RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to winsnomore
Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake?
said by winsnomore  :It's a policy and not in T&C .. If it was in T&C they will have to spell it out, so they keep T&C clean, however try getting them to give you partial refund on the service not used .. they won't do it. Someone ought to sue them for this .. make it class action and put them out of their misery. Let's try to put you out of your misery. Here's the section of the Vonage T&C where it is spelled out that service is for full and not partial months.
6.1 Service Term.
We provide our service for terms of a set length that depend on the term that you have signed up for (for example, 30 days, one year, and two years). Your term begins on the subscription date, which is the date you first ordered service or the date we successfully process your payment, whichever is later. It is not the day you receive the equipment you ordered or the first time you use the service. You are purchasing our service for the full service term. Full service term = full month. Unlike Bell services, there is no mention of pro-rate. This is typically how it's done in the consumer VOIP business...perhaps AT&T and Verizon will do a daily pro-rate due to their heritage, but I've not seen it from any independent providers. When I cancelled my SunRocket service long ago, I persuaded them to give me two weeks of credit since I was canceling only 3 days into the next month ... but even SR's TOS had no provision for pro-rate. In the telecom industry there is a jargon term for service that is paid for but never used: "breakage."
--
"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." |
|
winsnomore
join:2007-01-03
New York, NY
 ·Optimum Online
 ·voip.ms
| reply to sbk212
@RockyBB
I have (had) read the T&C, what you are saying is NOT in the document, you are "adding" your interpretation to it.
Term of Service is the term for which the service is contracted, it used to be 1 year with Vonage, now it's 2 years.
This applies to the term used for cancellation chargers for Terminating the service before the TERM of SERVICE expires
The monthly billing is a charge for providing you service for a month, irrespective.
Almost all service providers in Telecom space pro-rate the charges for the monthly use, cell-phones, landlines, voip carriers .. everyone Except Vonage, but vonage doesn't state that anywhere, they just do it, hoping no one will put up a big fuss for $20-$30.
So though you want to put a defense for Vonage, please let the document speak for itself, not your "own" --but that's what it means .. defense. |
|
RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| said by winsnomore :So though you want to put a defense for Vonage, please let the document speak for itself, not your "own" --but that's what it means .. defense. I've read lots of T&Cs with many VOIP providers. I'm not aware of a single one that will pro-rate the final month of service. I suspect (don't know for sure) that AT&T CallVantage and Verizon Voicewing will pro-rate, due to the parent companies' telco heritage ... but I've not seen any other VOIP provider pro-rate the final month. I'm willing to learn from you. Which other VOIP providers pro-rate the final month?
--
"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." |
|
winsnomore
join:2007-01-03
New York, NY
·Optimum Online
·voip.ms
| Oh so here are two admissions ..
#1 This is your interpretation/defence and has nothing to with T&C .. that's just fig leaf -- Vonage did the same thing when I pointed out that it doesn't say anything about charging for full month without providing service.
#2 Even Viatalk would, callvantage did, verizon (land line) and DSL did, Verizon wireless did, T-MO did, cablevision does -- they all do VONAGE doesn't.
What's this thing about VOIP that's so special .. if everything is equal including tack on charges and regulatory fees, why not the refunds ?
Vonage was a good company at one time, now they have become bunch of clueless buffoons, their attitude is you are going and we seriously doubt "we" will be around if you ever want to come back .. so let's screw with you. This is a surefire way of going out of business and Vonage will go out of business, the 2.5M sub's not withstanding, though there are other powerful reasons for that to happen other than poor refund policies alone !! |
|
RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| said by winsnomore :What's this thing about VOIP that's so special .. if everything is equal including tack on charges and regulatory fees, why not the refunds ? I'll agree that it would be nice if VOIP providers gave pro-rated refunds. But they don't. The end. It's not just Vonage, though most companies built their policies are Vonage's and relaxed some terms so as to attract more customers -- they just haven't relaxed the full month rule.
