MagicJack review: Scam 71

I've had Magic Jack for three years. Have successfully made approximately 20 calls in all that time. Often when I dial a number the whole thing disappears and must be reinstalled. (Of course it's not REALLY gone from the computer, but no longer on the task bar or desktop or showing under Programs, so it's a hassle to get it live again). On those 20 calls, most were fraught with clarity problems, and about 1/4 of them dropped midway.
My husband has been begging me to cancel the costly land lines ... which I had planned to do after buying the amazing Magic Jack. Uh, still have the land lines. As for all the criticism of this guy not returning the thing to Walmart, I bought mine FROM magic jack and tried to return it TO magic jack ... not going to happen. I also have recorded many of my many chats with live agents ... too ridiculous to even add to the blog! One of THE most frustrating time consuming devices known to man ... and yes, I have ALL the stuff one could dream of on the computer. In fact I've spent more time in live chat to get help than I ever spent on phone calls using the MJ! You know what they say when it looks too goo to be true!

I am trying to Port the Magic Jack number to Ring Central. Ring Central has made 5 porting requests since November 20, 2009. All of these have been denied based on "incorrect information.” I have sent a letter to this address demanding for the number to be ported. Your customer service manager, Andrew Smith [protected]), advised that the request would have to come through Ring Central. I advised that it had been 5 times. He said to try again. I asked what information to have them put on the request and was told that he could not tell me. Therefore, you have my money and are going to keep my number and not allow me access to the information for the request.

They are not a good company

I cannot receive local landline calls. I have done the customer support via the computer text with no luck at all. I have spent several hours on several occasions, and all I get is a promise that tech support will email me with a fix. It has now now been 2 months and I have not received any such email. When I contact customer support via text now, they just go through the same routine as before, making the same promise of a tech emailing me. Why can't they be honest and say that there's no fix for this issue?

Before you buy any device that depends on your computer and the internet to work, you need to check to see if you have the proper bandwidth to support VOIP services, that your ISP doesn't block any of the ports used for VOIP, that your firewall doesn't block any of those ports, and that if your connection speeds are slow that no other traffic, downloads, email software or other things are running that could interfere with the connection. Just because you have an expensive computer doesn't mean everything you dump on it will work just because it is an expensive computer. If you don't know how these things all operate, or have not taken the time to read everything about it, stop whining. I have a MagicJack on my cable internet connection on my higher end laptop than yours and it doesn't work. But not because of the MagicJack or the computer. It is because my ISP puts a high latency on my 16meg download, 4meg upload internet line to discourage me from using a VOIP device that they do not provide. Many other companies use similar tactics because they can't block these ports legally. However the law does not tell them the specs they need to guarantee they perform under, so they make it lousy enough you eventually give up. If you understood how the internet works, and researched ISP's before you just piled junk on your computer and expected it to work, shame on you. Being expensive doesn't mean it will perform great in all conditions. How well does a Ferrari work on a gravel road? Do you expect it to do 200mph cross country in the dirt too just because the specs say it will. Did you complain to Ferrari instead of the dealership. Would you want money back because the road has potholes, and cry to Ferrari about that also? Check all the facts before you whine and cry next time.

Magic Jack really sucks ###! My mother and sister have that service and recommended I got the same hook up since it's cheap. They have horrible service on their phone where the voices of other people skip around, sometimes the damn phone won't make a call out at all if you wanted it to.

Also there was another day when I was trying to have a rather important talk with my sister on the phone and we were both interrupted by a football game.

Many times at home when I won't get reception on my cell phone I'll try the house phone, but to my disappointment, that also loses reception when I am in the middle of some conversation.

Now, I live out of town and alone, and what would happen I was in some kind of an emergency and needed to get ahold of family, well I can't because the phones never work when I need them to.

What a ###ing cheap piece of garbage! The phone service is a ripoff like every other too-good-to-be-true scam.

How can you use the excuse "I can't take it back to the store where I purchased it"... it was WALMART! They are everywhere! Did you move to Siberia? I have a Magic Jack and it works just fine. And if it didn't, I would take it back to where I bought it. Just like if I bought a Panasonic phone at Walmart and it didn't work, I wouldn't phone Panasonic and ask them to cut me a cheque.

I agree with the other posts... if you bought it at Walmart you need to take it back to Walmart. Walmart has people in China make toys for Fisher Price... will you call up China and ask them to take it back? You should have taken it back to Walmart first and then complain. As for the whole device not working like you hoped it would if might have to do with your internet speed or your computers processor. You can't use this device 100% if you have lots of things like pictures, music, games, etc that clog up your computer's space!

