I've been trying to cancel my Vonage account. Not because of any specific problems - in fact, I haven't had any problems with them - but because we have switched phone services to a company with more advanced features.

Wow, what a painful process. They apparently don't want people to cancel through their web portal and they won't even provide an email address to contact them - you have to call. So, I called and waited on hold for around 15 minutes. I was connected to someone who asked a couple of questions to verify my identity then I was promptly disconnected. Argh!

I know they are having financial problems, and the CEO just stepped down today, but do they really think that making it hard to cancel is going to help their situation? I would think if anything they need to "step up" the customer service perspective and shine above the rest. Most phone companies have bad service - why be known for the worse of a bad group when there is the potential to really stand out as the best?

What’s behind the thinking of companies in trouble that they believe cutting costs in what they feel are non-revenue-generating departments like customer service are going to help them? Do these CEOs really believe that slashing resources in the area of their company that has the most customer interaction is good?