Review by justDave 
UPDATED: 1.8 years ago
member for 9.7 years, 1709 visits, last login: 8 days ago
 Brooklyn,Kings,NY
 $20 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "It works sometimes"
 "Poor tech support, ever changing TOS, now $50 cancellation charge *at any time*"
 "They simply can't be trusted"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Update: ViaTalk has the strangest subscription model I've ever seen. You prepay, say $199/yr. Then they bill you for a few nuisance fees every month, like those fake taxes phone companies charge. The nuisance fees can and do change every few months.
Basically, you sign a contract, think you're prepaying and locking in a small additional monthly fee (!), and even then they keep coming back to you for more money!
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I had about a year of great service. After that, things started to go downhill. Failed outgoing calls, incoming calls with no sound in either direction. Tech support is extremely backlogged, no surprise considering their service problems.
Presumably they've been losing a lot of customers. Rather than improve service, they've changed their terms of service to add a $50 cancellation charge. This is in addition to the $50 charge if you fail to return the equipment.
This is not an early termination fee. It applies to all customers at any time. There are only two exceptions. The first is a 14 day trial period. The second is "within fourteen (14) days of the end of the prepaid term". It's not really clear what that means - expect poor communications from ViaTalk at every turn.
Take a look at the ViaTalk forum. It's been in open revolt for months now. ViaTalk's CEO, posting as VTBrendan will step in and make "clarifying statements" on occasion, but there is no follow through.
Followup comments:  Vizzzoip
join:2006-02-16
Queensbury, NY
| Cancellation Fee better...why the complaint? Here is the exact Terms of Service Refund Policy. Thought it would be nice to have the full wording stated instead of someone's interpretation:
"Upon termination of service, your account will receive a full pro-rated refund for any remaining pre-paid months calculated from the 1st day of the following month. Activation fees, shipping fees and one-time fees are not eligible for any type of refund; only service fees are refundable as outlined in this agreement. Customer will be charged a disconnect fee of $49.95 per line for all cancellations not processed within fourteen (14) days of service activation as per the terms of 14 Day Money Back Guarantee as provided in this agreement, or within fourteen (14) days of the end of the prepaid term. The Disconnect Fee becomes due and payable immediately upon cancellation and will be deducted from any refunds due, or billed directly to Customer’s credit card."
This seems better than losing 50% of your remaining term if you decide to cancel after a month or so. It just seems that a lot of people are trying to jump on the ViaTalk bashing without much justification. | |
|  | justDave
join:2000-02-29
Brooklyn, NY
 ·ViaTalk
| Re: Cancellation Fee better...why the complaint? It's better than the old terms if you cancel after a month. It's worse than the old terms if you cancel after 9 months (unless you're in that 14-day window). I'm not even sure what the justification for a cancellation fee after a year would be - one would hope they'd have recouped their setup costs by then.
To be clear, this is a disconnect charge. It's not an early termination fee. You get hit with it even if you complete your term, at least according to the new TOS. | |
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