Vonage Is About to Lose a Customer

We had a huge storm go through a couple of nights ago, and lightning took out much of the electronics in our home - despite surge suppressors and UPSs.

One item knocked out was the cable modem, which meant no Vonage either. Today (2 days later) Comcast came and replaced the cable modem. Now I see that the Vonage ATA is also blown. No lights on the WAN port, no response when connected to anything on that port.

In the past, I've been impressed with Vonage customer service. However, it appears that they have not scaled up service to match customer growth.

First, I called and got stuck in a new (to me) nearly endless set of menus with no way out and no way to say "my ATA blew". Then, I got cut off. Completely. So I called back and tried punching random buttons in anger. Cut off again. So I tried sending email with an expected response time of "NOW". Nothing yet.

I did finally get into the queue on the telephone. I have now been on hold for over 30 minutes listening to insipid music and annoying announcements. I need a new ATA for the family before I leave for Asia on Sunday.

Vonage, you're getting mighty close to losing me as an advocate, evangelist, and customer.

Update [02/24]: After a total of 49 minutes on the phone, Vonage is sending me a new ATA. I'm being charged expedited shipping because I'd like to have a phone by the weekend. I suppose you get what you pay for. I am still saving $50 a month on my phone bill (repeat softly until anger dissipates).

Filed in: Vonage