Dear magic Jack what should I do to block private or anonymous calls? I also need help in making conference calls; I realize I have call waiting but I do not have 3-way calling. Third and lastly I would like to know why I can't see incoming calls while i'm on a call on the hand set. it will appear on the computer screen, but I can't see it on the hand piece as I usuallly did with other phone companies.

I too had trouble with my Magic Jack. Everything from the short extension that came with it not working at all, forcing me to plug it into the USB port of my computer--bad idea considering the weakness of the USB connector connection inside the Magic Jack to its wait (a connection I have had to repair multiple times)--to conversations that sounded so much like Max Headroom that nothing could be understood or heard well. I also had an extremely hard time getting any kind of truly professional quality support. I did, however, discover on my owner that if I close all open browsers then the calls are relatively clear. If you do not have money for cell service and you can close browsers when needing to use the phone then it can be a reasonable choice--though, do to poor quality in all business and technical aspects, not a great choice.

I also was sucked in via the bogus advertisements. I bought mine at radio shack, thinking they were a reliable source retailer. The salesman assured me this was user friendly and a piece of cake to install and use. For the next five days of dropped calls, conversations breaking up, weird noises coming from my phone, and endless hours chatting with their techs. I finally just gave up and returned "magic scam", to the store for a refund. Now I went on line yet again with one of there techs to ask how to delete the Magic jack downloads, and after 30 minutes I was cut off and a sign posted that session was over. { BUYER BEWARE].

Doesn't Magic Jack utilize a VOIP service? It allows a person to call all over the world for cheap. Did you get software that gives you a control panel or something? It shouldn't matter what phone you have unless you expect others to call you. It will be long distance for them unless they had magic jack too. But yes, Magic Jack seems like a shoddy business. I'm investigating Dan Barislow, inventor of magic jack along with a slew of other companies. And you are right, you get what you pay for.

It says you need a broadband internet connection. Is your Verizon air card your service? If you really paid that much money for that computer. LOL I read your original post and all you sound like is someone completely ### because your internet connection is somewhat wonky and you're trying to talk VOIP on it.

I have a Verizon air card and a cable connection. Of course the magic jack doesn't work well on the air card, it's ok but not nearly as good as my direct connected cable. It's wireless-make-shift-broadband at best. VOIP is only going to work in that environment under pristine circumstances. Like your computer being in the wireless tower.

Not to be too rude, but you really need to get the stick out. Go back and read your whole first post. You are totally unreasonable. You bought the thing at Wal Mart. Take it back to Wal Mart, it's not their fault you moved and are a completely unreasonable person.

You make it sound like this is the end of the WORLD... OMG HOW CAN YOU TAKE MY MONEY? THERES NOTHING I CAN DO AND YOU WONT FIX IT. Shut up already.

Sorry for the delay in a response to your qeustion, Comment, Whatever, Allow me to enlighten you further...As if it really matters what YOU think Altman 123, After all you're NOT the one who had the HASSLES, incurred by the GARBAGE majicJack...

Uhmmm, anyways NO I did not have an antenna or cord between the amazing majicJack and my Dell Precision M6400 Covet Mobile Workstation that has 2.0GB, DDR3-1066 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS, 160GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM with Free Fall Sensor, NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M, 1.0GB Discrete Graphics and a Dell Wireless™ 1397 802.11b/g Mini Card and also a Verizon air card with full bar connectivity.

So now that you have all the specs on my rig that cost me a little over $3, 200.00 I will continue and hopefully you can follow me this time while you investigate !

Explain the Pop Up Sherlock, Please enlighten me on why there was a need to endlessly advertise the garbage product that I had allready purchased, Oh that's right YOU CAN'T!

What about the I can't hear you's and the dropped calls? Wow did you even read my original post? I'm begining to wonder if you might be some PAID defender of the majicJack...Now there's a thought Hmmm...

I have installed Yahoo voice powered by Jajah and it's GREAT! No lost calls, Excellent audio, and at $0.01 per minute for calls within the the U.S. and only $2.99 a month for my phone in service including call forwarding and get this, No JUNK clinging to the side of my computer and NO continuous Pop Up!

As for the "He could return it to any Walmart" comment, well I live No Where near a Walmart, Actually the closest 1 to my home is over 62 miles away and if the majicJack would have performed as advertised I would have never needed to return the garbage!, It' was a HASSLE, a HUSTLE and a HEARTACHE dealing with the whole majicJack experience and I stand firmly when I say DO NOT PURCHASE A majicJack, After all it is what it is...A RIP OFF!