If you don't like the full month rule, and you're willing to give up VOIP's advantages (or don't recognize them), then so be it. Bye!
But for many, the full month billing is not that big of a deal, it only impacts our last month of service, and the features and flexibilities of the carriers far outweigh that restriction. It's good for me, so I stay. You don't see it, so back to POTS for you.
What isn't fair is for you to interpret your personal experience and your personal needs ... and extrapolate them to the marketplace. Your scientific sample size of one is valuable only in context of several thousand more.
The market is speaking, BTW. Bell carrier residential land line counts are flat quarter to quarter, while the Goliaths like cell providers, Comcast DV, and Vonage continue to pile on the subs. Your conclusions might need some adjustment sometime soon...
--
"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." |
|
garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
| I agree, with my Vonage account since 4/04 I really don't give a hoot about startup costs, and if I ever do cancel I'll do it a day or two before the billing date, so yeah, I'll "lose" a day or so's worth of service. BFD.
It's a free market, if you don't like a particular provider, move on. All I can say about the service is that it's saved me a LOT of money over the past few years compared to the hosing I was getting from Ameritech/SBC/ATT. |
|
winsnomore
join:2007-01-03
New York, NY
·Optimum Online
·voip.ms
| reply to RockyBB
I don't care about what someone else's experience is .. I am telling you mine and I am saying what I think is wrong, it's an opinion and let's leave it at that. I don't like getting shafted .. like having to pay for something I didn't use and I will make noise about it.
Regarding Vonage surviving .. I will take bets .. it won't.
Cable will, but independent VOIP providers will be crushed from top with the transport people and from bottom by skype and gtalk/yahoo etc. etc. etc.
As I said in my other post, the party is over that's why these drastic tactics and practices are being used.
Vonage would never have done these thing 2 years ago but now they don't care.
So enjoy your amortization over longer period and keep looking for alternatives .. lol. |
|
RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| said by winsnomore :Vonage would never have done these thing 2 years ago but now they don't care. I've had Vonage for over 4 years (since Feb 2003, I looked it up), and they've always been full months. I'll agree that they have done nothing with their customer support organization to try to persuade customers that they "care."
--
"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." |
|
bellhater
Premium
join:2003-10-08
canada
| reply to winsnomore
I would never go with a company that uses its method of making money by suing companies that are doing better then them. Verizon, Sprint... You'll never get me as a customer. Your as cheap as corporate greed will get. How much more money do you want anyways? |
|
RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to bellhater
Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake?
said by bellhater :Verizon, Sprint... You'll never get me as a customer. Your as cheap as corporate greed will get. So your cell phone service is with AT&T, that mom and pop company? 
--
"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." |
|
bellhater
Premium
join:2003-10-08
canada | I use a cell phone from a company out of Canada (ALIANT) with a north american package. ITs cheaper!! |
|
scottkill
@verizon.net
| reply to sbk212
I've used Vonage for my home office line for years, no problems whatsoever, have had no reason to call customer service on that line.
I ported over my main home # to vonage this week and it took 3 days and was no problem. I was getting a recording not in service for about an hour during the switch over, so I called Vonage CS, no hold time, had a decent rep, she put me on hold and checked the number and it was working, no problems so far.
I would suggest not getting the adapter from them. Just go buy it at walmart, target, best buy, circuit city, etc. I think it's $39. Take it home and hook it up, and sign up without talking to anybody. As far as termination fee, I did have an extra line for a while and I just didn't use it, so I canceled and I believe it was only $35, no big deal. I don't think I even had to talk to anybody. You save tons of money over POTS, so it's a very small price to pay. If you can't afford that, use a can and string.
I had an extra line with voicewing, and had no problems except it wouldn't work with Fax, so I had to move it back to Verizon POTS for rock solid fax. If you have to use fax, Voip is not a good choice as there is mixed success, not worth the hassel. |
|
