Voice, Data & Internet
The Key to Successful Business

Master Agencies make up a big part of our telecommunications livelihoods.  We all can’t take on the quotas that come with the large service providers.  So the master becomes a necessary evil in our industry.

In my opinion, I look for them to bite off these big contracts and provide me with excellent customer service.  I don’t mind giving them a piece of my hard work if they can handle the above two requirements.  Some agents (like myself) desire to have a strong relationship with our customers, and others just want to hand the deals over and be on their way.

I suppose it works the same way with the smaller providers that we all sign our own agreements with.  However, the bottom line is that we need support.  Most of us are 1-5 man shops.  We don’t always have time to deal with service or install issues.  We need the masters and the vendors to help us when these issues arise.  But, what happens when they fall down on the job?

I run all of my Verizon work through a rather large master agency that I will not name in this blog.  I recently gave them a 7 line pots order for a construction company that I do a lot of work with.  They needed the lines for elevators and alarm circuits so that they could get the building inspected and opened.

This particular installation had only fiber optics coming into the building.  As we all know, POTS lines need copper.  So, a piece of equipment is needed to convert them.  I have spent the three days since I got back from Channel Partners trying to get this done.  I told the master agency this over and over again, but they continued to tell me that Verizon says the lines are installed and tagged at the DMARK.  This is just not so.  However, I can’t call Verizon because I don’t have a contract with them.  I rely on the master to do that.

I have been on the phone for three days with the customer calling Verizon and dealing with the area construction coordinator.  Techs show up and leave because they are “copper only” techs.  Should I be spending my time on this?  I think not.  This is the job of the master.  But, they keep telling me the customer should call Verizon directly.  They keep telling me the lines have been installed and tagged.  None of this ever happened but they don’t believe me.  What do I do?  I dig in and help the customer while the master with 30 employees sits on their hands and calls me a liar.

Thus the question that enters my mind tonight…..What is the purpose of the master agency?

Just a regular rant here…Nothing to do with Telecom…..Or maybe it all does tie together in the end?

The news comes out that our beloved Sammy was on the list of names (that was supposed to be kept from the public) of players who tested positive for steroids.  Why is this such a shock to anyone…..Why is this even news?  Anyone who saw him as a young man with the Sox (before picture) and as a home run king with the Cubs (after picture) knows that he did steroids.  My good friend John Shear once said that he went from the skinny guy on What’s Happening to someone from the WWE.  The guy hit 66 home runs in a single season.  I remember the days when 50 was a huge deal.  Andre Dawson hit 49 and won the MVP for a losing team.  Anyway I digress.

The talk has turned to how this is going to keep him out of the Hall of Fame.  Everyone knew he wasn’t going to get voted in anyway because he was suspected of using.  On ESPN tonight they put him in a group with Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose.  In my opinion Shoeless Joe got a raw deal.  Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager.  On a side note I think the person most screwed out of the Hall is Ron Santo.  Anyway, steriods were not on the list of banned substances when Sammy tested positive.  Players have always used whatever they could to get ahead in baseball.  Spit balls, nail files, corked bats (Sammy did that too), pine tar, uppers, you name it.  In every profession people will do whatever they can to get ahead.  Salespeople do things to beat the competition (somtimes fairly-sometimes not).  My point is steroids were not on the banned substance list at the time.

I would even go so far as to say that the magical summer of Sammy vs Mac saved baseball and brought people to the park.  It was definately a resurection if not a savior.  I think we can all agree that he was just doing something that by baseball rules was not illegial.  Wait for it…Wait for it…Oh yeah, kind of like surcharges on telephone bills.  It is not illegal….The FCC says they can do it….They never really put any rules on it.  Now is time for I predict.  I predict that myself and like minded people will bring this issue to the forefront.  Just like the reporters did nothing through the steriod years.  What happens every time companies get greedy?  I have sat back long enough, now is the time for action!   Help me bring the Surcharge issue to the forefront, just like it happened in baseball it can happen in telecom.

I have an issue that is really burning my ass lately. I just don’t understand how this whole surcharge (which have been made to look like taxes on phone bills) thing has gotten as out of control as it has. I review customer’s phone bills every day, and every day I want to pull out what is left of my hair.

It is very simple. The price of a PRI has dropped significantly over the last few years. What we used to sell for about $500.00 now can be purchased for as low as $299.00. At first glance you mark it up to a PRI becoming a commodity or competition in the marketplace. I am here to tell you it is neither. By the time you get done your bill is still going to be close to the $500.00 mark.

There are two reasons this chaps my ass. The first is the consumer is getting hosed! The second is that agents only get paid on the base price. Consumer bills are filled with what I like to call “bullshit charges.” These charges are made to look like taxes and have some very funny names like “Regulatory Recovery Fee” and “Universal Service Fund Surcharge.” The government let’s telcos get away with this. My question is why?

As simple way to look at this is your average cell phone bill. You think you pay $49 for that package but your bill is $75. Sure some of it is actual taxes, but some of it is also bullshit.

I just signed up a new customer here in Chicago and I took a vendor in to explain all of these charges to that customer. He told me that he bought from us because he knew he was getting screwed, but we were the only ones who were honest about it and took the time to walk him through all of it. So what happened to this poor guy? He gets his first bill and there is a new surcharge on it for “Network Maintenance.” He said to me, “Didn’t they know they were going to have to do maintenance on their network?”

We were honest and told him everything, and then some suit decides he can get another $10 of pure profit out of all their customers. Why? Because the government told him he could. How can we put a stop to this (or at least get paid on it since it is profit to the telcos)?

I know that many shady salespeople don’t even talk about these fees. I try, but it is obvious that I can’t even keep up with it and I deal with it every day. Something must be done, and I am looking to everyone reading this post for help. Please let me know your thoughts!

Has anyone else noticed that customers are looking for more and more ways out of a contract?  They all want a 3 year price with a month to month contract.  This is how Wikipedia defines contract:

A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do, or refrain from doing, an act, which resulting contract is enforceable in a court of law. It is a binding legal agreement. ^[1] That is to say, a contract is an exchange of promises for the breach of which the law will provide a remedy.

I recently had a customer that wanted to buy an Internet T1.  He liked my price of $299.00 with a router but said that he was concerned about the contract.  So, I gave him a one year price.  He thought that was too high.  So, I went back to the vendor and got him a business downturn clause, another addendum with an out for poor service, and a 90 day trial period.  He still balked at everything.  This is a three hundred dollar a month deal with as many outs as I could give him and he still was not happy.  He wanted a clause that basically said he could take his ball and leave at any time.  I finally told the gentleman to quit wasting my time and hung up on him.

This is not the first time this has happened to me recently.  If you sign a 3 year lease on a car can you take it back halfway through the lease?  I don’t think so.  So, why should you be able to get out of your telecommunications contracts?  I deal with a lot of traders who only do one year deals and spend the extra money so that they have this flexiblity.  Why don’t others see it this way?

I do however have a solution.  SBC/Ameritech used to do it this way.  You sign a 3 year deal and if you leave after one year you pay the difference in what the one year vs the three year contract was.  If anyone knows of a vendor that handles things this way, I would love to work with them, and would appreciate you letting me know about them…..Thoughts?