Telephone Survey Work with Optimum Contact

white_diamond_85

vixxxen wrote: »

I won't give up it's just a bit disheartening.

I tried yesterday at about 4-5pm and got a lot of people answering, but it was the wrong person (the husband or wife of the person detailed on the survey form). And I assume you have to actually talk to the person on the form, not their husband/wife?

Trouble is I have toddlers - one is at nursery 8.30-1pm 3 days per week, the other is home with me all the time so fitting in time to call is hard - I can only really do evenings after 7pm but I'm worried that's too late to call?

It is really up to you when you feel comfortable calling people and when you can fit it in.
You would have to speak to a required person but if they are not available just ask when it would be more convenient to contact them.

Paul_Varjak

vixxxen wrote: »

I won't give up it's just a bit disheartening.

I tried yesterday at about 4-5pm and got a lot of people answering, but it was the wrong person (the husband or wife of the person detailed on the survey form). And I assume you have to actually talk to the person on the form, not their husband/wife?

Trouble is I have toddlers - one is at nursery 8.30-1pm 3 days per week, the other is home with me all the time so fitting in time to call is hard - I can only really do evenings after 7pm but I'm worried that's too late to call?

If your child is not old enough to be left safely amusing themselves, then the job is not really suitable. You can make calls up to 8:30pm but many people will not feel comfortable being called so late in the day. Really, only you can judge if the job is right for you.

clairibel

Do the company make any money through the 0845 number that you have to dial? They do not publish the full number on the site. Call me skeptical but you have to be with home working jobs

How much would say an hours connection would be from a normal landline?

Its quite a bit of expense for something thats hit and miss, usually the companies provide you with equipment or a freephone number to dial, or pay your phone charges. Thats what i've come across anyway.

white_diamond_85

clairibel wrote: »

Do the company make any money through the 0845 number that you have to dial? They do not publish the full number on the site. Call me skeptical but you have to be with home working jobs

How much would say an hours connection would be from a normal landline?

Its quite a bit of expense for something thats hit and miss, usually the companies provide you with equipment or a freephone number to dial, or pay your phone charges. Thats what i've come across anyway.

Obviously you have not read the thread properly. For this job you would have to need a call package that includes unlimited calls to 0845 to avoid a high bill or your own recording equipment.
When I joined the company it did not cost me anything as I already had TalkTalk. If you do not wish to pay for the recording equipment you have to use the 0845 number that the company provides because that is how the call is recorded and it is essential to record all the calls you make in order to complete surveys otherwise your fee for the completed survey which has not been recorded may be withdrawn since the company will not have a proof of you making that call.
You have to register as Self-Employed, so really you are responsible for your own expensives which you can later claim or half of the expenses.
I think you have to go over the whole thread again because it seems like you have just dropped to the last page, skipped all the information because you could not be bothered to read it all.

Paul_Varjak

Claribel...

You really need to use the 0845 number with an unlimited call package or use your own recording equipment. It simply would not be viable if you had to pay for each call to an 0845 number. The full 0845 number is given to you when you start survey work.

Optimum Contact is a well established company. I previously did work for them as a mystery shopper but for almost 3 years have concentrated on telephone survey work.

AndreaE

I e-mailed OC about the situation with the 0845 number and they kindly sent me the following information:

Skype

Skype is a free piece of software, which can be downloaded via the following link:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/download/skype/windows/
You can use it to make Skype-to-Skype calls, send instant messages and even make video calls, all for free. In addition to this, you can also use it to make calls to phones and mobiles at very reasonable rates.
There are two payment options:
• Pay As You Go –purchase credit as and when you need it (like with a mobile phone)
• Pay Monthly – pay a monthly subscription of around £3.39 (UK only) for unlimited* landline calls
* The monthly subscription is described by Skype as giving 'unlimited' calls; however, the number of calls you can make is limited to 10,000 minutes per month / 6 hours per day / 50 called numbers per day. From our assessors’ experience, the limit of 50 calls per day seems to only apply to calls where you are actually connected rather than calls that go unanswered.
If you find you are using up your 50 calls per day, it is possible to take out a second subscription (as
recommended by Skype) by having two separate Skype accounts.
Calls to mobile numbers are not included within the subscription. It may be necessary to make survey calls to some mobile numbers, in which case you would need to purchase some Skype credit to facilitate this. When using Skype credit for survey calls to mobiles, it is often cheaper to call our 0845 number, as this is charged at around 8.5p per minute rather than around 16p per minute direct to a mobile.

Pamela

All survey calls must be recorded and Skype have their own software for recording calls – Pamela.
http://www.pamela.biz/en/
You can download a free trial initially, to see how it works and enable you to work out how much your
survey calls are costing with Skype, but Pamela Professional has been found to be the best option for
recording Skype calls and costs around €19.95 for a license, which includes life-long updates.
As soon as your call has connected, the recording will begin – you do not need to do anything; however, recordings must be e-mailed regularly to Optimum Contact as part of the audit process.

The Benefits of Skype

• You can make unlimited calls to landlines (as described above)
• Recording calls with Pamela is much quicker than with our 0845 system
• You can listen to any calls you have made (which is useful if you think you have missed anything or if
your computer crashes mid-way through a survey)
• You are not limited to where you work if you have a laptop, as you do not need to be by a phone
• Both hands are free to complete the survey, rather than having to hold a phone in one

clairibel

Thanks i have read the thread and read the application process. On the application they do not print the full number that's all. Just 0845.

But i'm not with talk talk and want to stay with sky! So would have to use 0845 of which no answer was given whether the company make money from this number.

No need to get antsy about it but some people need to ask the questions about possible negatives, thats what an open forum is about pro's and con's being discussed.

AndreaE

I'm not sure why you would care Clairibel.

As long as you are making money, does it matter if they are too? If they don't make money they cease to exist.

If you want to stay with Sky, you can used Skype for the calls.

clairibel

I care because i would have applied if it was cheaper to apply.

Been told before on this thread that skype is no good with not enough free calls. Now being told the 0845 number is not really viable due to cost and is just a starting method.

So its talk talk or that expensive recording equipment.

I just wouldn't be happy paying out x amount for a company to use their phone system when they could maybe use a freephone number or pay for your calls....its just too cost prohibitive for me and i just wanted to ask some questions thats all.

Not sure why everyone is so defensive about it???

AndreaE

Sorry Clairibel - didn't mean to be attacking - or defensive.

I realise that earlier in the thread it was said that Skype is no good but the details of Skype and the recording system Pamela were given to me by the company themselves who seem to think Skype is acceptable.

Personally I have no interest in this if it involves changing my phone package to TalkTalk (who don't have a good reputation anyway) but the Skype and Pamela combination does not have a high start up cost so looks like a good option to me.

I have no idea why they use an 0845 number but it certainly makes it all more complicated.

Apologies if my previous post sounded terse - it wasn't meant that way.