I was a happy MagicJack user for a few years, evening buying several extras as gifts for friends. Magicjack promotes itself claiming that by purchasing their device and service you receive unlimited free calling within the Unites States. However, they are now charging for these same calls. By no longer offering the service which their customers paid for, they are committing fraud.
If you are considering getting MagicJack, don't! If you already have them, post an online review. If you can still charge it back with your bank, do.
Here was my interaction with them today:
Scarlet: Hello, how may I help you?
Me: Yes, I have had MagicJack for a few years and it has always worked properly. Now it is charging me to make calls. These are not international calls, but calls within the United States. My plan states that these calls should be free and always have been until today. Obviously, there is a mistake on MagicJack's end. When will this be fixed?
Scarlet: Let me help you with that.
Scarlet: May I have the first and last name of the account please?
Me: [My name]
Scarlet: Thanks. Is this your number, [My phone number]?
Me: yes
Scarlet: "You need to add prepaid minutes if you are calling a conference line, platforms or other non-ILEC areas"- is this the recording you've heard?
Me: The recording said that my call (which has always been free) will now be decucted from my pre-paid minutes. This is not ok.
Scarlet: Unfortunately, you will need a prepaid minutes if you hear that recording.
Scarlet: It is in our Terms of Service.
Scarlet: We may require prepaid purchase and/or we may charge you for calls to conference lines, platforms and certain non-ILEC area calls, or any call wherein we incur a cost from another carrier. We may provide for a fee, premium prepaid services, which may be powered by YMAX Communications Corp. (YMAX), and may include some inbound, international, conference, platform and outbound calls that receive a recording and certain calls to non-ILEC areas, and the rates for those services will be governed by listed price lists or tariffs.
Me: This is a local US call. It is to a landline in Pennsylvania and has always been free up to now.
Me: I have 2 magicjack plus which I haven't activated yet. If this is a new policy, MagicJack has really went against what was promised when I purchased and I would like to get a refund for those.
Scarlet: May I have your magicJack Sales Order Number for the magicJack PLUS?
Me: [My MagicJack Plus Order Numbers]
Scarlet: Thank you. Please wait, while I check it for you.
Scarlet: Order Number: [my order number]. Order Date: 06/02/2012 we cannot issue a refund for this order since it is past 30 days Free Trial Period.
Me: But the magicjacks were never activated and I ONLY bought it because MagicJack claimed "Free Local and Long Distance charges". This is apparently no longer true, therefore I would like a refund.
Scarlet: We can only issue a refund if it's within 30 Day Free Trial period.
Me: Wow, then MagicJack is no longer honoring their contract and policy. If this cannot be resolved, I will be forced to contact my bank regarding these fradulent charges, I paid for a service that is not being offered. This is fraud.
Scarlet: You are aware of the 30 Day Free Trial. We cannot issue a refund for the order you made.
Me: Magicjack is committing fraud.
Me: I am going to contact my bank immediately.
Me: I have already been using the main account, but I will charge back the other two lines which were never activated,
Scarlet: I believe that I have already provided you all the information needed and that we are keep on repeating the same process. I would like to ask permission to end this conversation with you. Thank you
Since we haven't heard from you, we must release this chat. Please click here should you need further assistance: www.magicJack.com/techchat
** Not knowing that she immediately ended the session, I wrote the following reply:
Me: You do not have permission. This has not been resolved. Please give me a phone number to call and speak with someone live.
You are not currently in a chat session.
This company does not care about their customers and is now running on a rip-off model. I pre-paid five years each for unlimited calling for several phone lines. Several lines which will no longer be used because MagicJack is now charging for what they claim is free. This is fraud! Don't trust them. MagicJack is no longer the good company they once were. Do not believe any good reviews you may read; check the dates on them, they will be old.
9 comments:
That is abhorrent how she chose to end that. She "broke character" and in doing so dampened customer service. Even if she felt right, she should have maintained face until she steered you back to a solution you felt was reasonable or was progress. This is what happens when you don't hire skilled or caring workers for lower-level stuff. People think because it's $8-10/hr it isn't worth their time but if I can't trust a minimum wage person to do a simple minimum wage job correctly I definitely won't hand them the keys to a job with skill or purpose.
