"Keep Your Current Phone Number" ... just be prepared to wait a while.
Written: Feb 05 '06 (Updated Feb 05 '06)
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Like any self respecting geek, the prospects of Voice over IP appeal to me. Cost savings from huge cellphone bills, the convenience of getting your voicemails emailed to you, and the convenience of keeping your current phone number.
Yeah - about that last point.
I signed up for Vonage service in September of 2005. At that time, I iniated a phone number transfer request to port my current cellphone number to my Vonage account. The Vonage equipment showed up fast enough, and despite some difficulties (my fault - read the directions!) was pretty easy to setup.
During the Vonage signup process they note that your Phone Number transfer request can take 30 to 45 days. Ok - this seems a little long to me, but I'll go along with it. On Vonage.com they have a "Check your current number portability" link which is supposed to show your current number transfer status. I clicked and clicked this link for the next two months after my signup, really worried that nothing was happening.
Finally, I received an email from a Vonage CSR Rep a few days later - "We're sorry, the information you have provided us with was rejected by your current phone company due to missing information." Uh - right. I proceded to go back and review the information I had given Vonage. My T-Mobile account has been in good standing for 3 years, and my bills always paid on time. I called up T-Mobile to verify all my customer account information - yup, it all matches up.
I sent an email back to Vonage with the corrected information. A month passed with no word. The online "Status Form" still showed my rejected notice from November. Around December I called them up wondering what was going on. The gentleman assured me this was being taken care of, and said someone would contact me back.
A week later - no one called. So I called back, and complained no one had called me and I don't know the status. I once again asked that I be contacted back. Another week passes - no word from Vonage. Furious, I finally call up and speak with a supervisor - who again assures me, they're taking care of this.
A week... two weeks... no word. I send multiple emails to the LNP (Local Number Portability) department asking for an update. An email finally comes back to me "We have received your request, please allow 10-14 business days for an update."
93 calendar days after my initital request which was to take 30 to 45 days, Vonage was asking me to wait 2 weeks - just to get an UPDATE. This is when I decided to cancel my account - but oh, what a joy that was.
I called up the cancellation department and spoke with someone who I thought cancelled my account. I was assured the account had been turned off. A day later, I receive another phone call - this time from an "Account Supervisor" - who after 15 minutes of trying to keep me on as a customer finally cancelled my account.
Vonage provided me with the absolute worst Customer Service I have ever dealt with. I was lied to and ignored on multiple occasions. As someone who works in a Technical Support role, I cannot stress the need for followup and constant communication with the customer or end-user (me in this case!) The Vonage employees I spoke with were either inept, deceitful, poor communicators, or a combination of all three.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
akuhn
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Location: Hatboro, PA
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 9 members
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