Vonage Billed for service I never recieved and they refuse to cancel Holmdel New Jersey

In October I contacted Vonage for service and was promised that my DSL would not be interrupted with this setup. There are a limited number of homes in my area which can receive DSL and I did not want to lose my space, due to the long waiting list. The man on the phone promised that my main line would not be interrupted and Vonage would be used for long distance only.

Vonage promptly contacted BellSouth and disconnected my phone and internet service. I promptly went to their site on October 20th and wrote then a letter telling them they have disconnected my internet and I no longer have access to the internet and it is their fault and they did not fulfill their promise to me. This action interrupted my daughters home schooling as well as my working from home.

In addition to explaining that I no longer have access to the internet I put in my cell phone and requested that someone contact me immediately. No one ever contacted me. I never heard a word until March 2007 when I got a bill for all previous months. I called and a representative said they received the letter and does not know why I was never contacted. He also said that he can't do anything over the weekend and to call back on Monday.

A few days later I was told by a customer service representative that it doesn't matter that I never received service from this company, they WILL NOT CANCEL MY SERVICE until I pay past due and the cancellation fee. I have never even completed setup. I never got a userID and no one ever called me back.

I am also contacting the BBB regarding my every attempt to resolve this situation, and the failure of service. Forcing me to pay now for service not received in exchange for cancelling service seems like some kind of extortion.This was as of noon. Now at 1pm according to an email they have cancelled my service and used my debit information to take that money from my account WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

The Better Business Bureau processed a total of 3826 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 3826 complaints in the last 36 months, 3001 of those were closed in the last 12 months.

Jodie
St Louis, Missouri
U.S.A.