AnswerConnect — Local services in Portland

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! We have used answering services for over 15 years for our overflow and after-hours calls. We cancelled service with our last company when they started sending calls overseas. We were looking for a US based company that was on-shore and simple. The usual take a message and we will call you back.

That's what we were sold on with this company. Our rep, Ismael T., was amazing at first. Kind, explained that he used to be one of the virtual receptionists before he went to sales, and that he loved the company and what he did. All things you want to hear.

This service was more expensive than the one we previously had, but we were willing to spend a bit more. Our plan was contracted for 125 minutes at $275 (about $100 more than our previous). Before AnswerConnect, we averaged about 85 minutes per month. The only plans AnswerConnect offered were 75 or 125 minutes, so we figured the 125 would do.

When signing up, Ismael informed me of the promotions. At sign up, the first month was $10 for 300 minutes, and then every month thereafter would be whatever we contracted at. He also let me know that in every month we received 30 free CALLS under 30 seconds. KEEP THIS IN MIND, IT'S IMPORTANT.

First month, thought nothing of it. Again, we used to have about 85 minutes a month, so it my mind, I had nothing to worry about. WRONG. Imagine my surprise when my bill was $360.80, compared to my contracted $275.

I logged into the portal to see where the issue was. To my surprise, I was charged for 169 minutes. Over DOUBLE what was normal for our company. On the invoice, it showed that there were 131 calls. We maybe only received notification of 30 of these "calls". After looking through every message description in the portal, I realized less than half of these "calls" had anyone on the other line, yet I was getting charged for a full minute.

After calling customer service, I was told by Priyanka K. that 73 of the "calls" had no response. Since the free 30 under 30 applied, I was "only" charged for 43 of these calls. She found 130 calls, although the invoice reported 131. Interestingly, if you subtract the 43 charged minutes of blank "calls" from the supposed 168 minutes (above says 131 calls, but if she found 1 call less, that means we would be 1 minute less), that totals to exactly 125 minutes. What we were contracted for.

Charging full minutes for "calls" with no one on the other end was NEVER communicated ANYWHERE, including our original contract, emails, and conversations that I have gone back through.

I am a reasonable human being. I understand that whether or not someone is on the other line, the person picking up the phone who has a job to do. HOWEVER, writing "no response on other line" takes 5 seconds. Not 1 full minute. I would even understand if I was rounded up to the half minute for that, but no. What is not communicated is that YOU ARE ROUNDED UP TO THE FULL MINUTE FOR ANY RINGS IN, EVEN IF THE OTHER LINE IS BLANK.

After days of fighting over the unethical charges, we made it very clear we wanted to cancel. Conveniently for AnswerConnect, we had already started in the next billing cycle and had to wait, as they didn't offer a prorated fee for cancellation. Once told this, I specifically asked Bryan H. when exactly I needed to cancel by to ensure we were not billed on the next cycle. His response was:

"...the billing cycle ends on April 30, 2025. I would call us to cancel on April 29th to cancel. You need to make a phone call into Client Services as a security measure we have to confirm we have an authorized client calling to cancel the account."

I call him 4/28, a day earlier than he stated to cancel and informed him that we wanted to end service before being charged again. We were then set up to end service today, 4/30.

Today I am sent an invoice for $8.87 with NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT THE CHARGE IS FOR. At this moment, I'm still waiting on the "why" and a credit.

NEVER WOULD I EVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE. And yes, I have all of the invoices and emails to...

AnswerConnect is outstanding! I've worked with other groups in this industry for before switching to AnswerConnect, and they just don't do the same type of job that AnswerConnect does. What really sets AnswerConnect apart from the others, is their technology. They setup decision trees for their operators, that lead them into a particular line of questioning depending on the response. And the customer is able to help to tailor these question and modify. Their customer service is expert in helping their customers to do that in the best way. and amazingly responsive. We get about 100 calls a month going to AnswerConnect and they are able to take excellent messages in less than 300 minutes which is our plan. they have been a great partner for business and we are so glad that we found them. I would absolutely Recommend them to anybody needing this type of service. they honestly take the place for us of a full-time employee. And allow our employees to be a lot more productive. I know we are going to be working with them for many years to come. Thank you AnswerConnect!

UPDATE 09.16.23 And they continue to add value to my business. We are spending more money with them now then originally intended, but it's well worth the investment! They have real people working for them that answer the phone when you call! If you send them a message at 11 o'clock at night you get a response at midnight! and they can tailor the way that they answer your calls with amazing specifics. They built their own software they mentioned, to service their business and it...

I would not recommend this company to anyone who is running a serious business, as I am writing this review, I am on hold with answer connect because they have no one that can get on the phone with me and explain to me why there service is not answering my customer calls. I have been using them for a few months and have had nothing but problems the entire time. They are unable to resolve issues quickly and they will do more harm to your business than good. I have received double digit complaints regarding how they answer the phones from customers and they have no support staff. I also believe there is no supervisor in the company since they have been unable to produce one on the phone. They did however tell me that a supervisor would call me at 3:30 yesterday (a scheduled call) they never made good on that call. As of this moment, they have told me that they cannot answer my calls as they are having a spike in calls at this moment due to a client who put out some marketing material that they were not made aware of. They told me they would not be able to provide me with a time frame of when this will be rectified. I have also had a very difficult time retrieving a number that I had originally ported to them. At this time all I can say to anyone who is seriously consider using answer connect, is beware. This is a poorly organized company and poorly run. At the end of the day they would rather you leave, than to actually provide the service...