MagicJack: Purchase at Your Own Risk

MagicJack is possibly the worst Internet phone service available in the United Sates.

I grew up with the dependability of Ma Bell. I learned very young that when I picked up the headset, I heard a dial tone. When someone dialed our number--AMherst 6-4528--Ma rang her bell. That technology was ancient by today's standards, but it was reliable. It worked. Every time. It was also expensive by today's standards.

So a few years ago I decided it was time to try a less expensive Internet phone. As a test, we signed up with Vonage, which I used as a second line. It worked quite well, but after a couple of years I just was not ready to be completely dependent on an Internet connection for something as important as our phone service, and I no longer had use for a second line, so Vonage went out. A few years later, however, our Internet connection was much more reliable and I decided to try an Internet phone again. MagicJack, "The Smarter Home Phone Service," seemed like a good choice. I started with the via-my-computer connection and it worked well. Then I purchased the direct-to-router device. It did not work so well. The power supply burned out. I bought a new one. That one burned out. I forked over another $50 for a completely new device. 

The new device worked for a month or so. Then calls started coming through sporadically. Then they didn't come through at all. They showed up only as voice mails attached to emails. Dial tone but no connection. The MagicJack website provided no solutions, but it did provide a click-to-chat with a support tech. I spent more than an hour unplugging devices, waiting, checking connections, waiting, waiting for a higher-level tech. Repeating all the unplugging and waiting. The chat finally ended when the tech told me to disconnect my router for 10 minutes, which, of course, disconnected the chat. 

I gave up on MagicJack, turned to FaceBook friends for advice, and purchased Ooma. After several weeks and $30 to MagicJack to give up my old phone number to Ooma, I was up and running with a dial tone and phone calls that actually came through the phone receiver. 

I had paid MagicJack for a five-year plan. It would have been a good deal if the phone had actually worked for the full five years. Through August of 2018. But it didn't, so I contacted MagicJack today to get a refund for the remaining four years. Here's the transcript of the chat with MagicJack: 

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Genevieve'

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK111530165934341X

Genevieve: Hello, how may I help you?

Michael Astle: I need to cancel my Magicjack account. My phone number has already been ported to another service. It looks like I have several MJ services paid through 8/26/2018, 11/26/2015, 11/20/2015, and 7/31/2015. How do I cancel these and receive a refund?

Genevieve: ‪Thank you for addressing your concern.

Genevieve: ‪This is your phone number **********, right?

Michael Astle: That is the number assigned to my account. I've never used that number. My home phone number was also attached to this account, but it has been ported to Ooma.

Genevieve: ‪Thank you

Genevieve: Please wait while I check that for you

Genevieve: ‪You may terminate your use of the Services at any time. Remaining balances will not be refunded.

Michael Astle: So I can cancel or let the service run out in time, but you won't refund any balance?

Michael Astle: I had to switch because your service did not work. I replaced the power supply twice and the whole unit once. Then I spent a lot of time with MJ tech support, who could not get my phone working. I was not receiving the service I paid for, so I switched to Ooma. You should refund the balance since you were not providing the service I paid for.

Genevieve: ‪I understand .

Genevieve: ‪But once you started to use the service even if it is not yet fully consumed we cannot process a refund for that.

Michael Astle: But your service did not work. I had no phone service and you could not provide it. I paid for it and deserved to receive what I paid for. Can you please escalate this to someone who can take care of it?

Genevieve: One moment please...

Genevieve: ‪I can transfer you to a senior agent but I bet they will only tell you the same information.

Michael Astle: Please transfer me.

Genevieve: Please hold, I am transferring you to a senior agent.  

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with 'Ayla'

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK111530165934341X

Ayla: ‪Hi there. Please hold for a moment. Let me read your chat with your previous operator so that I can assist you right away, okay?

Michael Astle: Okay.

Ayla: ‪Thank you

Ayla: ‪I am afraid we can no longer refund on those device that service that has less than 1 year

Michael Astle: Why? I paid for reliable phone service and did not receive it. I patiently worked with your tech support to get the service working and only switched when they failed.

Ayla: ‪We only refund on those service that are not used for example you purchased a 1 year plan or a 5 year plan and it is not use we can refund that one however if the service is used even for 1 week we can no longer refund the remaining years

Ayla: ‪Or days

Michael Astle: So my only option is to take this to small claims court?

Michael Astle: I paid for a five-year plan, but you did not provide five years of service. That is a breach of contract on your part.

Ayla: ‪It is on our terms of service section 3 "If you transfer or port out your Service phone number, your Service is terminated and you relinquish all claims for a refund of your initial licensing period as well as any renewal licensing purchased".

