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Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Marshalltown, Marshall, IA, USA
  • Cost: $11 per month (24 month contract)
decent cost per month
It ain't a bargain if you can't make calls
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If you want ulcers and an upset stomach hook up with JoiPhone. I was a JoiPhone customer for about 4 years which was split up into two lump sum payments for two years of service for each payment. During that time my service was cut off with no notice and it was only after a couple of days when my phone didn't ring that I found that I had no service. It took 3 or 4 days to get my prepaid service restored and JoiPhone refused to extend my prepaid period for the days when they had erroneously terminated my service. So much for customer relations! Over the 4 year period there were multiple times when the JoiPhone phone router refused to work with my Motorola modem. That resulted in conflicting stories from JoiPhone and my internet provider ATT when each pointed the finger at each other. During the final two year period service deteriorated badly which was evidenced by the inability to make calls during busy times of the day. There would be long waits after dialing a number followed by a busy signal. My guess was that their system was overloaded and they simply couldn't handle the volume of calls. I'm now doing business with a different VOIP phone provider and my advice to you is to find someone other than JoiPhone.

Charlie Ward =

(review was emailed from domain live.com)
lodged 11.1 years ago


Review by Showtech See Profile

  • Location: Las Vegas, Clark, NV, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Scam

They are now trying to to move there Scam for Las Vegas St. George Utah, Under a new name American Call Service LLC. Owner Real Name is Yariv E.Egosi and Joe Esgosi is an AKA. Sounds American? Beware!!!!!

member for 11.5 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11.5 years ago







Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Far Rockaway, Queens, NY, USA
  • Cost: $10 per month (24 month contract)
the price
they trashed my two phone numbers and no one can reach me for 3 weeks
not worth it even if it was free. this company is a bad joke
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Right after I signed up for two years, both my phone numbers went
dead. Callers get a busy signal. This has gone on for THREE WEEKS and
Joiphone appears to be doing nothing about it. I am cut off, my business is
dead and I am losing thousands of dollars. They have no business being in
the phone business if they can't solve a problem for three weeks. The
service wouldnt be worth it if it was free.

izzy goodman

(review was emailed from domain ccs-digital.com)
lodged 12.6 years ago


Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Albertville, Wright, MN, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
call quality, service
Bad company, bad service, bad helpdesk, bad call quality
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This company has terrible customer service and their phone service is even
worse. Calls get cut off all the time, the phone just blanks out- no dial
tone almost every other day. I have to reset the phone router every day
otherwise it will drop most of the calls. Once it is reset works okay for a
couple of hours then starts to drop the calls again. Company won't refund
your money-oh and they automatically charge you credit card for the next
year, so be sure to cancel ahead of time or you are stuck with bad service
for 2 more years.

(review was emailed from domain charter.net)
lodged 12.7 years ago


Review by paziu See Profile

  • Location: Winston Salem, Forsyth, NC, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month
  • Install: about 10 days
99.999% up, used to fax at 2400 bauds
disconnets if a phone call time reaches 120 minutes - need to redial
I am using it since mid 2007 - great service, inexpensive, pay evey 12 months
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I hope Joiphone will not disappear off the market anytime soon, they are providing rock solid service, I have never had any problems with it, even when I moved and changed the area code... no billing issues - they are calling me by the end of the 12 months subscription and asking if I am interested to renew... basically a great service with very good international rates... the only time it the phone does not work if Time Warner has a problem or if there is a power outage 100% satisfaction

The requirement for the VoIP phone to work well is reliability and quality of the internet access link. There is a lot of people complaining about the VOIP service, only in some cases it is the VoIP provider's fault. You need a well configured router, and Cable / DSL / fiber link that is within the specifications of the VoIP technology. There is a lot of cable internet access customers, which their internet connection is choking due to low signal quality or strength. It will affect VoIP big time.

