My husband and I have been using Vonage since early 2005. I didn’t want to depend on a cell phone and my parents’ number was considered long distance so we decided to give Vonage a try. For the first few years everything worked really well and we didn’t experience any problems with sound or latency, but a few months ago we began to experience dropped sound.
I could hear my parents loud and clear, but they could only hear part of what I was saying. At first there was just a dropped word here and there, but as time went on it would take a full five to ten seconds for them to hear me again.
Fed up with poor service I called the technical support hot line and went through a bunch of Vonage agents who were unable to help me. Each time I called I explained that I’ve been a customer since 2005 and that I would like them to ship me out a new router. (I was pretty certain the device was failing after all these years.)
Each time the technicians put me through the same list of steps and procedures. Try this, recycle that, unplug this, unplug that. Sometimes things would work for a day or two, but inevitably the problem would recur.
Believe it or not I was so fed up with them that I went to Best Buy and purchased a new Vonage router outright. Despite buying a new one I called them one last time in the hopes that they would send me a new one for free. I told them that I was disgusted by the fact that I had to pay for new equipment, because they refused to help us, and that I considered cancelling service, which was absolutely true.
Sure enough my last stitch effort paid off and the fifth Vonage technician agreed to ship us a new device. My husband and I installed it that very same night and haven’t had a problem with the phone since. It’s unfortunate that companies make good customers jump through so many hoops, but it’s nice to know that I saved $79,99, (the price of the router), simply by being persistent.
It does seem pretty common these days for companies to not care about customer service until the threat of leaving. Sometimes I think the customer service line is meant to just passify customers with problems instead of actually helping them. Good for you for sticking with it!
I have had this same exact problem with my comcast modem next time it acts up I'm going to do the same thing you have to see what they will do.. Good job on getting them to honor there products in the end.
Frugal Girl –
My name’s Michael and I work for Vonage, first off thanks for being a long-time customer. Sorry to hear that you had some service issues. We’re working all the time to improve call quality for our customers, and to give them a better customer experience. If you’re still experiencing any issues or have any questions – feel free to message me on Twitter @Vonage_Voice. Happy to help if there’s anything you need!
Best,
Michael
http://twitter.com/Vonage_voice
What surprised my about your post is that you thought you were owed free new equipment for some reason. When your cell phone wears out or your car you have to pay for a new one (or with a cell phone, commit to a new yearly contract in exchange for a free/reduced price phone). Why did you believe that you were owed a new free one?
Anonymous — Actually I forgot to mention in the post that I pay for a year's worth of Vonage service in advance. My monthly service contract renewed earlier in the month and I paid a for a full year's service at that time. In essence, I signed a new yearly contract.
FG-
Thanks for the response.
I was glad to read about your tea experience today. I find that your outlook on life is the easiest thing in your life to change to improve the quality of it.