Voicelog Pays Hourly!

I have been receiving many requests for work at home call center jobs (similar to Liveops), but which pay a guaranteed hourly amount. After talking with many other work at home contractors, I found Voicelog, which seems to be a perfect fit. Unlike Liveops, which pays you only for the time you are actually on the phone with customers (and not while you're twiddling your thumbs, waiting for calls), Voicelog pays a guaranteed minimum $8.50/hour and up! Even better, there are no annoying upsells. There are no upfront costs to being an independent contractor for them, and they will provide personal training. Voicelog is currently hiring in all US states except for Alaska and Hawaii.
Instead of selling products, Voicelog is in the business of verifying orders to prevent fraud. Your job would be to talk with customers who had recently ordered products and verify that they wanted what they were being charged for. Though this could be an excellent work at home job, there are a few downsides to consider. For one, unlike with Liveops, you will have to work at least 2 days per week to stay active. Also the smallest block of time is 2 hours, versus only 30 minutes to one hour for other work at home jobs. If this is fine with you, read on.

Below is some additional information, as well as links:

• Pay is a guaranteed minimum of $8.50 weekdays, and $9 on weekends.
• Are you Bilingual? Pay is $9 weekdays and $9.50 on weekends.
• Call hours are from 9am-6pm and you can reserve job spots in 2,3,4,5 or 6 hour blocks.

Job Requirements Include:

• As usual a noise-free workstation
• PC with Microsoft 2000 or XP (No Macs, no emachines, and sadly for me I'm assuming no Vista)
• Minimum of 1 GB Ram
• Pentium 4 1.6GHz or higher
• IE6 (You can download it at http://www.download.com/ or at http://www.microsoft.com/)
• Excel, Microsoft Word
• Working Printer
• Paid Email Provider that provides enough space to receive fairly large documents (No Yahoo, Gmail, etc. accounts)
• DSL or High-speed Cable
• Recent Antivirus and Adaware software
• AOL Instant Messenger Account (You can get one at: http://www.aim.com/)
• A second phone line (must be already installed) dedicated to accepting inbound calls.
• Phone with no features (no VOIP, no digital phone, no call waiting, voice mail etc...) To find some of the most reliable (and inexpensive) one's, just click the link right under the picture at the top of this blog page.)
• 1 Year of Customer Service Experience

Links:

• http://www.voicelog.com/careers/job1.html (I have already covered pretty much everything on this page.)
• http://www.voicelog.com/careers/info.html (Information Page)
• http://www.voicelog.com/careers/faq.html (Frequently Asked Questions Page)
• http://www.voicelog.com/careers/job1app.html (Job Application Page)

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Strange Update on Liveops Lawsuit

Liveops has Prevailed in the lawsuit! To read the article, click here!

This post is in response to the original post on a Liveops Lawsuit. To view the original click here.
Though I find the Livops lawsuit a very important topic to cover, I have said my share, and this will be my last post on the topic. (Except for the results, of course!) From now on, my posts will be about working at home, how to get started, and basically everything in general on the topic (with some interesting additions thrown in! Just wait and see.) Ok. Now on to a Liveops update. While browsing Yahoo, I decided to do a search on "liveops lawsuit" just for curiosity. I saw two things that surprised me. For one, my post wasn't even on Yahoo results, while it is #1 on Google. Shame on you Yahoo! The second thing that I noticed was even stranger though. In the area where the search advertisements usually are, I saw this ad: (image below)


When I clicked on the image, it took me to this site: http://www.overtime-flsa.com/

The site appears to be a lawyers website, since the title bar says "Unpaid Overtime Pay and Claims Lawyers." Additionally, the site says "Michael D. Lore, P.C. is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated law firm that focuses its practice on representing workers in claims and lawsuits involving unpaid overtime wages." The reason I found this strange, was that at the bottom of the website, it says "Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization." So, then who and what are they? Also, the site has a form with which you are supposed to fill in your information, if you think that you are entitled to overtime pay and submit it to them. The site also provided a phone number in the toolbar. As I was curious, I called. The person who was on the other end answered the phone as "the law firm." What law firm? Who are these people?! When I said that I had been an agent, the person told me that they were collecting information, and that there currently was no class-action lawsuit against Liveops. Hmmm. So apparently, it looks to me like other firms are testing the waters, to see if they can make some cash off of Liveops as well. Whatever it is, I would have liked if the site, as well as the person on the phone, gave more information on who they were.
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Upsells, Downsells, Affinities, Oh My!

