Anyone else feel taken advantage of?

[MrTechSays]

I contact support to ask how I can login to the mobile app. The reply came back and, well read yourself:

Me: I've downloaded the Fongo App for Android but I cannot login as I get an
error. Can you tell me what needs to be done in order to log in from the
app?

Support: Hi there, You can use the Fongo app- this is a Freephoneline account. Please use the Desktop app.

Me: Hi, telling me I can use it does not help... how do i use it please?

Support: Hi there, Since porting happened on a FPLm account, you can use the Desktop app. Please install the desktop app on your laptop or PC and let e know if there are any issues.

Anyone notice that I had already addressed his last answer in my very first email? I can use the desktop app just fine, it's the mobile app that does not work properly...

Me: Hi, could you stop being cryptic please? I paid money to use this service
and I insist that you answer me.

First you say "I can use it" when it's obvious you meant to say "I can't
use it" - then you say I have to use the desktop app and to let you know if
I have any troubles.... Ummm, I already told you that I have no problems
using the desktop app, the problem is with the mobile app.

Now, I already have a feeling you are going to come back with another
message that does not address my question so let me put it to you this way:
When I signed up for the service I read an article that you now have a
mobile app and that's why I paid to port my number over. Now, if you cannot
let me use both services, I feel you have mislead me and taken advantage of
me by falsely advertising that a mobile app was indeed available.

Do I contact the BBB or are you going to take the time to properly support
my request?

As per the screen capture I have attached, the very first news item under
Company News boasts about a mobile app and nowhere does it say you cannot
use it with your service.

Sounds like you took advantage of me by posting false information - shame
on you! The CRTC is going to hear about this for sure, not to mention the
competition bureau of Canada so they can investigate your false and
misleading claims.

The reply came back that they want a phone number and best time to call me so they can address this more directly apparently?!? Now be warned, you might go to see the news item I am talking about, however I strongly suspect it will be removed by the time you read this so as to save face. I have a screen capture if anyone wants to see it. I even doubt this post will see the light of day for more than a few hours until it's detected and removed...

I have no desire to talk to anyone at this point - had they not mislead me, I would of signed up directly for the Fongo service which is what I was doing initially until I discovered they had a desktop app. It's a no brainer, why would I sign up to use only a mobile app when I can have both right? Turns out the desktop app has issues and does not work so well and I should of just used the mobile app instead... Now, I have a phone number being held hostage and have no idea what I can do so as to not lose it since I've had it for over 15 years now and my fear is that it will go bye-bye.

</end rant>

[Jake]

Unfortunately it would seem your decision to want to use the desktop app as well was where it went a bit muddy.

I will say now, I don't work for Fongo / FPL I just help on the forum and my opinion has always been unbiased.

I don't know how much you know, so I will just type some stuff and you can skip over the bits you are already aware of. There is essentially two companies here Fongo and Freephoneline. Freephoneline was where it all begun really, then over the years things changed, the company evolved and ended up where it is currently which is with Fongo as their flag ship brand and FPL somewhere lower. There is also various 'white-label brands' of the service, but these are the two main ones. Non of the different flavours of the service has ever been able to log into a different brands services. So even though the calls will all be routed through the backend and is probably all hosted on the same set of servers, they have kept the brands separate. There has been in the past various brandings of the desktop app, and mobile app (Dell had it's name on it at the start) and the sponsors of those devices obviously wanted you to see their adverts rather than another companies, so I think this is part of why it is all separate - there is probably tax/company reasons also.

So, the long and short of it we have Freephoneline in one corner that has a desktop app and you are able to buy an 'unlock key' for $50 (this is how it has always been and is the foundation of the company today) which will allow you to bring your own device to the mix and offers a very flexible solution, especially as you don't have to pay a monthly fee or Bell anything for making calls. FPL hasn't really been worked on since Fongo started up, so it is really as is now and they don't offer official support anymore. This forum is usually pretty good however and over the years we have helped many people get things right.

On the flip side there is Fongo. There is two choices there, Fongo Home Phone and Fongo Mobile. I am assuming Fongo mobile is what lead you here. Fongo Home Phone is where you get an ATA and you plug it into your internet connection and you get a home phone (shock! ). You do have to pay for the ATA and a monthly fee though so this is where it differs from the unlock key on FPL. Another big difference is you will get official support to help you if you need it. Then you have Fongo mobile which is where you install an app on your phone and use the service from there. It has the added advantage of being able to send and receive text messages which no other brand of Fongo/FPL has. Fongo used to have a desktop app, but it didn't work too well so they didn't update it when they fixed FPL's version. There were/are other complications as well regarding where you created your account. If for example you created your account on your iPhone, then even when Fongo had a desktop app it wouldn't let you sign in with it. This has to do with Apple's account policy or something and nothing to do with Fongo. If you created your account on an Android phone or the desktop phone, then it was not locked and you could even log into your account on an iDevice. There has been LOTS of threads about that

