Helena of Briarwood NY

I signed up for this internet based phone company in Oct. 2006 because the company promised to save me money and provide excellent phone landline service. My phone never worked from the start- friends and family members couldn't reach me at my home so we had to use our cells phones all the time.

My husband and I were on the phone with tech support guys numerous times where we were given different kind of explanations for service interruption, echoes (if they phone did work) and audio static. Keep in mind that in order to reach customer care/accnt manager or tech support, we had to use out cell phone after long day at work, stay on hold for hours and then learn the excuses that our internet speed is slow.

Account managers do not take notes or give out confirmation numbers of the complaints or discussions with the customers. We had to repeat ourselves again and again...Being naive, we've changed the internet providers twice in hopes that the phone will finally start working smoothly again. Finally, after 8 months of hell we realized that it's not internet that's causing the problems but simply Vonage service.

On June 20th 2007, I have called Verizon and asked them to switch me. At the same time, I've read reviews of other upset Vonage customers that kept receiving bills even after their phone service was terminated. I decided to call customer care and inform them in advance that I'm switching to Verizon and that I do not want to be Vonage customer ever again! I had to learn that for terminating Vonage service I have to pay $40 + tax as a penalty. This is something that was never discussed by a sales rep when I initially signed up. Nor did I receive any paperwork with a clear statement about rules and regulations of service fee disconnection.

To make matters worse, the account manager discontinued my service AND shut down my phone # completely that I've had for nearly 8 yrs. When Verizon agent called me and informed me that my old ph # is not available anymore, I was in tears and could not believe how stupid the employees at Vonage are.