Mike from N.C.

member for 17.2 years, 73 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 13.7 years ago


Review by alanbob See Profile

  • Location: 85143
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
none
ripped us off
do not do business with them

When we got their equipment we called during the listed hours for assistance in hooking it up. Nobody answered. When we reached someone the next day they were rude, so we cancelled the service immediately, & returned the equipment. They charged us $79.09 & after several attempts to get a refund they finally returned only $24.14. As of today they refuse to refund the rest of our money. We never even used or activated the service.

member for 14 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 14 years ago


Review by fred410 See Profile

  • Location: Crofton, Anne Arundel, MD, USA
  • Cost: $33 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 10 days
cheap
poor billing support, poor transfer support, no refunds ever after 30 days
omg, stay away from these people
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Issue 1: Slow phone service -- after you dial any number, you wait a good 8-12 seconds before getting anything, ie "ringing or busy"

Issue 2: Their "terms of service" say you have "unlimited usage" but they deemed that I was "abusing" the system -- and forced me to switch to a $34 a month business plan, or they would charge me a violation fee of $200. So I had to switch, nice.

Issue 3: If you prepay or pay ahead, you WONT get any refunds past the first 30 days of service.

Issue 4: Email ONLY contact to billing department, who is also slow in responding, about 2-4 days turn around. Plus you always get these "we already responded to email" messages also.

Issue 5: Email ONLY contact to phone number transfer group, even worse slow or no response issue.

Ended up dumping them for fios and phone service with verizonm for $53 a month.

member for 18.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 14.7 years ago
updated 14.7 years ago


Review by mpatrick14 See Profile

  • Location: Las Vegas, Clark, NV, USA
  • Cost: $1200 per month
  • Install: about 999 days
Nothing
False Advertising/No Customer Service/Fraudulent use of CC Info
DO NOT FALL FOR THIS COMPANY'S LIES
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Hawk Communications LLC dba JoiPhone is a corrupt VOIP company who has committed the following illegal acts against me:

Breach of Contract: I never received the equipment or my money back as provided under the TOS, even after receiving confirmation that my account was canceled.

Unjust Enrichment: In addition to taking the money I paid for their service, which I never received, they have repetitively charged my credit card 4 times so far in the amount of 200.00 each time with no explanation. All requests for explanation of these charges have been ignored. I have received nothing of value from this company, yet they have stolen over $1,200 of my money.

Fraud: They have engaged in false advertisement and misleading sales pitches, including the use of the word "Unlimited" when referring to their VOIP phone service, which, in reality, is severely limited. There is very vague verbiage in their Terms of Service that says using the phone more than 5 times the "average" residential line is considered "abuse of the system." Basically, if you use the phone more than they want you to, despite the lines being advertised as UNLIMITED, they can charge you fees, and/or discontinue your service, while keeping all of the money you prepaid. There are reports of very limited amounts of usage resulting in this type of activity. For example, one customer received a threat of cancellation after using the phone for 500 minutes over the course of 15 days - does that sound like UNLIMITED to you? There are also reports that any call longer than 60 minutes is viewed as "abuse" and can result in your line being blocked.

They also advertise a 30 day no risk guarantee, yet they do not even deliver the equipment required to initiate the service within 30 days, thereby ensuring that if you wait for the equipment, you have no recourse under the 30 day guarantee. Also, if you do cancel, as I did, within the 30 day period without ever having received equipment or using the service, they do not return your money.

Embezzlement: I entrusted them with access to my credit card account and after they confirmed my account cancellation, they charged my credit card four additional times so far with absolutely no justification. I do not have a service with them, so any justification based on a "Terms of Service" policy is unjust.

This company fails to meet their obligations, outright lies to its prospective customers, and engages in fraudulent activity.

It is also worth noting that Hawk Communications dba JoiInternet was found guilty of many of these practices in Atlanta, GA, including false advertising, breach of contract, and limited access. There was a settlement involved, and the company suddenly folded, leaving many customers without service that they prepaid for.

