Complaint Review: Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. Willow CSN Incorporated - Nationwide

I find it interesting that employees of Arise working for Disney are concerned about their jobs and their incomes when the Disney Reservation Centers are laying off their cast members -some of whom have been with the company for 20 years, because Disney is literally giving their jobs to Arise in the first place.

Every day more and more calls are being sent to Arise. DRC Cast members are sitting there with no way to make their sale goals let alone get a bonus as in the past. After three months of not making your goal, you are out of a job. How unfair is that? I would say plenty unfair. The latest scam is that if you do make a sale, then you will be fielded additional calls. If no sale is made, then you fall down on the line of calls to be sent your way. Again, cast members are being manipulated and selectively weeded out. 

Disney is outsourcing calls that belong to DRC to Arise. They are slowly and methodically closing the departments that handle dining and special events all the while telling their cast members that they are not doing so. It is obvious from these posts that Arise is already doing Itinerary booking. Unbelievable! No regard by Disney whatsoever for their own employees.  Many years ago, Disney cared about their employees. They would never outsource or hire a company such as Arise if it meant taking something away from the people who actually work for Disney. Now the powers that be have a totally new agenda. Unlike with being a Disney employee, Arise employees are not receiving the wonderful medical, dental, and vision insurance Disney provides. Nor are they receiving the main gate pass, paid sick leave, berevment pay or the discounts on rooms or dining or merchandise. They are not privy to the wonderful cast sales that go on. In short, by eliminating Disney jobs and outsourcing to Arise, Disney is saving a butt load of money. I wouldn't be surprised if the next company Disney hires to take calls isn't in China.

As for the new computer system. A number of DRC employees in Orlando were selected to test it. When they told the powers that be, it wasn't ready, they went ahead and implemented it kinks and all. Why? Because it was yet another tactic to keep employees from reaching their goals, hence keep their jobs. 

I do agree it is all about manipulation but the guilty party here is Disney. They should be ashamed. Arise employees can look to the fact that Arise will have other companies but DRC employees can only look forward to the unemployment line. Personally I would never pay a company to work for it like Arise employees have to do by paying for a client and being 'certified'.  And for no more than you get out of it. All I can say is there is 'one' born every minute. And Disney has found the perfect engine in Arise to capitalize on that 'one'.

Tigger- A) it is a violation of the NDA and MSA to list what you have. Agent to agent- you must be very careful when posting on public boards.

Have you looked at other opportunities..? I have been through my share of client transitions and have found that taking another non related cert class and working the minimum on the transitioning application can save you at least some frustration while bugs are being worked out. That is what I have done and have much success with it.

I hope DD gets better for you!