Hi again!
Today I'm writing about one of the bad sides of working with some of the work at home phone order companies. Most people think "Oh, I'll just have to process someone's order and get paid for it!" Sorry, but it's not that easy, and I want to clear up this misconception now. In addition to selling the product that the customer has called in to order, you also will be trying to get that customer to buy multiple other items, from additional items similar to the one that the customer is purchasing, to different magazines and membership clubs.

For example:
If Linda calls in to order a juicer, it could then be an agents job to try and sell her another juicer, some cookbooks that she could use with that juicer, and maybe even a fitness program or a magazine subscription.
So in addition to Lisa just buying the juicer, we would be offering her upsells (additional items along with her juicer), downsells (reducing the price of the additional items if she turns it down), and even affinities (magazine subscriptions, free vacation getaways, and membership clubs.)
As an agent, most companies require us to offer her every single item, since there can be a large profit made from these items. Because there can many items to offer, a call that could take five minutes might even reach half an hour. This can make the customer very frustrated if they do not want the items, and they sometimes might start yelling at you that "No, for the last time, I DO NOT want anything other than what I ordered!" The only way that you can usually skip all of the offers is if the customer says that they will hang up or cancel. Usually, you finally get to the end of these call with the customer frustrated and you tired from saying that you're sorry but you are required to read these offers. Though I still think that working at home is great, I just want people to take this into consideration before applying.

(Additional Note: Not all work at home companies do this with the calls they take. With the ones that do, not every call is this way. What happens is the call company's clients (the ones who are actually selling the product, will decide whether or not they want to add additional offers to the product they are selling. Also, you will usually receive an incentive per additional offer sold.)



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HSN Now Offering Work at Home Jobs!

Hey everybody!

I was just looking at the Home Shopping Network's website, and they are currently offering work at home jobs. Their job benefits are the best I have seen so far with a work at home job. Basically, you would be taking calls for people who are calling in to order products shown on HSN.

The job's benefits include:

• Employee Discounts
• Paid Training and Paid Time Off (Most Work at Home Jobs Don't offer this!)
• Stock Purchase Plan
• 401K

Most of the benefits listed above are unheard of with most home jobs. The pay is $10/hour, which is o.k., but I think it is worth it due to all of the great benefits. Here are the some of the requirements:

• You must live in: Florida, in either Pinellas, Hillsborough, or Pasco County
• Previous Sales or C.S. experience
• Strong Computer Skills in: Windows, Internet, Excel, Work, and Outlook
• Good Organization Skills
• Good Communication Skills, and Desire to Make Customer Happy
• Be able to connect with customer, and bring excitement with the call

Here are the Tech Requirements:

• Home PC with Windows XP, 2000, or Vista
• At least 10 MB free Disk Space
• 17" or bigger color monitor that's able to display a 1024 x 768 resolution
• High Speed Internet (cable, ISDN, DSL)
• Antivirus Software Installed
• Regular Telephone Service, with wired jack close to your PC
• Telephone Headset
• IE Version 6 or Higher

This seems like a great work at home job, especially since it is with Home Shopping Network. Many people have told me that this job is a lot more fun than with other call companies, and also that there are less upsells to read. I would definitely apply for this job, only I'm not in the area.
If any of you are interested, you can visit the link here:
Work At Home Call Agent - PT
Or you can go to the HSN website at hsn.com, and scroll to the bottom area of the site, where you will see a like that says "Careers at HSN". Click it, and on the next page click the Search button. A window should pop up, and in the keyword search box, type in "work at home". Then, click the job that says : Work At Home Call Agent - PT
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Work at Home Company Sued!

Liveops has prevailed in the lawsuit! To read the article click here!

(Note: This post has received an update. To view it, either go to the main page, or click here.)

I was just looking though the news, and I noticed that Liveops, one of the best work at home phone order companies in my opinion, is being sued! According to Justia Federal District Court Filings & Dockets, Jeannette Gonzalez and Tammy Kerce are the plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed on December 3, 2007. The presiding judge will be Judge Anthony A. Alaimo.

In addition, one of the plaintiffs of the Liveops lawsuit, Tammy Kerce, appears to also have filed a suit against West at Home, another call company. (Seems like someone's a little sue happy.)

According to the Houston Chronicle:
"two agents in Georgia contends they don't even earn the minimum wage when their training time and nonpaid downtime between calls are factored in. The two women argue they're employees — not independent contractors — and are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay."

Though these women might be making some points, I think they are clearly off! The Fair Labor Standards act applies only to employees. When they signed up to work for Liveops, they signed a contract, and I clearly remember reading something similar to "I agree that I will be working as an independent contractor, and not a a paid employee. I agree that I will be paid on a case by case basis" (It sounded similar to that when I applied.)
Now, I understand that in some states, agents would be considered employees, even if they signed a contract saying that they are only independent contractors, but if these people hate the job so much, they should go work for someone else! This is how I think it is when you work at home!
Instead, it looks like they're making all of the rest of us agents look bad. I have no idea where they got the idea that they were employees. Liveops makes it clear even in their faq's that we are all independent contractors, though this is a fine line, if you look at how the IRS defines an independent contractor vs. an employee.

