MagicJack LP magicjack.com Terrible customer service. Refused refund. Service failed. West Palm Beach Florida

Here is why you should never consider MagicJack for your phone service!

MagicJack claims to have some of the lowest prices anywhere for phone service. The internet based VOIP service costs about $20 per year. A cheap price compared to most of the other carriers out there. But there are some severe caveats to this service that are not made apparent when you sign up.

First, if you wish to keep your original phone number and have it ported over to MagicJack, it will cost you $20 to do so. You may also have to pay your current carrier for them to release the number as well. Where most carriers make this a one-time fee, MagicJack will charge you $10 per year to keep the number on their system. So, that $99 five year service plan they offer will actually cost you $169 by the time your five years is up. Still cheaper than others, yes. But there is more.

MagicJack customer service is TERRIBLE! I signed up with their five year service plan back in December of 2012. I purchased the MagicJack Plus device that allows you to use the service without a computer. It simply plugs into your home router and your phone. The service worked pretty well. There was the occasional time when I had to restart the device. Then, about a month ago, the device just died. No dial tone. No ring. No service whatsoever.

I contacted MagicJack customer support (which you have to do through a chat page online) and explained the problem. After running through tests and software updates with their representative, they were unable to determine the problem. I was then sent to one of their “top 10% agents” to further help me. Again we went through the motions of connecting and reconnecting the device. Attempting software updates etc. Long story short, after almost two hours the device still did not work and the customer service people had no clue what to do. Reluctantly they agreed to send me a new device.

A week later I received the replacement. I plugged it in and it worked; for about a minute. Right in the middle of a call the sound just faded away and then I had nothing. No sound. No dial tone. Nothing!

Once again I contacted customer service and again I am run through the same routine as before. During this episode I asked what happens if I were to cancel my service and go elsewhere? Would I get a refund on my unused time that I had already paid for on my account? The answer was yes. After another hour working to fix the problem, the end result was to connect the MagicJack to my computer and use it that way. This is not the way I expected to use the device and it certainly is not why I purchased the device that connects directly to the network. Yet, that was the only solution the customer service representatives could offer. By the way, this option does not work either. I still cannot make calls through the MagicJack device.

I ended my chat session with them frustrated and angry. I work in a customer service environment and I can assure you that if I offered half-assed solutions like that, I would lose customers.

I began the search for a new phone service provider. After choosing one I began the process of again porting my phone number to the new service. All the while I still had no home phone service. Once the new provider had the MagicJack information they needed to port my number (after almost two weeks), I received an email from MagicJack notifying me that a request had been made to port the number to a new carrier. I gladly clicked on the link in the email to complete the process and was greeted by an invoice page. In order to release my phone number I would have to pay MagicJack $32 and change. Reluctantly I agreed so I could find and end to this never-ending horror story. I then got back on the chat to customer service to inquire about the refund of service fees I had been told I would receive earlier.

I should have expected what happened next. The support chat began with my explanation of the situation and quickly escalated to anger and frustration. After more than an hour online, dealing with four different agents, including two “top 10% agents”, I essentially had the door slammed on me by this company. The customer support agents were steadfast at denying my refund regardless of the situation and regardless of whether their service and devices worked or not. By my account they owe me about $116 for the unused service and porting fees. We will see if that ever comes back to me. I am far from done with my fight.

I kept the transcript of the chat session and am sharing it below for those of you who wish to see what the customer service from a money grabbing, faceless company is like. There is no direct contact phone number to reach anyone live. Though I have included the numbers I got below, good luck contacting a live person. The recorded message sounds as though it was made in a bathroom with the door closed. It cuts off abruptly before the last number is given and then starts all over again. I wouldn’t be surprised if this company is run out of a garage somewhere in the middle of the everglades (yes, they are in Florida).

To you folks at MagicJack, if you read this, I hope you are satisfied with how you run your company. Offering a service on the cheap might look nice to most people. But your customer service is what defines you. And you fail miserably in that arena. Ripping people off is not something to be proud of and people like me do not take it lightly. This is not over.
Here are the numbers for MagicJack:

• Main office (bathroom recording): (561)594-2140
• Tech support: (561)594-9787
• Billing: (561)594-9925

They are only open from 10am-7pm eastern time. So you better be ready to call during your work hours and spend a LONG time on hold. Also, below is the link to the chat transcript. I have edited my phone number etc. for obvious reasons and made a few comments to help understand what happened. The rest is intact and shows just how arrogant these people are that work for the company.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r495ci8r1zb00np/Qzr0AN1qRm
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