[Asterisk-Users] LiveVOIP

[Wiley Siler]

I officially gave up on LiveVoip yesterday.  

I have spoken with Joop (the CTO) on several occasions and he has shined
me a great story of how they are upgrading and all the improvements they
are making.  He was always been very personable and good about
explaining what is supposedly going on at LiveVoip and the promises of
improvements flowed like honey. In fact, it was because of these calls
alone that I stuck it out and tried to keep getting this resolved.  

Well, after two months of trying to get usable service (I have a DID
that doesn't work and dialing is unreliable, I use a dedicated T1 for my
Voip), I just cannot waste my time anymore.  For 2 months I have kissed
ass via email and over the phone trying to get service.  Anyone who has
seen the responses they send to customers knows that these are not
people persons.  Anyone who has dealt with LiveVoip also knows that any
attempt at communication has to be very very delicate since they love to
just dump customers who upset them.  I have seen this on the list
several times now.  Well, no more.  It is time to talk about what
LiveVoip does to its customers and how it views professional
relationships at large.

For 2 months I have opened tickets when my 800 DID just stopped working
or when they dropped my DID and I had to get a new one altogether.  I
have dealt with their lack of quality service the whole time and now it
has become a complete loss of service AGAIN.  If you are one of the
lucky people not having problems with LiveVoip, well, congrats.  I think
you are the few.  Because as far as I can see, the TOS for LiveVoip and
the general attitude of LiveVoip says it all.  Big promises. Even bigger
attitude (seriously who writes a TOS that is so confrontational?).  You
should see some of the emails I have from these guys saying, and I
quote... "As for "pissy" comments on web forums most of them come from
scum that are not customers"...  Well, you "non-customer scum" should
think twice before you purchase from LiveVoip.  Since I am posting
today, I guess that means the LiveVoip thinks I am scum now.  Well, I
think I am empowered to tell what happened and I have the emails and the
support tickets to support my statements.

Here is another qoute from their email to me...  "Our Joy Meter is right
up there near 100% as we have hundreds of very Happy Customers."
Well, as far as I can see, LiveVoip has quite a few people that it
provides absolutely horrible service to.  If it has hundreds of happy
people, they must be using some different service because their support
of IAX termination is crap.  LiveVoip's treatment of customers is crap.
LiveVoip's attitude regarding usergroups and its undestanding of how
people percieve LiveVoip is also crap.  Essentually, LiveVoip is crap.
LiveVoip spends its time dropping attitude to people who make the
mistake of trying to purchase service from them thinking they must be a
professional company.  Example: LiveVoip moved me to a switch in
Vancouver and DOUBLED the latency of my connection making my DID service
completely unusable.  I asked to be moved to a server in California only
to be told the following...

"Decisions as to where we locate a customer are made by engineers and
management. The Vancouver switch center is where you are located. Some
noise is going to appear on VoIP as it is not the 100+ year old telecom
system. Your assignment is the switch center you are on and it wil stay
that way."

Excuse me?  You move me to a switch that obvioulsy has problems (I spoke
with other users who had the same problem too) and then tell me that I
am not allowed to request a change because it is the decision of
management and engineers?  Well, whether or not to use your company is
my decision based upon the service you provide.  Seriously, what kind of
company takes that attitude?  Essentually LiveVoip has said this: "Sure,
we will take your money.  But according to our TOS, we don't have to
give you ANY kind of quality assurance.  We can put you on what switch
we decide and if the switch doesn't work because of problems on our
side, well, too bad.  We connected you and your Asterisk box shows as
registered therefor we did our part.  Call quality is not our issue."

Well, I disagree with that notion.  If an company offers a plan for dial
time and DIDs we should be able to expect that they will offer a certain
level of service. Just because VoIP is not 100 years old is not argument
for why some providers offer crap quality. I have only been requesting
that the calls not drop out and that my DIDs actually route.  With all
the self-promotion I have seen from LiveVoip in the past, you would
think this was an easy task for them.  Apparently not.