If it were me, if what you found out was a mistake, I would have dug up info on the mistake. If I knew we were changing terms of service, EVEN if we broadcast it to people (however implicitly since it seems it is either not the case or hidden in skimmed-over fine print) I'd have just given you the refund and invited you to come back if we change our policies or you changed your mind. That relatively tiny hit in money then doesn't go out in the world as a very public enemy.
Just found out that my two year so called "contract" with Magic Jack doesn't mean squat! Even though my contract is not up, I'm now being charged to make certain calls in the U.S.!!! What a ripoff. I will not renew my contract next year when this one expires.
I purchased a MagicJack Plus this week. The port of my number was very fast, and the technology seemed OK. The sound quality varies from good to mobile phone quality. Then, last night, the other shoe dropped. I was dialing around to explore the capabilities and quality of the device. I called weather lines in other states and noticed that with an Alaska number I got the dreaded "conference line" recording stating that I need to prepay, etc. I thought that might be an anomaly, but I encountered the same behavior when I dialed a comedy line hooked to a North Carolina area code. It seems that MJ has problems with phone numbers that just broadcast recordings (among others). I did some online searches and found many cases where people cannot even dial numbers local to them (including police stations). This is alarming, and I'll be returning the device to Walmart and disputing any charges from MagicJack with my credit card. I contacted Tech Support, which is available via online chat only. This should have been my first clue that something was amiss. It's clearly an offshore help desk where people have made-up American-sounding names and just spew things out from a script. In my case, they told me to "chat back" later because a supervisor wasn't available. Ohhhhkay... Anyway, their claim to allow free calls to US/Canadian numbers should be amended to state that you can call *some* US/Canadian numbers, not all. If I can call something with my cell phone, I should be able to call it with MJ. I should have seen the writing on the wall with this service due to the following: 1. A website that auto-plays a cheesy video. 2. No e-mail or phone support. 3. Charging $20 to port your number and $10/year to keep your ported number. 4. Trying to "up sell" at least 5 times during the signup process. This product has not shed its "AS SEEN ON TV" image yet. I REALLY hope there are no problems releasing my number to my next carrier. I've had this number since 2001. I will continue to use their free Android app though.
Magic Jack is also running a "hacker" scam as well. We were having problems with our Magic Jack device, so we called the support line. A man with a very thick Indian accent informed us that "hackers" were using Magic Jack to "control" our PC. He freely admitted that Magic Jack was the security vulnerability but wanted $300.00 to "fix" the problem. Unknown to me, before I had entered the room, my Mother, who is not computer literate in the least, had been instructed to allow him remote access to our IP. When I informed him that I was not going to pay that kind of money for something MJ was responsible for...guess what...he then lowered the price to $200.00. Remind anyone of a used car salesman? Also, he became increasingly demanding that we purchase this "fix" claiming that "no antivirus or PC repairman has access to the advanced software Magic Jack does". When I denied him flatly he became irate and informed us that we had wasted HIS time. After disconnecting the call, suddenly none of our PC's would open up any NEW programs which were not already running before he gained access to our IP. Fortunately, I have some working knowledge of computers via some classes I had taken at our local Community College and I was able to locate the trojan he had placed in our Registry. BEWARE OF MAGIC JACK. This is NOT a reputable company nor do they provide any access to "upper management" upon request. If you are using Magic Jack you are subject to obtaining viruses and Trojans. Be forewarned.
I am researching this issue online because I have run into the same problem. I've been using MagicJack since March, and every time I try to call my brother's home phone number I get the dreaded message about "conference calls" and purchasing minutes, but the phone number is a land line on the local phone company. You are correct, they committing fraud and violating their own terms of service, which says calls to phone numbers on "traditional phone networks" will be free. They are now charging for those. It seems only free numbers are those of cell phones.
I ported my land line to MJ last year. Then they charged me a renewal this year but it stopped working. When I went to check my account, there were two messages.
