Florida’s attorney general said Wednesday he has reached a settlement with MagicJack LP over charges the Palm Beach County company charged customers for a long distance phone service during what was supposed to be a free 30-day trial.

Bill McCollum’s office began investigating the company’s business practices last July after receiving numerous complaints from consumers about the product, which connects a household phone to a computer, allowing customers to make unlimited long-distance calls over the Internet.

The investigation also found that the product had limitations that were not properly disclosed, and that the company did not have enough customer service agents to deal with consumer complaints, according to a news release from McCollum’s office.

As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to implement various new practices to assist its customers, including a guarantee that all inquires will be responded to within 24 business hours and a disclaimer on the first page of its Web site, clarifying the eligibility requirements to participate in a free trial offer.

The company, which has resolved the 500 customer complaints, also will reimburse the state for the costs associated with the investigation.

11/6/2009
Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘Lizzie’
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419084317583X
Lizzie: Hello, how may I help you?
Mike: Yes, I renewed my service for this year hoping that MJ would finally start working but after continuing to work with chat people for a whole year I was finally told the day I renewed that my magicjack did not work properly. After a year of struggling with this I was told that I would have to pay for a new unit to be sent out. I believed this to be unethical to expect me to pay again for a unit that never worked right in the first place so I said “don’t bill me for this year and I will cancel the service. I was told the billing did not go through yet so no problem, it would be taken care of but I was billed. I recontacted chat and was told the billing problem would be taken care of and an email sent out confirming but again this was not done and the bill remains on my card. I need this resolved now!
Lizzie: Hello Mike, I will be glad to assist you today. Okay I got your concern.
Lizzie: May I have your magicjack phone number please?
Mike: I have no idea, I deleted everything when I was told that I was not charged for the service in the first place.
Lizzie: Is your magicjack plugged right now?
Mike: I do have copies of past chats but that does not record my #
Mike: No
Lizzie: Okay.
Mike: I really do not want to spend hours on this issue again with a chat person. I simply need the bill corrected and an email confirmation sent out to confirm so I can leave this nightmare behind me.
Lizzie: May I have your email address you used when you placed the order please?
Mike: If you are like all of the other chat persons, they always after about an hour or so tell me they need to go higher up to get this resolved, if that is going to be the case again can we do that now rather than having me jump through all kinds of hoops?
Mike: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lizzie: Please wait while I check that for you
Mike: So now what?
Lizzie: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.
Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.
You are now chatting with ‘Chris’
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419084317583X
Chris: Welcome to Higher Level of Support. This is Chris. I will be assisting you today. Please give me few moments to review your previous chats. Thank you!
Mike: Like I said, I am not going to sit here for hours playing MJ’s games. I am just informing you again that MJ has not followed through with it’s promises to me and I need this done. For legal reasons I am following up and doing my do diligence to inform your company for the third time that the wrongful billing has not yet been corrected and I need that to be taken care of. I will only give 5 more minutes to this chat since I have done what I came to do. I very simply need to know if this is going to be taken care of today or if I need to take the next step and go higher up to my legal support. Please inform now of your intent.
Chris: As I have checked here, you purchased a renewal last 09/10/2009, so far, the charges are correct.
Chris: I have not heard from you in a while. Do you wish to continue this chat session?
Chris: Since I have not heard from you for some time, I am going to close this chat. If you need any help in the future, please do not hesitate to chat with us again. Good bye
Chat session has been terminated by the site operator