1. Ala Carte program/software- First we had high expectations as to what this new application was going to do to revolutionize Disney dining by providing improvements that would make searching and booking reservations easier thus providing guests with greater satisfaction. Even though we were not told exactly what to expect in the way of improvements, one always expects the new system to be an improvement over the old system. Ala carte was supposed to begin back in November 2008 but never came about until the following year. Granted I know that progress and transitions sometimes encounters delays, but when the system did go live, in my opinion it wasn't ready even then and should have never be introduced, it was a nightmare. We were coached and told to stick with it that Disney is working diligently to improve performance. I will admit that there were some improvements made in some of the features but nothing near what needs to be corrected. There are basic problems, errors and glitches that have plagued the system since its inception that still have not been resolved. The application is unstable, unreliable and causes frustration for guests and agents. It has been months now and I have tried to remain flexible and allow progress during the Transition period, but when your own DRC agents hate the system, most other Arise Agents that I have talked with or by reading comments posted in the chat room, hate the Ala Carte system and your own Disney cast members at the dining locations hate the system, it is hard to keep committing so much time for so little pay. I am an annual pass holder and witnessed first-hand the frustrations that cast members are experiencing at the restaurant locations and I will quote a cast member from a recent visit, I don't know why they went to this new system it doesn't work very well. I believe that Disney was sold a bill of goods with this Ala Carte system and now is too embarrassed and in too deep to turn back and this is causing the agents and cast members to suffer and ultimately the guests. 2. Compensation- It has been appalling at the way Arise has been changing and adjusting compensation methods since converting to the Ala Carte system and none of them have been satisfactory or to the agents benefit. Granted with the implementation of the new system, there was a period in which a Wait and see approach had to be taken with regards to average talk time. The average talk time was adjusted to take into consideration the difficulties with the system, but the compensation per call was not improved. We were told that over time with use of the system that talk times would improve, which for the most part I think that they have, however, the in-market dine average talk time still remains too low and is unreasonable. Also the itinerary planning call average talk time remains too high. This is causing most agents to be getting compensated at the lowest amount per call thus reducing agent's income. Also since it does take more time to book reservations in Ala carte that has reduced the number of calls per hour an agent can take, again reducing income, but this has been off-set by the addition of new dining agents so that hold time for guests is reduced or remains the same. I personally have seen a dramatic drop in income from last year's average of $14/hr to a meager $8.00/hr since beginning Ala Carte. I have looked at the weekly stats that are being sent out and I have looked at the compensation numbers and they are dismal for a large majority of the agents. Florida minimum wage is $7.25/hr but as corporations there are additions tax liabilities to factor in also. For the month of July (Factoring in basic internet & telephone expenses) my corporation made $7.16/hr for the work that I did. Therefore the corporation cannot even afford to pay me minimum wage. Ala carte has been a huge financial improvement for Arise and/or Disneyby getting the same amount of work for less money, so either Arise is pocketing the difference or Disney is paying less for our services. I used to track my call types on a daily basis with the Avaya logs so that I knew whether or not to speed up or slow down so that I could maximize compensation by being at the optimum average talk time. Now, as of this past month, I was advised that the call types in Avaya are no longer accurate. So I have not been able to manage my own talk time, but in response, Arise has been sending out weekly call type and talk time information. As one who has tracked call times, if you are off after a week it is nearly impossible to correct your times, so in short the information is for the most part worthless, especially when flying blind due to inaccurate Avaya logs. It seems that this is just another step taken by Arise to intentionally reduce agent income. 3. On-line reservations- this has been another financial benefit for Disney. They save money for each reservation that is booked online. Granted this is the way of the world and I will admit I think that it is also a great improvement for guests to have that option, but I don't care how you candy coat it in the town hall meetings this is greatly impacting Arise and its agent's compensation, period! As asked by someone in the town hall meeting if there were stats on exactly how much impact the online reservations are having? The actual impact was unknown or at least to Arise, but I bet Disney knows! No, I agree it will not replace us, but anyone with any common sense will tell you that if it cuts down on calls, it is cutting down on our income. Even today, it was advised in the chat room to agents that if they had down-time in between calls to do some research on One Source. I was wondering how much per hour we were getting paid to do that? When I log in to work, I expect to work, not wait several minutes in between calls; I am not getting paid to wait. It is very clear and evident by the chat room comments that there are far too many agents logged in than are needed to handle calls.

This is a question for all Arise ACPs. I've read plenty of positive/negative information on Arise. Here's one I could use some clarification on. Encore Marketing is currently one of the "opportunities" to be posted for ACPs soon. I have read tons of negative comments about Encore Marketing on many sites via Google and ofcourse Ripoff Report. How is it that Arise is doing business with such a untrustworthy company?

I have been with Arise for about 8 years, working in their home office. When I started here, we had over 250 clients. As the years have gone by, we have seen a downward trend in our client base. This year will be no exception, as many of our contracts will be expiring, and most of these clients have inferred that they will no longer be in need of our services. These clients have already began to decrease the amount of work they have sent our way. Many of the active ACPs have began noticing less and less hours available. As a result of the decreased work, Arise has started performing mass SOW terminations across these clients. The SOW terminations are being performed more or less on a lottery basis with little or no regard for actual work ethics (Committment Adherence, QA, etc.) of the affected ACPs. There have been subtle hints that Arise is losing clients - less certification courses are being offered, Arise applications are still not compatible with Windows Vista, Arise has made passing the client certifications nearly impossible. Has anyone noticed that there are questions on the certification exams that your instructor never went over (by no fault of theirs, this is intentional) and the information is not contained in any of the course material?

