<div>I think this is an interesting idea, but in order to do it you should first check with a lawyer - imagine someone thinks that their reputation is damaged by your ratings and decides to sue :-)</div><div>l.</div><div><br>
</div><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/11/19 Alex Balashov <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:abalashov@evaristesys.com">abalashov@evaristesys.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Greetings,<br>
<br>
I would like to get everyone's thoughts on the creation of something<br>
like a "credit bureau" specific to our industry. I don't think we<br>
currently have anything like that in the VoIP cottage industry, unless<br>
I am mistaken.<br>
<br>
Simply put, we should have a way of anonymously rating customers'<br>
payment history and noting any especially egregious disputes. Access<br>
should be restricted only to verified companies legitimately engaged<br>
in VoIP-related trade.<br>
<br>
My interest in this is from a consulting and professional services<br>
angle, since that's what Evariste Systems does. However, I do not see<br>
why this could not also accommodate payment information from the ITSP<br>
and small carrier world.<br>
<br>
There are lots of potential problems, of course:<br>
<br>
1) Some customers would consider disclosure of any transactional<br>
information a violation of standing NDAs;<br>
<br>
2) The possibility of clutter from small/irrelevant transactions, like<br>
$5 prepayments for O/T or calling cards;<br>
<br>
3) Some need for moderation and standards enforcement; there is a<br>
very real possibility of abuse by members by leveraging such a tool in<br>
frivolous business disputes, or business disputes in which their hands<br>
are not clean any more than the customer's; example: I could fail to<br>
deliver to a customer what I promised, and then report his refusal to<br>
pay as a financial misdeed;<br>
<br>
4) Large deals and transactions often already go through credit checks<br>
with real credit bureaus and various ratings firms.<br>
<br>
Nevertheless, I think there would be a lot of value as well. And<br>
while there is the possibility that the existence of such a tool could<br>
be used to intimidate/threaten customers in business disputes, the<br>
value of catching fraudsters who go around from VoIP company to VoIP<br>
company ripping each one off and disappearing into a hole might<br>
outweigh that.<br>
<br>
My father does, among other things, some freelance translation. In<br>
that industry, there's a web site called:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.paymentpractices.net/" target="_blank">http://www.paymentpractices.net/</a><br>
<br>
It is upon seeing this that I wondered why we do not have something<br>
like that in our world.<br>
<br>
Eager to hear your thoughts,<br>
<br>
-- Alex<br>
<br>
--<br>
Alex Balashov - Principal<br>
Evariste Systems<br>
Web : <a href="http://www.evaristesys.com/" target="_blank">http://www.evaristesys.com/</a><br>
Tel : (+1) (678) 954-0670<br>
Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671<br>
<br>
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