So, I recently took part in the Vonage IPO under their direct purchase plan they offered to their “loyal” customers. I purchased 200 shares of VG at $17 per share. Since the IPO, the stock has tumbled to it’s current range of $8.

In hindsight, it’s easy to see why Vonage was so willing to allocate shares to their customers. Wall Street wanted nothing to do with the IPO, so they (Vonage) took advantage of it’s customer base to prop up the stock offering. I feel like I have been used and scammed.

There are no fewer than 10 Class action lawsuits regarding the Vonage IPO. I plan on researching them and taking part in one.

I will be cancelling my service soon and advising friends and family who have Vonage to do the same.

Vonage will IPO today on the NYSE under the symbol VG. Through a directed share program, Vonage gave it’s customers the ability to buy the stock at it’s IPO price, which last night was priced at $17. I made a conditional offer to buy 500 shares, but was only allocated 200. We’ll see what happens today. It’s kind of exciting for me as I haven’t paid attention to IPO’s since the days when I worked at Internet startups such as Open Market and CMGi.

I have been a vonage customer now for 4 years. The service is OK, but not great. But for $15 a month, how can you go wrong.

Photo: Brian Boyd