It’s been reported again and again that Vonage makes it difficult for customers to cancel their VoIP service once they’ve signed up. However, recent cases are pointing to the fact that people who don’t even sign up for Vonage service are having difficulties with the company. Russell Shaw at ZDNet has been reporting on just such a case this week in which Vonage managed to assign a Packet8 VoIP customer’s phone number to one of Vonage’s new subscribers. This left the Packet8 subscriber without phone service

Vonage apparently told the customer that Packet8 would need to be responsible for taking the number back. Packet8 hasn’t been particularly helpful in the situation given that they have told the customer that he needs to contact the company that got the number in order to get it back from them. The case is now being handled by attorneys.

This case is not the first case in which Packet8 customers have lost the numbers that they were assigned and using. A recent report from our forums reveals that the same thing happened to another Packet8 customer who was told by the company’s customer service that the customer would need to start calling other VoIP companies to find out who took the number. A representative wrote into the forums to say that it's probably a slamming issue and should be something that can be resolved with customer service. The issue is still being dealt with by the customer.