It strikes me that telemarketers seem to stepping up the pace in this last week before compliance with the DNCL is required. I know that I am getting a lot more calls than ever before.
Last week, a call centre in India said they were calling to “upgrade my phone service”. Well, I couldn’t very well hang up on that kind of offer, could I?
They claim to have been calling on behalf of Yootel, a VoIP company that purports to be based in Toronto, although the phone number on their website goes to a message saying “we’re sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
The call centre insisted that the Yootel service would work in case of power failure, because of battery backup in the VoIP gateway device. When I asked how they would keep my broadband internet running during a power failure, the answer kept going back to the battery in the VoIP Gateway. Finally, the agent agreed to get back to me after he consulted with their technology department.
Although Yootel’s website warns that the service won’t work during power outages, the call centre was insistent that the website was wrong. They gave me a Toronto phone number that works, but it doesn’t seem to reach real people, even during normal business hours. I finally reached a live human at Yootel who confirmed that there is no battery backup – the service doesn’t work when the power is out.
Hopefully, not too many consumers are being misled by the outbound centre’s kind of sales pitch. Over the top VoIP isn’t going to work during a power failure, no matter how many times the salesman repeats that the IP gateway has a battery.
Hopefully, it won’t take a catastrophe that could damage the reputation of the entire segment. In the meantime, consumers should do their homework. With any luck, this blog posting will score high in their Google search.