Vonage Sucks - $150 free trial!?!!?!?!!?

I signed up for the free trial at the end of Feb. I recently called to cancel, but I was outside of the 30 days "free" trial period. They not only did they charge me for the initial cost and first month, but I also paid for an additional month of use. When I cancelled, they added a $40 cancellation fee, and a $45 equipment return fee.

$40 for startup fee
$28 for 2nd mo
$45 cancel fee
$45 equipment return fee

$153 to make two phone calls on this service. Both phone calls were made within the 30 day trial period.

Why did I cancel? Even with a Comcast high-speed account that delivers blistering 26,000Kbps (yes, 26 thousand)... I only have 325kbps up. It's just too easy to fill that upload pipe and affect call quality. So I cannot rely on VOIP with 325kbps up and multiple computers on the home network. I could get a $20/mo SBC dsl line just for voip, but then I would be paying close to $60/mo total, while my unlimited ATT land line is $55/mo and always works.


I talked to the acct manager and that guy's boss. They wouldn't budge one bit on the fees. "it's locked in the system", "it's automatic". They offered two free months, oh joy, and a way to spend $5/mo to put the account on hold until I found a faster internet connection - great, give them more money. They wouldn't budge all, no partial discount on any of those fees. I feel like destroying the equipment before I return it (it's in perfect condition, since it was only out of the box for a few days).

Maybe I should have held on to the service at $5/mo until after this Verizon case played out. If they are out of business, I might get a rebate, not have to pay fees.

I will NEVER use vonage.

What a waste of $150.

Grrrr!

-J