[asterisk-biz] I am a prisoner of vonage

[Paul]

That often seems to be a stock answer on this list. People don't get
compensated for the time they spend dealing first with vendors like
vonage and later with banks or credit card companies. Banks will things
like overdraft fees caused by intentional fraud. If it is caused by
vendor error they expect the consumer to recover the damages from the
vendor. So I might be able to get a chargeback against vonage but if the
origianl transaction caused some checks to bounce, I might incur $100+
in bank fees and retailer returned check fees.

This type of thing will continue to happen until the lardasses we send
to DC pass some real consumer protection laws. They talk about identity
theft and privacy but they aren't doing anything about the biggest
problem - people having their bank accounts screwed with unjustly.

I did some initial research today. So far it looks like most consumer
organizations are focusing on things that have far less impact on the
average consumer. Knowing your money is safe in your bank account seems
like a high priority consumer issue to me.

list wrote:

> Why not file a dispute w/ your CC company and do a charge back?
>
> -Jon
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <asterisk_help at iwishi.nu>
> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] I am a prisoner of vonage
>
>
>> On Wed, 18 Jan 2006, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> 12 days now. 3 times they have promised to escalate my cancellation
>>> request. They say that it can only be done by having someone from that
>>> department call me to confirm that I really wish to cancel. 3 messages
>>> entered via web portal produce a web page that says the message is
>>> accepted but not even one automated acknowledgement email(and yes - the
>>> address I use with them bypasses virus/spam filtering).
>>>
>>> But in spite of all this their billing system is functioning well and
>>> attempting to charge me for another month of service.
>>>
>>> The account was active about 18 months so there are no 1-year
>>> commitment
>>> issues involved here.
>>>
>>> I would strongly advise people to steer clear of vonage or any company
>>> that operates in such a fashion. You do not want to furnish credit card
>>> numbers to companies of this type.
>>
>>
>> I had the same experience! Two years ago already. I even had to fight
>> with them for the two extra months they continued charging me. Fact
>> is I never got the money back, I just gave in. Hours and hours wasted
>> trying to cancel their services.
>>
>>
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