- Report: #511447
Complaint Review: Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. Willow CSN Incorporated - Miramar Florida
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Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. Willow CSN Incorporated
3450 Lakeside Dr,, Suite 620 Miramar, 33027 Florida, United States of America
Phone:
866-771004
Web:
Arise.com
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Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., Willow CSN Incorporated Willow Charge High Fees for certification - Compensation changes once you are certified Miramar, Florida
I recently trained with this company for a position with a cruise line. I paid several hundred dollars for the training. This is a sales application.
I worked for the company 6 weeks when Arise notified all agents for this application that the current compensation structure of $.18 per minute talk time plus a booking bonus would be changed to a a "per call" rate of a $1.15 (base).
The biggest problem with this is the fact that we are still expected to keep up with the same booking numbers. Because this application has somewhat out of date software, each booking has to be made separately. For instance, you cannot go in and click "3" for number of cabins. You have to bring up a separate screen for each cabin, do all contact information each time, enter all guests, enter dine time, insurance, and send all confirmations separately. Most calls are for mutiple bookings.
If 1 agent calls and wants to book seven cabins, it will take almost an hour to do. That means you will get $1.15 for that call.
Now there is a chance the next call might take only 1 minute and you would also get paid $1.15 for that call. This, however does not happen often since the calls are routed so we get the sales calls and not the other calls that could take just a minute such as the cruise line website, or phone number etc.
The other problem is the technical problems that have nothing to do with the agents, but with the Arise applications. For instance, the screens that we have to use to enter the data are always freezing or going down. This means we have to start over entering information, thereby even more time on the call and we are not reimbursed for the failure of the Arise components.
Now we are not allowed to negotiate these rates. We are told the minimum number of hours we have to work. We are required to take their classes to train for the applications and we have to use their software. Does this make us employee's, there fore having the right to a minimum wage, tax witholding, family leave benefits and other benefits.
Arise has told us they are realigning the pay structure in order make us more in line with the compensation the cruise line's internal staff receives. However, when they realigned they never used the benefits the internal staff receives that we do not. We pay 0 of our health insurance, 100% FICA, 100% Social Security, have no family benefits, pay 100% of our dental not to mention not having no 401 or other retirement plan in place. They only used the per minute call rate and booking bonus in their metrics.
I urge all Florida residents working for Arise to go to your State and County governments and file a complaint about Arise and their business practices. I urge persons from other states to do this as well, however the Florida complaints will be looked at first because the State of Florida will be able to subpeona Arise's business records more quickly than the governments from the other states.
Thank you for your time in this matter.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Jared Fletcher
USAWe Understand Your Concern
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, October 28, 2009
Dear Concerned,
We've been talking with many of your fellow ACPs since this change was announced, but I wanted to express that all of us at Arise have heard your concerns. I'm sorry that we did not do a good job of communicating with you about the new guidelines, and we've changed some of our procedures over the last couple of days as a result. I'm happy to speak with you one-on-one and see if we can resolve this. You can email me at [email protected].
Sincerely, Jared Fletcher Vice President, Strategic Sourcing and VSC Relations
Mieke
USA,Georgia,
U.S.A.
In the Same Boat- Different View..
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, October 25, 2009
While I too am in the same proverbial boat, there are some things in your post that have me concerned.
The first is that you are stating you worked for the company you did not, nor have you ever as an acp worked for the client. You are contacted. As with ANY contract, there can, and usually will be some changes when the existing contact is up for renewal which ours was. As a contacted entity, you must obide by the terms of the contact or if you decide to decline the new contact, that is fine too. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. If this opportunity does not compensate at a rate you feel is acceptable, you can go to another.
I am sincerely sorry of any tech issues you are having- have you gone to live support? Often the fix is something as simple as changing versions of a needed software program, like Java. I have not experience the technical issues you have described, so I am not sure if this is something you can blame on Arise.
Arise has listened to us and have reviewed the compensation structure. While it is not going to please everyone, it is a step in the right direction. I for one refuse to jump on any bandwagon that will hurt my livelihood. While not happy with the rate changes, they have done nothing illegal.
I will focus on my other clients.