I think that this customer most likely had problems with thier internet or computer hardware and it is unfair for them to make comments about the quality of the majic jack service without doing some futher investagation. Also I don't think that the tos is unreasonable and he could have returned the product at any walmart store for a full refund. It's a same that some people have nothing better to do then trash talk.

i have had magicjack less than two weeks and already it has malfunctioned...the first time customer support told me to put it in another computer...i went to my mothers house and put it in hers it still didn't work..i contacted customer support and the dude was like take it back to the store and get another one..I said so I have to dish out another $20 bucks for something that might not work again..he said well yes I'm sorry..sorry my ### I could have paid att for better service...I thought i was saving money..I wish I would have seen these reviews first..I was going off the great commercials and the paid advertisements...and the people who I'm sure were paid to lie..now Im sure there are some people who have had success with this product..but I feel if anyone buys something..no matter where they buy it..if the customer is clearly not at fault it should be replaced...yea I'm sure they are losing money when they do that but they will lose more money when the bad reviews out weigh the good ones..and word of mouth travels fast and bad news travels even faster...they need to get it together..really...

I bought my magicjack in June of 2008 with a 5 year service. I have not had one bit of trouble, when I have a question I am able to text my question rightaway. It maybe that there are dishonest people working within the company.

Is the cord going from the back of the Magic Jack to your phone over 6 feet long?

I bought it at a local RadioShack and have been using it for 6 months and still using it. It didn't work well in the first month because I didn't really know about the tricks and maybe MJ didn't have adequate equipments. I must admitted that MJ's customer service is horrible and you can only get help through the Internet Chat. I recommended you go to the unofficial support site http://www.magicjacksupport.com/ and there are lots of MJ users who can really help. Also, if you're not that tech savvy then MJ is not for you because you need to know how to fix it when it doesn't work right. Some areas (like cities) might work better than other.

Oh yeah, I cut my local land line 3 months ago so now I am saving $25 each month with free long distance. I recommended that you give it a try.

NLD09

Jason Tillo - Get a life! :)

yo feliberto flores compre un magic jack por 5 anos y lo devolby en febrero y todavia no me an dado credito de 106.95 la rason por que la devolby fue porque anteriormente compre uno por 5 anos y solo me cobraron 59.95 por 5 anos . por favor si me pueden acreditar esa suma a mi cuenta gracias se lo agradesco imail floresfeliberto@hotmail.com tel.[protected].

por favor yo feliberto flores compre un magic jack en febrero 2009 y lo devolby por que resulto muy alto el precio por que anterior avia comprado uno de lo mismo por 5 anos igual los dos y el primero me costo 59.95. y el segundo me cobraron 106.95 y por ese caso lo devolby y todaviano me an acreditado esa cantidad a mi cuenta por favor si pueden depositarme eso cantidad a mi cuenta gracias . imail floresfeliberto@hotmail.com me telefono es 860.543.5526.

My Magic Jack is awesome, I bought it at Radio Shack instead of online why? because there was a few people complaining about it and I didn’t want to wait for it or have the problems people were complaining about slow refunds also I know Radio Shack would refund my money the same day if I took it back if I didn‘t like it, and as the old saying goes if it is to good to be true then generally it is but not this time, Magic Jack works great! I had no problems installing it on my laptop which is on my wireless network, I have a Pentium 4 and DLS, the voice quality is outstanding just like my landline, I read people were complaining the can’t use their computer because it slowed them down and uses all their system resources when using the phone not true they must have an old 486 or a Pentium 133 from back in 1995, or that they use too much power leaving the computer on all the time just to use the phone well a CPU doesn’t use that much power, just turn off the monitor when not using computer that is what uses a lot of power like a TV set, the only thing that might not be so good is no phone number. to customer support but everything or possible problems is covered in help which very easy to use, seriously even a 8 year old could set this up. You get caller ID, call forward, call waiting, conference calling more than 3 people !, free information 411, voice mail, etc and it is all free! I personally would keep your landline incase of power outage Magic Jack has 911 service but it wont work if computer is off for any reason. all long distance is free in the U.S. and Canada even over seas if your calling someone in the U.S or Canada !

$19.99 per year If you look at it this way it is only $1.66 a month or $59.99 for 5 years service that is .99 per month for an extra phone line and phone number give one to your teens for there room or even laptop and buy them a small phone to pack with them so you can call them, save money traveling most motels and hotels provide free internet save on long distance calls and per call local charges to your room, use it at Libraries, parks, coffee shops, airports etc that have WiFi connections, it can be used in any computer so if you don’t have a laptop and visiting family that does just take your phone and Magic Jack with ya use the computer, give it to family as a gift or kids in college or moved out of state,

I know I am sounding like a salesman for Magic Jack but I am not, it is a good product that s saving me money and added convenience. Like I said buy it at Radio Shack you’ll get a 30 day free trial, if you don’t like it just take it back to them for a full refund, what do you have to lose other than your time driving back to the store.

