Monday, August 14, 2006

Vonage and VoIP


I finally broke down and got a home phone with Vonage, figuring it would not hurt having a home phone so I would not have to use my cell phone when I call into conference calls for work. I had heard good things about Vonage so I figured what the heck? I tried calling 3 times in order to get service. Each time I got some Indian representative who was trying to sound American but could not understand normal English. The third time was a charm and got an Indian guy who acutely spoke GOOD English and was able to place my order. I received the package with the IP phone router and instructions on how to install it. It was fairly easy to set up and POOF! I was up and running. My big complaint with Vonage is they recycle their phone numbers because on a daily basis, I get phone calls from some girl who skipped town on her creditors and they think I am hiding her in my house. I asked one lady who called for this woman, "Does she owe you money? Because if she does she is LONG gone." My second complain with Vonage is their customer service reps are totally clueless. I had a minor issue with my voice mail and I had to call once again 3 times to finally get someone who had a clue what he or she were doing to get my voice mail situated. Ironically, that last guy was an Indian guy. The other problem with Vonage is they outsource much of their customer service people. It is very frustrating to call in and get some Indian person who does not understand you and you sit there for over 20 minutes trying to explain to the person what you are trying to do, repeating yourself 3 and 4 times. It has gotten to the point where if I ever have to call to speak to a rep and I get an Indian rep, I hang up and dial again until I finally get a US rep. When I had to call to speak about my voicemail problem, the rep would pick up the phone and I would say, "I have a question about my voicemail." They would respond, "You have a question with your voicemail?" Gee is there an echo in here? Please do not repeat my question. Secondly if you are going to answer my question, do not sit there and go, "Ahh... ah....mmm... ahhh." If you do not know, tell me "Sir, let me take a look at that for you." and then put me on hold.


I am amazed at home many companies out there that are moving to outsourcing because it’s more cost effective. I am all about saving the company money but if people hang up and keep dialing in to finally get a person that has a clue what is going on, how much money are you really saving? Secondly, please do not have some Indian representative trying to "sound" American. To me, that is a slap in my face. Perhaps I should start responding sounding like an Indian person when I get these people on the phone. I have seen too many people lose their jobs to outsourcing. What is ironic about it is that these outsourcing people think if a person loses their job in America, they can easily get another one and that is just not the case. I am not trying to single out anyone. It is not just Indian people. Its any company who outsources to another country and you get a rep on the phone that tries to sound like they are from here, yet can not understand words like "right" and "correct".

I will say with my bad experience with Vonage I am considering canceling my service with them. I would almost be willing to pay the extra $10 a month to Time Warner Cable for VoIP phone service because I know I am going to get a rep that is not outsourced and know that if I have a problem, they will respond quickly instead of having no idea what I am talking about when I ask a simple question about voicemail.

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