A while back, West at Home got in some trouble similar to this, and because of it they changed lots of their agents into employees with fixed pay. Now, I don't know about you, but I like being able to have no limit on how much money I make per hour!

These women need to get a day job at a physical workplace, and let people who enjoy what they are doing work at home!

To view the public records of the court filings visit this link:
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-gasdce/case_no-2:2007cv00148/case_id-42631/
-and-
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-gasdce/case_no-2:2007cv00081/case_id-41150/

To view the article the Houston Chronicle did on the case, visit this link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/5422587.html

To see a brochure made by the IRS on whether or not a person is an Employee, visit this link:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1779.pdf

(And, to me it looks like there is a fine line, but we are still Independent Contractors.)

Any of the names or personal information in this article are based on information obtained from public records, and may not be accurate.

For more information about Liveops, or to apply, follow the link below!
Liveops

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Phone Order Processing, The Perfect Work at Home Job?

If you enjoy talking to people on the phone, have a good voice, and are friendly, then this is the work at home job for you. Out of all work from home jobs, these are my favorite.

How it Works
Have you ever seen an ad on television advertising a product, and decided to call the phone number on the screen to order it? If you have, then chances are you were talking to someone working from their home. Many companies know that their customers dislike talking to people from overseas on the phone, so they decided to instead hire native English speakers.
With this job, you take the orders for the products, and enter the information on your computer. Here's how it works:

1. A person sees an ad on t.v. and decides to call the number to order the product.
2. The company receiving the call then routes it to the next available work at home agent.
3. The call is routed to your phone, and by using the company's software on your computer, you are able to take the order.

Though these jobs can be really fun, there are some things that you need to consider before applying.

1. Customers- Some of the customers who you talk to can be quite irritable at times, and sometimes even rude. You have to always try to be friendly and helpful, even when they are not.
Note: This is NOT telemarketing. The people who call in already want to order the product. Because of this, it is rare to receive obnoxious calls.

2.Prank Calls- Though extremely rare, you may get some prank calls during this job, some which can be very obscene. You have to have a tough skin and just ignore it. (I have only gotten about 2 of these calls during my entire time at this job.)

3. Schedule- Though you set your own schedule with these jobs, you have to make sure that you work at the time you signed up for, or you could be penalized.
The companies that hire for these jobs are selective on who they pick, and it could be a few months before your application is even viewed, due to the high volume of applications to these jobs.

With most of these companies, you will need a separate phone line, since they do not want non customers calling you while you work. You can not use a cell phone or cordless phone with these companies. I also recommend that you buy a phone that you can plug a headset into, so that you can use both hands for typing.

Many of you might be worried about long distance calling charges. This is not a problem because the companies will send the calls to you, so you normally won't be charged.
If you are planning to work full time with these jobs, then I recommend that you apply to at least two.

Here are the names of some of the companies that I recommend for this job:
1. Liveops-(BBB Check) This is personally my favorite company, since it's software is very easy to navigate, the schedule is flexible, and the training is great. (Liveops requires $30 for a background check, but their training is provided for free.) Out of all work at home opportunities, this is the company I use the most.

2. ACD Direct-(BBB Check) ACD Direct is another call company which mainly deals in fund raising. It is a great company to work for, however the call volume is seasonal due to fund raising drives, so you may experience downtime. Their order processing forms are a little more confusing that Liveop's, as well as their scheduling process. Still, they are a good company to work for, and will treat you like family, while with Liveops you are treated more like an number. This company is slightly more forgiving as well. They would be my second pick.

3. BabyToBee-(BBB Not Available) This is a website that gives offers,samples, and coupons to parents who are about to have a baby. Your job would be to call the parents and go over the different offers that they can get. The pay is about 10/h, and you are paid by direct deposit. If you are interested in applying, send an email to: seth@babytobee.com

4. West-(BBB Not Available) West, or West at Home, is another call center company. West sends pay ever two weeks. Some people absolutely love this company while others hate it. Its training process can be challenging, especially if your computer is older, since you might have to install a service pack. West can be considered similar to Liveops in the type of calls it takes.
Here are a few other call center companies that have been highly recommended to me:

5. Arise (BBB Check)

6. Alpine Access (BBB Check) - This company is currently hiring agents only in Colorado, Utah, Texas, Arizona and Florida.

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