Vonage Blamed Again... Details Becoming Clearer

from the sounds-questionable... dept

A few months back there was a sensationalistic story about a family with Vonage who was unable to call 911 for help when some criminals broke into their home. This resulted in the state of Texas suing Vonage, despite plenty of evidence that Vonage makes it abundantly clear that you need to sign up for 911 service separately after you've received the phone. The number of explanations and screenshots showing this suggest there's no way that Vonage hides this -- in fact, some say that Vonage goes too far in making it clear. However, sensing a political story that will get some attention, other states have been jumping in as well and the FCC is talking about forcing all VoIP providers to offer 911 service. Of course, this confuses the issue. Vonage does offer 911 service -- it's just that you have to sign up separately. It appears the press loves this story as well, and are now running another story saying that Vonage is being blamed for a baby's death -- but the details are a little more complex this time, and may support the lawsuits against Vonage. Apparently, this family did set up the 911 service, and the calls (two of them) did go through -- it's just that they ended up at recordings, rather than a live dispatcher. So, in this case, it isn't that Vonage wasn't clear about needing to set up 911 -- but that the 911 they set up didn't work properly. Of course, that sounds more like a problem with 911 in general (as has been seen before) rather than Vonage specifically. In fact, it seems like the blame should more clearly be placed on the police departments that spent the money raised for the modern E-911 service on things like pens and winter boots, thus delaying the launch of a more modern 911 system in many places.
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  1. identicon
    scott obrien, 13 Mar 2006 @ 3:15pm

    vonage misleads customers

    vonage is a very difficult company to deal with. Hard to get to the right person to deal with problems. No one seems to know what is really going on. Lack of higher managers to deal with customer complaints.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Lois Mould, 19 Jun 2006 @ 12:34pm

    Vonage Re-off

    I have just been charged over $650. to cancel Vonage service that was not compatible with my security system. I cancelled within the 8 days after signing up - well within the 30-day period, returned equipment, never received Letter of Relay for signature to turnover my service from SBC/ATT. Credit card still being charged without my authorization. Also spent over 8 full hours talking and holding-the-line. Customer Rep response: I have the most authority of anyone here - It's the best I can do....

    Anybody else have a similar experience?????

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Dee Strandvold, 12 Nov 2006 @ 3:45pm

    Vonage

    I signed up for Vonage about 5 months back...WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!
    When they cancelled my AT&T phone service, they also, cancelled my AT&T INTERNET service! The service only worked for a few days.
    I am totally disabled, very ill, and I NEED a phone, desperately!!!
    I ended up without ANY phone service for @4 weeks, while
    Vonage, repeatedly, refused to release my phone number back to AT&T!!!!
    To top this off...I cannot get them to stop billing my credit card!!!
    HELP!!!??? Does ANYONE know how to stop them????

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Dee Strandvold, 12 Nov 2006 @ 3:50pm

    Vonage SUCKS!!!!#$%^&(

    I signed up for Vonage about 5 months back...WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!
    When they cancelled my AT&T phone service, they also, cancelled my AT&T INTERNET service! The service only worked for a few days.
    I am totally disabled, very ill, and I NEED a phone, desperately!!!
    I ended up without ANY phone service for @4 weeks, while
    Vonage, repeatedly, refused to release my phone number back to AT&T!!!!
    To top this off...I cannot get them to stop billing my credit card!!!
    HELP!!!??? Does ANYONE know how to stop them????

    link to this | view in thread ]


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