Michael Astle: That would imply that I chose to port out. I ported out due to desperation because I needed phone service that you were not providing under the agreement.

Ayla: ‪Okay

Ayla: One moment please...

Ayla: ‪Checking on the usage of the device

Ayla: ‪As I have checked it here the device that we can refund is for the silver one that was not used but we cannot refund on the plus device since the device was used so we can no longer refund on that

Michael Astle: Fine. I will share my experience with my 431 Facebook friends and all blog followers. Several FB friends had already recommended Ooma over MagicJack, and this confirms why. At least I'm done with MagicJack. You all still have to work there.

Ayla: ‪Alright

Ayla: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

Michael Astle: Seriously?

Ayla: ‪Yes

Michael Astle: I would like a cheeseburger. It's lunchtime and I'm hungry.

Ayla: ‪I am making now a report on the Refund for the 1 year plan of the silver device 

I don't know what the last comment meant, because I don't have a silver device.

I disconnected at this point because the exchange was obviously pointless.

Fly Geyser and Gerlach Nevada

New Year's Day 2015, I went with Randy to north of Reno, Nevada, to see Fly Geyser. We'd heard it was pretty cool, and I've wanted to see this part of Nevada ever since I discovered there's a huge lake called Pyramid Lake in the northwest corner of this dry, hot state. But whenever I've passed this way I've been traveling between Salt Lake and the Bay Area and never had time to take a 250-mile detour. 

This is what we found this weekend. 

Our first stop was at a ghost town called Metropolis. This house isn't actually part of Metropolis, but it's on the road from Wells, Nevada, to Metropolis. 

This is pretty much all that's left of Metropolis, a farming community started by a Massachusetts investor in 1909. He built a dam on the Humbolt River for irrigation but neglected to secure permission to build the dam. So the city of Lovelock sued the city of Metropolis, and without sufficient water the mostly Mormon Metropolis itself eventually dried up. You can read this history elsewhere. This photo is of the school, which functioned until the early 1940s. 

The basement and foundation of the hotel are also still here. 

And part of a washing machine. 

And some bed springs. 

And a chimney. 

On the Metropolis road. 

This is on the road to Pyramid Lake from Reno. 

This is also on the Pyramid Lake road. Notice the house built in to the rock in the bottom right. 

Pyramid Lake. I assume this rock has something to do with the name. The Truckee River drains from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake, where the water evaporates. The lake has no other outlet, like the Great Salt Lake, but this one is deeper and much less salty, about 1/6 the salinity of the ocean. I assume it sustains fish, because we saw boats on the lake with what we assumed were fishermen. Who else is stupid enough to go out on a freezing cold lake in a freezing cold wind? 

The road from Pyramid Lake to Gerlach, Nevada, has some interesting rock formations that appear to be left from volcanic activity. 

Gerlach doesn't have a store, but Empire, five miles before Gerlach does. This is next to the store. 

So is this. 

This is the store. The restrooms weren't usable, because the water pump was frozen. 

Do I need to say this is Gerlach?

Gerlach housing. 

Gerlach has a really nice hot spring with a picnic table and steps into the spring. 

The water is clear and just the right temperature for a soak. The air temperature was in the 20s, so there was a lot of steam. 

The steam froze on everything nearby. We stopped for some pictures on the way to Fly Geyser. We then stopped for a soak on the way back, but in the mean time the big gate had been closed and padlocked. 

This is the playa where Burning Man is held for one week every year, making it the third largest city in Nevada for that week. It's held late in August just to make sure it's as hot, dusty and miserable as possible. This is as close to the Burning Man festival as I will ever get. 

Finally we arrived at Fly Geyser. This is actually the first Fly Geyser, which was a geyser that someone made accidentally when drilling for water in the early 1900s. They didn't want hot water, so they abandoned the well. In the mid-1960s a geothermal company drilled another well nearby, but for them the water wasn't hot enough (it's about 200 degrees). The second well cut off water to the first geyser and created a new one. 

Unfortunately, Fly Geyser is on the private Fly Ranch and is behind a fence, locked gate and "No Trespassing" signs. It's probably a quarter mile from the highway. On a cold steamy day, there isn't much too see. We watched a guy from a Mustang (the car, not a wild horse, some of which we also saw on the way here) leave his girlfriend in the car, climb the fence and walk to the geyser. The "24/7 guard" didn't get him, but I don't think he saw much more than we did. Maybe he saw the pools that supposedly surround the geyser. 

Even when the wind blows the steam away, there isn't much to see. The water spouts a couple feet, maybe. Worth a 1,289.4-mile, three-day road trip? Any road trip is worthwhile, but I can check this one off my list. Th- th- th- that's all folks.