pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
|  Obvious Result
quote:
We've more than doubled our staff size to date ... The results of these new hires should start showing soon.
Who else thinks ViaTalk will be out of business by the end of this year?
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
·Metrocast Communic..
 ·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| said by pnh102  : quote:
We've more than doubled our staff size to date ... The results of these new hires should start showing soon.
Who else thinks ViaTalk will be out of business by the end of this year? I will bet that will not happen at all.
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"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org |
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to pnh102
I'm not exactly a fanboy of Viatalk ( read my review of the service ) but as the ptrowski says, they aren't going supernova  anytime soon.
Viatalk has their heart in the right place, for the users I just hope they get a handle on there service issues, which have been on-going for over a year. The Influx of SR customers will fatten the bottom line for at least a year or two. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·VOIPo
·Metrocast Communic..
·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| said by guppy_fish :I'm not exactly a fanboy of Viatalk ( read my review of the service ) but as the ptrowski says, they aren't going supernova anytime soon. Viatalk has their heart in the right place, for the users I just hope they get a handle on there service issues, which have been on-going for over a year. The Influx of SR customers will fatten the bottom line for at least a year or two. Exactly.
Business was up between 150% and on some days 3000% according to Brendan. I don't know too many companies that could get slammed like that and not have issues.
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"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to ptrowski
said by ptrowski :I will bet that will not happen at all. I don't understand why they would need to hire so many people. VOIP is just a function of bandwidth, so I can understand taking a lot of one time charges for equipment and such, but things like tech support can easily be contracted out to other companies.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :Who else thinks ViaTalk will be out of business by the end of this year? Not I. If your business is growing so fast you realize you need to double your staff that's not a sign of going out of business.
It's also nice to see a company that realizes it's having customer service issues and then INCREASES staff to improve it. These days most companies seem to think they can "cut costs" by stripping away employees and that customer service won't suffer if they "crack down" and "make their employees do their jobs."
Yeah, making 1 person do the work of three really improves customer service.... Not. One of my favorites are the overworked call centers that either give you a recorded message saying they are too busy to take your call, call back later and hang up on you, or the ones where they ask you to leave a message and you'll get a return call--- which never happens.
Fastest way to lose business is skimp on customer service so you can't even meet basic needs. Funny how management never sees this.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA | reply to pnh102
Not me, but I'm M-M so if they do, they do. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :said by ptrowski :I will bet that will not happen at all. I don't understand why they would need to hire so many people. VOIP is just a function of bandwidth, so I can understand taking a lot of one time charges for equipment and such, but things like tech support can easily be contracted out to other companies. I guess that's why Brendan is running the company and you are not. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to KrK
said by KrK :Fastest way to lose business is skimp on customer service so you can't even meet basic needs. Funny how management never sees this. If this is true then why are there so many companies with piss-poor customer service still in business?
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA | Because they charge too much -coughcast- |
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laserjobs
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Las Vegas, NV
·Cox HSI
| reply to KrK
You are right about customer service. Most CEOs don't understand where the value is in a company. Maybe they shoud teach this curve in MBA programs.
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Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries |
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rudnicke
Premium
join:2004-10-23
Rantoul, IL | reply to pnh102
That's the sole reason why I'm weary of dumping Vonage for ViaTalk. They just seem like they are headed the same way as SunRocket. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to laserjobs
said by laserjobs :You are right about customer service. Most CEOs don't understand where the value is in a company. Maybe they shoud teach this curve in MBA programs. Again though, if this curve was correct, then just about every company in business today would have stellar customer service. However, we all know that this is not true. That means that customer service is not going to be the deciding factor for most people.
And on another note, many companies have been done in by shoddy manufacturing.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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Hookem99
Deep In The Heart
join:2007-07-18
Pflugerville, TX
·ViaTalk
·AT&T U-Verse
·Suddenlink
·AT&T Southwest
1 edit | reply to pnh102
Personally, im glad they dont contract out for tech support.....it's nice not having to know a second language to communicate with them!!
Hey NY TEL GUY.....It seems there are a lot of folks who think they could run VT better latly isent there!!  I think I made a similar comment to a recent post myself! |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to NY Tel
said by NY Tel :said by pnh102 :said by ptrowski :I will bet that will not happen at all. I don't understand why they would need to hire so many people. VOIP is just a function of bandwidth, so I can understand taking a lot of one time charges for equipment and such, but things like tech support can easily be contracted out to other companies. I guess that's why Brendan is running the company and you are not. So in other words, you don't know why they need so many people either.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| lol, right place at the right time for him. How we each would individually run the company might vary greatly.
I for one am a believer in process and documentation, something I think a lot of companies (small voips) lack. They fly by the seat of their pants till they fail.
Not being an insider in Clifton Park, I don't know what I don't know so my pithy comment was really meant to say that Brendan is in that position, how he got there or what he chose to do in life obviously worked for him. So he gets to decide and you and I don't irrespective of our opinions. 
So the argument could be made that his outlook on customer service works and yours (or mine) might not. |
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DaSneaky1D
one wall to block them all
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to pnh102
They need people there so when people like YOU call, you'll have one less thing to complain about.
Yeah, he could contract out to another company for support calls, but they'll have to be trained to read the script, and won't have any direct access to really assist you...then you'll complain about that.
Go have some coffee and breath in the fresh air of the real world.
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:: my trivial ramblings :: |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by DaSneaky1D :They need people there so when people like YOU call, you'll have one less thing to complain about. I don't complain, I just cancel
But be that as it may, I simply don't believe that bad tech support will by itself doom a company. We just have so many counter-examples that disprove that belief.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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n1zuk
My wood is stacked
Premium
join:2001-10-24
South Burlington, VT
·Future Nine Corpor..
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| reply to Hookem99
Just because ViaTalk "hired" employees doesn't mean that they have necessarily added to their permanent staff. The new people could easily be long term supplemental or temporary contract employees.
Their are quite a few businesses in the US who specialize in placement of this type of people. Many of these operations were grown from head hunter and employment agencies, as they have a large pool of resumes of people who are in transition between jobs.
Folks with IT experience, who may of spent some time at a help desk, would be capable of getting up to speed on the basics of a VOIP operation pretty fast. At lease to a Tier I level...
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boober321
join:2003-07-15
Milwaukee, WI
·ViaTalk
1 edit | reply to pnh102
How about the obvious... lack of competition. Phone and internet services rarely have much competition. Usually a person may have two or maybe three choices, many have but one. This specifically is why so many are against these sweeping franchise reform bills passing across the country. With no real competition (and no, the new laws won't do much to remedy that- except maybe in the richest portions of the areas served) the only way to mandate customer service is through the government- just like other utility companies like gas, electric and water... |
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