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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification VTBrendan-
Time to take down the BBB seal from the site... | |
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Judson
join:2007-11-20
Fremont, NE | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I agree... | |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
We'll get this taken care of soon. They're not being very resonable IMHO as the issues were all responded to on our side within a reasonable timeframe. There was a spike in complaints mostly due to the huge spike in signups and the related overload from the SR debacle, and they're revoking it based upon the % increase in complaints, ignoring the fact that they have since gone down again and all of them were addressed by our side.
-Brendan | |
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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
 ·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by VTBrendan  :Hi, We'll get this taken care of soon. They're not being very resonable IMHO as the issues were all responded to on our side within a reasonable timeframe. There was a spike in complaints mostly due to the huge spike in signups and the related overload from the SR debacle, and they're revoking it based upon the % increase in complaints, ignoring the fact that they have since gone down again and all of them were addressed by our side. -Brendan It appears it might also be due to 3 unanswered complaints (at least, that appeared to trigger the non-accredited status). Either way, whether you think your responses were timely or not, the BBB has a hard 30-day deadline.
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Get your Gizmo Admin Passwords, Unlock Instructions, and How To use your Gizmo with other providers at Sunrocket Gizmo Administrator Passwords.
NukedGallery.net | |
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ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Bridgeport, WV
clubs:
·VOIPo
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by dmolavi :It appears it might also be due to 3 unanswered complaints (at least, that appeared to trigger the non-accredited status). And that was 3 complaints out of how many?? Thousands probably?? That in my mind sets the BBB as a bunch that are worthless. Maybe ebay should start doing the same thing then. Three negative ratings and the seller should be booted. Can you imagine then how few people would be able to sell on ebay??
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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by ropeguru :said by dmolavi :It appears it might also be due to 3 unanswered complaints (at least, that appeared to trigger the non-accredited status). And that was 3 complaints out of how many?? Thousands probably?? That in my mind sets the BBB as a bunch that are worthless. Maybe ebay should start doing the same thing then. Three negative ratings and the seller should be booted. Can you imagine then how few people would be able to sell on ebay?? read the report. 3 out of about 170. fair or not, it's how the BBB operates, and the BBB is where a lot of consumers go for a first whack at a company's reliability.
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Get your Gizmo Admin Passwords, Unlock Instructions, and How To use your Gizmo with other providers at Sunrocket Gizmo Administrator Passwords.
NukedGallery.net | |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification They specifically told us it was volume related, not resolution related. They probably stop making money off of listing us after a certain level of volume is reached.
-Brendan | |
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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by VTBrendan :They specifically told us it was volume related, not resolution related. They probably stop making money off of listing us after a certain level of volume is reached. -Brendan i'm not arguing with what lead to you being 'delisted', but i'm pointing out that unresolved resolutions seem to lead to a biz being marked as 'unaccredited'.
i'm not supporting one side or the other here, just stating facts and making observations. i know the BBB isn't perfect, but that is where most people go. i know that VT isn't perfect, but with the exception of one service issue, and an (ongoing) affiliate issue, i've not had any other problems.
plus, it's 170 complaints out of how many customers? they fail to take that into account. if you only had 170 customer, then yes, you've got a problem. but, if you've got 170,000 customers, it might still be a problem, but a much smaller one.
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Get your Gizmo Admin Passwords, Unlock Instructions, and How To use your Gizmo with other providers at Sunrocket Gizmo Administrator Passwords.
NukedGallery.net | |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Volume related or not, I came here looking to see how things were going after the "Sunrocket Debacle" and whether I should sign up. It was a mess then, and doesn't seem much better now. 6 months later and your still pulling that card? Is that what you'll still be playing 6 months from now? A year from now? Seeing this along with the BBB problems you are now having has pretty much turned me off to wanting to do any business with this company. Why would I, so I can fork over $200 and be SOL like all of the SR customers later down the road? | |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I'm not really certain what you're basing your conclusion that things are not much better now on? The main complaints people had were with processing time of new orders, and with the wait time to get ahold of tech support. Hold times are averaging well under 10 minutes and processing is at 1-2 days right now, both at or within reach of our target times.
