Vonage Support - An Infinite Loop?

It appears that Vonage has found a way to solve their support problem. They have installed an infinite loop in their customer service Interactive Voice Response system! Today we called about a problem we are experiencing at one of our locations. We were asked to go through a long menu which did not contain an issue related to the one we called about. Further, when we attempted to by-pass the system by pressing "0", the whole thing started over. After a few minutes, we were able to get to a menu that was only slightly different, but we finally made a selection. At that point we were told of a 25 minute wait time for support!

Ah, the price of success. It is really unfortunate that Vonage has chosen this route to attempt to delay the inevitable up front customer encounter. However, they are not alone, because as we have seen in many industries the words "customer service" have become an oxymoron. Too often companies take this approach which appears little more than a way to discourage customers from calling for help. What they don't realize is that they are also discouraging customers from being customers.

Look, this VoIP stuff is great, but it is still a fledgling industry. The players are struggling to make it all pan out financially. Packet 8 recently had to reduce the price of it's video phone and service because of the low uptake. Yet Vonage and others are still saying they want to get into that side. Our take is that they need to concentrate on delivery of reliable voice services first before putting too many frills into the mix.

We still love our VoIP, and Vonage does a credible job. The problem we are experiencing here seems location-dependent. But we need some support, and as of now, we're still on hold!