Vonage - Bye Bye
My Vonage experience came to an unpleasant ending today. I've been a Vonage customer since February 2004. Over time it just became less and less relevant. It neither provided the cost savings or the enhanced services that would really change the way I communicate. I was never willing to pay for a softphone that should have been free, etc. I've long wondered about how long the PoIP players have and think the outlook for Vonage and its clones is grim. Note Vonage was a second / business line for me when I began using the service. It was not a home PSTN / landline replacement.
As I cancelled my account the very rude Vonage operator (second one, first call was droppped) said there would be a disconnect fee of $41.99. I asked why and what was that for. Maybe he took offence to my honest answer. "Why are you leaving Vonage?" I don't need it anymore, I've replaced it with Skype and Phonegnome. He told me it was the cost of closing the account and in the terms. I asked him to show me the terms. He pointed me to the following:
3.6 Termination Fee (Does Not Apply to Business Plus Customers). You will be charged a termination fee of $39.99 per voice line if your Service is terminated for any reason during the first twelve months following the activation of your Service. Vonage Terms
I then pointed out that I had been a customer longer than 12 months. He then credited my account for the 41.99 he had already charged. So in the end cancelation cost of 0. I was just left feeling and wondering how many Vonage Customers who are exiting get stiffed for the $41.99. My bet is he is paid a commission on it. In any case it stinks of bad business practices behind the scenes. Probably an opportunity for a class action suit for some lawyer.
Why did I cancel. For awhile Vonage was my main business line. It could never be more they couldn't offer me or transfer my PSTN home number. It was more reliable than Skype at first, and the rates were better than my landline. Still in the end Skype wins. I've been using SkypeIn as my business line (and call forward to my cell) for months and I'd just concluded that I didn't need the backup anymore. At home almost all traditional international calls now go out on SkypeOut and if not that way they are handled by Inphonex my prepaid account on Phonegnome. Not quite as cheap as Skype. I now have the best of both worlds. Prepaid calling plans and a toll bar on my PSTN account. It could be all made better --- then that is another post.
Comments
I recently cancelled Vonage after 13 months of service. My wife and I now use our cell phones for all US calls, and Skype for all international calls. My wife is Dutch, so we make a lot of calls to Holland.
The main reason we switched was price. Our cell phone minutes are enough to cover the US calls we need to make, so there was no justification for the $25.00 base Vonage fee for call within the US/Canada. On top of that, it costs about half per minute to call Holland with Skype's global rate than with the Vonage rate.
I knew that Vonage would tie me up on the phone trying to retain me as a customer, so I lied and said I was moving to another country. They offered to lower the rate so I could hold onto my phone number, but I politely declined. The lady said since I'd been a customer for over 12 months, she would waive the disconnection fee, and thanked me for being a customer. No hassle at all, but it probably helped that I lied about why I was cancelling :-)
We bought the Linksys CIT200 Skype phone when it came out last month, and have been happily Skyping ever since!
Posted by: Jorge | November 30, 2005 07:50 PM
Stuart,
You're lucky to have skypein, so can can cancel
your expensive (Vonage in your case) phone provider.
Right after skpypein numbers become avalaible
in Canada, if it ever happens, I'll do the same.
Francois Roy
Posted by: Francois Roy | December 1, 2005 10:10 AM