-Brendan | |
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| | | | | | | | justDave
join:2000-02-29
Brooklyn, NY
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by VTBrendan :I'm not really certain what you're basing your conclusion that things are not much better now on? The main complaints people had were with processing time of new orders, and with the wait time to get ahold of tech support. Hold times are averaging well under 10 minutes and processing is at 1-2 days right now, both at or within reach of our target times. That's one way to look at it. As a customer, I'd put it another way. The main complaint is inability to place or receive calls.
In my experience, being able to reach a support rep and being able to place/receive calls have little to do with each other. I admit I rarely try to speak to a rep when my service is working, but I've also not yet had my service restored by speaking to a rep - at least not that I can tell. | |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Here's what I'm basing it on. I pop in here every once in a while, just to check to see what kinds of problems there currently are, and how they are being handled. And what do I find this time, right at the top of the thread list? BBB accreditation revoked (reason irrelevant at this point) and monies not being paid out in a timely manner if at all. Whatever the case, it's a serious black eye for this company that's making me think more than twice about using it. The specifics of the complaints after SR weren't important to me. That they were being dealt with or even responded to were, and yet there still seems to be some problem with it, and still being blamed on SR. I realize that you will see mostly the bad in these forums, I see it everday in the Verizon forums, and even there their lack of support is starting to worry me. Not about their longevity, only whether I want to deal with such poor CS. But Viatalk isn't a well established company with a long track record in a well established field that I know will be around next year. Besides unanswered issues (nobody has ever seemed to have gotten even one response from Brandi) and BBB issues (an average of about 1 every 3 days; forget how many weren't resolved, there shouldn't be any that haven't been responded to), it's a general overall shortage of confidence of the future that concerns me. 1 of those issues I might be able to deal with. Maybe even 2 specific ones. But all 3 gives me pause. | |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| The response I got from our guy here in charge of dealing with the BBB regarding this was:
We've been working with the Better Business bureau since the beginning of ViaTalk, but our membership was revoked recently due to the number of complaints placed against us during the fallout after the demise of Sunrocket. All of the complaints were easily resolved, and we kept in close contact with our contact at the BBB to track and respond to the complaints as they came in. Unfortunately, we're told that the BBB Membership standards include a limitation of the actual volume of complaints over a given time regardless of our proof of resolution. It's a tough penalty, considering the situation and the efforts we made to keep things on the up and up.
-Brendan | |
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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by VTBrendan :The response I got from our guy here in charge of dealing with the BBB regarding this was: ... All of the complaints were easily resolved, and we kept in close contact with our contact at the BBB to track and respond to the complaints as they came in. Not according to their report, you've got 3 unresolved complaints, due to lack of response from VT. If that's in error, it's in your best interest to clear it up ASAP.
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Get your Gizmo Admin Passwords, Unlock Instructions, and How To use your Gizmo with other providers at Sunrocket Gizmo Administrator Passwords.
NukedGallery.net | |
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traker1001
@mchsi.com
| In the few years that I have had ViaTalk, They have saved me a fortune...
As far as I am concerned ViaTalk And Brendan are A#1 in my book and will continue to have my bussiness for a long time.
My only complaint is a small one that hasn't really affected me, And that is how they handle the return of their AtA boxes. | |
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| B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
1 edit | Holy whatsit, they really did take down the seal.
I also find it interesting that their professional web designer can't spell "Internet"... 
(talking about »www.ceonex.com/ who also have remarkably tiny, fuzzy type in their main banner)
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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JJ588
@verizon.net
| Maybe VT Brendan didn't realize how subscriber have to suffer and struggle to get decent support and services. Although you mentioned the support calls wait times are down and tickets turn around time, these are all based on statistic which your mgmt provided you. You have to see real turn around date. I recently created some tickets for issue with wake up call and *67 features not working, it takes at least a week before your tech support response back without even telling me the truth about what went wrong from your end. Maybe you trained them not to admit it was your issue. VT deserved to be strip out of BBB certification. Over all, the quality and service is SUCK. Most of us are not happy to chose your company unfortunately we do not want to lose anymore money to cancel the account before contract end. This is the only reason we are stuck with your company. Quality is not there and Support is terrible. | |
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CyberSultan
Premium
join:2006-07-20
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by JJ588 :
Most of us are not happy to chose your company unfortunately we do not want to lose anymore money to cancel the account before contract end. This is the only reason we are stuck with your company. Quality is not there and Support is terrible.
