You know the old saying about when something seems too good to be true, it usually is? Well, it's still good advice.
While in my orthopedic surgeon's waiting room on Tuesday, I saw a commercial for magicJack Voice Over Internet (VOI) phone service on either CNN or MSNBC. You buy a gadget for $39.95 that plugs into a USB port on your computer with broadband access into which you plug a telephone and they charge you $19.95 per YEAR for unlimited local and long distance service. I thought it was too good to be true but the fact that the commercial was not on some who-ever-heard-of-it cable channel got me interested.
When I got home, I went to their website and everything looked legit so I filled out the sign-up form for their 30-day free trial but before clicking on "Submit," I thought I ought to look into their customer service (you know me and service). So I opened a new window and pretended I needed assistance. I kept getting a download request and that made me leery but if I didn't allow the download, it was obvious that I would continue going in circles until I did. Doubt began creeping in.
So I opened another window, Googled magicJack and clicked on http://www.voipreview.org/review.details.aspx?root=549. It seems there are a few happy magicJack subscribers and a whole lot of unhappy ones. Being charged the $39.95 immediately instead of 30 days later is common. Being charged hundreds of dollars isn't uncommon. Having no service and not being able to get any help seems par for the course. Not being able to get money back is a given. Another site has found that the download I didn't allow is spyware (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/14/magicjack-netphone-s.html). So I just closed the sign-up window and got on trapshooters.com for some entertainment.
The next day, I received an email advising me that my magicJack order was being shipped within 24 hours and if there were any changes I wished to make to that order, I should reply to the email as soon as possible. I immediately replied with a stern message that I did not order the service and would refuse the package if one was sent. Surprise - I got an undeliverable mail message back.
Then today I received another email telling me that happy days, my order had been shipped as promised and gave me a USPS tracking number. The number checked out with the local post office so I called my bank, confirmed that no charges from them had shown up yet and cancelled the credit card I had used. I then put a note in our mailbox advising our mail carrier that I was refusing delivery of magicJack's package.
There do seem to be some satisfied users but there are a lot more very angry ones who are being electronically stonewalled in their attempts to resolve their problems with the product and the company's billing practices.
I just thought I'd pass along what I learned because the service certainly is appealing. The idea of VOI isn't new (Vonage has been around for two years) and magicJack's founder supposedly owns his own telephone network, so he doesn't pay one of the large companies for the use of their network, thus the eye-catching low price. But like a lot of the reviews say, "buyer beware."
Ed
While in my orthopedic surgeon's waiting room on Tuesday, I saw a commercial for magicJack Voice Over Internet (VOI) phone service on either CNN or MSNBC. You buy a gadget for $39.95 that plugs into a USB port on your computer with broadband access into which you plug a telephone and they charge you $19.95 per YEAR for unlimited local and long distance service. I thought it was too good to be true but the fact that the commercial was not on some who-ever-heard-of-it cable channel got me interested.
When I got home, I went to their website and everything looked legit so I filled out the sign-up form for their 30-day free trial but before clicking on "Submit," I thought I ought to look into their customer service (you know me and service). So I opened a new window and pretended I needed assistance. I kept getting a download request and that made me leery but if I didn't allow the download, it was obvious that I would continue going in circles until I did. Doubt began creeping in.
So I opened another window, Googled magicJack and clicked on http://www.voipreview.org/review.details.aspx?root=549. It seems there are a few happy magicJack subscribers and a whole lot of unhappy ones. Being charged the $39.95 immediately instead of 30 days later is common. Being charged hundreds of dollars isn't uncommon. Having no service and not being able to get any help seems par for the course. Not being able to get money back is a given. Another site has found that the download I didn't allow is spyware (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/14/magicjack-netphone-s.html). So I just closed the sign-up window and got on trapshooters.com for some entertainment.
The next day, I received an email advising me that my magicJack order was being shipped within 24 hours and if there were any changes I wished to make to that order, I should reply to the email as soon as possible. I immediately replied with a stern message that I did not order the service and would refuse the package if one was sent. Surprise - I got an undeliverable mail message back.
Then today I received another email telling me that happy days, my order had been shipped as promised and gave me a USPS tracking number. The number checked out with the local post office so I called my bank, confirmed that no charges from them had shown up yet and cancelled the credit card I had used. I then put a note in our mailbox advising our mail carrier that I was refusing delivery of magicJack's package.
There do seem to be some satisfied users but there are a lot more very angry ones who are being electronically stonewalled in their attempts to resolve their problems with the product and the company's billing practices.
I just thought I'd pass along what I learned because the service certainly is appealing. The idea of VOI isn't new (Vonage has been around for two years) and magicJack's founder supposedly owns his own telephone network, so he doesn't pay one of the large companies for the use of their network, thus the eye-catching low price. But like a lot of the reviews say, "buyer beware."
Ed