Could it be that we're catching up?

The Kindergarten Continent has always had a good reputation for customer service & here in the Cynical, Jaded and Mean Islands we've always lagged behind on this front.

On the news yesterday it was reported that complaints here from disgruntled bank customers over extortionate bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts, has risen 400pct - could it be that finally, we're waking up to the fact we can as customers demand better, to be treated with respect & not be rooked at every turn?

Apparently, the knock on effect of this huge increase in customer awareness, is that now some 'insiders' in the industry are making noises about 'chargeable' current accounts, as paradoxically, its the 'unauthorised overdrafter' for want of a better phrase that makes it possible for 'free' current accounts to exist in the first place!

Are we going to accept this 'toffee' or demand that chief executives and associated 'suits' have a few less expensive business trips and a few more conference calls?

As long as you live in a region with a free market, you will ALWAYS have powerful market forces whether you see them or not.

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I need solution for long distance service for telecommuter. I will use upwards 8000min mth. No VOIP or Cell

I work doing Customer Service.... the company does not pay for long distance to call into the conference bridge to be able to accept calls. Twice now my long distance carrier, Embarq has suspended my service for violation of the unlimited long distance plan both residential and business. I need an affordable solution...or even a metro line to Austin, Texas.

Check out http://www.coxbusiness.com/index.html or http://www.kissld.com

They might have a solution for you.....

I used to have Embarq for my business, and they suspended our service also for excessive usage....

There are not a lot of "affordable" solutions out there...but you should be able to write these costs as business costs anyways.....Yeah stay away from VoIP, we got a dedicated data line with a t1 server, we tried using VoIP and it sucked! The dragged down the quality of our service, bad quality calls, dropped calls....even with a dedicated line VoIP sucks!

http://www.kissld.com/ this is a company wityh unlimited internationally and long distance and local, and are cheap. Good Luck!

att.com

Try Vonage they are the cheapest and unlimited long distance

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Sidekick prepaid plan below work with sidekick lx?

Sidekick® Prepaid

Get unlimited domestic e-mail, Web browsing, instant messaging, and text messaging for $1.00 per day, and spend only 15¢ per minute for nationwide calls. The best part is, your $1.00 goes far with Sidekick Prepaid. Learn more!

expand to learn

Included T-Mobile Prepaid Services

Nationwide long distance (including calls to Alaska and Hawaii)

Nationwide roaming on the T-Mobile USA network

t-zones (browsing for HiFi Ringers®, MegaTones®, wallpapers, and more)*

VoiceMail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling**

E-mail address (10digitnumber@tmomail.net)

*t-zones not available on all devices.

**Airtime rates apply to voicemail retrieval, each call during a conference call, and call waiting.

Additional T-Mobile Prepaid Services+

Text messaging (10¢ to send, 5¢ to receive, except for Sidekick plan)

Picture messaging (25¢ to send and receive)

Ringtones and wallpaper (prices vary)

Games and applications (prices vary)

411 & More directory assistance ($1.49 per cal

Yes it does!

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Clear case of 'The Pot calling the Kettle Black'?

A Jan. 15 interview with the Indian Catholic, the Internet news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal said that he had nothing against “surua namaskar” or other Hindu rituals, but questioned the Madhya Pradesh government's decision to make the practice compulsory in all government schools and colleges.

"People from other communities should be given the freedom and the choice to say ‘no’ to it," said Archbishop Topno, acknowledging that the Catholic Church had not received any direct orders from the government mandating the practice.

Full details at:-

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=22696

What right has the Catholic Church to convert the Hindu Indians?

How many Hindu temples do we know of in Italy, the home of the Catholic Church?

Does not converting Hindus, in their homeland, to Catholocism and then making such statements amount to 'The Pot calling the Kettle Black'?

In India, the moral of Cathos is highest today, thanx to the Congress Prez, an anti Indian Italiano-- Antonia Maino of Orbassano.They can get away with murder, remember the Crook Quattrochhi ?

The sad part is that the congee Hindoos are seeing & clapping the evil woman's excessess against Hindoos.

If the Catho priests do not intensify their conversion activities now, when will they do it ?

No one will be coverted unless they believe the beliefs. Nothing will happen to the priests for not not getting a convert. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/accuse_write?qid=20070127034031AAnlTCM&kid=NbUvWzO4VTclYcjdKdl1&s=comm&date=2007-01-28+23%3A50%3A13&.crumb=

So, what your saying is - that not having a compulsory Hindu ritual in school will force people into Catholicism? Why not into other religions?