Can't include me in your "Most of us" statement. | |
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huntermcdole
Premium
join:2005-08-01
Tucson, AZ
·Cox HSI
1 edit | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I'm not one of the "Most of us" people also, I am not sure how an anonymous person can come in here and try to lump everyone together as though they support what they say. Maybe I should go back to blocking anonymous people.
@JJ588:
Also no-one is feeding Brendan information, he can see live data so he gets it for himself. | |
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| | jay_rm
join:2002-04-12
Netville
 ·Fox Valley Internet
·ViaTalk
1 edit | said by CyberSultan :Can't include me in your "Most of us" statement. Me neither - better narrow your brush. Both my VT lines work as well as Vonage and SR ever did.
Dmolavi - you starting another crusade ? I seem to remember the one against Teleblend and Gizmo passwords bordered on the hysterical...
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3500/512 5.7 GHz Motorola Canopy Wireless; FoxValley.net
"Peace through superior firepower" | |
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Aveamantium
join:2006-10-02
Loveland, CO | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Don't include me either... Working great here! | |
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dmolavi
Premium
join:2005-04-11
Sewell, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·ViaTalk
| said by jay_rm :said by CyberSultan :Can't include me in your "Most of us" statement. Me neither - better narrow your brush. Both my VT lines work as well as Vonage and SR ever did. Dmolavi - you starting another crusade ? I seem to remember the one against Teleblend and Gizmo passwords bordered on the hysterical... no crusade here. i'm happy with my VT service. it's also higher on the wife's list than SR ever was...
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Get your Gizmo Admin Passwords, Unlock Instructions, and How To use your Gizmo with other providers at Sunrocket Gizmo Administrator Passwords.
NukedGallery.net | |
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Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Unfortunately I think I've had more trouble with Viatalk than I ever had with Sunrocket. In between outages the basic Sunrocket service worked well, I could make outbound calls reliably, and I was never fearful that inbound calls were simply disappearing -- with Viatalk I'm certain that inbound calls are simply disappearing and on occasion we can't complete outbound calls.
Still, both services "mostly work(ed)". Now that tech support is supposedly back to normal, I might recommend Viatalk as an inexpensive VoIP solution (still an amazing deal during twofers), but only lukewarmly. I'm still not entirely sure they can keep my voice mail turned off.
-- B
P.S. With Sunrocket I never had to call tech support and never placed a support ticket. With Viatalk...
Please excuse the ranting; we Sunrocket victims have a lot of scarring...
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KC9FOI
join:2007-06-25
Cypress, TX
·ViaTalk
·Future Nine Corpor..
1 edit | said by JJ588 :
... Over all, the quality and service is SUCK. Most of us are not happy to chose your company unfortunately we do not want to lose anymore money to cancel the account before contract end. So are you a Voicewing employee Mr JJ588@Verizon.net?
So many distorted comments. I have had very few problems with the service, especially as of late. All recent problems I had were with my ISP (Comcast), and they have gotten their act together too. I have been very happy over all. When there were problems, VT has tried to make things right. When they have fallen flat on their face, they get back up and try again learning from mistakes. I have had very few problems since the beginning of July. A solid 5 months where I can't recall a single issue of my service not working, silence, dropped calls, distorted audio, ect. that was a confirmed VT issue. You do not represent my impression of the company and I don't appreciate you speaking for "most of us".