So that is part of the history here, and I am sure you either knew it already or just didn't care, so I will now try and offer some advise. You have three choices right now -
1. Freephoneline where you can use the desktop app, or buy the unlock key and use your account on an ATA or sip device (including a sip phone on your mobile).
2. Fongo Home Phone where you will pay a setup and monthly fee to access the service, but you will get official support.
3. Fongo mobile where you will access the service using a mobile app and has the added advantage of texting (for a fee to none Fongo numbers).

Right now it seems like you have, through whatever actions, ended up on option 1. As long as your number gets ported in correctly they won't just loose it. You would have to ask them to shut your account before that happens. The fact remains though it is probably not where you want it to be. Now, as I mentioned above - it is all basically on the same system so it is not beyond the realms of possibility to get it from one service to another. A mistake has been made and you ended up on the wrong service. I'm not pointing fingers at you completely as whoever thought that making the signup link on the Fongo Desktop page redirect to Freephoneline was a good idea, probably needs a bit of a shake. You WILL have to work with them though. They don't have phone support you can call into anymore (for a phone company I find this ironic) so you either have to deal with emails or allow them to call you - which is what I would suggest you do. In the past people have been swapped from one service to another, but this is on a case by case basis and there is no guarantee they will. They have always been a very reasonable company, much better than dealing with Bell, so I am sure you will be happy in the end.

Anyway, let us know how you get on. It's helpful for informing others that have the same problem if nothing else.

[MrTechSays]

I've skimmed your reply and the wall of text is just a bit much for me this morning... I'll try to re-read it later when I'm more awake. Thanks for the time you put into the reply, I've met my match as far as that goes... I thought I had the gift of gab lol...

[FONGO_mike]

Essentially, the simplified version is that if you have a www.freephoneline.ca account, you won't be able to use it with the phone app. In order to use the phone app, your account needs to be signed up on www.fongo.com

[MrTechSays]

Essentially, the simplified version is that if you have a http://www.freephoneline.ca account, you won't be able to use it with the phone app. In order to use the phone app, your account needs to be signed up on http://www.fongo.com

Yes, well aware of that, pointing out the obvious helps how exactly? My hope is that you will not mislead others like as I was and that you remove the misleading article or update it to reflect this information (at the very least).

Kudos to Mike for having the ability to regurgitate what has already been said, pointed out and acknowledged... does not make it right. I've already filed my grievance with the competition bureau of Canada Mike, so you can just deal with them directly when they start the investigation...

[FONGO_mike]

My apology, i was simply replying to your last post from what skimmed through in order to try and offer help. I do believe there are articles via our websites that indicate this as well and there are posts via these forums that explain it as well.

Your number is not at risk of being lost, so you have no need to fret over that. I am even willing to wager that the reason contact information and time of day was requested was so that Fongo Support could contact you in order to work this out, possibly making changes internally and changing your account so the service could be better used to your liking. (Not entirely sure, i work on the DSL side of things and only log in at my own time to try offer assistance where i can.

[dibsmft]

If you have ported your number and paid the fee you can use the credentials that you have on one phone at a time and (typically) that could be on an ATA or on a mobile using the CSipSimple (or similar). If you try to run on more that one device you will get problems.
You can also get the Fongo app and have a free account on that on your mobile with a different number so that it does not conflict with your home phone. The home phone can be set up to transfer calls to the number that you have on your mobile and you can call the mobile from the home phone and vice versa.

Is any of that what you want?

[Bing Kol]

Essentially, the simplified version is that if you have a http://www.freephoneline.ca account, you won't be able to use it with the phone app. In order to use the phone app, your account needs to be signed up on http://www.fongo.com

Yes, well aware of that, pointing out the obvious helps how exactly? My hope is that you will not mislead others like as I was and that you remove the misleading article or update it to reflect this information (at the very least).

Kudos to Mike for having the ability to regurgitate what has already been said, pointed out and acknowledged... does not make it right. I've already filed my grievance with the competition bureau of Canada Mike, so you can just deal with them directly when they start the investigation...

I have hours to burn at work right now, so I decided to stir the pot!

So what did your "competition bureau of Canada" get you? Would you mind sharing it with us by posting a link or a copy of what not? If not, then it did not happen!

[nauru]

I understand the frustration but the competition bureau part made me lol!

Do you have any idea how useless federal public institutions are in this country? Not only will they ignore your grievance, they will manage to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on the paperwork and administrative processing required to ignore you.