Hey Keith, I'm sure that you have factored a percentage of delinquent accounts in your pricing model and you sell your services at a much higher price than $9.00/month per DID or extension right?
In a prepaid business model, there's no provision for delinquent account and this is why it is run like this. Your business model is very different from a prepaid phone service. You offer a hosted platform with much higher margins. But margins for telecom provider are much thinner and there's no room for risk like this. I would love to sell our DIDs at $45.00/month per local channel and offer more services to our customers, but this is impossible in today's market. In your business model, you have to factor in a cost of 15%-20% in billing services. Most VoIP providers don't even make 20% in net profit and cannot afford to help customers the way you do. Stephan. On 2010-08-03, at 2:45 PM, Keith | Aquarius Telecom Inc. wrote: > Interesting thread we have going today. > > I'm not about to tell people how to run their business but, I will say what > makes your customers loyal to your business is the level of customer service > you can provide to them. > > Having said this, I can respect the business model but, I'll use a situation > that we encountered when the recession was at its peak; we had a couple of > clients pay us a little late since their clients were paying them a little > late. We made arrangements with them and in working with them, the > outstanding balance was paid off. Since then, this client has referred more > business to us and we have a very loyal client because, we choose to help > them and work with them in their time of need. Imagine if we took the > typical business model and shut down his companies phone service? His > company would have shut down, and we wouldn't have gained the referrals we > got from him. > > Customer service is not just a corporate responsibility but, a social > responsibility and it's one of our founding principles here. > > > Keith Major > Network Engineer & Business Development > Aquarius Telecom Inc. > www.aquariustel.com > > Hosted PBX Services & Business VoIP Solutions > _______________________________________________________________________ > > This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not > waive any related rights and obligations. > Any distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information it > contains by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. > If you received this e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or > otherwise) immediately. > > Ce courrier électronique est confidentiel et protégé. L'expéditeur ne > renonce pas aux droits et obligations qui s'y rapportent. > Toute diffusion, utilisation ou copie de ce message ou des renseignements > qu'il contient par une personne autre que le (les) destinataire(s) > désigné(s) est interdite. > Si vous recevez ce courrier électronique par erreur, veuillez m'en aviser > immédiatement, par retour de courrier électronique ou par un autre moyen. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dean Hansen [mailto:dhan...@dthsoftware.com] > Sent: August-03-10 2:14 PM > To: 'Stephan Monette'; 'Kovalenko, Alex' > Cc: 'asterisk biz' > Subject: RE: [biz] Unlimitel > > Given this is a prepaid service, I find it difficult to disagree with the > actions taken by Unlimitel. This is very consistent with a prepaid business > model and seems like a very reasonable response to a declined credit card > payment. > > Dean > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Stephan Monette [mailto:monet...@unlimitel.ca] > Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 12:10 PM > To: Kovalenko, Alex > Cc: asterisk biz > Subject: Re: [biz] Unlimitel > > Alex, > > Unlimitel sells a prepaid service and it works exactly like a prepaid > calling card service. If the prepaid account is empty, the service is > suspended. Most VoIP provider runs their prepaid service this way. There's > no credit allowed for any customers using this business model. > > But Unlimitel does allow 24 hours for customers to fix issues with credit > card payments (which you already got since you receive the notice > yesterday). Prepaid calling card companies do not allow this 24hours grace. > We provide this 24 hours grace at our own expense and risk. Everyone knows a > customer can run an hefty bill in 24 hours using VoIP, but we do this for > our customers. > > In cases where customers lost their credit card, our billing rep. always > suggest to go and purchase a prepaid credit card from your local corner > store in order to fix your payment issue in the short term. The prepaid > credit card is very useful in situations like yours and will avoid service > suspension. > > Our billing department also offer to accept payment from another person's > credit card and this was also communicated to you. > > But if you choose not to purchase a prepaid credit card or use someone > else's credit card to fix this issue, this is your call and you will have to > deal with the consequences. This is just unfortunate that you use this forum > to complain about your credit card issue where Unlimitel offered you > temporary solutions in the short term to avoid any problems. > > I'm sure you run your business the exact same way. You do not ship any > products to any customers (regardless of their purchase volume) if the > payment is rejected on the credit card, do you? I purchase products from > your company any other businesses on this forum and you shipped it after the > payment on my credit card was confirmed and this is what I expected, nothing > less. > > Let's educate everyone on this forum. Here's why VoIP providers are using > the PrePaid business model (not just Unlimitel, but almost every VoIP > provider in Canada): > > 1- Between 6% to 10% of accounts do not get paid when you offer post paid > services or credit to business customers. So for a $5Millions company (not > Unlimitel case by the way!) this represents up to $500,000 in lost net > revenues per year. > > 2- PrePaid services do not require full time staff to handle payments. Again > for a $5Millions company, this would require about 5 full time staff at an > average of $40k/employee for a total of $200k/year plus real estate space, > computers,... > > 3- PrePaid services are usually fully automated. But for a post paid > service, the payment process is manual. We also have to factor in the human > error factor in a few transactions that can run your accountant crazy! > There's also the bank fees to deposit all the customer's cheques. Bank fees > will also increase your billing cost. With prepaid credit card, the payments > are deposit into the business account daily as one payment which reduces the > bank fees a lot. > > Billing services can cost as much as 15%to 20% of the service in some > situation. > > With PrePaid services, the customer ends up saving a lot of money, but they > have to make sure they have a valid credit card with their provider at all > time. > > Cheers. > > Stephan Monette > Unlimitel Inc. > > Tel.: 1-877-464-6638 > Fax: (613) 482-1077 > > > > > > On 2010-08-03, at 11:38 AM, Kovalenko, Alex wrote: > >> Unlimitel is definitely a great company to purchase your VoIP lines from. >> >> However they called me today to inform me that our lines will be cut if we >> do not pay our $50 bill which has been outstanding for only few days >> immediately by 4pm today. I have explained that my wallet was stolen at > the >> gym last week and I should be able to provide them with a new card over > the >> next few days (it takes Mastercard - 4-5 business days to get the >> replacement card over). However, Helene told me that they do not really > care >> what happened and will cut if not received by 4pm. (Go get prepaid credit >> card - she told me.) >> >> This is very unfortunate - as I have been with them over 5 years, spent >> thousands of dollars and at www.VoIPGizmos.ca have recommended them to >> dozens of other businesses. Stephane - not very cool way to run your >> business. >> >> -- >> Alex Kovalenko, http://ca.linkedin.com/in/kovasys >> Director of Operations @ Kovasys IT Recruitment >> IT Recruitment and Headhunting | Chasseur de Tête en TI >> 888.568.2747 x701 | www.ITHeadhunters.ca >> >> Read about us in the News: >> http://bit.ly/KovasysNews >> >> Join our IT Jobs Association Linkedin group: >> http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2464449 >> >> Follow us on Twitter: >> http://www.twitter.com/kovasys > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: biz-unsubscr...@taug.ca > For additional commands, e-mail: biz-h...@taug.ca > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: biz-unsubscr...@taug.ca > For additional commands, e-mail: biz-h...@taug.ca > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3047 - Release Date: 08/03/10 > 02:35:00 > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: biz-unsubscr...@taug.ca For additional commands, e-mail: biz-h...@taug.ca