11/6/09
Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘Hannah’
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419084319572X
Hannah: Hello, how may I help you?
Mike: Please review previous chat and reconnect me to
Mike: You are now chatting with ‘Chris’ Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419084317583X
Hannah: Sure.
Hannah: One moment please…
Hannah: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.
Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.
You are now chatting with ‘Xander’
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419084319572X
Xander: Hi! Mike
Xander: Please hold on while I read your previous chat sessions.
Xander: You were only charge of $19.95
Xander: Dated 09/10/2009
Mike: Yes that is the charge that was not suppose to have gone through since my mj did not work and I told your company that I was not going to pay for something again that didn’t work in the first place
Xander: It cannot be gone, Mike. You purchased it.
Xander: May I know what is the problem of your magicjack?
Xander: I have not heard from you in a while. Do you wish to continue this chat session?
Mike: I don’t want to go through all of that again, if you want to know just read the hours of previous chats and it will answer that, needless to say it does not work and never did work right and on the day of my renewal I was told that I was sent a bad unit and needed to pay to have a new one sent out. I said that I was not going to pay a second time for something that never worked right in the first place and that is when I said to cancel my renewal. I was told that would be ok since the credit card was not billed yet. I trusted that this was the case otherwise I would have called my credit card company and blocked the billing
Xander: You purchased the renewal plan last 09, 10, 2009
Xander: You are charge automatically for it.
Mike: Yes and that is also the day that I canceled it when I was told my MJ device was disfunctional
Xander: Is your magicjack plugged in right now?
Mike: no
Xander: Can you plug it in?
Mike: everything was deleted on 09, 10, 2009
Xander: The magicjak will install itself automatically when plugged in.
Mike: when I was told my service was being canceled
Mike: I do not want MJ or to spend the time proving to you that it does not work. READ PREVIOUS CHATS if you want that info.
Mike: yes or no Are you going to reverse the charge to my credit card per previous agreement with previous chat agents.
Xander: Your magicjack service is not cancelled here, Mike
Xander: That cannot be reverse, Mike
Mike: Yes it can…so you are telling me no, magicjack is not honoring it’s previous commitments to me. Is that correct?
Xander: The days already started for your 2nd year plan
Xander: It cannot be reverse.
Mike: That is because of the failure of your staff to fulfill it’s promise to not bill, and then later on the promise that the billing would be reversed. Now the final statement is no we are not going to do what we previously committed to. I understand your adversion to answer this very simple issue, but since I have a record of these previous chats I know that a court of law will hold your company liable for commitments made by your agents to it’s customers.
Xander: When you purchase the renewal plan you are given 24 hours to cancel it
Mike: I realize that and I canceled it within two to three hours and your company ignored my cancelation per the chat session for that day.
Xander: No, Mike, I checked all you records and your last chat was Sept. 11, 2009
Xander: Which is two days after you purchased the renewal plan
Mike: When then someone deleted the sessions for that day then but I have my records.
Xander: Records here cannot be deleted, Mike
Mike: This is my last statement. I will publish my chat at as many places I can on the internet seeking others with similar experiences with your company as I know from what I read in the past there are many. For those who respond I will seek to organize a class action suit against MJ. Since work is slow at this time I have the time to do this. Hopefully a few of us can put a stop to this kind of abuse with at least one more unethical company.
Xander: Okay. It is up to you. We do respect.
Xander: Is there anything else I may help you with today?
Xander: I have not heard from you in a while. Do you wish to continue this chat session?
Xander: Since I have not heard from you for some time, I am going to close this chat. If you need any help in the future, please do not hesitate to chat with us again. Good bye

To set the record straight:
No, I do *not* own a Magic Jack.
No, I am not a “professional blogger”, either pro or con.
Yes, I do have experience with Voice over IP, and yes I do have VoIP phone service.
Yes, I do have some ( ) computer experience, having been working in the field since the mid ’70s.
And yes, I do have some telco experience too.

This post may be a bit long-winded, for that I apologize. However, I hope that what I contribute may help people set the correct expectation for what they get from this – or any – VoIP device.

First of all. . . .
The idea that the Magic Jack, (or any VoIP device, for that matter), is a simple “plug-and-play” device is – well – let me just say that it’s not that simple. It’s not that simple for Magic Jack. Neither is it that simple for Vonage, Galaxy Voice (my provider), or any other VoIP concern out there. There are just too many things that can go wrong – that have nothing to do with the Magic Jack.

Second, and I really mean this, *ANYONE* who uses *ANYTHING* but a hard-wired twisted telco pair for *ANY* “mission critical” or “life-critical” application is absolutely OUTTA THEIR MIND. The poor lady who is an epileptic – or anyone else who depends on their phone for life-critical situations is most certainly *NOT* a candidate for VoIP. Suggestion: Check with your local telco – they often have special (i.e. lower), rates for “lifeline” or such services.