I forgot to add, VT support speaks fluent English. I like talking to Americans. Also, Brendan is not above talking to us about his service. Quite uncommon that an executive will talk to an average Joe like me and sometimes even joke around in public forums. I am happy to be locked in with this company. If they gave up, stopped trying to improve the service and tell us to deal with it I would leave. That is not my experience however. When a company genuinely tries to make right you have to respect them for it, and that is why I still have VT after the many crazy moments of last year. | |
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| win_at
join:2007-07-28
Rantoul, IL
·ViaTalk
| I've found ViaTalk at least as responsive as other companies that provide similar services. I signed up while the SunRocket issue was ongoing as I was a SunRocket customer.
While ViaTalk has not been %100 reliable, I am still very satisfied with the company, and would not have a problem recommending them to others or using them again myself.
I'm sure the BBB rating will get fixed again, myself, I have had problems with BBB companies. I hardly look to the BBB as the most reliable rating in itself.
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dcurrey
Premium
join:2004-06-29
1 edit | I am not "Most of us people" either. Only problem I have is sometimes the CEO flips out and tries to change terms on prepaid accounts. Service itself works fine. | |
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burris
Premium
join:2000-08-22
Miami, FL
·VOIPo
·AT&T Southeast
·ViaTalk
| I suppose I'm also "Not most of us people."
As I have posted numerous times before, I've been on the same server for many months and have absolutely no problems with calls, in or out. Quality is excellent..
I don't use VT voice mail, so I can't comment on that. I also don't use, what I term, other esoteric features, so I pass on that as well. I use all the basic features that would be offered at usurious prices from a LEC, and for me, they seem to work.
I don't know what else to expect for ~$10 month. Matter of fact, I get far more value and as good a quality as I did from BellSouth...at about 1/4 the cost. | |
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CyberSultan
Premium
join:2006-07-20
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I requested information about getting Caller ID setup on an existing single direct Verizon line to our church building the other day. They want an extra $7.00 per month and a $35 setup fee to add the Caller ID service.
Makes me glad for my $8.00-a-month prepaid VT service that comes with Caller ID. | |
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| | mfoam99
join:2006-11-21
Parkersburg, WV | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Sbradshaw you should set up viatalk at your church then to save them money. It would probably be listed as a business account but I am sure that would save them money.
Just a thought | |
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CyberSultan
Premium
join:2006-07-20
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by mfoam99 :Sbradshaw you should set up viatalk at your church then to save them money. It would probably be listed as a business account but I am sure that would save them money. Just a thought No Internet access there. I appreciate the suggestion, though. | |
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| | | | mfoam99
join:2006-11-21
Parkersburg, WV
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification My Church as High Speed Wireless (unsecured)and I have been thinking about suggesting that they look into VOIP but at the same time was afraid that they would (they would probably as me to implement it). I would have to look at the budget to see how much money they actually spend on telephone service but I am sure it is alot. | |
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| boober321
join:2003-07-15
Milwaukee, WI
·ViaTalk
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I agree. After the SECOND debacle over the $2.50 charge, that essentially showed how disreputable Brendan and Viatalk are, I would hope they would clean up their act and fulfill their obligations. I still have never received the check for $2.50 promised me two months ago. So IMO they're still as disreputable as before. As for the people extolling their low priced virtues... it is my belief that they are not entitled to steal and cheat simply because they offer a low priced solution to copper... | |
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jubangy
Premium
join:2005-03-26
Erie, PA
·DSL EXTREME
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification I wonder how many of the complaints were due to people's isp's and got pinned on Viatalk.
It's obvious that billing issues are viatalks problem, but from experience I know for the last couple months I had issues with my service which included dropped calls, bad sound quality, only one line working at a time which changed often, and then just flat out no lines connecting. It gets alittle confusing as to what the problem is sometimes as everything else on my network would be working fine.
Well, tw ran a temporary cable to the tap we connect to and my phone serive hasn't worked this good since I had dsl, which hopefully will have again soon.
I know they are not faultless, but I doubt they are to blame for everything I read on here, but I am sure there are some who read a complaint and have to get in on it.