Anyone who has been on this Userlist for a while will have seen the
posts by LiveVoip stating they were going through a buyout.  Well, that
buyout will provide them with an outlet to provide Voip to trailer parks
essentually.  Per Joop, they will also be pushing forward to provide a
Vonage like service in the near future and supplying ATAs.  Well, that
push in and of itself probably explains why they don't care about
Asterisk users.  Why support * when you know you will be using ATAs in
the near future exclusively?  If you have LiveVoip, I suggest you be
prepared to port your DIDs in the near future because I doubt highly
(regardless of the response I am sure they will post) that they will be
offering dial time to you after 3rd quarter.  And if they do, don't
expect to receive any quality service.  Per their TOS, "We do not
provide Five 9's of Support, Instant Response, and Fries on $29.95
accounts."  Well, news flash.  Just because the account is a $29.95
account does not mean you should disregard the need to provide a quality
service.    None of the folowing should be a problem regardless of your
TOS... 

1) you send a config email (see other recent user) 
2) that the switch you connect us to is functioning properly
3) the DIDs you sell are actually not going to be dropped after 10 days
4) Quality of calls should be usable at the very least if not very clear
5) Correspondance from your representatives should be professional and
polite (that would be a change)

LiveVoip fails on every one of the points above.

What I also love is the fact that LiveVoip thinks that it has the right
to regulate its customers free speech.  This is directly from their
website.

"If you are working a trouble ticket with LiveVoip support and start
posting to mailing lists or newsgroups you are just wasting your time.
LiveVoip LLC will not respond to such postings which in many cases are
done to push support teams. If anything it will slow your ticket or
cause the case to be closed. Our techs work hard for you! They are not
going to take abuse in any form. Posting to these lists is done by some
as a way of trying to obtain faster support or vent frustrations.
LiveVoip has a Zero interest in these actions and will respond per our
Terms & Conditions if required. Let our people help you. That is what
they get paid for. Are they busy? Of course. Do they work long hours?
Duh. Treat them nice and Say Thanks. You will get further by being part
of solutions, not part of the problems."

Well, allow me to say to LiveVoip. 
	- posting to forums/userlists is generally a way to get help
from peers when a provider isn't supplying sufficient support
	  I found the company I am replacing you with because I posted
to this userlist.  Wonder why you don't like people posting...
	
	- You require that people treat your techs nice and "say thanks"
yet your email are ALWAYS rude and unnecisarily confrontational.
	  I sent an email saying that your copany would be better
represented if the techs were more polite only to receive a snotty
response from you.
	  And yet, I continued to try and get yoru help and I kissed ass
as required in order to not get yoru snotty little techs up in arms.
	
	- posting to forums/userlists is in no way something you have a
right to complain about or try to regulate.  
	  Asterisk users are a group of users who embrace communication
and share information freely.  That is how open source works.
	
	- posting to the list is my way of warning others that you guys
are not a good provider.  
	  You make lots of promises and take hostile stances when people
object to how you treat them. Well.. TREAT THEM BETTER.
	  PROVIDE BETTER SERVICE!!  Stop running around blaming the
customer!!
	
	- And finally.  Get over yourselves.  Treating your customers
like crap, having a TOS that is confrontational, having policies and
procedures that allow you to proclaim that "people posting on forums are
scum"??  These are the reasons that you will ultimately fail as a
company.  All those connections that you are leveraging to get in with
Level3 won't mean squat if you keep treating people the way you do.  Do
yourself a favor and fire Brandon and Mike.  They both have no business
dealing with customers.  I have emails from them that are just downright
nasty, including the one I reference with the comment calling forum
users scum.  

To all the would be LiveVoip customers.

I am sure there will be some crappy response forthcoming from LiveVoip
after one of their employees (Brandon trolls this site) reads this so
stay tuned for that.  I have all my emails and support tickets ready to
post if they want to come out and make some bold lie like they have
about other users in the past.

And remember...
Caveat Emptor. (let the buyer beware)

Regards,
Wiley