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Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Ambler, Montgomery, PA, USA
  • Cost: $14 per month (12 month contract)
  • Telco party Verizon
Great features, looked promising.
Horror story; no service 2x for several days each
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

My Horror Story. My research pointed to VOIPo as the best provider for my needs. So I ordered it online and paid for a year's service. Then their emails started coming, one after another for a total of 11! Finally, one said to download, sign and fax in their document. More emails arrived: six more asking for the signed document! Once they had it, it was supposed to take from 20 to 45 business days for my phone number to be transferred. Instead it took two days, and they hadn't even yet shipped the adapter I needed to hook it up. (They refused to delay the transfer and they refused to send the adapter overnight or 2nd day.) So, I was without any phone service for five days. What could be worse? The adapter they sent was fried within days. And again they won't ship a new one out overnight. So, it's no phone service for days yet again. Mistakes happen. But when a company has a policy not to ship something fast -- even when it's justified -- is just plain stupid. It's bad for the customer and bad for their business.

(review was emailed from domain verizon.net)
lodged 12.5 years ago

VOIPoTim
VOIPO.com
Premium Member
join:2006-06-06
Irvine, CA

VOIPoTim

Premium Member

VOIPo

I'm the owner of VOIPo and saw your review.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

In terms of number porting, the typical timeline is 7-10 days. Our porting form that you signed and sent in does stated that it can take "up to" 20-45 business days because that is a worst case scenario.

AT&T has been releasing numbers quicker and we have updated our processes to make sure that going forward we are submitting the request with a later date when we process AT&T requests to prevent the number from transferring so quickly.

In terms of shipping, all orders ship out the same or next day assuming the order is on a business day. If the order is not on a business day, it can take an extra day. I spoke with our shipping team and we're not aware of any shipments that have not gone out in this timeframe recently.

Again, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. If you'd like to send me some account information so I can look up your account I'm happy to take a look to make sure everything is moving smoothly now and if there is anything that we could have done better. My direct e-mail is tim @ voipo.com.

Timothy Dick
Founder/CEO
VOIPo.com

Lorigard
@verizon.net

Lorigard

Anon

Re: Even more delay today!



OK CEO Tim
Instead of your shipping out a new adapter -- after more than two hours troubleshooting with your tech yesterday -- I got an email today from yet another tech wanting to troubleshoot again to confirm I need a new adapter! I needed the day to prepare for Hurricane Irene, so we didn't get to troubleshoot a second time until nearly 4:30 PM EST. Another day wasted, without phone service. With any luck, the new adaptert will get shipped on Monday -- and take four or five days to get here -- because you refuse to ship it overnight or second day!

Both your techs have said "our warehouse isn't set up for shipping overnight or second day," and that it's "not financially feasible" to ship that way. You want to save a few bucks while I spend even more time without phone service, all because you screwed up - twice? The first tech said that only you, the CEO, can authorize faster shipment. So why don't you authorize it?

If I don't get that adapter on Monday or Tuesday, this isn't the only message board that will carry my horror story, including what happened and was said today. First I'll cancel my service and get a different one. Then I'll put my horror story out on every review site I can find. I want to warn others what could happen to them. And, I'll use Twitter and Facebook to tell everyone considering VOIP why they shouldn't use your company's service. Will it be "financially feasible" to lose a lot of business?

I am hopping mad!
VOIPoTim
VOIPO.com
Premium Member
join:2006-06-06
Irvine, CA

VOIPoTim

Premium Member

Re: Even more delay today!

said by Lorigard :



OK CEO Tim
Instead of your shipping out a new adapter -- after more than two hours troubleshooting with your tech yesterday -- I got an email today from yet another tech wanting to troubleshoot again to confirm I need a new adapter! I needed the day to prepare for Hurricane Irene, so we didn't get to troubleshoot a second time until nearly 4:30 PM EST. Another day wasted, without phone service. With any luck, the new adaptert will get shipped on Monday -- and take four or five days to get here -- because you refuse to ship it overnight or second day!

Both your techs have said "our warehouse isn't set up for shipping overnight or second day," and that it's "not financially feasible" to ship that way. You want to save a few bucks while I spend even more time without phone service, all because you screwed up - twice? The first tech said that only you, the CEO, can authorize faster shipment. So why don't you authorize it?

If I don't get that adapter on Monday or Tuesday, this isn't the only message board that will carry my horror story, including what happened and was said today. First I'll cancel my service and get a different one. Then I'll put my horror story out on every review site I can find. I want to warn others what could happen to them. And, I'll use Twitter and Facebook to tell everyone considering VOIP why they shouldn't use your company's service. Will it be "financially feasible" to lose a lot of business?

I am hopping mad!

Send me an e-mail to tim @ voipo.com with your account info so I can find your account and I'll be happy to take a look at it to make sure everything was handled appropriately and is moving forward for you.

Lorigard
@verizon.net

Lorigard

Anon

I'm back up and running!

I'm happy to report some good news for a change.

As it turns out, there appears to have been absolutely nothing wrong with the first adapter sent to me. However, it was only after we'd installed the replacement adapter that we finally discovered where the problem was.

Who would believe such great havoc could be wreaked by a surge suppressor on its way out? The VOIPo adapter was plugged into my Belkin surge protector, which I could turn off and on perfectly well at the switch. And its green light was on, so we couldn't have known it was a problem.

Seemingly unrelated, my computer lost power a few times last week, right in the middle of use. When I would change its plug from my surge protector to a power strip or back, there was just some slight sparking and noise. After trying other solutions, we thought there was something wrong with the computer power cord. We changed out the power cord last week and forgot all about it because that seemed to have solved the problem. However, the day before installing the new adapter it happened again. Since I was in the middle of solving my problem with VOIPo, I put off looking into it further and then completely forgot about it.

As we were troubleshooting with the new adapter the next day, I suddenly recalled having lost power at my computer the day before and mentioned it to the VOIPo tech. We decided that I should get a new surge protector and see if that might solve the problem. AND IT DID!!! Who knew? I'm pretty amazed that we even figured it out!

We had tried plugging the adapter directly into the wall at one time to test it, but I had to do it in another room because my surge protectors, and thus all my computer equipment, were taking up my office wall outlets (in this old house with very few of them). I'm not sure what we learned from that testing but, as I recall, the adapter lights were coming on as they should.

I'm still not keen on VOIPo's shipping policy. Everything must go out by USPS Ground. Five days from their CA facility to the East Coast. Their way or the highway. Only the CEO can approve faster shipment? I suggested to him that he reconsider this ludicrous policy.

I want to give special credit to the VOIPo guys who did the troubleshooting with me. Brandon, Martin, and Clay were all really great to deal with. Despite my obvious frustration, each of them remained calm, cool, and collected. They were exceptionally patient with me. VOIPo is very fortunate to have them representing the company, out there on the front lines, dealing with problems as hard to resolve as mine. I am very grateful to each of them. They are truly deserving of much praise.

So again, as it turns out, it was not VOIPo's equipment that was the problem. It was mine.

motoracer
join:2003-09-15
united state

motoracer

Member

Re: I'm back up and running!

said by Lorigard :

So again, as it turns out, it was not VOIPo's equipment that was the problem. It was mine.

Hopefully in the future you can keep your cool and not be so rude without knowing what the problem is first (Not with just VOIPo, but with anything).

As far as shipping, they offer service at $75/YEAR...why would they spend $20 to overnight you an ATA?