Buyer beware

I can tell you right now, Laura and I recommend you stay away from Vonage. Here's a letter we sent to the Better Business Bureau, our credit card company and the Federal Trade Commission.

Laura & Chongsun Ahn
-address removed for privacy purposes-

Better Business Bureau of New Jersey
1700 Whitehorse Hamilton Square Road, Ste. D-5
Trenton, NJ 08690-3596
http://www.bbb.org/complaint.asp

Dear Better Business Bureau:

When my husband and I called Vonage to sign up for their Residential Premium Unlimited Plan, we were told by their sales representative (hereafter “sales rep”) that all charges, specifically including return shipping of the Vonage device, were “fully refundable” under the 30-day money back guarantee. However, upon calling to cancel the service 3 days later (the earliest possible date since the Cancellations department has limited hours compared to the Sales department), they told us that only 72% was refundable. Not only does this violate the Vonage Terms of Service we agreed to, as I will detail later, but it also constitutes:
§ false advertising on Vonage.com;
§ dishonest sales practices - using false information from phone sales reps to secure transactions;
§ and charge of fees for no service.

False Advertising
The Customer Care Manager in Cancellations, Sharon, told us that we would not be refunded for the Virtual Phone Number feature (VPN). However, the Money Back Guarantee detailed at http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=guarantee advertises:
“There's no risk to trying Vonage service. Our no-hassle Money Back Guarantee policy guarantees your satisfaction. If for any reason you wish to cancel service within 30 days of activation, we'll refund your money with no questions asked.”
Specifically, she stated that the VPN was non-refundable because it qualified as a “second-line.” While a second line is listed as an exception to the Guarantee, the website advertises the VPN an “add-on” feature, as does the Terms of Service. From the Terms of Service, section 3.1:
“Advanced Features, Add-Ons, Premium Services - Vonage charges additional fees for enhanced features and services such as Virtual Phone Number…”
Additionally, the description of the VPN at http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=virtual_phone_number is:
“Vonage Virtual Phone Numbers are inexpensive secondary numbers that ring to your primary Vonage line.”
How is a consumer expected to know that VPN is a secondary line if it rings to the primary one and is called an “enhanced feature!” Extremely misleading for customers.

False Information
The Vonage sales rep we first spoke with gave us two crucial pieces of false information which influenced our purchase decision. First, she kept repeating that the transaction was “fully refundable,” which it was not. Second, when specifically asked, she affirmed that return shipping of the device was also refundable, also untrue. When we later told the cancellations manager, Sharon, the sales reps’ verbal promises regarding the service, she said we should have read the Terms of Service before or while calling the sales rep to ask questions / order service (Whether or not it was possible to be both viewing the webpage online and making a phone call made no difference.). I’ve already addressed the Terms of Service above, but Vonage needs to act in good faith knowing that consumers call in to get more details than what the website offers. As oftentimes offers and details are not listed on websites, we trusted the sales rep’s statements as the most informed.

No Products or Services Received
I would also like to make it clear that we received no services or products for the charges made by Vonage to our credit card. In order to use Vonage service, to receive or make phone calls, the customer must have the Vonage device. While Vonage did assign us a phone number, we never at any point had the required device in our possession to possibly use the VPN or any of their services. Since we cancelled the service before the device was delivered, we called DHL to refuse the device delivery before it ever reached our doorstep, and hence never used their product.

We have been charged for service we never used and have been denied a full refund. Please help rectify Vonage’s false charges and false advertising.

Sincerely,


Laura & Chongsun Ahn

CC: US Federal Trade Commission
CC: Better Business Bureau
CC: Vonage USA

The art of finding the best seat on an airplane

If you travel on airplanes frequently, SeatGuru.com will be useful to you. You can see what aircraft each airline has, and which are the best seats in each aircraft. It also details what amenities each airline puts in a particular airplane (audio, inflight entertainment, meals, etc.). I'm glad I chose Air New Zealand for my honeymoon flight, as I can be sure I'll have my own TV screen. Not surprisingly, Singapore Airlines is on the cutting edge of flying pleasure, by offering things like wireless Internet inflight.

Confessions of a car salesman

While looking into buying and selling a car, I came across this revealing article about the life of a car salesman. Apparently this writer on edmunds.com was asked to go undercover and become a new and used car salesman for a few weeks to see what it was like. The results will definitely make you think differently about car salesmen, car dealership managers, and car dealership owners.

Vocabulary redefined, part 2

Another example: sacrament.

Before: things in church rituals that we go through, not really sure why

After: a (the?) manner in which God's grace is given to us, usually through the bread (wafer) and the wine (grape juice) that we receive in communion and also baptism. Not limited to this, as I think it's any way that God gives us his grace; our lives can be sacraments to each other, for instance.

Vocabulary redefined

One of the things that seminary has done to me is to cause me to redefine some of my vocabulary. An example: liturgy.

Before: something done in a Catholic church (or similar), very structured, in Latin, boring

After: singing, any kind, but in worship to God and for God. When people sing benediction to each other at my old church in San Jose, that is liturgy to me. It is singing that we incorporate into the rhythm of our lives in order to remind ourselves of the hope and joy we have in Christ.

Particular perfection

An interesting excerpt about marriage I read today:

I've never forgotten a nervous bride-to-be asking an older friend, "I love Richard with all my heart. But how do I know that later on I won't meet some man who has lots of qualities that Richard does not have?" Her friend replied, "Undoubtedly you will--lots of them! But the point is that they won't be Richard!"

Perhaps a slightly different spin on it is that you aren't looking for someone perfect when you want to marry, but someone perfect for you.

τετελεσται

How interesting it is to learn Greek as a reader of the New Testament.

τετελεσται:

• τε - reduplication prefix, done in the Greek perfect tense
• τελεσ - Greek perfect tense stem of τελεω (which means "I finish, fulfill"; the noun version is τελος, which means "end, goal"); perfect tense is translated in English using "has been (done)"
• ται - 3rd person singular ending, or "he/she/it", depending on context

So a literal translation of this word would be "he/she/it has been finished/fulfilled"; or in Jesus' case in John 19:30, "it has been finished" or "it is finished".

My Life Matters

I heard the news the other day that a friend I knew from college had recently passed away. He died from a heart attack; he was 31. I didn't know him all that well and hadn't talked to him since college, but I knew he was a good man. A man of God who truly passionately loved the Lord and longed to bring His kingdom to this world.

The thing is I always imagined him to be the type of guy to die in a "blaze of glory"; like he would be martyred by some military soldiers while helping the poor and oppressed in some faraway country. Dying of a heart attack just seems more senseless compared to that. I guess I think that way because I have this pride-humility tension inside of me. I do not want to boast in myself but sometimes I can't help but want my life to matter. There's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the idea that the best way for your life to matter is to become recognized, to become famous, to become revered and honored by people. This is nothing new, but I think the way my desire for this is expressed is through a more spiritual (for lack of a better term) form; by becoming a recognized "defender of the faith". My thinking goes, "if I become a great pastor, or a great missionary, then people will know about me and historians will write about me, like they did with Jim Elliot." With this kind of thinking, it's easy to feel like a life didn't matter if that life ended because of a heart attack at the age of 31. Obviously this is not true, because this kind of thinking is based on pride. What I long for my thinking to be, is that because I know I am loved by God, my life matters. I live a life of obedience and God chooses when I go to be with him. And I know that's how my friend lived his life. I know his life mattered.

To go along the lines of my Spiritual Discernment professor's phrasing: O God of all grace, grant me this grace I pray, that I would know my life matters because I am known and loved by God, and that would drive me to live obediently all the days of my life, however many they would be.