BTW - I went to Staples and got a $40 phone ... so I could start ... I 'll take it back if the other deal works better when it gets here. Either way one is getting returned until I make some bucks. Thanks for the Staples reminder for phones! They had plenty to choose from - got it charging up for tonight....woo hoo
Let us know how it went! Just to recap my setup is a Vonage VPortal, with a 40 dollar phone connected and a 20 dollar plantronics headset from staples, so rock on!!! If you guys need anything else, just ask and ... cathy, please update us....
HI Guys ... Over the 1st shift jitters.. I was terrible ... handled 1 out of 5 calls for a total of 3 mins talk time. Lost 3 of them (ghosts?) and put the 4th on hold to call a PAL cause the #1 still had a screen to be logged! I am off to research the colors & quote marks of sripting before my next shift in about 40 mins. I gotta say the customers (2 of them) were great - even the one I lost on hold was ok - when I put her on hold... she stayed for 2 mins while I was on with PAL! Pals have been stellar with me so far ...none of mean ones you read about here - so far ...nothing to complain about from me! Personally now that I am over the first one, I think I need a full hour block at least to get my feet wet.. oh my .... I expect the next one will be better -
I also want to say that for any newbies that are checking in like me - new to the headset thing ... My set up was fine (thanks Luis) I could hear and manuver the phone set just fine ....unless I messed and lost the 3 calls and it was my fault...who knows - but I only was able to log one of them with a PAL help... there were 2 lost ion space somewhere on my shift. Hopefully they dont show up on my performance tab.....lol
Ohh how the shifts vary .... this one went great! I think I made a bonus on this shift! I customer said yes to all upsells I trying to get another shift if anything opens in next few hours. I loved this shift! Cathy
I am going back for more action - 1-2 am I see the one of the best things about DR is the trade hours are plentiful!!
Wow, Cathy, that is fantastic to hear! I Was actually excited to see how it went for you! I don't quite think I made a bonus yet, but I haven't worked many shifts either, I've been offering my advice as I got the exp. I work a huge 4 hour block tonight though, so I will see how it goes, so far I've been doing 30 min increments. :-\ I am ready to give this a spin, get my feet wet, see if maybe I could do it full time. Ghost calls come in alot... if you atleast got a dedicated product screen you can log the call .... if not, you just wait for the next one, it's not your fault/ setup, it happens randomly... It doesn't affect your performance. Keep up at that rate and you will move to a higher tier.... then you will get back to back calls more than now, and can earn alot more money. I forgot about Upsell Bonus, what is West's thing about Bonus / Upsells... ?
Hi Luis ... Yes, DR pays bonus on upsells and APO- but so far for the 3:30 mins I work overnight - I only have $5.80 for the first shift - (I think) its under talk time - so thats probably not right! so I am not sure it they post the pay for the previous day or thats all I got for the whole 3:30 hrs? It should be more per the min wage thing. I will let you know how it shows on pay for bonus. Now this guy took all the upsells including an APO - was almost too good to be true - so it might have been a tester..idk? but he sounded real and gave the CC information,, etc.. As far as back to back ... the prime time slot of 9:30 to 10 was back to back ghosts (LOL) and 5 calls seemed like back to back for me. the full sale call took the whole 30 mins! but the cust spent a wad of $$ - so I am calling that one a success! Now - I sure hope I get credits and a bonus pay for it ...
The testers don't actually by anything, they identify themselves at the end and tell you how to log the call too, you don't usually complete it, and in the event your per min works out to less than MIN WAGE you get MIN WAGE, so you earned more than 5.30 for 3.30 hours, that's impossible, you earned 3.5 x whatever your states min wage is, here in VA is its 7.25. And I am not sure about the upsells but nice work!
