ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
 ·AT&T DSL Service
 ·ViaTalk
| ViaTalk Update
To Our Valued Customer,
ViaTalk is happy to announce that we have partnered with BillSoft, Inc., the leading provider of transaction tax products and services. We have implemented their EZTax platform to provide more accurate and compliant telecommunications tax information and charges for our customers. This platform allows us to maintain the ever changing regulatory environment affecting the VoIP telecommunications industry on a national, state, and local level.
Implementation of this platform will result in more detailed and accurate information regarding the various taxes and fees that are required to be collected and remitted based upon the tax jurisdiction you are located in appearing on your ViaTalk invoice. We are happy to be able to provide this level of details to our customer, allowing them to see exactly what is being taxed and why, as well where it is going, putting us on par with other regulatory compliant providers and eliminating any potential confusion along the way.
The change will take effect on the next renewal date of your ViaTalk service plan after Tuesday, Sept. 9th, and will be reflected in the invoice generated at that time. The taxes and fees assessed will change to more accurately reflect the necessary remittances based upon your local tax jurisdiction requirements. Upon service renewal, the 'Enhanced 911 Fee' currently being assessed to your account will be lowered from $1.48 per month to $0.48 per month.
If you have any questions regarding these changes, please feel free to contact support via email at support@viatalk.com, and thank you for choosing ViaTalk!
-The ViaTalk Team
»www.ViaTalk.com
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
 ·Verizon FIOS
| said by ptrowski  :Upon service renewal, the 'Enhanced 911 Fee' currently being assessed to your account will be lowered from $1.48 per month to $0.48 per month. Hmmm...you mean we've been overcharged $1/month for a fee? Where did that $1 go each month? |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
Its not that you've been overcharged, its that things will now be itemized on your invoice more accurately. The overall cost of providing the 911 service with everything included is well above the previous $1.48 mark, however we are 'eating' a good chunk of that cost.
-Brendan |
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GVG
join:2006-09-19
Charlotte, NC | If I just renewed my contract for another year does that mean I am going to have to keep paying 1.48 until my next renewal? If so that is completly unfair. |
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Aveamantium
Formerly Reiper
join:2006-10-02
Loveland, CO | IMHO, the "fairest" thing that VT could do would make the change for everyone at the beginning of next month. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
There are certain taxes and fees that are dependent upon the dollar amount charged (such as sales tax, etc. if a certain state or municipality requires it) that require the system to be rolled out in the fashion we have dictated in the email.
-Brendan |
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GVG
join:2006-09-19
Charlotte, NC
edit:
September 5th, @05:08PM
| Unfair to charge one set of taxes and fees to one set of customers and another set of fees to others, even if they are in the same state and town and have the same tax rates. |
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Aveamantium
Formerly Reiper
join:2006-10-02
Loveland, CO
·ViaTalk
| reply to VTBrendan
said by VTBrendan :Hi, There are certain taxes and fees that are dependent upon the dollar amount charged (such as sales tax, etc. if a certain state or municipality requires it) that require the system to be rolled out in the fashion we have dictated in the email. -Brendan I'm on my BOGO offer still but I already renewed for next year a few months ago. My renewal will begin at the end of this month so will the new or old fee apply to my situation? |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
edit:
September 5th, @04:59PM
| said by Aveamantium :said by VTBrendan :Hi, There are certain taxes and fees that are dependent upon the dollar amount charged (such as sales tax, etc. if a certain state or municipality requires it) that require the system to be rolled out in the fashion we have dictated in the email. -Brendan I'm on my BOGO offer still but I already renewed for next year a few months ago. My renewal will begin at the end of this month so will the new or old fee apply to my situation? Hi,
Whatever you are currently paid through would be the date that changes would take affect upon, so you're all set as per what you agreed to until you renew. Upon renewal you will see what should be right on par with all other compliant services available on the market.
-Brendan |
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mogulman
Premium
join:2002-09-09
Parker, CO
·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
edit:
September 5th, @05:01PM
| reply to ptrowski
Are we going to be able to see what our fees/taxes will change to when the system rolls out? Even if we are on a grandfathered fee rate and have 6 months-1year left on our contract?
Just want to see if things are going to go up or down (assuming up), when my contract is up. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
edit:
September 5th, @05:04PM
| Hi,
I will do my best to have some sort of system that allows you to check things before Tues, but we're not adding anything that we're not absolutely required to by law (trust me, as much as you don't want to pay this crap, I don't want to have to collect them even more), and we're reducing our 911 fee that offsets e-911 costs and eating more of those to help offset any increase someone might see. It will likely be just about the same as you would see anywhere else.
-Brendan |
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kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR
·Vonage
·magicjack.com
·ViaTalk
·VoicePulse
·BroadVoice
| reply to ptrowski
Although I think users should get a credit for the overcharging of the fees in the fast... I have another comment.
How much does Viatalk spend billing it monthly? If you have to pay taxes, why not pay it once a year, 3 months 6 months etc... I would imagine that it costs something to bill that out every month.
