Chris 313
Come get some
Premium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA
clubs: | Always Watch your bills
Let that be a lesson. Always watch your bills. But one thing though, if you don't know about it, how can you stop it?
Being called stupid by a rep was uncalled for in my opinion. |
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mwf
join:2000-11-26
Granite Quarry, NC | Three questions
How did Vonage get her address and how did Vonage get her credit card number and doesn't she ever balance her checkbook? |
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DaSneaky1D
one wall to block them all
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou | Read the story, not the summary. |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| Weird
No company should ever call a customer stupid and there definitely something strange about this story. However the consumer has to carry some of the blame for not noticing a $28.75 charge on her account for 15 months.
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Go Colts |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| reply to mwf
Re: Three questions
said by mwf  :How did Vonage get her address and how did Vonage get her credit card number and doesn't she ever balance her checkbook? She had given Vonage her address and bank account information prior to realizing that Vonage wasn't for her. She didn't even want to subscribe.
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Go Colts |
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phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
1 edit | Vonage sucks....
I got accused of sending them an empty box when my adapter failed. They charged me $150, which I changed my CC# before they could post it. The ironic part is the label was their shipping label, which the UPS man posted the weight on the box. Oh well, they suck, their stock sucks, and their hold time sucks. I'm sticking to "no-name" VoIP's for my hobby, and Comcast for my home phone.
EDIT: By the way, I was a customer for 3 years before they "screwed" me. You would have thought 3 dispute calls, each made once a month, about $150 charge for the adapter, would have made some supervisor say "Hey, he waited on hold 45 minutes each time for this, perhaps he's telling the truth, perhaps we need insurance on our UPS packages". 
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SIPPhone/Gizmo # 17476200648 / PIMPNET Chatline / Ran by Asterisk & Slackware 10.1. |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI | reply to Chris 313
Re: Always Watch your bills
How can you not notice the charge appearing on your bank statement each month?
I would say that is stupid. At the most she should have been refunded no more than 60 days of charges. |
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brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Miami, FL | Scam
Sounds like they are trying to scam people. Almost like TigerDirect with their rebates. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
| said by brianiscool :Sounds like they are trying to scam people. Almost like TigerDirect with their rebates. Yes. An unscrupulous employee probably working from home looking for commissions probably did this.
commission for new accounts. That sounds like a financial incentive for a bad employee to cash in on a potential customer who has second thoughts.
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My BLOG
My Web Page |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Again, where is accountability?
"...Here's one theory: Some of Vonage's customer-service representatives are paid both an hourly rate and a commission for new accounts. That sounds like a financial incentive for a bad employee to cash in on a potential customer who has second thoughts..."
Even though (after it took law enforcement involvement) the customer was refunded her money, this is a bad policy to sales. And many companies use this (car-sales techniques). And a few bad reps will put the info in.
Ofcourse, how can call someone stupid (when actually, they are) when it's difficult to prove in a court of law that they aren't!  |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Scam
said by TKJunkMail :said by brianiscool :Sounds like they are trying to scam people. Almost like TigerDirect with their rebates. Yes. An unscrupulous employee probably working from home looking for commissions probably did this. That was my thought. If you think about how much information the sales rep had, it was really an easy thing to register a free e-mail account and start billing to it. It seems prudent from all of this that Vonage should implement some sanity checking in their billing practices and software. Something so simple as to check whether or not the customer has logged into the system this month or whether or not they even have hardware registered to their home would go a long way in stopping fraud before it gets out of hand.
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Wiki Wiki
Laughter is the closest distance between two people. --Victor Borge |
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RideRed
Vista needs a popup blocker for Vista
Premium
join:2005-06-18
USA
| I thought I would NEVER deal with Vonage again.
Their CS reps are the rudest on the planet. I had the service when they were relatively new and cancelled when growing pains ran the service into the ground.
Just recently as part of the "almost free" MacBook Pro deal I signed up again just to cancel. Again both CS reps I talked to were horribly terse and rude. I had to ask (no BS) 10 times to cancel before they finally did it. 10 times. After starting out sweet as honey by the end I was getting really bent.
They aren't kidding when they say their the internet phone company...they took the worse aspects of POTS customer service.
Vonage is horrible.
BTW, I did the same thing with Sunrocket and they're sweet as punch. I don't know about their service but based on my limited experience dealing with their customer service I would get the for VOIP if I were to get VOIP.
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There's only 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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RideRed
Vista needs a popup blocker for Vista
Premium
join:2005-06-18
USA | reply to phattieg
Re: Vonage sucks....
Experiences like yours are common with Vonage. |
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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
| Sales Tactic is Common
While it would be best for Vonage to work out customer complaints without using degrading statements, this kind of sales tactic has been used for years.
When I was about 19 and living at home, the local newspaper sales staff called. We already subscribed to the Sunday-only service and they initially claimed the call was to verify our subscription information. I provided all relevant information by verifying our address and telephone number. Right before they tried to end the call, they told me that our daily subscription will start within a few days. I asked them, "When did I agree to a subscription change?" They said that by providing the address and telephone number I was agreeing to the new subscription. I told them that they asked for this information to verify the current subscription. They disagreed and said the information was to verify the subscription change. I told them that I was not the head of the household and could not make these decisions. I finally managed to end the call but it was clear they were upset about the wasted time. Luckily I remembered to tell my dad about it and he made a call to the paper that evening. Sure enough, they changed our subscription even though I explicitly told them no.
Even though the Vonage sales person was dishonest, the lady should have been balancing her bank statement to know that Vonage was billing her every month. How many other charges on her statement have gone unnoticed? I wonder if she and her husband will now balance their account each month?
I'm also surprised Vonage customer support did not verify that the account made no calls. Common sense tells me that this could have eliminated the need to involve the local media and Vonage upper management. |
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Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | Stupid x2
Stupid for giving bank information before deciding to sign up.
Stupid for not checking bank statement each month.
Buyer beware! |
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devrandom
I got a pot, full of random stuff here
Premium
join:2003-06-28 | reply to Chris 313
Re: Always Watch your bills
I wonder what they said to the rep to provoke him/her into saying that. Then again, over the phone support reps probably take a bat to their cubicle whenever they get certain customers. |
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vpoko
Premium
join:2003-07-03
Jamaica Plain, MA
| reply to Chuckles
Re: Stupid x2
said by Chuckles :Stupid for giving bank information before deciding to sign up. Stupid for not checking bank statement each month. Buyer beware! Stupid is the rep who will lose his job for calling a stupid customer stupid. |
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Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | Stupid x3 then. =) |
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unoriginal
join:2000-07-12
San Diego, CA
| reply to rradina
Re: Sales Tactic is Common
I wonder if they were recording the call and looking for some way to get you to say "Yes." That way if anyone called to dispute the change they could playback a 2 second snippet (after cutting and deleting everything else) of you being asked "Do you agree to these changes?" "Yes." I know it sounds underhanded but I wouldn't put it past the telemarketers trying to make a buck by upgrading everyone's subscription to something more lucrative. |
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d_l
Barsoom
Premium,MVM
join:2002-12-08
Reno, NV | reply to vpoko
Re: Stupid x2
The rep called a non-customer (one who had never been a customer and had no intention of ever being a customer) stupid. There is no harm or foul in this situation. |
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