Just to get everyone familiar with what TeleContact is all about, I thought I'd open with a brief history of this company.
TeleContact Resource Services (or TRS) is a B2B telemarketing firm located in Modesto, California that works nationwide with business clients, mostly from the insurance industry. They have a call center with about 25 part-time agents that all work in-house. The main objective of TRS is to sell blocks of telemarketing hours to their clients on a regular basis. These clients entrust that TRS is using these hours (usually priced at $39 per hour, but never less than $32) to set sales appointments for them.
Now, what I'm about to reveal is 100% true, as I was employed as a sales agent for this company and saw first-hand the level of corruption and deception within this company. This is meant to serve as a warning to all who seek B2B telemarketing with TRS.
Let's start with how TRS acquires the majority of their clients. There are two sources that pretty much do the same thing, BuyerZone.com and VendorSeek.com. These are sites that collect basic contact information from businesses seeking telemarketing information. Once they complete a brief form, their information is forwarded to 5-10 companies (including TRS) that contact them to pitch their programs. This is where TRS begins their deception.
You see, despite the fact that TRS is a small company, their level of corruption rivals the worst from those in Big Business.in fact, TeleContact Resource Services was once named, TeleMarketing Resource Services. Their name was changed a few years ago to avoid legal and ethical entanglements with clients they ripped off and overcharged.
As sales agents, we are told that we must advertise the following to any prospective client, looking to begin or continue their telemarketing programs with us:
- "We are the longest running telemarketing firm in the nation." This is simply not true, as a quick Google search will find a handful of companies that have been around longer than TRS by many years.
- "We have about 50 agents on the phones telemarketing." Also, untrue. Like I said above, it's really about 25 agents and they all work part-time at that! Even if you count the 10 members of management, you're still well below the count of 50 total employees. Should it really take 10 full-time managers to run a small call center of 25? It shouldn't, but it's clear where most of the $39 per hour is going.
- "We have a quality assurance program in place." This is a joke. Although TRS claims to record every single appointment set for their clients, many are far from the level of quality the clients expect. I know, as I've heard hundreds of these recordings. 90% of the time, the agents fail to follow even the most basic script. The agents limp through the call and do everything, including lying, to set an appointment. Here's a tip, always ask for the recordings. All of them. You're paying for them, after all.
- "Our agents are experienced and most have been here at TRS for years." Total fabrication. 80% of the employees, besides management, have less than a year with TRS. For many, it's also the first time they've worked in a call center at all. TRS has a huge revolving door when it comes to their employees. Agent pay is low (an average of $9.50 an hour) and TRS' expectations are high.
- "All of the hours you purchase will be used to set appointments and generate leads for your business." This is the biggest falsehood of all. Clients are made to believe that the hours they are paying for are used 100% to set appointments for them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here's an example, a client pays $39 per hour for 10 hours of telemarketing per week for three months: $4,680 for 120 hours. For the most part, TRS will have an agent work on the account until they reach three appointments. Once they hit that magic number of three, the account is deemed "closed" for the week, regardless if the agent only performed 3-5 hours of actual phone time to get those appointments. Even if they don't get the "magic three", TRS usually telemarkets on only half of the hours that were paid for by the client and, undisclosed to the client, accounts for the other 50% as "administration duties". From my experience, these "duties" are clearly 10 to 15 cigarette breaks during the day, two hour lunches and leaving the office early. All the while, TRS manipulates their own data to reflect all of the hours worked on the phones and sends these fabricated reports to the client.
From my experience, TRS has built their business on the foundation of lies. They grossly overcharge clients for their services while not even working all of the hours these clients have paid thousands of dollars for. I have listened to and spoken with clients that have pointed out the deception that TRS has presented to them and have seen TRS continue to lie in hopes to explain their concerns away.
Don't become the next victim of TeleContact Resource Services!
If you need any additional information, let me know.
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