Almost like a techno-hypochondriac. | |
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| | | Russell_
join:2006-04-06
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by jubangy :for the last couple months I had issues with my service which included dropped calls, bad sound quality, only one line working at a time which changed often, and then just flat out no lines connecting. It gets alittle confusing as to what the problem is sometimes as everything else on my network would be working fine. Well, tw ran a temporary cable to the tap we connect to and my phone serive hasn't worked this good since I had dsl, which hopefully will have again soon. Since everything else on your network was working fine, can you elaborate on how you were able to convince TW that the problem was theirs and consequently do what they did? Was it something as simple as measurement of signal levels at your modem? Did just telling them your phone service was flaky do it? Telling us this could be one of the most helpful things you could do to ViaTalk and other TW customers who may be in the same boat.
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Russell | |
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| | | | pops2
join:2007-07-13
Portage, MI | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Agreed that it would be interesting to learn more about what was involved in tw's temporary connection that made so many things go better all at once.
[But in any event, with or without BBB, VT continues to be the voip for me.] | |
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KC9FOI
join:2007-06-25
Cypress, TX | Just noting that the BBB logo still shows up when I log into the CP (OLD). | |
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unknvoip
WWJID?
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Yes, it has disappeared since KC's post earlier today. It was located where the 'division of Hostrocket' logo is now. | |
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unknown3
@verizon.net
| If you are happy with VT, so be it. I came from SR and since I subscribe VT, I have seen many unresolved problems from VT end. Even though the hold time is down, tech support didn't bother to reply support request for at least 3 days or so and they never had real solution which they tried to pretend like nothing wrong at their end. Come on give me a break! Perhaps they were trained to say it this way. Service improvement is in progress as I can see now these day and I think BBB have their own criteria in order for VT to meet their criteria. Until then VT have to work hard to earn BBB certification. Have a good day!
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jperhay1
| I've now been a ViaTalk customer over a year - quality and service level have been excellent. Problems that have been experienced include 'dead cable' (yesterday) and a router that went off into 'never-never' land (router re-boot successful). Neither of these can remotely be laid at the door of ViaTalk.
The only complaint is that there are too many features to successfully explain how to use them to my wife! (I'm working on that!) | |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification said by N9MD :And if her ViaTalk conversation lasts more than four hours she should call her doctor.  that reminds me of an older post of mine »Re: Sunrocket , a Littany of Outages,
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers." | |
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CrazyPete
join:2005-04-22 | Seems to me that if the service worked more often and they didn't try to sneak in a $2.50 a month charge this would not have happened... but, hey, I'm just a stupid customer -- what do I know... | |
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| Vizzzoip
join:2006-02-16
Boston, MA | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Great analysis by Crazy. Where have you been hiding with this insight? VT can now solve the problem.  | |
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| | B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28 | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification What do you mean? I'm pretty sure CrazyPete was referring to reasons for customer dissatisfaction that contributed to Viatalk losing its BBB rating.
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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| | | Vizzzoip
join:2006-02-16
Boston, MA | Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification Way to read into the sarcasm. Just for you though...I said that because I am sure that anyone who read this string, or other posts for 2 minutes would have realized what customers were filing complaints about. | |
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| Vizzzoip
join:2006-02-16
Boston, MA | Also, I don't believe that they are "sneaking" anything in. It's pretty clear that people are being charged these fees at this point, and the guidelines around when people are to be charged. | |
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| | B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: BBB revoked ViaTalk's certification CrazyPete was, probably, referring to the $2.50 charge that affected some people on existing contracts, to their surprise. These people were not previously being charged the extra fees. It was argued by VT that it was always intended to be thus, depending on service dates, and some customers successfully sought refunds. Perhaps you are not familiar with those discussions over the last few months?
It is not at all obvious to a casual reader of this thread (what's with people calling them "strings" ), much less to the general public, that unexpected fees might be part of the factors generating customer dissatisfaction. So CrazyPete raised arguably valid points. The BBB loss was not due entirely to a volume of Sunrocket conversion complaints, but may have also been affected by unreliable service and unexpected fees; I disagree that this is necessarily immediately clear to "anyone who read this string". Regardless, it does no good to insult him or her for trying to contribute in a small way.
-- B
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