Last spring my boyfriend Jack accepted a telecommuting job at Phone Tag formerly know as Simulscribe. For those of you who don't know what telecommuting means, it means a person works from home using technology such as a phone, computer, internet etc etc.. He was reluctant at first to accept this job because he doesn't enjoy working from home. He was told he would have an office within a few months of starting his employment with this company. One of the main reasons he accepted this job was it included benefits, especially health benefits. And the pay seemed pretty good.
The novelty of this new job wore off soon. Jack hated being home all the time. He hated how the company didn't leave him alone during his "off" hours. He was the client service manager. Basically he set up new accounts, assisted with issues on current accounts, or closed accounts as requested. He also bore the brunt of collecting payments from people who didn't want to pay. As time went on he did more and more of this and 9 out of 10 times, he was successful in getting a payment made. I believe during a 2 month period, he only had issued 1 refund, compared to his coworkers who issued refunds on the average of several times a week.
The biggest drawback about Phone tag is they brag about using a computer voice recognition for voice mail left and then transcribed to a txt msg format to be emailed to you. The problem is, it wasn't a computer transcribing the msgs. No it was REAL people from places like Indonesia aka slave workers to listen to the msgs and try in their best way using broken English to translate the voice mail.
Next problem I have with phone tag is they charge a fee for their services while youmail.com does the same service for FREE.
After several months (approx 4 months or so) without warning, the higher ups asked Jack to come in the next day with his cell phone and laptop. He said to me that very night, I got a bad feeling about this, I think they're gonna fire me. I thought it was crazy since he hadn't missed work hardly and every day was working for this company from 8am till as late as 7 or 8 at night! And the fact he hardly ever issued a refund saved this company a LOT of money so I was astonished when the very next day they fired him. The reason was this; someone had made a complaint about him a month ago. Huh? you're kidding me, they waited 4 weeks to fire him based on 1 complaint?! Man if you ask me this place reeks of racism, discrimination and above all else unprofessionalism. Apparently most of the people who worked for Phone Tags have the whole buddy buddy system down pat but Jack wouldn't play the part of a person who enjoys staying home every day, week after week. He would go to meet with the bosses occasionally to inquire about getting an office space and they treated him like an ingrate. WTF, I mean come on, our living room was covered in paperwork, we live in a small 1 bedroom apt and I resented the fact my apt doubled as an office. It made keeping the apt clutter free a nightmare!
The very very worst part of it all was when they fired him for that ridiculous reason, they sent him a letter saying our health insurance would last for 4 more weeks. Jack made his payment and we went to the doctor in June for some tests for me related to a chronic pain I was having in my abdomen area. But do you know what Phone Tag did in reality? They cancelled our health insurance the same day they fired him and my doctor appt was like the day or 2 after he was fired. I am now stuck with 2 different health related bills. One is for approx $900 and the other $200. I was furious and we were lied to by Phone Tag. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to write him a letter which we have at home stating the health ins would continue for 4 more weeks and then they really just cancelled it. I felt it was extremely vindictive and malicious what this company did to us. I am trying to work out a payment plan to pay back both health bills but I resent this company and still contemplate on suing them for these 2 bills.
Lastly this company is starting to fail and I believe the fact that Jack's former position with the company is now being offered only as an internship with lower pay shows this company will do anything to screw a person out of a buck. I regret I ever promoted Phone Tag or James Siminoff. By the way one time Jack had the unfortunate experience of meeting James Siminoff who made derogatory jokes about Gays and Blacks which really ticks me off! How dare you talk about others in such a manner, who are you?! My advice to you if you want a discrimination free company and service that doesn't involve slave labor, then go with youmail and save yourself some money, headache and in my case a hefty bill!
3 comments:
Good for you Jen. Don't get mad, get even. I hope your blog hurts them with the very people they need to make their business a success. What Schmucks!
Baba
After reading this post I am questioning the future of their company. Per your recommendation, I checked out youmail.com and not only discovered that is is indeed free but also the voicemails arrive almost instantly. I've been waiting sometimes hours for voicemails to be delivered to me with Simulscribe. Their equipment must be old overall because the Youmail site looks very modern compared to Simulscribe and also you have the ability to tweak more settings within it. I'm getting rid of my phonetag account today.
Best of luck in getting them to pay up but they seem pretty mom and pop to me though.
That company sucks. They totally overbilled me and have laughable customer service. When you call in for customer service you get the same 2 or 3 people and all I got was excuse after excuse. I'm gonna try the other one because at least its free.
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