Several companies that were subsidiaries of Hawk Communications have folded unexpectedly. The reason this matters is because almost all of the deals JoiPhone offers involve prepayment for 12-24 months of service. Personally, I find it highly unlikely that JoiPhone will be around long enough to fulfill these contracts, and based on their current behavior and the actions of former Hawk Communications companies, I have a feeling many JoiPhone customers will soon be out a great deal of money and have no service.

If you do take the risk of signing up with this company, I URGE you to sign up for a monthly plan with no prepayment and give it 6 months or so to ensure the service is worth continuing.

If you want to see more info on this corrupt company, check out the BBB info on Hawk Communications LLC, Joi Internet, and JoiPhone. All of them have unsatisfactory ratings with the BBB.

UPDATE: I was successful in disputing all of the fraudulent charges with my credit card company, and getting my full money back. I encourage anyone who is also having issues getting their refunds do the same thing!

UPDATE: I see people are still posting bad reviews of this company. Looks like they have done NOTHING to improve their level of service. BUYER BEWARE - before you give these people any money or cc info, ready all of the reviews!

member for 16.2 years, 18 visits, last login: 14.9 years ago
updated 14.9 years ago

joiphone
join:2007-08-09
Delray Beach, FL

joiphone

Member

User violated TOS, SPAMMED our ticket systems

The user spammed our systems with over 10000 emails, caused us great damages and according to the TOS spammers and hackers can be fined by us, and by their ISP. COX Abuse department was notified and blocked this customers account, and we did the same. As the customer continues to SPAM and try to flood our systems we will continue to fight him via charges, and legal means. JoiPhone have 1000's of satisfied customers, and most of our customers come from referrals.

Sincerely,
David
mpatrick14
join:2007-12-27
Las Vegas, NV

1 edit

mpatrick14

Member

Re: User violated TOS, SPAMMED our ticket systems

JoiPhone is as corrupt as it gets.

First of all, I did not send over 10,000 emails to their systems. I sent about 1,000 emails over the course of 4 days. And that was only after JoiPhone ignored all of my attempts to cancel my account the right way. I sent 6 individual requests for an update on my request to cancel, and they ignored all of them. Secondly, I never sent any SPAM. All of my emails were legitimate requests for support. I thought if they found it so easy to ignore a single email, they might find it a little more challenging to ignore 100 emails. Little did I know they have no problem ignoring all emails.

My ISP did not block my email account; I am still using it just fine. JoiPhone blocked my email account from sending requests to them because they have an outdated email system that could not handle my requests for support. If they had made any attempt to stand behind their 30 day no risk guarantee, then it would not have even gotten to the point where I sent 100 emails, which was all I sent after being ignored for over a week after requesting my account be canceled. The only reason I sent more than 100 emails was because after they finally said they had cancelled my account, they started throwing charges against my credit card with no explanation. So I would send another 100 emails, they ignored them all, illegally charged my credit card some more, and then waited for me to send more emails. In fact, I think they intentionally ignored my emails so I would send more, which they would then try to use to justify charging me $800.00 worth of fraudulent charges. To this date they still have not told me why they charged those amounts.

JoiPhone committed credit card fraud by processing $800.00 worth of charges without my permission. The TOS agreement between us was rendered invalid when my account was canceled, and I did not send excessive emails prior to this point. Just because you have somebodys credit card on file does not mean you can illegally charge against it because you dont like the fact that they sent you too many emails.

I am looking forward to fighting JoiPhone via legal means, as I have already consulted a lawyer and confirmed they have committed credit card fraud.

JoiPhone is a corrupt company, with a history of deceptive advertising and fraudulent activity, as proven by the Georgia's attorney general's office.

