Thoughts on premium rate phone line for telephone supprt?

Originally posted by: Comspec

I also run an IT support firm.  I do not charge for advice at all, and only charge for time spent interacting with clients PC's etc.  I took the decision that in order to get myself a decent rep and enough new business, I would have to provide this service free.

I am not sure if the premium rate number would be off-putting for some people and you would need to be careful it doesn't lose you callouts

Good luck & let us know what you decide to do.,

Mark.

Thanks for your reply Mark. Well I have avoided charging up until now, but I find more and more customers
spending 20 and 30 minutes on the phone discussing this problem and that, taking my time and sometimes
making me late for other appointments.
I've also had a few customers say they dont like ringing asking simple questions or just calling for advice
because they are not paying for it.

What I'd like to do is give them the choice of an affordable monthly contract which includes telephone, email support and some other value added stuff *or* a premium rate number they can call, get advice and at the
same time be charged for that advice.

I've thought about avoiding the premium rate number and instead saying "right thats 20 mins support I've just given you, please send a cheque for £10 to blah blah blah" but I honestly don't think it would work too well.

Anway all this in the early stages just yet

Thanks again,

Mike

Hi, I've been in IT for a little over 20 years now.

The principle of pay-per-use support lines is OK if your customers arn't being charged in some other way for service i.e. it's easily justified to them.

If your concern is loosing customers, maybe you should ask if they are customers worth having if they arn't paying you at least for your time?

Sounds like your running a small business yourself and are juggling telephone support and site visits?

If this is the case you may have more of an issue answering premium rate calls when your with a customer or, not taking premium rate calls when your on site? There are rules about providing an answer phone messgae on a premium rate number and asking for contact details etc. Would suggest you visit the ICSTIS site for complete regulations and further info.

Sorry don't have web address to hand but easy found via google.

Hope this helps?

Regards

Thanks for the great replies guys!

I've registered with the ICSTIS and have a SPN number now, so if I can find a provider
that will offer me a premium rate number via SIP or IAX2 then I may be cooking on gas!
I will be terminating this 'line' on my Asterisk PBX.

Thats my main concern now I think, how to deal with a premium rate call when I am busy? I have some help
now which I can route some calls through to (via VoIP) but until the guy is up to speed to be able to take support calls I shall have to give it careful thought.

Cheers

Mike

Pleasure, I think one way round it (if practical) is to provide the premium service at a very limited time of day - say between 9:00 - 11:00 and 3:00 - 5:00, that way between a couple of you it will be easier to manage and you can terminate the line at your end for hours outside of these?

Bit messy perhaps, but it may be one way to satisfy ICSTIS? Your advertised service clearly specifies the time the service is available and you terminate the service outside of this? Just a thought :o)

All the best with it