I repeatedly explained that it would not be saving me money to pay for service I was unable to EVER use. She kept repeating that I could use Vonage abroad. I had to put on a little bit of attitude, mentioning no fewer than 3 TIMES that I would NOT HAVE INTERNET ACCESS before she stopped the hard- sell and VERY reluctantly agreed to cancel my account.

I wish I had never gotten their service. The quality is HORRIBLE and it was a total waste of time and money dealing with them.

I would like to hear the recorded call. This was very amusing. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for sharing. Very entertaining.

…because its raining… awesome.

wow! if u were in the rep’s shoes how wud u feel? he was just doing his job, for crying out loud! no wonder you people have a hard time cancelling services its because of your attitude…i pity you…

However, I think it’s important to make noise about annoying "retention" programs. It should not be hard to cancel. The cancellation question should be "while I process your cancellation, would you like to give us any feedback on how we could have improved our service, or kept you as a customer?" And when I say "no," they say "OK, your account is cancelled. We hope to serve you again someday." I would go back to that kind of a company. No one should have to pass a test to cancel service. No one should have to provide a reason to cancel service. No one should have to waste their time justifying their decision to a retention rep who is hired specifically to prevent them from cancelling.

Your point about having a hard time cancelling being due to the attitude of "you people" defies the concept of cause and effect. First of all, I hadn’t really given any attitude before the rep started in with the "Tell my why…" stuff, and refused to cancel my account without a reason. Second of all, it is IRRELEVANT how much attitude I give: I am the client. I want my service cancelled. I can be as big a jerk as I want, end of story. If he had just cancelled the service, there would be nothing to discuss, except perhaps the excellent customer service at Vonage.

And in the end, Vonage made him a liar. He kept saying he needed a reason, but he really DIDN’T need a reason. Shouldn’t we treat liars–especially in business–with a certain amount of hostility?

Hey… you don’t work for Vonage, do you? Have you been hired to spin/discredit bad press against Vonage?

You’re right about the poor phone rep, though. Unfortunately, he IS Vonage when he deals with me, so my anger with their policies must be taken out on him. So your pity is better spent on him. Give Vonage customer service a call, ask to cancel an account, and then tell the retention rep that you pity them. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.

You’re absolutely right about needing permission before recording a call. But when I call support and I hear the message "This call is being recorded for QA and training purposes," I can assume that the agent– or at least the company– acknowledges the call is (or could be) recorded. So I have the right to make my own copy. I’m sorry that the post made it seem like I was doing it illegally.

Here’s a question for you: is the agent being a jerk by refusing to cancel my account? Perhaps the larger question is whether Vonage, by extension, is the jerk? Have you seriously considered the incredible disrepect that this retention practice shows to customers? What you’re not acknowledging is that if I had provided my legitimate reason for cancelling, I would have been lured into an ever-expanding script of counter arguments meant to confuse or frustrate me into agreeing to keep my service. Vonage, and all other companies who do this, should be ashamed of themsevles.

I’ve already admitted that my behaviour was over the top. But really, if you don’t like verbal abuse, don’t work in a call centre that forces you to treat its customers like prisoners.

I have no doubt that working a call centre is hard. Have you worked in a call centre? If so, please tell me some stories about the experience, and maybe I’ll be able to see this in a different light. But how do you think understanding of the difficulties of the job will make me feel sympathetic? I think I *do* have some idea of what goes on in call centres: the competition, the quotas, the threat of dismissal, the physical discomfort, the annoyed customers, etc. Every job has its difficulties, and I didn’t want these ones, so I don’t work at a call centre. Perhaps if enough people chose not to work in these kinds of call centres, the call centres would have to reevaluate their policies, and treat their customers like human beings.

THANKS FOR YOUR CAPS LOCKS!