ricksfiona
07-16-2005, 05:42 PM
I made a post a couple of months ago on how disappointed I was with Vonage service. I said how I argued with Customer Service to let me go off their Business type account and onto the less expensive Residential account. I argued with Customer Service about how I'm only using a fraction of the minutes on the Business account and it makes more sense to get onto the Residential account. I traded eMails with them as well. Nothing worked. Basically, I was paying $30/month ($360/year) more than I needed to.
Today, I finally got around to cancelling service with them. I called them up and it took a good 2 - 3 minutes to voice-menu your way to the person you need to cancel your account, which got me even more angry.
When I finally got to the person, I told them I wanted to cancel my account. They asked me why and I told them the reasons why. They acted surprised and said "you've been a customer since 2003", which really got me upset when I realized how much money I had been wasting and that they shoud've treated me with more respect when I called them initially to change my account. She told me that they can switch me to a cheaper rate. I told her that I'm even more angry since it has to come down to cancelling my account, that they are willing to work with me. I told them the only way I will stay with Vonage is if I get 6 months free and I go with a cheaper rate. They have a rate of $6.99/month with 0 free minutes, and national rates @ 3.9 cents a minutes. Something they don't advertise. I decided on a $16.99/monthly with 500 minutes. They said okay to my terms and put me on hold while they worked on my account.
This was the 'kiss of death' for them. I was on Hold for about 10 minutes while they worked on my account. Which infuriated me that it was taking a good 20 minutes to deal with this issue, wasting my time. This gave me time to rethink my decision. I had been looking at Skype and decided to check them out again. I saw that they had cheaper rates at 2.3 cents per minute and you pay about $13 for 10 hours. With Skype and at $16.99, I would get an approximate equivalent of 780 minutes! This is 50% more minutes than the Vonage equivalent AND you don't have a monthly minimum you have to pay. You just have to use your $13 amount within 180 days so it doesn't get de-activated. No problem here. That $13 can probably last me 2 - 3 months! During that 2 months, I would've spent $34 already with Vonage.
When the Customer Service person came back on the line, I told her I changed my mind and cancelled my account anyway. She definitely sounded upset. But hey, if my reasonable issues were taken care of 2 months ago like I requested, politely, professionally, there would be no problem today.
Yes, there are pros and cons with going to Skype, but I would only use Skype while I'm sitting at my computer working, making only outgoing calls. I would use my cell phone for everything else. When my business get's larger, I'll figure out what I'm going to do go receive calls more professionally. That's 6 - 12 months down the road though.
It really is too bad. I was very excited about the Vonage service when it first came out. Especially since I was so frustrated with my local landline carrier. But you know as everyone in business knows, it's all about Customer Service. People are reasonable when you treat them with respect and most people are happy to pay a reasonable price for a service they use. But as soon as customers feel they're being taken for a ride, that's all she wrote. And that's how I felt with Vonage.
I predict that Vonage will still be a very minor player in the next 5 years, if they survive at all.
Today, I finally got around to cancelling service with them. I called them up and it took a good 2 - 3 minutes to voice-menu your way to the person you need to cancel your account, which got me even more angry.
When I finally got to the person, I told them I wanted to cancel my account. They asked me why and I told them the reasons why. They acted surprised and said "you've been a customer since 2003", which really got me upset when I realized how much money I had been wasting and that they shoud've treated me with more respect when I called them initially to change my account. She told me that they can switch me to a cheaper rate. I told her that I'm even more angry since it has to come down to cancelling my account, that they are willing to work with me. I told them the only way I will stay with Vonage is if I get 6 months free and I go with a cheaper rate. They have a rate of $6.99/month with 0 free minutes, and national rates @ 3.9 cents a minutes. Something they don't advertise. I decided on a $16.99/monthly with 500 minutes. They said okay to my terms and put me on hold while they worked on my account.
This was the 'kiss of death' for them. I was on Hold for about 10 minutes while they worked on my account. Which infuriated me that it was taking a good 20 minutes to deal with this issue, wasting my time. This gave me time to rethink my decision. I had been looking at Skype and decided to check them out again. I saw that they had cheaper rates at 2.3 cents per minute and you pay about $13 for 10 hours. With Skype and at $16.99, I would get an approximate equivalent of 780 minutes! This is 50% more minutes than the Vonage equivalent AND you don't have a monthly minimum you have to pay. You just have to use your $13 amount within 180 days so it doesn't get de-activated. No problem here. That $13 can probably last me 2 - 3 months! During that 2 months, I would've spent $34 already with Vonage.
When the Customer Service person came back on the line, I told her I changed my mind and cancelled my account anyway. She definitely sounded upset. But hey, if my reasonable issues were taken care of 2 months ago like I requested, politely, professionally, there would be no problem today.
Yes, there are pros and cons with going to Skype, but I would only use Skype while I'm sitting at my computer working, making only outgoing calls. I would use my cell phone for everything else. When my business get's larger, I'll figure out what I'm going to do go receive calls more professionally. That's 6 - 12 months down the road though.
It really is too bad. I was very excited about the Vonage service when it first came out. Especially since I was so frustrated with my local landline carrier. But you know as everyone in business knows, it's all about Customer Service. People are reasonable when you treat them with respect and most people are happy to pay a reasonable price for a service they use. But as soon as customers feel they're being taken for a ride, that's all she wrote. And that's how I felt with Vonage.
I predict that Vonage will still be a very minor player in the next 5 years, if they survive at all.