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96 Comments
- scecilio, on 08/31/2008, -1/+25I've been with Vonage for a couple years and am very happy with them. I will be canceling their service to go exclusively cell phone in about a month.
If I see trouble, I'll probably just send a certified letter and be done with it. - Mufaka, on 09/01/2008, -8/+29Vonage is notorious for making it very difficult to cancel service. They even charge you a fee to cancel if you can get through their multiple levels of "support". Very shady business practices for a company that continues to bleed money.
Between that and their very annoying commercials I'll never get Vonage. - poet, on 09/01/2008, -1/+21Reminds me of AOL back in the day.
- IrvineKinneas50, on 09/01/2008, -1/+20Does the consumerist ever actually investigate these claims? I never see any more evidence than some guy just writing in a letter and the Consumerist taking him at his word.
- inactive, on 09/01/2008, -3/+20those ***** sent me to collections for 7 ***** dollars, which i don't even know how i owe them
- scoottie, on 09/01/2008, -0/+16that would be responsible journalism, you dont do that on the internet.
- poet, on 09/01/2008, -1/+17Noob Saibot, is that you?
- Pfkninenines, on 09/01/2008, -0/+15Shouldn't American Express just be told to not accept any fraudulent bills from Vonage? Not too hard on AmEx's end, and the worst thing that could happen is Vonage cutting off non-existent service.
- Typhoon2009, on 09/01/2008, -1/+15Couldn't he just tell his bank or credit card company to tell Vonage to ***** off?
- hawkspur, on 09/01/2008, -2/+10Or you could not spam your ***** stories.
If you don't like an article, bury it. If people like it, it gets dugg. Funny how that works, huh? - vornan19, on 09/01/2008, -1/+8I had lingo http://www.lingo.com for a while. It was o.k.. I think that having a company bill your credit card or bank account directly is the problem here. It may be better to have your bank auto-pay some things (like your mortgage). For myself I never let any company or utility automatically debit my accounts. I guess I'm just old fashioned but I would sooner write a check. That way I know when I pay and approximately when it will arrive.
When I wanted to cancel the first thing I did was re-read the Terms of Service. This is important because the Terms will spell out if you can disconnect without a penalty.
Have you completed the minimum time you are required to keep the service?
Was that phone adapter they sent you really free?
Read the terms! - inactive, on 09/01/2008, -1/+8The 'do whatever you can to not allow the costumer to cancel their account' thing is actually taught sometimes. AOL was notorious for it, and Vonage is too. I didn't think it went as far as to charge the costumer even after they cancel their account, and then act like nothing is wrong. That's downright dirty.
- nyr633, on 09/01/2008, -0/+7at this point I think the only phone company that won't give you ***** when you try to cancel your account is the old "can and string"
- PopcornDave, on 09/01/2008, -0/+6That's what I was wondering when I was reading the story. Why didn't the person tell American Express that they were not doing business with Vonage anymore and that any subsequent charges were fraudulent?
The only downside I could possibly see is that Vonage would try to put a mark on the person's credit for non-payment that might be a bit difficult to get removed given the trouble of canceling the service. - thetanman, on 09/01/2008, -4/+10I've been happy with Vonage, too.
- adenansu, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4i didn't have any problems canceling my service, but after i got through chewing their support a new hole, they probably didn't want me around any more
- secrity, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4I called Amex because GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) wouldn't cancel my account. Amex told me that they would take care of it -- and they did. Amex even refunded my for the two months that I was billed after I started trying to cancel the service.
- inactive, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4awwwkwarrdd
- kh99, on 09/01/2008, -1/+5I haven't studied cell phone plans because I don't use the phone much, but for someone who's on the phone constantly Vonage has to be much cheaper than a cell.
- dinostabOMG, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4rtfa
- tallguy240, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4It took me about 45 minutes of them trying to talk me into keeping the service before I finally got irritated and told them to cancel period and no more offers. Even after that they kept trying. I would never use this service again based on how they treated me when I wanted to cancel.
- nickweston, on 09/01/2008, -0/+4WARNING CAVEAT WATCH OUT DON'T SAY I DIDN'T TELL YOU
THE single worst customer service drama/worm hole I've ever been through. I ended up paying a YEAR ahead of time to get them to let me go. Two modems sent to replace faulty original, charged for both...huge delay in speaking and receiving which made for very very clumsy business calls with people talking over each other after digitally-induced pregnant pauses. Completely unacceptable for a business.
I would guess that I gave up 8-10 hours of my life to this poor excuse for a company, along with an extra $240 or so to get them OUT OF MY LIFE. The best money I ever spent was the day I asked the unintelligible operator from India how much it would cost for Vonage to never contact me or send me a bill ever ever....and said DO IT NOW.
STAY AWAY OR ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK
Life is too short... - NuclearIsShit, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3Wrong!
- alep85, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3that's no secret. It's just some loud-mouthed fat-ass thinking she is above everyone else. What those kind of people don't realize is they are usually the ones that get loogies honked on their sandwiches when they're eating out and complaining constantly.
- rkho, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3hey bitch, "the customer is always right" is a stupid lie made up by people like you. so go die in a ***** fire.
- tom66, on 09/01/2008, -1/+4We keep getting sent a refund for 1 pence every month from another company. It must cost them much more in posting costs...
Also, Pipex (UK ISP) tried to charge our Direct Debit even after we canceled. Warning about Pipex - they suck. - LocalDocal, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3"I can't speak about canceling their service, I highly doubt it would be so difficult unless you a complete poofta."