Also if your to big of a wiener to get it working yourself have one of your children do it for you or get a neighbor’s grade school child to help you and give them 5 bucks for it.

P.S. also for the people complaining about no phone support when they have chat support, how do you think they keep cost down if they had to hire hundreds of people to train and take those calls or outsource it to a call center the product would cost hellofa lot more than $19.99 a year but in the future it could happen.

magic jack is a rip off i receaved 2 jacks that i did not order i went though chat they informed me to send them back and i did .and it was also off my drbit carg all i get is they didnt receave it and its been 3 weeks now and they say they havent receaved it pleasr dont let anyone around your card they are dishonest.

I bought the Magic Jack a year ago. Initially, the USB port would not support the MJ. Moving the magic jack to the top USB port fixed things quite well. Over the last year, I have had the intermittent reset issues, and occasional dropouts that have not bothered me. These things have happened rarely, although more often then with a legacy phone company. Just reset and there you go.

HOWEVER, I had to call my house from down the street the other day on a pay phone. My cell went out. It cost me $.65 to do that. I got on the magicjack cue this morning and found out that even though I was told that my exchange was local when signing up, IT IS NOT LOCAL. Folks who call me from the local area, on a land line get charged for a long distance call.

Now, I live THREE blocks from the headquarters of the Discovery Channel, in DOWNTOWN SILVER SPRING, 8 miles from ground zero and the White House.

PC Magazine should most DEFINITELY qualify it's endorsement of Magic Jack. I read about these exchange issues others noted with interest, because I had been assured that folks who called me were not getting those charges. THAT IS NOT THE CASE.

NOW, I am very dissatisfied. I would tell ALL of you to go down the street, and call your house from a pay phone, and see what happens. I was SHOCKED. Magic Jack promised to email me the minute that I was able to get a local phone number. Oh really, I have had the service for a year already. Interesting company. I would be interested to know if ANY metropolitan area is covered by magic jack. I would bet that they are criss crossing things so that they can get a share of those long distance charges on each call.

We ordered 2 units 6 weeks ago. This company has taken funds from our checking account 3 times without sending the units. Each time I contact their off-shore, illiterate online assistants. Each time we tell them we have not received the units. Instead of sending the units, as requested, they credit our account. There is no such thing as being able to speak with someone who really knows what they're doing, so they keep you on hold while they fetch "a higher level of support." That person makes you re-state the problems all over again and asks you to contact them another day! They will not give you an address or phone number to speak with someone who can truly help, or even cares about the problem. The whole thing is a sham or they would have sent us the units. I believe the owner of this company is making loans to himself by debiting accounts, then paying the loans back (sometimes) by crediting accounts after people complain. Class action is the only thing which will help us. The State Attorney General is who we should contact.

This company should be put out of business. I agree 100% with all the above negative comments re: MajicJack. The company has a poor product, the worst customer service I have ever experienced and apparently no conscience. They do not stand behind their product; they have no qualified technical support. I regret ever having been sucked in by their bogus ads. The worst part - once you install their jack, it is almost impossible to uninstall. Also, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR DEBIT CARD INFORMATION. It was my experience that they made bogus charges against my card for merchandise I did not receive. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS! Hihdsight is always 20/20 . . . . .

all lies so far ... no tracking on order ... paid extra for 3 day delivery ... now 5 days no MJ terible support ... no answers ... 2 bit company IMO

Strongly agree and will be contacting the better business bureau! False advertising and Fraud. I have it documented in a chat session. They should be shut down!

agree strongly. I have notified the Florida AG and news agencies in my state of Louisiana. Perhaps a class action is an avenue.

i also order. i have my email comformation. they cant find my order but they have my money. i have no product. can anyone help me?

MAGIC JACK

http://www.seflorida.bbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/RatingExplanationPage.aspx?CompanyID=92003333&sm=

The company’s BBB rating is below.

F We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.

This company doe’s not respond to anybody that I know of. I believe that they think everyone will just give up trying and let their 30 days pass. This old bulldog will not do that. I ordered one and I purchased with a “Debit” card, they sent me two and debited for two but their telephone numbers and websites are just a run around. I have done some extensive research to find out the below info. My bank said I would have to show that I sent the items back to them to get my funds back so I have to pay shipping myself but it is worth it to get rid of this product and its bad reputation company.

I also think all of their kudos were made up by them.

Magic Jack LP
CEO: Peter Russo
5700 Georgie Avenue
West Palm Beach, Florida 33405

Telephone numbers [protected] and [protected]

Bob Smith
Houston, Texas