What most people don't realyze or forget is that you are not an Arise "Employee" you don't technically work for Arise. You have your own business that you are solely responsible for. You are a "Sub-contractor" if you will. Arise hires your company to perform certain tasks/jobs for a company which has contracted them to provide these services. It is your responsiblity to work within the guidelines that Arise and/or the service company has put in place. It is a right to work situation. If you don't want to work or work within the guidelines provided, then you don't or won't be able to work, plain and simple. So as long as you keep in mind that fact and don't expect that Arise is going to treat you like an employee, but more like a business who is contracted to perform work then, you will be fine. So they don't provide benifits, workmans compensation, insurance etc.....They put the work out there and if want it take it and run with it, if you loose that contract or are not successful at it then, outside of some extreme circuimstances, it is your fault move on and find a better client to work for. What I see is that the people that have complaints about Arise, have been contracting with some of the companies that offer crappy contracts and pay. Take your time when selecting clients and don't just take the first opportunity that they offer, some are better than others. I have been working solely for Disney and it is great and I am averaging about $20-$30 per hour (pre-tax and pre-business tax, you got to remember you are having to pay business as well as personal tax on the money your company gets paid from Arise). This is probably not the best business venture to start if you work full time and don't have the savings to be out of work for a couple of months until you get started and your income steam begins to flow. It is great for a second person in the family that might stay at home already and is not the sole breadwinner in the household or someone in early retirement who has other streams of income support them and they just want to work Arise part-time as addtional income. So you need to use your brain a little when you begin and don't just think that in a couple of weeks you will be rolling in the money. It me and initial investment of about $1000 and time of course and a couple of months jumping through hoops, but after that, If I worked 40 hours a week (pretty lazy, so I didn't work too many 40 hr weeks) but I could bring in about $2400-$2600 a month gross income (not too shabby) for working at home...Lets just say working as a Police officer for 8 years I was only netting about $2200 a month and that job sucked!!! Not getting shot at behind my computer!!! Not having to get ready for work, drive into work, being told when to work, dealing with supervisors, etc.......Being semi-retired allowed me the luxury of getting set up with Arise and taking my time and selecting a good client.....

What most people don't realyze or forget is that you are not an Arise "Employee" you don't technically work for Arise. You have your own business that you are solely responsible for. You are a "Sub-contractor" if you will. Arise hires your company to perform certain tasks/jobs for a company which has contracted them to provide these services. It is your responsiblity to work within the guidelines that Arise and/or the service company has put in place. It is a right to work situation. If you don't want to work or work within the guidelines provided, then you don't or won't be able to work, plain and simple. So as long as you keep in mind that fact and don't expect that Arise is going to treat you like an employee, but more like a business who is contracted to perform work then, you will be fine. So they don't provide benifits, workmans compensation, insurance etc.....They put the work out there and if want it take it and run with it, if you loose that contract or are not successful at it then, outside of some extreme circuimstances, it is your fault move on and find a better client to work for. What I see is that the people that have complaints about Arise, have been contracting with some of the companies that offer crappy contracts and pay. Take your time when selecting clients and don't just take the first opportunity that they offer, some are better than others. I have been working solely for Disney and it is great and I am averaging about $20-$30 per hour (pre-tax and pre-business tax, you got to remember you are having to pay business as well as personal tax on the money your company gets paid from Arise). This is probably not the best business venture to start if you work full time and don't have the savings to be out of work for a couple of months until you get started and your income steam begins to flow. It is great for a second person in the family that might stay at home already and is not the sole breadwinner in the household or someone in early retirement who has other streams of income support them and they just want to work Arise part-time as addtional income. So you need to use your brain a little when you begin and don't just think that in a couple of weeks you will be rolling in the money. It me and initial investment of about $1000 and time of course and a couple of months jumping through hoops, but after that, If I worked 40 hours a week (pretty lazy, so I didn't work too many 40 hr weeks) but I could bring in about $2400-$2600 a month gross income (not too shabby) for working at home...Lets just say working as a Police officer for 8 years I was only netting about $2200 a month and that job sucked!!! Not getting shot at behind my computer!!! Not having to get ready for work, drive into work, being told when to work, dealing with supervisors, etc.......Being semi-retired allowed me the luxury of getting set up with Arise and taking my time and selecting a good client.....

