I bought Magic Jack for $259, two set-ups for two phones in my house. Since I’m away so much and not using my long distance service at home, though paying a hefty price to AT&T for half the year I’m not home, I reasoned this would be a good alternative. Free long distance from anywhere in the world, take it with you, use it on your cell, oh the wonders it claimed. Sets up in seconds, you see a picture of a phone as above. Their promotion implies that once you buy the device, it is yours and you will have free long distance forever as long as the equipment works. Not so.
I tried to return it. There is no phone number for this company except the one in ads selling Magic Jack. No customer service number. On their website I found a live chat line and I quickly learned they would not be taking it back. I decided to make the best my own poor choice. Before I did, I went on-line and found 577 complaints lodged against the company for fraud. Other complaints I read, besides no phone number, is difficulty reaching the company, and one that particularly nettles unhappy customers, the chat line operatives will simply disconnect and abandon you when and if they can’t fix a technical problem.
I registered. I got an activation number emailed to me. I could not make a local nor long distance call on my phone once hooked up to Magic Jack.
Back to the chat line. Forewarned, I decided to photograph my entire chat . When the first technician couldn’t help me, I got a second technician named Maya.
She tested all the equipment, and then my drivers on the computer. All were working. Then, suddenly Maya disappeared. My last reply on the bottom of the screen that I tried to send three times brought the message, you are not currently in a chat session. I gave it the benefit of a doubt and thought it could be an accidental disconnect.
I went back on the chat line and one question into the session, Martin was gone as well. The line was still open and I waited and waited and waited. The last message I tried to send after complaining about the long wait, could not be sent.
There is nothing magic about Magic Jack except their limited liability company’s fraudulent and misleading business practices that magically make them a lot of money at the expense of unwary customers.