I am a Catholic, and I don't think Catholicism is that insidious. All you're worried about is the threat of other religions on Hinduism. There are Hindu temples in Italy. Look at http://www.hinduism.it/

Isn't that a bit of a leap? I'm not sure how a protest against any compulsory religion in government schools is an attempt to convert people to Catholicism. I'm against prayer in school here in the US, but I'm not trying to convert people to *my* religion.

ya know, I was thinkin about that at a red light, just the other day !

You would be surprised how many Hindu temples there are outside of India. I am not required to worship at one. Neither would I expect any of them to go to Mass with me. I think that the Bishop has a valid point in view of enlightened society.

It's amazing how religions like to call for no government preference when trying to get a foothold into an area, but turn around and call for government preference when they are the majority.

I think that in the US, we only got religious neutrality because there were so many violently opposing religions around at the time. They actually wrote into the Constitution that government should not make laws favoring religion. However, these days, the same religions have more political power and have changed their tune, demanding that government show them preference.

Religions will do anything to get ahead, including using government to promote themselves and tromping on people's rights.

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Need 60th birthday party ideas...long distance, we can't travel???

My stepdad is turning 60 in March. He and my mom live in New Jersey. My brother lives in Seattle. My fiance and I live in Western Kansas. My mom's sister lives in Kansas City, and my mom's mom lives in Central Missouri. We are all spread out and traveling is NOT an option. I'm getting married in April, and everyone is traveling for that. No one has the money or the time off work to travel the month before too.

How can we as a family, all at once suprise him and tell him Happy Birthday? Should we all send gifts to arrive at the same day? Can we somehow conference call, is there a service that we can sign up for just one call? I wish we could have a big party, but it's just not possible. I want something with almost as much impact! It's a big birthday, and he's an awesome guy! If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

You should just send cards on the day of, and maybe celebrate his birthday on the same week as your wedding. If not, a conference call is easy, call your service provider to find out how you can have one.

As this is the internet you should invest in skype and web cams all so easy then you can use conference for the birthday party

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HELP WITH SOCIAL SERVICES PLEASE?

Six years ago i had 2 childreb adopted , it started out as domestic violence and then my young toddler got a small bruise and they removed my girls and adopted them 8 months later

anyway i now have 2 more kids aged 4 and 16 months , someone rang social services and told them i had 2 more kids , so they did an assesment which was all positive

i have to state that there have been no concerns what so ever from school or health visitors etc and my kids have never had any serious injuries

anyway i saw social services in october and had no contact with themfor 6 weeks , they didnt bother to ring or come round

then yesterday they came round and told me they were calling a child protection conference to see if names go on at risk register

i cannot understand why they are doing this if there are no concerns , they are simply bringing up events from 6 years ago and using the baby p story as an excuse

are they legally allowed to do this when theres no concerns

advice from anyone working in the law industry or with social services appreciated

Lucinda's post is quite correct. Social Services are merely acknowledging that there were some problems in the past. If the children are placed on the "At Risk" register, it means nothing more than that the position will be monitored. There will be periodic reviews and, if the review concludes that there is no further need to monitor, the children will be de-registered.

Given what has happened before, and I imply no criticism of you by this, Social Services would be derelict in their duty if they failed to carry out a case conference. It's a procedural thing, not an accusation.

The real concern here is that you were in an abusive relationship in the past. Unfortunately, statistics show that women who have been in one abusive relationship often drift into others. I am not saying that this is the position with you or that there are any specific concerns at the moment. But if you really care for your children, would you not want the reassurance of knowing that someone else was keeping an eye open for their interests?

I would recommend that you work with Social Services every step of the way. There are actually many in your position who come to regard their social worker as their best friend.

Children can be put on the risk register if things have happened with previous children in the past so they can do it but don't be too worried even if they do because it doesn't mean they think they should be taken away from you, just that if something serious does happen they'll look into it more seriously.

Yes, they can legally start an investigation based on a complaint. However, if they take action against you they have to prove that it was necessary and appropriate. The burden of proof is on them.

try this link and good luck :)

http://www.frg.org.uk/need_advice.html

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Make & receive calls from my computer?

I need to find another service where I can make unlimited calls to and from my computer with my choice of phone number (like the famous SkypeIn feature).

I currently have Skype and will have to renew soon if I can't find another feature-rich service. I was hoping to find one with more features like call merge or conference calling.

Does anyone know of any others? I learned Yahoo! IM has a phone feature, but they don't offer unlimited calling.

no

Well I would say that pretty much all of them are like prepaid cell phones. You have to buy minutes. So you're pretty much outta luck with finding a free one.

http://ciscotutorials.info/

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Is there something wrong with my resume?

