Call Center: Call Report Application suggestion?
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@johnhooks said:
@Dashrender said:
@johnhooks said:
@Dashrender said:
Mitel only gives the barest of logs... if you want more than that is like $10K for the reporting software.
That's insane. The place I was supposed to work for uses Mitel. He said they were stuck in a contract and couldn't get away from it.
Huh - I wonder what kind of contract?
The only thing that I can think that we'd be stuck with would be a year's worth of updates if we paid a yearly software maintenance fee.
I suppose they could be purely leasing the phone system.
I really don't think the guy knew what he was talking about. He said a few questionable things, so I kind of figured that wasn't the case. That was kind of one reason why I didn't take the job.
Some vendor force you to sign contract with them with promises of support for a period of years. We were almost got into one of those contract before. The contract stated that we must use their vendor as a sole provider for said equipment in exchange to lower rate. It was ridiculous. Plus, the "lower rate" was like 5-10% lower than their competitors. I even found some online retailer/vendor that sell phones, handset, labels, etc for 30-50% less. Glad we didn't go with them.
Still... have to say going with NEC was a mistake as well. Their quality is okay. But their support is questionable to failure. They have these "certified technician" from their vendors. These "certified technician" only know enough for them to get by each day. Worst part is they will not blame their knowledge or equipment even if it is their fault. One time our phones stop communicating to each other. They troubleshoot it for days with no success. Then I realized the phone server and the phones are on different subnet (DHCP). By statically assign all devices to be on the same subnet resolve the issue. Was it our fault for our DHCP to do what it was designed to do and cause the problem? I had multiple PCs, printers, and other devices on different subnet with no issue. Come the phone system and everything just went haywire. Afterward they billed us $500+ for their hours...that did not solve the problem. They were only doing Wireshark, restarting equipments, logging errors. Their written reasons do not make sense either. They stated that the problem was cause because our switch assign different ip addresses to each devices. They even (try to act smart) include the subnet 192.168.3.x when do don't even have that scope in our DHCP server. I mean.. switch assign DHCP?? That made me laugh for a while. We were confused as to why we have to pay them, but in the end we did pay them. Our vendor is just a hungry hyena. Right now we are actively seeking another vendor.. or only rely on them only for licenses, and get equipment from online vendor.
Feel good venting this out.
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@LAH3385 contracts like this are illegal in the US, as well as in much of the developed world.
They effectively make a monopoly, which no business wants to be stuck with.
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@LAH3385 I've had that discussion with Scott before - and yes you still have to pay them. They did try to troubleshoot your problems. They may not have knowledge they claim to have meaning you have to pay them more for them to do research, but the need to pay for research isn't uncommon at all.
Of course it's about expectations, and goals as well. Though in a break/fix situation like this it's rough.
Frankly from your description it sounds like there wasn't a default gateway setup on the phone system, or the router(default gateway) was unable to route the packets as required (maybe their was a firewall setting preventing the type of traffic through?
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@johnhooks said:
@Dashrender said:
Mitel only gives the barest of logs... if you want more than that is like $10K for the reporting software.
That's insane. The place I was supposed to work for uses Mitel. He said they were stuck in a contract and couldn't get away from it.
That's a common line used which means "of course we can replace it but I don't want to be bothered talking to you about this so I'm going to make something ridiculous up and hope that you go away."
It's one of those "socially acceptable lies" that I don't understand. Obviously he's either a total liar or a buffoon, but it is so acceptable to lie in this way that lots of people just do it hoping to not deal with the facts of the matter.
Had this exact one from a customer this month. The difference between most people and me is that I ask why his manager hadn't been information as to the fact that he is outright lying and/or completely incompetent and attempting to block work being done.
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@Dashrender said:
@johnhooks said:
@Dashrender said:
Mitel only gives the barest of logs... if you want more than that is like $10K for the reporting software.
That's insane. The place I was supposed to work for uses Mitel. He said they were stuck in a contract and couldn't get away from it.
Huh - I wonder what kind of contract?
The only thing that I can think that we'd be stuck with would be a year's worth of updates if we paid a yearly software maintenance fee.
I suppose they could be purely leasing the phone system.
Even if you are "stuck with it", it only means that you have to pay for it, not use it.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@LAH3385 contracts like this are illegal in the US, as well as in much of the developed world.
Not illegal. You are allowed to give discounts for things like that.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@DustinB3403 said:
@LAH3385 contracts like this are illegal in the US, as well as in much of the developed world.
Not illegal. You are allowed to give discounts for things like that.
Thanks - I was wondering about that too - didn't seem like predatory contracts were illegal - just bad.
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@Dashrender said:
Thanks - I was wondering about that too - didn't seem like predatory contracts were illegal - just bad.
Not really even predatory. It's purely optional. Since a good alternative is free, if you sign this it's because you really wanted this discount and product. If they charge a penny, it's not remotely predatory. Why any company would sign this, I have no idea, but have no one to blame except themselves.
It's less predatory than, say, "Eat this 96oz steak and it is free" contracts.
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That better be a great 96oz steak!
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We are using Xima Chronicall with our Avaya IP Office system. Looks like it works with ShoreTel but don't think NEC.
