally replaced it.
Then I get an email WARNING saying that unless I pay for the return of the old device (that was faulty in the first place), they're going to charge me $99.99 for it!! I've packed it up ready to go, expecting some sort of return slip or label from Vonage to go with it as per other professionally operated companies and...nothing! Not even after a promise of one from their customer service people. I've emailed several times. No reply. I've called. No help whatsoever. Noone would put me through to a supervisor and they won't even tell me where to send the old device back to! What a scam!!
So I'm cancelling my Vonage account as soon as I figure out how to keep my number and moving to another VOIP service. Vonage is a joke!
DO NOT SIGN UP! The savings aren't work the headaches and frustration of dealing with these people.
I'm going to be forced to learn Indian to get help with the terrible Vonage service......
Vonage is a nightmare! I just found out that they have been having problemns with the voicemail system for the last two-three weeks and never informed their customers!!!! I discovered this when I attempted to access my voicemail by phone and was unable to do so. A very unfriendly customer service rep informed me that they ahve been having problems for the last two-three weeks that I should try again later. I hate this service and will be conceling my subscription. Further proof that you get what you pay for.
Vonage is the worst. Terrible customer service.
Watch out. Don't sign up.
I have a complaint. i have complained to vonage so called customer service. mid january 06 i ordered and my account was debit immediately for the vonage service. but hey as of todays date 2/8/06 i have yet to get my equipment. i have called several times and asked where is my equipment and was promised it would be shipped overnight to me and still nothing. I cannot recieve and phone calls. my number which was with a local phone company is now switched to vonage. the guy on the other line says sir i will give you a rebate on your equipment. excuse me i am already signed up that deal. so what incentive does vonage give to me for the very stressful and headache of not being able to recieve my calls. i will tell you nothing, he says we are back logged and please cooperate with us. Cooperate, i am the customer. it has been 15 days and this is the kind of customer service i am to endure. Damn look out for those of you who have gotten into this so called great deal. this blog is being sent to my states attorney and the fcc and the newspaper and i am really thinking about getting air space to let the consumers know about this. sincerely fantastic voyager.
I switched back to Verizon's freedom pllan. $39.99 a month for unlimited calls in the US. I would suggest that if you want to get the word out to help other people avoid the same aggravation we all shared, post a message on your local newspaper's blog. I posted my experience with Vonage on the Boston Globe technology blog. Two poeple responded to say that it was probably my fault that I was having problems with the service and then they listed the features they liked the best about Vonage. Made me wonder if they didn't work for Vonage. One person did respond and say that they were not going to sign up because of my experience.
I've been a Vonage customer for about a half year and have been satisified with the service. I also happen to be a hater of junk e-mail. I figure that any company that markets its services by randomly sending their junk over the internet is wasting a lot of people's time and is a company of very low morals... The people that resort to sending junk e-mail belong in jail.
About a month ago, I started to receive junk e-mail from a company that calls itself Vonage in their return e-mail address, but ID's itself as "Rewards Overdrive" at the bottom of their e-mail. It is trying to sell me Vonage service which I already have. I tried to unsubscribe but continue to receive these junk e-mails. (and seemingly more) I attempted to get Vonage to contact Rewards Overdrive to have my e-mail address removed, but I quickly found that Vonage is not equipped to handle any service calls that don't fall into one of the standard catagories that you can select after making several automated selections on their automated support system. The Bottom Line is: 1) Don't buy Vonage services thru "Rewards Overdrive" - They are a sleezy outfit. 2) Be cautious selecting Vonage services. They've obviously dropped into a lower catagory of company that resorts to low marketing tactics and is not equipped to handle questions / problems that don't fall into common, precise catagories.
Vonage BUYER BEWARE-
Started off great. BUT THEN took 6 wks to transfer phone number.
Very poor costumer service with misinformation.
When phone number transfer was completed quality of audio on long distance went from perfect to very poor.
Recommendation- Vonage NOT YET READY FOR PRIME TIME with respect to customer service or quality of audio.
I just canceled my Vonage account. Vonage is a disaster in every aspect, from the terrible service representatives in India who are so hard to understand to the dropped calls, echoing, and one way listening of the calls. After 6 weeks of waiting for my number to get transferred and countless hours spent calling customer service, the frustration was overwhelming and I had to cancel. DO NOT subscribe to Vonage - it will make your life miserable.