Vonage proves law needed to ensure easy cancellations
July 29th, 2007
I believe there needs to be a federal law that requires companies to make it just as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. My recent experience with trying to cancel my Vonage account is a good example of how unethical companies will make canceling as difficult as possible, probably hoping you'll give up and let them continue charging you for a service you aren't using.

So here's what has happened so far with trying to cancel Vonage:

  • Can't cancel through web admin (they give a lame "for security purposes" excuse)
  • Have to cancel on the phone with an "Account Manager" who is only available after holding for 30 minutes and only during business hours
  • But yet vonage sales people are available with no wait at all, 24-7!
  • When dialing in once to check on wait times (I refuse to wait on hold for 30 minutes), I accidentally got tech support, but they said they could cancel my account, and gave me a confirmation number
  • Two weeks after I thought I had cancelled it, they billed my credit card for a new month.
  • I called Vonage, gave them my cancellation confirmation number, they said my cancellation didn't go through since I didn't speak to an "Account Manager," and my "confirmation number" was only a trouble ticket number and not a confirmation of cancellation. So I would have to call back during business hours yet again...

Doesn't that seem just a little unethical? They hire more than enough people to make zero wait time for signing up, but purposely understaff their "Account Managers" who are the only people who can cancel your account, thereby forcing you to wait on hold forever during business hours. So why exactly can't the sales department cancel your account? I mean all they need to do is say a few lines of script for you to confirm then hit the "cancel" button on your account. Does it really take a specially trained "Account Manager" to do that, people they can't seem to hire and "train" enough of?

After a search on "vonage cancellation", I see my experience is not alone, as there are 526,000 results and all seem to be complaining about the worst cancellation experiences possible. According to this wikipedia entry, they have been delisted from the Better Business Bureau for their horrible customer service. Luckily I have had their service for over 2 years, so can skip the $39 cancellation fee (I thought it wasn't a yearly contract? hmm..)

A law would seem to be in order here, to force companies to provide cancellations through the same sales people that can sign up new accounts, thereby forcing unethical companies like Vonage to stop trying to make a simple cancellation such a difficult and time wasting procedure.

And whatever you do, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR VONAGE! Want more reasons? Read this and all the replies...