The only reason JoiPhone has customers is because they con people into signing up for their service by advertising Unlimited phone lines and taking 24 months of service fees up front. When the customers finally realize what a crappy company they are dealing with, they get no response from customer service, and spend months trying to get their money back. If JoiPhone only offered month to month services, they would already be out of business. There is a reason they offer rates so much lower than everyone else, they want to take you for everything they can up front. I paid 441.45 up front and never received a minute of phone time. And I STILL havent been given my money back. I know there are people working in the billing department because they are busy committing credit card fraud, but don't seem to have the time to honor their 30 day NO RISK money back guarantee. The only one violating the TOS is JOIPHONE, and any court of law will find this to be true.

I thought, like most customers who have fallen for the scam, that 441.45/ 2 UNLIMITED lines/24 months = 9.19 per line per month. Great deal right? But wait! Factor in that they dont send you the ATA for over a month, then factor in that your account phones will be blocked if you exceed a mystery number of minutes that they deem to be "abuse" (but they cannot tell you how many it is). Then factor that they could very easily be out of business with 30 day warning like their predecessor company JoiInternet. Bottom line - you could be paying WAY more per month than you think. So far they have charged me $1,241.45 and provided no service. I am wishing I would have opted for a real VOIP company instead, where I could have paid $20-30 a month per line for actual VOIP service.

Even the 'success stories' they have posted on their website are BS. One of them came from someone who was happy 2 weeks after signing up, and then within another two weeks realized the truth about them, canceled the service and is currently trying to get his money back.

If their business is based on referrals, they will be out of business WAY before the 24 month scam "unlimited" lines they are conning people into paying for right now.

BUYER BEWARE. I am not the only one posting the negative truth about these guys online. Just take the time to do your research and you will discover the truth about JoiPhone.

It is very easy for a company to put together a flashy web site and a slick advertising campaign, but it is not easy to hide the fact that it is all a scam once the consumers they defraud take their stories to the internet, and ultimately to the courts. Just ask JoiInternet. Oh wait, you cant, because they went belly up!


Review by adserver7199 See Profile

  • Location: Winter Garden, Orange, FL, USA
  • Cost: $20 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 25 days
Providing Voip services
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Providing Voip services

member for 15.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 15.7 years ago
updated 15.7 years ago







Review by ozamora See Profile

  • Location: Fort Lauderdale, Broward, FL, USA
  • Cost: $20 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Very Inexpensive for International Calls, A bunch of included features.
No Caller ID Name. Tech Support can take long to respond
Best Bang for the Buck for customer who call outside the US.
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As a former Sunrocket Customer, I had difficulties finding a provider that was inexpensive for international calls (Lima, Peru).

I ordered in December but took them so long to send me the Adapter, so I decided to cancel. I ordered again on January and they sent it in 5 days.

Adapter is Plug & Play. I am using it behind my router (WRT54G with QoS enabled) with no issues. Completely transparent. 7, 10 and 11 digit dialing, all do work (just like Sunrocket). I got DSL Direct From AT&T (no landline), 1.5 Mbps/256 kbps.

800 free minutes for Some International Locations (Lima, Peru included), Unlimited US, Canada and PR. What would have cost me several hundred dollars per month with AT&T is now ~$20.

The only little thing that bothers me is the lack of Caller ID name, and the not-so-for-dummies website. Who was gonna figure that "xDR Browser" was equivalent to "Call History" and "UM Preferences" was equivalent to "Voice Mail Administration". Anyways, those are easy to overcome as calling is the most important thing. Once it is wife-proof, we got a winner.

member for 19.8 years, 275 visits, last login: 8.4 years ago
updated 16 years ago

joiphonevictim

Anon

TOS Warning

Wait until you start exceeding the mystery number of "nomal residential use" minutes. Based on the many testimonials on this and other sites, you can violate their TOS and get your account blocked without ever coming close to actually using the 800 minutes a month. Once they get you there, the only wat to get your money back is to file a dispute with the credit card company.

Hope it all works out for you!
ozamora
join:2004-06-07
Boca Raton, FL

ozamora

Member

Re: TOS Warning

Thanks for the info. I am constantly watching the logs online. My month just closed, and we called over 700 international minutes. Still with service.