PLEASE NOTE: Your Device Subscription for "_____'S IPHONE 2" EXPIRED on 02/15/2014. Renew Subscription Now
PLEASE NOTE: Your Number Subscription for _____ EXPIRED on 1/15/2014. Renew subscription now.
I got someone on chat to tell me what the credit charge was for. He said the device charge and the number charge are separate. It took many different questions for them to tell me what all the charges are for. He kept skirting around the topic.
Then he said I could use it on the IPhone and it is free. Then I asked why did I get a renewal message. By "free" they mean the app is free. But he would not tell me straight that I had to pay extra for the IPhone use. He said, "you only have to pay the basic fee"
I told them it is aggravating that they hide all the fees. Furthermore, when I tried to pay for number porting, it only gave me a 5 year renewal. I had to navigate to find the one year renewal.
Since they already charged my credit card for the MJ Plus renewal, I just decided to go ahead with the number renewal but they will not have my business next year.
A lot of people I know who used to use MJ are not renewing their accounts anymore since it is not such a good deal that it used to be. And now hearing about all the other extra calling charges, I have many ways to make international calls without MJ.
I ported my land line to MJ last year because I wanted to keep my own phone number. There was a higher charge for that but I thought it was worth keeping my own number.
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This year, they disconnected my account even when they charged my credit card for the annual renewal. So although they charged me for the annual fee, I could not use it because there was a separate charge for number porting even though I already paid the initial higher fee for number porting the last year. Furthermore, when I checked my account there was also a charge for IPhone use since I uploaded the app although never really got to use it.
But when I talked to support on chat line, they were very vague about the charges. The tech told me I could use it on my IPhone and it is "free". What he failed to explain is that the App is free but there is a separate charge for IPhone use even if you use the same account you have at home.
Since I was already charged for this year's renewal, I went ahead and paid the number porting fee. But I still have not been able to activate it. I will give it another day then cancel altogether if it still does not work.
Over all, it is no longer a good deal and I will not renew after this year. Unfortunately, they already charged my credit card which I will have to block from now on.
Liars! Thieves! Scammers! It's officially Magic JUNK! Well, they can keep the "jack" because that's what they do--magically jack up customers. Things start out well then suddenly this or that changes and services vanish. Customer service has rarely been worth anything, but one considers the so-called savings and just settles. Now even the basics are disappearing.
One week after I renewed, my caller ID stopped working. I contacted the online chat reps and got a standard line of "we're aware of the problem and our engineers are working on it". I knew it was a lie but waited. Then I did a little research to find that the caller ID issue has been a problem for some MJ customers as far back as 2008.
I contacted another rep who continued to lie about working on the problem. There are even YT videos about trying to fix MJ Caller ID issues.
I should have known something was wrong when their $19.99/year turned in to $29.99 for renewal. It's disgusting how people are taking advantage of others particularly when it comes to needed services such as COMMUNICATION, transportation & information. Whether it be the Net or cell and home phone service, or cars and gas and auto insurance, people have become vicious and cut-throat in their greed.
Needless to say, I will not be renewing with Magic Jack. The only concern now is finding some place for phone service where I will be able to get what is promised and (dare I dream) maybe even live, professional, clear English-speaking customer service.
I subscribed to magic jack plus for 49.95 for the first year and the so called 5 year platinum service. After exactly 1 year of crappy service, my phone was disabled for outgoing calls with no advanced notice. A recorded message stated that I needed to renew my service. After a long frustrating chat room session, they indicated that I had to pay for the second time, a 19.99 number porting fee to keep my former provider AT&T satisfied. I consulted with the FCC and they filed a complaint on my behalf claiming that this was illegal. I needed phone service, so I initiated service with a new provider. I needed to port my number and magic jack responded that I needed to pay them 32.34 to take my number back, also a FCC violation. I am going to also file a complaint with the BBB. Currently they have an A+ rating and I don't understand how. Currently, I'm waiting for a response from magic jack requesting a refund for the 5 year platinum service that I will not be using. I won't hold my breath.
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