My resume is currently on hotjobs.com and has been viewed several time but no one has contaced me. Please read over and tell me what i could do to make it better.......All contructive critisism welcome.

Experience

______________________________________...

Netel/Agent Relations

November 2003 - December 2006 Account Manager/Commissions Support Miami, FL

Began working for Netel in November of 2003 as a Customer Service/Sales Representative. While going above and beyond for our clients, upper management took notice and in April of 2004 promoted me to Trainer and Quality Assurance Monitor over our top producing project "Tel3Advantage.com". Responsibilities consisted of training between 18-25 new customer service/sales representatives every two weeks for one quarter. Monitor, record and give daily feedback to all representative on my team. Developed call scripts for both our outbound and inbound projects. Assisted the Quality Assurance Supervisor with creating and updating training packets for both Customer Service and Sales Departments. During my position as a Trainer/QA, Upper Management again took notice at my leadership skills and excellent job performance and in February of 2005 I was promoted to The Agent Relations Department as the Account Manager and Commissions Support of all Projects. This position allowed me to oversee our Agent Program in addition to assisting with the day-to-day marketing and development of our Advantage Programs and all Affiliate Projects. Responsibilities also included but not limited to;

• Conferring with department heads in order to discuss possible new accounts and to outline new policies and sales promotion campaigns.

• Monitored and analyzed sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaign.

• Structured and maintained a daily and monthly record of revenue of all private label projects

• Trained our Agents via conference calls on how to market online and offline.

• Reviewed reports and records of activities of our agent to ensure progress was being accomplished toward specified program objectives.

• Compiled commission and entered data computed processed and paid out commissions earned weekly.

• Reviewed commissions, computed and reconciled errors to ensure accuracy of commission payout.

AT&T Winback Program/Technion Communication Corp

June 2002 - October 2004 AT&T Sales Representative Tamarac, FL

Called past AT&T customers and provided in depth on why they should return by offering a better long distance plan or a great incentive from AT&T. In addition, handled a high call volume of incoming calls from customers wanting to start a new local/long distance service or switch their existing service to AT&T. Analyzed credit information in order to determine risk of new customer and current customer calling in to switch or upgrade without an incentive code.

American Express

September 2001 - April 2002 Credit Analyst Plantation, FL

Analyzed the spending and payment habits according to account holder’s tenure with American Express. Conducted over 300 calls per day (inbound/outbound) to investigate complaints, verify accuracy of charges, and to correct errors in accounts. Entered codes for computer program in order to generate ratios for use in evaluating card holder’s financial status.

Made informed decisions on whether to increase or decrease a card holders spending limit based on factors such as income growth/verification, payment history, and credit score. Offered advice and collected promises of payment on card holders with a history of late payments, consistent delinquency or always out of pattern.

Precision Response Corp

November 1999 - September 2001 Account Support Rep Miami Lakes, FL

Provisioned AT&T Long Distance plans for new account holders. Reviewed delinquent account records to determine which customers will be contacted for collection of overdue accounts. Placed outbound call to existing customers and attempted to collect a payment or set up a payment plan for the past mount due. Updated any additional information needed. Kept record of collections and status of accounts.

Education

______________________________________...

Miami Jackson Senior High

June 1995 High School

High School Education Miami, FL

Objective

______________________________________...

• TRAINER

• ACCOUNT MANAGER

• ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

• SALES/CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

• QUALITY ASSURANCE MONITOR

• FACILITATOR

Highlights

______________________________________...

• Expert in working in a Customer Service/Sales call center environment with over 8 years hands-on experience and 2 years of training, monitoring and Senior Representative job duties.

• Proficient in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel

• Skilled at organizing complex projects, defining project priorities, and delegating tasks.

• Possess excellent strong time management, organization and presentation skills.

It's unreadable because it's 10x too long...it's a letter, not a resume. Remove the narrative and stick to the facts!

- Netel, Nov. 2003 - April 2004

- Customer Service Representative

- Trainer and Quality Assurance Monitor - Responsible for top-producing project, "Tel3Advantage.com"

THAT'S ALL!

•Skilled at organizing complex projects, defining project priorities, and delegating tasks.

•Possess excellent strong time management, organization and presentation skills.

BULL...if you possessed strong organizational and presentaiton skills why is your resume so long.

Keep your subjective claims off the resume...write a fantastic resume and it's self-evident.

Get someone to proofread it for you. First paragraph has several gramatical mistakes.

eg "Upper Management again took notice at my leadership skills" instead of "notice of my leadership"

I don't like the excessive verbage about management taking notice, anyway. You don't need to be so narrative. Nobody screening resumes wants to read that much. BULLET point things.

