Cancellation = Replacement fee??

[JacobsLive]

The reason I'm curious is that you can find brand new, unlocked HT-502's on Ebay with free shipping for $40. I'm assuming that Voipo would allow these to be provisioned (and locked to them), since they already use HT-502's?

As per my understanding that is possible. VOIPO has a BYOD option and HT502 should be provisioned without any problem. As far as the "replacement fee" if the ATA is dead of any reason other than customer abuse or negligence it should be free as per Brandon's statement.

[robhouston]

My question is not related to BYOD, but is about Voipo allowing a customer-owned HT-502 to be provisioned and locked by them, not as a BYOD device. I believe this is important, since Voipo does not allow an "add-on number" to be used in a BYOD situation.

For what it's worth, I don't think Brandon's statement made it clear about how they actually determine whether an ATA is non-working because of abuse.

I'm still also interested to know how much they charge for a replacement HT-502.

[VOIPoTim]

My question is not related to BYOD, but is about Voipo allowing a customer-owned HT-502 to be provisioned and locked by them, not as a BYOD device. I believe this is important, since Voipo does not allow an "add-on number" to be used in a BYOD situation.

For what it's worth, I don't think Brandon's statement made it clear about how they actually determine whether an ATA is non-working because of abuse.

I'm still also interested to know how much they charge for a replacement HT-502.

Our non-return or replacement fee for customer damaged devices is $49.95. This includes the labor and administrative costs of setting it up in our system, provisioning it, etc.

Our Grandstream devices are tied to us by MAC at Grandstream and will redirect to VOIPo provisioning automatically when it hits the Grandstream firmware server (even if the VOIPo provisioning is not set). With a third-party device, the only way to get it to use our provisioning is to set the "config server path" and point it to provisioning manually.

[JacobsLive]

Thank you Tim for making it further clear.

For what it's worth, I don't think Brandon's statement made it clear about how they actually determine whether an ATA is non-working because of abuse.

IMO that depends from case to case and it is hard to come up with one or two reasons. It could be physical abuse or putting extra load to ATA by connecting to non-recommended equipment, wiring etc.

Wish you all very Happy Holidays! It's Merry Christmas for me See ya all after 25th

[robhouston]

Very good, Tim, thanks very much for the additional detail.

[melvytx]

Just an update...the supervisor finally emailed me back. Since have device plugged into phone outlet, Voipo feels this was neglect on my part since they assume my house has "electrical wear". As I stated previously, I have been with Voipo for over three years so not sure what constitutes as electrical wear.

Redoneusa, most companies do require return of their equipment which I had no problem in doing. The phone representative, however, told me they would not accept a dead ATA and would automatically charge me for this. Since the supervisor did not mention this in his reply, I'm assuming the phone rep did not have a clue as to what he was talking about.

Robhouston, the replacement fee $49.95. While there may be ATA available on eBay, I have decided to take my business elsewhere.

[VOIPoBrandon]

Just an update...the supervisor finally emailed me back. Since have device plugged into phone outlet, Voipo feels this was neglect on my part since they assume my house has "electrical wear". As I stated previously, I have been with Voipo for over three years so not sure what constitutes as electrical wear.

Redoneusa, most companies do require return of their equipment which I had no problem in doing. The phone representative, however, told me they would not accept a dead ATA and would automatically charge me for this. Since the supervisor did not mention this in his reply, I'm assuming the phone rep did not have a clue as to what he was talking about.

Robhouston, the replacement fee $49.95. While there may be ATA available on eBay, I have decided to take my business elsewhere.

This is one such case - house wiring has been proven time and time again to result in damaged devices. I am not sure where you are located without locating your account and address, however I'm going out on an assumption here that you are somewhere in TX based on your screen name. Sure enough when I check the weather in VOIPo's Texas Office / Zipcode (77092) there is lightning in the forecast this week.

Would it be an accurate statement to say that you have experienced lightning around the time of the device being damaged?

I have a feeling that this would be the case - please do let me know if otherwise.

Essentially plugging your phone into your house wiring makes the VOIPo device extra susceptible to any electrical surges that may traverse over your house wiring (regardless if its a closed circuit), keep in mind electricity can/does travel through air.

[chpalmer]

keep in mind electricity can/does travel through air.

As a radio systems engineer I can tell you we spend thousands at a radio site to try and stop this from happening but still lose equipment sometimes. Lightning strikes (and close by strikes) take stuff out all the time.

lightning2.1.jpg

[JacobsLive]

This is one such case - house wiring has been proven time and time again to result in damaged devices. I am not sure where you are located without locating your account and address, however I'm going out on an assumption here that you are somewhere in TX based on your screen name. Sure enough when I check the weather in VOIPo's Texas Office / Zipcode (77092) there is lightning in the forecast this week.

Would it be an accurate statement to say that you have experienced lightning around the time of the device being damaged?

I have a feeling that this would be the case - please do let me know if otherwise.

Essentially plugging your phone into your house wiring makes the VOIPo device extra susceptible to any electrical surges that may traverse over your house wiring (regardless if its a closed circuit), keep in mind electricity can/does travel through air.

You are not helping Brandon! He made up his mind to leave your company and you are now adding fuel to that decision. If a 3 year old Grandstream device is dead, I would consider that its EOL than throwing all the BS on customer. Here I guess his honesty is being raped. HT502 is capable for running home wiring up to 1Km on 24 AWG wire without any problem as far as the external telco line is disconnected. Now you can blame the customer, his location, point to local weather station and so on. I honestly did not find any effort from you as a company to retain a customer here over a 3 year old worn out device. I know there might be people trying to take advantage. However, each case should be handled differently I guess. JMHO.

I have used HT502 with home wiring connecting to an alarm system and kitchen phone on the second port just over two years before I moved out from that home and switched provider. I did not encounter any such problem. Having said that, I understand each case has its own causes and determining it is a task.

[VOIPoBrandon]

Jacobs,

Not my intentions what-so-ever.

As I previously stated, in my defense.

1) Please provide me with a Ticket-ID / case example (this has not happened yet).

2) Please let me know if lightning / electrical damage is not the case in this example.

If electrical damage is not the scenario we are dealing with, than I would be very happy to personally oversee that there is a replacement device sent out.

One other variable / question you are forgetting is while the OP may be a three year old customer - how many device replacements have already been issued?

I do not know in this particular scenario. However, I'm willing to bet this would not be his first replacement.

There are customers who repeatedly damage devices, whether intentionally or not - electrical damage occurring while the device is plugged into house wiring has been proven time and time again to be a factual event.

So again - while the OP may be a three year old customer - this does not mean that his device was three years old and that the current damaged device is his initial device when first subscribing to service.

I will end this as my last reply - simply stating that we do look into each and every case individually and we do not mandate a device replacement fee without merit.

Have a great rest of the week.