********************

The big problem with Voice over IP is that with VoIP – *YOU* become the “telephone company”. You are responsible for the “local loop network” – as well as making sure that there is enough bandwidth to support the service from your leg of your local broadband connection.

Case in point:
I have had VoIP service from Galaxy Voice (www.galaxyvoice.com – here in Ma.), for several years now and they provide VoIP using a dedicated hardware device (as Vonage and others do), to interface your phones to their system.

I have considerable networking and computer experience, and I have taken special pains to ensure that their device has the best and most un-hindered access possible on a 16+ mbit (very fast) broadband connection.

Despite that, sometimes my own service is less than stellar. Sometimes I get a lot of echos. Sometimes the call is “choppy” or the connection just plain sucks. Sometimes the phone service just goes “brain-dead” for no apparent reason – and a quick trip downstairs to my network room to reset the VoIP box by turning it off and then on is needed.

Does this happen to me often? No. Maybe – MAYBE – once every few months I need to reset the device. But on occasion I do need to do that – and that’s just one of the chores that comes with VoIP.

Magic Jack takes this whole paradigm and adds to it the complication of being connected to the user’s computer.

Their own FAQ’s say that you should
(a) Disable any firewalls
(b) Disable any anti-virus software installed.

With respect to VoIP, these are perfectly reasonable requests – *IF* the VoIP device is a stand-alone device. Yes, it needs to have un-hindered access to the Internet.

The big problem here is that in the case of Magic Jack, it’s not. It’s connected to someone’s computer, and placing the computer – butt naked – on the Internet without benefit of firewall or AV software is just asking for trouble. It would not surprise me to discover that many of the problems people experience with the Magic Jack – after a brief period of excellent service – is caused by their computers being infested with every virus and piece of slime-ware known to mankind.

So, my take on all of this is:

1. Is the idea of “Magic Jack” – or something simular – a good idea? Absolutely!
2. Is a USB implementation – needing butt-nekkid access for a real person’s computer – a good idea? Not really. In my own opinion – and based on my own extensive experience – anyone who has a live computer attached to the Internet without a firewall and AV software is really smoking that “8-ball of Crack” a previous poster mentioned.
3. Is it reasonable to expect that *any* VoIP appliance will be truly plug-and-play? Heck! Most *COMPUTERS* don’t even work that well!
4. Running a VoIP connection *IS* work. You have to make sure it’s up. You have to give it enough bandwidth – at least 128 kbit each way. You have to do the networking setup. You have to call the tech support people when it’s down. And so on. . . .

I use VoIP – I even have two lines – but I ran a VoIP connection in paralell to my hard-wired telco pair for over a year before I abandoned the telephone company.

I also understand enough about computers, networking, and telco to be able to assess the VoIP situation correctly.

In summary, before buying the Magic Jack – or any other VoIP device – ask yourself:
Do I want to take that level of responsibility for my own telephone service?
Do I have the time – and the know-how – to administer a VoIP end-point?

For those who may not wish this, there are alternatives:
1. Many telephone companies now offer “VoIP-like” pricing. Verizon (my local telco) has an “unlimited” plan – all local and long-distance in the US and Canada for about $25/month.
2. Many broadband providers also provide their own “in-house” telephone service. Charter (my local broadband provider) has a special VoIP setup where they come in, install a special piece of equipment on your cable line, hook it to your house wiring, and take care of all the details. If anything goes wrong, you call them. The advantage of Charter’s system is that they provide the hardware, they provide 24-hour in-house monitoring of your system, and so on. However – it’s not $20 / year. In fact, they get $30 – $40 per month for their service.

On the other hand – if you want to try VoIP, and you have access to the technical expertise needed to make it work – then there are a whole host of providers out there waiting to help. And yes, it’s nice to be able to take a trip abroad, taking the “telephone” with me. (grinning!)

What say ye?

Jim