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Telecoms
Dave Millett of telecoms brokers Equinox highlights examples of
sharp practice in the telecoms industry and explains how to protect
your business from unscrupulous sales people.
Since BT announced the end of ISDN lines
a number of suppliers have been pushing
businesses to migrate to SIP and connect
their phone system to the internet.
However, ISDNs will be around until 2025,
so there is no immediate need to switc
h.
SIP can offer a number of benefits but
it needs a strong Internet connection to
succeed, and these additional costs need
to be offset. One trick is to leave items
out of the quote so you’re not comparing
like-with-like. In addition, deals are often for
60 months. This is a long time to be tied in
when prices are tending to go down, not up.
For organisations whose phone systems
are not compatible with SIP, suppliers offer
a converter box. This is often sold on a long-
term lease hire, tying the customer to the
supplier and giving them the opportunity to
raise prices over time. In one case, by 45%
over four years.
The importance of itemised bills
One supplier used what looked like a
landline number for its broadband support
desk, but in fact charged calls at 50p
a minute. To hide this from scrutiny, it
wouldn’t provide itemised calls as standard.
The customer only realised the true cost
when he spent an hour on the support line
and noticed that his next bill was £30 higher
than normal.
We’ve also come across VoIP providers
that don’t offer itemised calls but just send
a top-up bill when they say funds have been
used up. This gives them immense scope
to apply minimum charges, set up fees and
even uplift call rates. Always demand a
priced, itemised, monthly call report. If the
supplier won’t provide it, perhaps they have
something to hide.
Hardware funds
Mobile hardware funds have always been an
opportunity for dirty tricks such as holding
back amounts not used at the end of a
contract, or inflating the hardware fund to
make it look bigger whilst raising the cost of
phones so the fund actually goes no further.
Buried in the small print of one supplier’s
contract was a clause stating that if a
customer left them they either had to return
the phones or pay back half the hardware
funds provided, which in the case we saw
amounted to £12,000.
If someone offers you hardware funds,
check they do not have a boomerang
attached. Even better, ask for the hardware
fund in cash and then you control it.
Too good to be true?
Finally, if a supplier calls offering a free PBX
and charges less than what you currently
pay for lines and calls ask them the following
questions:
1
How long is the contract I would have to
enter?
2
What will our line rental and call costs
be?
3
Would we own the system outright at
the end of the contract or is this a hire
agreement?
4
What make and model of system are
you offering, and with what handsets?
Google the models to make sure you are
not being palmed off with end-of-life or
obsolete products.
5
Are line rental and call costs fixed until
the end of the contract? If not, this gives
them the chance to increase prices.
In our experience no one has ever replied to
these questions, which tells you all you need
to know.
There are many good operators out there,
but unfortunately there are also a large
number of unscrupulous ones. As a business
owner, you need to be wary, ask lots of
questions and check, then double-check
everything.
company can know if the machine has
developed a fault before the customer
knows it. Theoretically, it can head off
a fault before it occurs by analysing
the constant flow of data to determine
a developing problem and take
preventative action,” he said.
Get recognised
One vending machine that makes use
of many of these features to provide
an exceptional user experience is
the Luce X2 Touch TV developed by
Rhea Vendors and supplied by Smart
Vend Solutions. Launched in 2014, it
offers touchscreen technology, digital
signage, a cashless payment system,
telemetry management and smartphone
integration. It even uses facial
recognition to identify, greet and serve
users based on their previous purchases
and preferences.
Today, it is no longer enough to give
people a kettle, mug and jar of Mellow
Bird’s. As Stagg says: “The instant coffee
generation is dying out; there is no going
back.”
Who’s calling the shots?
1 The London OfficeWorkers’ Survey, 2015