Hey Luis .. I have a shift I pick up on Trades at 8:30 - 10, so I will call a PAL before I start work and ask about how they post the time. I am assuming the $5.80 is for talk time for the 1 hour of time shift work = first half hour - no talk time cause I was a mess. then the 27 mins accumalated for the sale call on 2nd shift. I bet they convert the hours to worked pay after you acculamate the the talk time for the week -or something like that, but that is just me thinking-so I will call a Pal about later. If that is the case (which it has to be because the agreement was min wage) that is where they might lose some of the disgrunted workers after the fist shifts of work... cause it looks like they are ripping you off..... I will check back in here later on... Cathy
Yeah, well some people get fussy about only getting Min. wage anyway, and honestly, I was fine with Min wage for a WAH job that I have fun doing, but that is just me! But if you do well, and get up to the higher ranks and get back to back calls, you have potential to make much more than Min wage. So it depends on you really, people seem to expect amazing pay from a WAH job, not taking into account ... they work from home! Seriously! Come on, the pay is pretty decent and plenty of people are making a great living with west working busy shifts and getting better skills in time, I love DR though because it is 24 but some skills have guaranteed rates, etc. There is alot of opprotunity and variety and I am thrilled with West so far.
I have a question the min wage in SC where I live is $7.25 and I got paid that doing training but once I started working it got bumped up to $8 an hour which is past min wage in SC, not that I am complaining just woundering why? Andy
Andy, what skill are you on? Some skills have a guaranteed wage which is above minimum wage. If not, you just got lucky? The pay is usually calculated (assuming the skill your on has no guaranteed wage IE Direct Response) it is calculated by your talk time first, so it's 0.15 a minute or whatever, and if your total talk time for the hour doesn't pay out more than the minimum wage where you live (7.25) they just give you the 7.25. So they give you whichever is more. Now, if you are recieving 8... and there is no guaranteed wage, you either are making more because your earning more by talk time or .... you got lucky and they somehow decided to pay you 8?
Andy - if you are taking calls for most of your shift, then you are making the talk time? I does sound like like you got lucky though. When you get a shift - does it show you the XX/min rate? DR pays .15/min rate - so if your talking (w/o any upsells for bonus) DR reps could make 9.00 per hr. Like me the one with $5.80 on the board really knows?? I would like to know if they update each 24 hrs .. if you or Luis know so I can avoid that Pal call tonight... as I will need them for my tech issues in my mind help....lol Cathy
I am not sure Cathy because mine usually shows up fairly instantly, but when I work a Midnight til 2 AM shift, I usually check in the AM when I wake up, so it might be a few hour delay... Make the PAL do some work and call haha, but they are not going to rip you off, so if it says 5.80 don't worry, your going to get your atleast min wage per hour.
do they pay on inquiry lead gens at talk time? That is what my 12 - 2 was primarily - although I made one basic sale - they had no $$ for the upsell.. I am not really worried at all - the agreement is for min - so they have covert to hourly at some point... just wondering when. Oh and the PALs will be earning there time with me later as I get stuck!!!
I know they pay for any time you on the phone, regardless of what you are doing, if that phone line is active you are paid, even if you are on a prank call for 2 minutes, it's listed and paid as talk time. I still have no idea if we get bonus for upsell / how that works. I have no worked any primetime tv shifts, due to my FT job, this isn't FT until January 15 or so. So I am just working West at night, mainly 10:30 - Midnight EST. And Cat/Sun in the afternoon. I have had several back to back times so far, but ... I don't know, at night it's on and off, I imagine if we become tier 1 it'd stay back to back, weekends are apparantly really busy, this coming will be the first weekend I work... I will keep details posted.... I work 10:30 to 11:30 EST tonight, 10:30 - Midnight EST tomorrow Sat... 7PM - Midnight EST and Sun... 12 Noon to 3PM EST and then 7 to 8 EST. When have you been working?
Cathy, I ran across something on the West at Home pay information page that might be of info to you... " * Time for Guaranteed Pay and Talk Time are included in Work Time. ** Incentive/Bonus/Adjusted Pay. Worktime not applicable. *** Pay calculation for Weekly Minimum Wage Adjustment and Overtime will NOT be posted weekly; the calculation for each week will be completed at the end of each Pay Period. Your Minimum Wage Adjustment and Overtime calculation for each week will be posted here on the Tuesday before the Monday pay day after Noon CST. " If you look, it mentioned that Calculation for Min. Wage will not be postes weekly, so it won't say your min wage rate until the end of the second week when the check is coming out... . Also it should have your bonuses, look on the Pay Information at westathome.net when your logged in, but again... You may need to wait. It seems like it won't post right away. I have just done an hour block, I had 6 inquiry calls for info kits, 1 order. 1 spanish call and 2 disconnected. So far, I love it, but... tonight was taxing!
