How to cancel your Vonage service

I'd read a bunch of scary blog posts about how horrid it was to try to cancel Vonage service. There are stories of long wait times, getting the runaround, high pressure to reconsider, cancellation fees, and a hold message designed to drive you insane.

With trepidation, I called them yesterday, and while I was on hold (for a half hour), I devised a plan. Their CSR came on the line, and after getting my account information, asked me why I wanted to cancel.

I told her I had moved to a rural area that didn't yet have broadband service.

Oddly, she never asked where, but she seemed flummoxed at the thought that these kind of places still exist. She said that it was alright, Vonage can work with dial-up (it can't). I was offered a plan at $4.99/month (for something that wouldn't even work, what a deal). I told her we'd already gotten a land line, and we just wished to cancel. She asked me if our area would be getting broadband service in the next few months. I told her I couldn't predict the future. She then asked if I had friends and family who would benefit from Vonage service. Finally she just let me cancel - sans cancellation fees, and sans any of the runaround that others have gotten. Maybe they're getting the hint.