If it is illegal to hold onto the tax money for the year (you could get getting interest on it through the bank) then why not include it in the cost of the service?
0.48 x 12 (subtracting savings from 1 bill and interest gained) + $199.
--
KieranMullen
»360oregon.com
IP/Website Tools
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»Company entry - ViaTalk |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
Certain stuff is supposed to be billed up front and some stuff is supposed to be applied monthly. I don't have the info readily available right now on specifically what is what, but if I can round it up I'd be happy to share it with you guys.
-Brendan |
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kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR
·Vonage
·magicjack.com
·ViaTalk
·VoicePulse
·BroadVoice
edit:
September 5th, @05:29PM
| Yes. I know it costs .20 per transaction for my merchant account. So it just seems silly to either 1)Bill it every month or 2) Bill it at all.
Raise the bottom line price and be done with this mess. Look better and save the pain of billing it monthly and answering questions about it from clients.
said by VTBrendan :Hi, Certain stuff is supposed to be billed up front and some stuff is supposed to be applied monthly. I don't have the info readily available right now on specifically what is what, but if I can round it up I'd be happy to share it with you guys. -Brendan |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ | reply to ptrowski
Does this mean we will be charged State Sales tax in, lets say, NJ? or lets say NC?
--
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
I don't know about specific localities, however when I am able to get that system online people will be able to check on their specific location. If the state requires it to be collected, it will be there, if not, then no. I do know that where we are in NY requires it from examples that I have seen go through in testing.
-Brendan |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to kieranmullen
said by kieranmullen :Raise the bottom line price and be done with this mess. Look better and save the pain of billing it monthly and answering questions about it from clients. Playing Devil's Advocate...
If they separate fees from the service price, if fees go up they are able to adjust fees quicker (read: before your contract is up). If there was just one fee, they would either have to eat the cost until your contract was up, ask for more money monthly, or void the contract/refund your money and have you sign a new one. The first is the most consumer friendly but obviously costs the most. The last two are the least friendly for the consumer and you'd likely piss off a good deal of your user base if you attempted it. |
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kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR
·Vonage
·magicjack.com
·ViaTalk
·VoicePulse
·BroadVoice
| Gradual phase in of course. Might be painful at first but really it looks pretty silly billing .80 every month... Almost as silly as Amazon billing me $1 a month for their s3 cloud storage. However I uploaded everything I have this week so it should be a bit more now.
said by cdru :said by kieranmullen :Raise the bottom line price and be done with this mess. Look better and save the pain of billing it monthly and answering questions about it from clients. Playing Devil's Advocate... If they separate fees from the service price, if fees go up they are able to adjust fees quicker (read: before your contract is up). If there was just one fee, they would either have to eat the cost until your contract was up, ask for more money monthly, or void the contract/refund your money and have you sign a new one. The first is the most consumer friendly but obviously costs the most. The last two are the least friendly for the consumer and you'd likely piss off a good deal of your user base if you attempted it. |
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TexasPlus
join:2004-06-16
Bedford, TX
 ·Millenicom
·ViaTalk
·RoadRunner Cable
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to VTBrendan
said by VTBrendan :Hi, I will do my best to have some sort of system that allows you to check things before Tues, but we're not adding anything that we're not absolutely required to by law (trust me, as much as you don't want to pay this crap, I don't want to have to collect them even more), and we're reducing our 911 fee that offsets e-911 costs and eating more of those to help offset any increase someone might see. It will likely be just about the same as you would see anywhere else. -Brendan On a related billing topic: Long ago in a land far away (a year ago August?) you said that all fees/charges/extras/etc would be consolidated so that only one bill per month would be sent out covering items not included in the yearly price.
The number of bills/charges has been reduced, but I am still getting one bill/charge per month for my second virtual phone number, and a separate bill/charge per month for the "other fees". Are you folks ever going to get to the one bill/charge per month we have discussed? With merchant fees charged per transaction that seems it would save VT a bundle of money each month....
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"The world is a book; those who do not travel read but a single page." -St. Augustine |
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XPAMD
Premium
join:2002-06-08
united state
·ViaTalk
| said by TexasPlus :The number of bills/charges has been reduced, but I am still getting one bill/charge per month for my second virtual phone number, and a separate bill/charge per month for the "other fees". Are you folks ever going to get to the one bill/charge per month we have discussed? With merchant fees charged per transaction that seems it would save VT a bundle of money each month.... All you gotta do is either call 'em or submit a ticket asking they be consoliated, and they'll usually are able to do so.
As for the 911 fee, each muni 911 is usually only a few cents per line. I wouldn't be surprised if the telco's are eating part of the cost that the required fee goes towards.
Unfortunately VT has to use a 3rd Party to route 911 calls to the correct PSAP, unlike PSTN which bascially has dedicated trucks in the local co to the 911 call center. Which in turn cost's more. Hence why we were being charged more.
However I wonder if VT is only supposed to be charging for what the local municpality requires.
Letting a 3rd party handle this makes good business since states are now suing to get their taxes collected, and in turn heading any future legal conundrums headed off at the pass. |
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