You can't speak about canceling, but you doubt it would be difficult? Hmm, I suppose it ain't your fault that you don't know. After all, it's not like there's a submission around talking about how easy/difficult it is to cancel Vonage, right? - johnpaul191, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3not sure about AmEx, but i have heard that people had problems like this and there was "no way" for the bank that issued the Visa/Mastercard to block charges from a merchant if they had your correct card info. Seems kind of insane to me that you can't have a blacklist, but who knows.
- OrangeTide, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3aahhaha that is terrible!
- rkho, on 09/01/2008, -1/+4Especially not on Consumerist. POS website.
- OrangeTide, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3I dealt with this (but with Sprint instead). It's really hard to get reoccurring charges to be blocked. You would have to call in and file a paper form EVERY MONTH until it stopped. I ended up changing my credit card number which was enough to trigger Sprint to actually look at the account and call me about it. Although in theory changing your CC# won't stop reoccurring bills either.
From no on I simply don't do cell, phone, internet or cable service on a credit card. I mail them a check. I have to keep it on my calendar so I don't forget payment. I'd rather have the hassle of mailing checks than the nightmare of trying to get them off my credit card. - uncwidiot, on 09/01/2008, -0/+3It depends on where you live, if you're out in some hicksville area like I am when I'm not at school, cell-exclusive isn't an option.
- PhilLesh69, on 09/02/2008, -0/+2Sure they can, just tell them you wish to close your account and transfer any balance to a signature loan (or just pay it off).
- inactive, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2You clearly didn't read the article did you.?. He didn't let it go on for years.. he was fighting with them from the beginning.
- secrity, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2Call your CC company too.
- inactive, on 09/01/2008, -1/+3Same with DirectTV, I was a customer with no bill for and 0 balance statements for 2 years after I canceled.
- kdog181518, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2i just canceled vonage recently and they wouldn't refund the money they had just billed me the day before and charged me a 40 dollar fee.they also wouldn't put the 30 dollars towards the 30 dollar fee which i thought was a little messed up,i had already read how hard it would be to cancel so i just reported my debit card lost and got a new one so if they try to charge me it isn't gonna work :).they tried everything they could to make me stay.i said i want to cancel every time they offered something and they would still try to offer something else.
- cubicledrone, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2This is the result of incompetent middle managers who crown themselves emperors because they occupy a box in the org chart with other boxes below it. They sit in their offices (or hide in meetings), safe behind their pleasantly hostile receptionist and their voice mail and issue dictums for which they are never called to account.
As a result, they wield the equivalent of absolute power over anything they influence, including the careers of other employees, the services provided to customers, the accounts of their vendors and the investments of their shareholders. Roughly nine out of ten of these people are hateful, lying, treacherous cheats who use their power as irresponsibly as possible to serve their own and ONLY their own interests at the expense of everyone else they can possibly inconvenience, steal from, cheat, lie to or generally ***** over in the course of every day business.
Thank you. - scoottie, on 09/01/2008, -1/+3I am thinking of getting Vonage, but it would be nice to take a look at some other companies. anyone have some experience with some good companies for the western USA
- johnpaul191, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2yeah, sounds like old AOL and the free trial thing. I know a few people that ended up getting a new credit card number because they could not stop the monthly fees.
- azreal156, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2Wow what a bitch, I hate customers like that.
- frsrblch, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2You know how you hear about husbands hiring hit-men to kill their wives? This is why.
- atact88, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2This happens all the time, with all sorts of subscription services. TIME wouldn't let me cancel a monty python dvd subscription, several years back.
- p9s50W5k4GUD2c6, on 09/01/2008, -1/+3I had the same issue with Vonage. I canceled my account (after numerous attempts) and then they tried to re-route me thru the failed process all over again.
I refused and filed DETAILED documented complaints with the NJ Office of Attorney General's (OAG) office (askconsumeraffairs@lps.state.nj.us) - where Vonage does business, the FCC and CC'd Vonage (customercare@vonage.com).
Here is the relevant complaint form for the NJ OAG: http://njconsumeraffairs.gov/ocp/ocpform.htm
The NJ OAG contacted Vonage a few weeks later. I received a call from some VP within 24 hours after that. A week later my account was closed.
Vonage is one sad excuse of a company (even though I liked their telecommunications model).
The OAG complaint process works - if you document your process well. Note: there are no out of pocket expenses to you for filing a lawful complaint, An attorney from any OAG office will yield SIGNIFICANTLY better results than any attorney you could pay for on your own (given the power of Attorney Generals).
The NJ OAG will send you a letter inquiring if the matteris still open and requires their intervention. If the issue is not resolved, you must respond within 14 days after that letter (or the case will be closed).
2 additional suggestions (things I did not do): include the OAG from your state (if you live outside of NJ) on the email chains and don't respond back to Vonage. - Hosalabad, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2It's Amex, how can there be a problem after the first month.
- LocalDocal, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2No, read closer. He said the wait was too long, but he canceled it after being on the phone for two hours (which is ludicrous). Additionally, he didn't ignore the issue. After receiving the charge a couple more times, he tries calling them and sending them email (even canceling his credit card, which undoubtedly hurt his credit).
If you ask me, there was one thing he did wrong. He didn't talk to a lawyer. - flair1, on 09/01/2008, -0/+2can't you call amex and get them to change your amex #?
- NuclearIsShit, on 09/01/2008, -1/+3Just on a side note, I HATE the word consumer, HATE it.
We are not consumers we are humans, regardless of what some economist thought 100 years ago when he coined the term. If you want to call me something, call me God, no kidding, call me a customer. Consumer sounds like some pig eating anything and everything out of a bucket. - JakeWins, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1I had the exact same problem with AT&T - I live in Sweden, and had an AT&T phone while living in the US over a summer. When I came home I eventually had to throw my VISA away and get a new one. It's funny, my bank here thought it was a joke - they just couldn't comprehend how a company could possibly get away with something like that.
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