I have had Vonage phone service since January 2006. I believe at that time, Vonage had been around for a year or so. I remember at the time, I was completely fed up with Comcast (and prior to that AT&T) and their billing. Very overpriced. So I took the plunge and switched. I have never looked back.
On Friday, I had to call Vonage and cancel my business line and fax line. I figured they’d some how screw it up and cancel my main line. I also wasn’t looking forward to speaking to someone who had difficulty speaking and understanding English. I had been dreading this call for a few weeks now. They bill all customers on the 4th of the month, so I knew Sunday was my billing day. So I called.
My plan was to make two phone calls. One to cancel the business phone line and one to cancel my fax line which was attached to my home plan. I wasn’t trusting that the person would not get “confused” during the call and screw it up. I’m so trusting of customer service people. NOT.
As it turns out, I actually got someone I could understand and who could understand me. WOW! First problem out of the way. So I give him the number and tell him I need to cancel it. He asks me ONCE why I was canceling and then tells me the line qualifies for a 50% reduction in price because this line had been with Vonage for over two years. I told him that it was a great offer but I just didn’t need the line anymore. He said okay and canceled it right there. Immediately. No begging. No other gimmicks. Refreshing.
Ask once to see if you can salvage my business but if I say no, then respect my decision and just cancel my account, please!
So after this first part when well, I took a chance and when he asked if there was anything else he could help me with, I had him check my home line – to see if I qualified for that 50% reduction in price. LOL! He did and I did. So he changed the plan for me. I have a feeling that it was a cancelation offer he was extending but since the jig was up there wasn’t much he could say I guess. So he switched my billing to the new plan – and I was emailed immediately of the change (gotta love technology). So my $24.99 unlimited everything switched to $12.50 unlimited everything. SWEET!
Then I told him there was a fax number associated with this account that I needed to remove. I haven’t been using it and didn’t want to pay for it anymore. He said okay and warned me again that it would be immediate. I said “Fine.” He said “Okay”, paused, then “It’s removed.” I refreshed my Vonage account online and saw the fax number was immediately removed from my main account. Received a cancellation email. Done. Refreshing.
Even though I got rid of two lines, the rep was incredibly professional and extended an offer to me for the line I was already keeping. No hassles and immediate service. I really dread dealing with utility companies. HATE IT! But Vonage continues to have my loyalty. They probably would have had it regardless because I do like their service – but I probably wouldn’t have blogged about it.
I REALLY LOVE when Comcast comes to the door to sell me their digital phone service. This has happened twice now. The conversation goes something like this
Comcast: “Hi! I’m in the area contacting Comcast customers that do not have all of our services. I see you have our internet service. Who do you get your cable through?”
Me: “Comcast.”
Comcast: <embarrassed> “Oh. I guess we need to update our records.”
Me: “Yeah, I guess you do.” Starts to close the door.
Comcast: “Who do you have your phone service through. If you get all three services through us, you get a discount… <insert big marketing speil>”
Me: “Vonage.”
Comcast: (light bulb of potential sale goes on in head) “AH! Vonage. Hmmm… well… they go out a lot, don’t they? They aren’t a very reliable service. Don’t you have a lot of downtime with Vonage?”
Me: “Only when my Comcast broadband service goes down.” Closes the door.
Comcast: “Oh yeah. I guess it would.”
I’m such a bitch. LOL!