What most people don't realyze or forget is that you are not an Arise "Employee" you don't technically work for Arise. You have your own business that you are solely responsible for. You are a "Sub-contractor" if you will. Arise hires your company to perform certain tasks/jobs for a company which has contracted them to provide these services. It is your responsiblity to work within the guidelines that Arise and/or the service company has put in place. It is a right to work situation. If you don't want to work or work within the guidelines provided, then you don't or won't be able to work, plain and simple. So as long as you keep in mind that fact and don't expect that Arise is going to treat you like an employee, but more like a business who is contracted to perform work then, you will be fine. So they don't provide benifits, workmans compensation, insurance etc.....They put the work out there and if want it take it and run with it, if you loose that contract or are not successful at it then, outside of some extreme circuimstances, it is your fault move on and find a better client to work for. What I see is that the people that have complaints about Arise, have been contracting with some of the companies that offer crappy contracts and pay. Take your time when selecting clients and don't just take the first opportunity that they offer, some are better than others. I have been working solely for Disney and it is great and I am averaging about $20-$30 per hour (pre-tax and pre-business tax, you got to remember you are having to pay business as well as personal tax on the money your company gets paid from Arise). This is probably not the best business venture to start if you work full time and don't have the savings to be out of work for a couple of months until you get started and your income steam begins to flow. It is great for a second person in the family that might stay at home already and is not the sole breadwinner in the household or someone in early retirement who has other streams of income support them and they just want to work Arise part-time as addtional income. So you need to use your brain a little when you begin and don't just think that in a couple of weeks you will be rolling in the money. It me and initial investment of about $1000 and time of course and a couple of months jumping through hoops, but after that, If I worked 40 hours a week (pretty lazy, so I didn't work too many 40 hr weeks) but I could bring in about $2400-$2600 a month gross income (not too shabby) for working at home...Lets just say working as a Police officer for 8 years I was only netting about $2200 a month and that job sucked!!! Not getting shot at behind my computer!!! Not having to get ready for work, drive into work, being told when to work, dealing with supervisors, etc.......Being semi-retired allowed me the luxury of getting set up with Arise and taking my time and selecting a good client.....

What most people don't realyze or forget is that you are not an Arise "Employee" you don't technically work for Arise. You have your own business that you are solely responsible for. You are a "Sub-contractor" if you will. Arise hires your company to perform certain tasks/jobs for a company which has contracted them to provide these services. It is your responsiblity to work within the guidelines that Arise and/or the service company has put in place. It is a right to work situation. If you don't want to work or work within the guidelines provided, then you don't or won't be able to work, plain and simple. So as long as you keep in mind that fact and don't expect that Arise is going to treat you like an employee, but more like a business who is contracted to perform work then, you will be fine. So they don't provide benifits, workmans compensation, insurance etc.....They put the work out there and if want it take it and run with it, if you loose that contract or are not successful at it then, outside of some extreme circuimstances, it is your fault move on and find a better client to work for. What I see is that the people that have complaints about Arise, have been contracting with some of the companies that offer crappy contracts and pay. Take your time when selecting clients and don't just take the first opportunity that they offer, some are better than others. I have been working solely for Disney and it is great and I am averaging about $20-$30 per hour (pre-tax and pre-business tax, you got to remember you are having to pay business as well as personal tax on the money your company gets paid from Arise). This is probably not the best business venture to start if you work full time and don't have the savings to be out of work for a couple of months until you get started and your income steam begins to flow. It is great for a second person in the family that might stay at home already and is not the sole breadwinner in the household or someone in early retirement who has other streams of income support them and they just want to work Arise part-time as addtional income. So you need to use your brain a little when you begin and don't just think that in a couple of weeks you will be rolling in the money. It me and initial investment of about $1000 and time of course and a couple of months jumping through hoops, but after that, If I worked 40 hours a week (pretty lazy, so I didn't work too many 40 hr weeks) but I could bring in about $2400-$2600 a month gross income (not too shabby) for working at home...Lets just say working as a Police officer for 8 years I was only netting about $2200 a month and that job sucked!!! Not getting shot at behind my computer!!! Not having to get ready for work, drive into work, being told when to work, dealing with supervisors, etc.......Being semi-retired allowed me the luxury of getting set up with Arise and taking my time and selecting a good client.....

