Answering service

[mdiplock]

Can anyone help me out here and recommend a good answering service that is familiar with the inspection industry and hopefully even here in Ontario.
Thanks.

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

No, I can't but I thought you at least deserved an answer.

[Douglas Cossar]

What Doug said!

Cheers

[rparker]

I'm my own answering service cell phone is my buisness phone it's on all the time and I answer it when it rings.

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Same here. Use call forwarding from my business phone almost 100% of the time. You can usually add a second or third phone onto a cell service contract for little money. They are constantly running special deals. That way if you want to dedicate one phone to business the other to business/personal you can, write it off on your taxes, give the impression you are a bigger company (or a techno geek) and costs a whole lot less than an answering service. "You" get to talk to the customers, not someone who may not know beans from wild owl droppings about HIs and particularly your business. Most of the questions I typically get from buyers no one else can answer anyway. Only problem is when all the phones go off at once and they are all telemarketers. Then you just have to get rude and cut em off like a hangnail. My wife's cell phone is on my service as she takes care of a lot of the scheduling and if she wants to go to Wally World for her shopping fix, she can either transfer the calls to me or to her cell. My office business line costs me 68 dollars a month, comes with all the little rinkey dink bells and whistles and includes my yellow pages ad in the local phone book. Break it down and it is cheaper to go that way than trying to buy basic service and add on all the features you may need or want.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Here's a few places I've seen advertising in different places. We actually use OneBox.com for Home Inspector Pro. For $49.99 a month we get a toll free 888 number with multiple extensions and 2000 minutes. After hours it forwards different extensions to our cell phones so that we can have a chance at answering. If we aren't around the voicemails can be checked via phone or are emailed to us. We can also receive faxes at the number, it's a pretty nice setup.

Ok, now the companies I've seen. Try checking out http://www.nachi.org/centerofsun2006.htm on the nachi page as they have a special for nachi members, and check out http://www.americascallcenter.com/ . I've seen americascallcenter advertised in a few places and I know that a few inspectors using our software use them. I'd have to ask them about how they like it.