Keep working on it and get other people to read it.

I agree with several of the other responders:

1) It is TOO LONG and too wordy.

2) It needs serious grammar help.

Shorten it (cut it in half!) and clean up the grammar and you may see a much more positive response.

Best wishes and good luck.

I think it is too wordy. For the Netel job, it should be bullet points instead of that first paragraph. Ideally, it should be all bullet points. Leave the paragraphs for the cover letter. Also, I think the objective should be at the top.

Also there are a few errors in the resume. Here are some corrections:

"Monitor, record and give daily feedback to all representatives on my team."

"took notice of my leadership skills"

"•Compiled commission and entered data, computed, processed and paid out commissions earned weekly. "

"Called past AT&T customers and provided in depth reasons for returning ..."

If I were to receive a resume like this I would call you for an interview. The only thing I would change is the last bullet - Possess excellent strong time management - pick excellent or strong.

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Will this Cyberpad or similar digital pen products be able to work with OneNote?

Will this Cyberpad or similar digital pen products be able to work with OneNote?

Will this Cyberpad be able to work with OneNote and hence a tablet pc substitute?

Hi all,

My first tabletPC is now broken. It is a Toshiba Tecra M4.

It refused to reboot any more.

The Toshiba custom service has been very bad, even hung up my phone...

I am now seriously weighing whether to buy a new tablet PC or just a normal laptop.

My use of tablet PC was mainly to hold conference calls with colleagues and friends using OneNote. Writing notes on screen and keeping notes for later reference was excellent.

I want to ask if CyberPad or similar products can work

with MS OneNote on a normal laptop so that I can write into OneNote in real time while holding conference calls? The counterparty needs to be able to see my writing in real time so that our conference call will be meaningful...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/29/...

Please give me some opinions. Thanks!

http://www.blueeuclid.com/cyberconverter.html

That link will take you to a site that offers a program that will allow the Cyberpad to be used with Onenote.

Although, I've been reading a bit and it seems that the Cyberpad will work with onenote without it.

Either way, it looks like the Cyberpad will indeed work with onenote.

I have been using Evernote, which is a really easy and nice program for notetaking, but the organization aspect could use some work.

If you are wondering how well the Cyberpad works...I give it a 9 out of 10. I can't work without it, and I don't write anything if I don't write it on the Cyberpad.

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Should I tip for room service?

I am staying at the Hilton in Athens and ordered room service. I am already paying 17.50 euro for a pizza, 12.00 euro for a lemon tarte, and 6.50 euro for a glass of ice tea. The room service has a deliver charge of 8.00 euro - do I still tip on top of that? I don't normally order room service but I am in the middle of a conference call so I don't have much of a choice.

Thanks.

It's a good idea to tip if you don't want to eat Spit-Pizza with Spit-Ice Tea.

And it's right what the other poster says, delivery people get nothing from all that over-priced stuff. So you can expect them to be not very happy if you don't tip.

I would go by what is normally customary in the country where you are. If tipping is customary then I would definitely tip the staff but if it isn't and in their country it is considered rude (like your paying because the service isn't good enough) then I would not. If you're totally unsure you can call downstairs to the desk to see what is customary.

No different than if you go to an over priced restaurant or order in a pizza at home.....you always tip the delivery person. They have nothing to do with the prices that are being charged so don't stiff them for a tip because of that. If you don't tip then likely if you order room service next time it will take a very long time to get it and even if you do like the other person posted you could have spit-iced tea, etc.

Unfortunately, it is expected and one of the reasons I never order room service. It is overpriced and usually inferior food. If there is a delivery charge, I would not feel the need to tip as much, but some sort of tip would still be expected.

a tip is usually included in room service in addition to the other charges tacked on. i usually tip a few extra dollars on top of that anyway. but i as with all tipping, it is not required.

It is typical to tip the person who delivers. Just because you are being over charged by the hotel doesnt mean that the person delivering your food is getting a cut of it.

I usually always tip over the recommended 15%. But if they tack on a delivery charge. Well that is all they get.

yup i agree with JC

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What does "Closely held Vapps" mean as in:?

Closely held Vapps, of Hoboken, New Jersey, has a plan to offset the cost of providing free conference calls by offering related premium services, including conference call recording, playback and 24-hour operator support for arranging calls.

The definition of "closely held"

A corporation for which most of the voting stock is held by a small number of shareholders, but which is still publicly traded. These shares are generally not available to the public, and given the fact that there are few shareholders, the shares are usually very thinly traded.

"Vapps"

Vapps is the leading, global provider of VoIP audio conferencing services and systems.

http://www.vapps.com/

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