I am an Active ACP with Arise and have been for sometime. I am not sure how you can call Arise unethical... their business model is outlined very clearly on the site- it is the responsibility of each person to read it. During the fall of 2008, there were tons of opportunities- there wasn't a shortage. However, this time of year tends to be a bit slow. If you are looking to start working right away, this may not be the best time of year as it is a bit slower than normal. In the end, Arise may not be a good fit for everyone, however, they are not unethical. Arise is a legitimate work from home opportunity... you are considered an independent contractor / small business owner- not an employee. If this does not appeal to you, then you may want to look for something different. I wish you luck! Ruthie

Many people are very successful for years with working with Arise, however this does not mean that the company practices fair, honest and ethical business practices. Working as a independent contractor, it will cost between $500 to $1200 to begin working for a client. Most people once they pass the client exams will make this initial investment back in 30 days or less. Do not assume that working hard will keep your contract from being terminated. Once employed, it may take months to enroll in your first class, I waited almost six months for my first client, because opportunities fill up extremely fast. Also, some clients are better than others to work for. Arise is not the type of company that anyone should begin with if they need money right away. A set service fee is deducted monthly from your salary, problems are slow to resolve with technical equipment and pay checks, and many clients require weekend hours with a minimum of 20 hours per week. Some clients offer very poor training, some have very high sale expectations and some will terminate 50% to 80% of their contractors every six months. Right now, there are more complaints against Arise's business practices than compliments, and this is a warning that the company is a high risk investment of time, talent and money.

Many people are very successful for years with working with Arise, however this does not mean that the company practices fair, honest and ethical business practices. Working as a independent contractor, it will cost between $500 to $1200 to begin working for a client. Most people once they pass the client exams will make this initial investment back in 30 days or less. Do not assume that working hard will keep your contract from being terminated. Once employed, it may take months to enroll in your first class, I waited almost six months for my first client, because opportunities fill up extremely fast. Also, some clients are better than others to work for. Arise is not the type of company that anyone should begin with if they need money right away. A set service fee is deducted monthly from your salary, problems are slow to resolve with technical equipment and pay checks, and many clients require weekend hours with a minimum of 20 hours per week. Some clients offer very poor training, some have very high sale expectations and some will terminate 50% to 80% of their contractors every six months. Right now, there are more complaints against Arise's business practices than compliments, and this is a warning that the company is a high risk investment of time, talent and money.

I have been an ACP since 2005 and while Arise is not perfect, (who is?) they are definitely legit and do their best to work with you if you have issues. Did you try going through the Resolution Center? If not, that would be the only way to go since emails directly to your PF or Lead about this issue will not be resolved due to the chain-of-command that must be followed (use of the Resolution Center). You can also call Support to find out how you can resolve your tech issues. I'm glad you found another job somewhere else because like mates....not everyone is cut out for every company/job just like not everyone is cut out for each other.

Wow DM- I am sorry to hear about your negative experience! I have been an independent contactor (Arise Certified Professional) for almost five years and my experience has been quite the opposite. I have been contracted with various opportunities and prefer to work full time hours as this is my full time source of income. I always ensure I read all email communications especially those regarding financials (i.e. vouchers) as all details for the use are located in the communication. The Arise team has always responded to all of my inquires, though sometimes not immediate when an issue requires additional research. Based on what you have posted (you did not seem to have any issues until you needed to secure an alternate opportunity), I wonder if you did not really give the opportunity a fair chance. I have had opportunities that were not a good fit, this is normal. I have found that you get out of Arise (or any home based business) exactly what you put into it. It takes hard work, dedication and focus to have a successful home based business- Arise is no different. My point is that Arise may not have been a good fit for you, however it has been wonderful for me. I just wanted to share an alternate perspective. In the end, everyone must research and make a decision based on their personal needs. Thank you, Ruthie Active ACP, Arizona