Vonage just got more bad news. First it was the lawsuit that they faced and were then found guilty of for infringing on patents which Verizon owned. Now today their problems just got worse. A judge has ruled that Vonage may no longer sign up any new customers for their VoIP service due to the patent infringement they were found guilty of.
Roger Warin, the Vonage lawyer said that “It’s the difference of cutting off oxygen as opposed to the bullet in the head.” Without the capability to sign up new customers, there’s absolutely no room for growth and just means this would be a slow “death” for Vonage to face.
Current customers will not be affected by the injunction, and Vonage says that they have plans to appeal today’s ruling. For now, they have been ordered to pay Verizon $58 million in damages as well as 5.5 percent royalty on every future Vonage sale. And according to Beta News, if they appeal, they will be forced to pay a $66 million appeal bond.
As of yet, the Vonage website is still allowing new sign-ups for their service.
News Source: Beta News
About 5 years ago I moved from a Verizon area to a Quest area and I asked Verizon to move my DSL and phone account (I did not know that it is a Quest area at the time). Few days later, they called me with the news, so I asked them to close my account. Couple of weeks later I receive another modem and a bill for a new account from them. Now, I had 2 DSL and Phone accounts wit Verizon, while living in a Quest area. For 4 months I tried to close my accounts. Every time I called Verizon, they told me “Disregard the bills. We will rezolve the issue.” And every month the bill was bigger and biger. When finally I received a letter from the collection agency, I had enough. I refused to talk with the customer service representative, and went every time for the supervisor. Even so, it took one month, countless hours on the phone and a “It is the last time you talk with me. Next time you talk to my lawyer” to have it resolved. They had to send me a check for a hundred dollar, but I never received it. They are loosing clients because of their bad services, and now are going after companies that offer a better service. I am so fed up with Verizon.
Gigaom is reporting that Vonage can now sign up new customers as they have received a temporary stay. [gigaom.com]
@Daniel: I think that is just about one of the worst experiences you could have had! I have heard bad things about Verizon’s customer service…but then again I think a lot of phone companies have bad customer service. Maybe it is a trend with phone companies?
@jallen64: Thanks for the tip…it would still make me skeptical though to signup for the service when they are on such shaky ground right now.
Having worked for AT&T several years ago, I can vouch for that. They would hire people who had basic skills and the pay was crappy as heck (although we did get 4 raises a year thanks to the Union). Turn-over was (and still is) sky high due to the hiring pratices and just the overall lack of proper training and support.