Vonage Customer Service is Atrocious

Peter Sargent | February 24, 2005, 10:02 AM

Jupiter's Custom Research team has worked with many of the most prominent telcos and ISPs in both the US and EU market. We have aided clients in improving their customer experience (both online and offline) through benchmarking exercises that include key comparisons of virtually all aspects of customer acquisition and retention (e.g. Web site design/usability, online order processes, fulfillment/installation, customer care, billing).

But as a consumer, as well as an analyst, I regret that Vonage has not been among our clients. The reason?

I signed on for Vonage exactly one week ago, intrigued by the $24.99 monthly price tag for unlimited calls within the US. I liked the idea that my only connection to the stodgy, old telcos of days-gone-by was my mobile phone. And it would stay that way with the intro of a Vonage router providing me voice service through my home broadband connection.

The problem is, Vonage has completely dropped the ball. In the course of the last week:

- The sales rep that took my phone order misspelled my last name and my email address (even though i spelled it out for her more than once). This resulted in no email from Vonage to confirm my order.
- When I called customer service to inquire about my order (before knowing of the misspelling), I was on hold for more than 1 hour before I gave up (good thing i can multitask in this job!).
- I received my equipment (a Linksys router and instructions) from Vonage rather promptly. But as i explained when ordering the service, I use a WIRELESS router to access the Web from anywhere in my "spacious" NYC apartment. With no indication of whether the router can be configured with a wireless router, i'm left guessing
- Subsequent calls to customer service over the last 4 business days have produced only two things: a maze of automated prompts and a busy signal when I was to ultimately reach an actual human being at Vonage to discuss the problem. The only means of speaking to an actual person at Vonage is to call their sales rep. Sure; Vonage has PLENTY of people to take your order...but no one to actually help you when these sales reps actually mess up.

My colleague, Joe Laszlo, has developed Jupiter's US forecast for the VoIP market (http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/research:vision/59/id=95555/). And while i see the value in an alternative to traditional phone service, Vonage's performance (or lack thereof) in servicing their customers has me wondering if my colleague's forecast is just a little too optimistic.

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Jupiter's Custom Research team could actually help Vonage make the necessary improvements in their sales and services. Jupiter recently announced a valuable new product available for key MSOs and ISPs in the US market, called the JupiterResearch ISP Portal Evaluation

This research service provides everything Web business managers need to know to best take advantage of their web presence. This special custom package dispels common myths about online sales and helps managers cut through the confusion of customer service support.

JupiterResearch has developed a point-by-point assessment of critical portal features and functions for each Web site including:

Content
Site Layout & Usability
Marketing
Buy Flow
Customer Service
Billing/Account Access

For more information about this product, contact Kieran Kelly at 800-481-1212 or e-mail researchsales@jupitermedia.com.

So while I sit and wait to cancel my Vonage service (if i can reach anyone) a thought for my new VoIP friends...

While this particular product is targeted at ONLINE service and sales, I still think we can help. We'll be waiting for ya!