WAHM Forums

Hi everyone,

I spent 3 hours the other night answering this pre-screening questionnaire and was so excited when I got 'hired' to work from home.

It was making outbound calls to businesses, selling them leads..well the ad did not say I needed a nationwide phone plan! It does not reveal that until you see the contract which was AFTER I had sent my ss# and other personal information!

The whole experience has left me queesy..hoping I have not been taken, and that they are not going to use MY INFO now for thier mailing list!!!

I have only done at-home work where I was taking inbound calls using their 5/9 program..and I had a brick and mortar job doing outbound sales , where the leads were loaded into an automatic dialer into the computer. I ASSumed wrongly it would be the same, especially since there was no mention MANUAL dialing in the initial ad!!!!

So what I learned from this experience is......MAKE sure ithe company is legit and know what you will be doing for the job BEFORE filling out a W9 with all your personal info on it!!!! ARGGGGGHHHH

Sorry about your experience. I hope that your information isn't misused.

Did the company mention whether or not they pay for a nationwide plan? I don't typically list telemarketing jobs on my site, but I have seen quite a few of them where they've offered to pay for the cost of the plan itself. Don't know if this applies to your job or not, but I'm curious.

Again, so sorry for your bad experience, but don't let it keep you down. This wasn't it, but the right job for YOU is still out there. I hope you find it soon. :)

I am not sure I see where you were scammed...They didn't mention either way whether it would be a manual dialer or if you would have to manually make the phone calls from your landline. Didn't you think to ask prior to accepting the offer? I am not trying to offend anyone, but I am just having trouble seeing why you are disappointed?

I also don't see how they are not a legit by not providing this information...I am just wondering.

I am so sorry to hear of this. It can be challenging when you are new to the wah market to be aware of all the pitfalls. If they won't reimburse you, then just chalk this up to money lost and a lesson learned. I know its tough but try to move forward. Since you have phone experience try applying to one of the more legitimate companies. They will be upfront with you about what is/and is not required. I post job leads here and on my blog daily. Today I posted NCO and Customer Loyalty Concepts, yesterday was a travel agency and ConAgra foods. If in doubt always ask first. PM me if you need more help. Best wishes

i'm sorry to hear it wasn't the job you were looking for. Many companies have different systems and ways of doing things though.

Hopefully the next job you land will be a much better fit. Good luck. :)

Hi everyone,

I spent 3 hours the other night answering this pre-screening questionnaire and was so excited when I got 'hired' to work from home.

It was making outbound calls to businesses, selling them leads..well the ad did not say I needed a nationwide phone plan! It does not reveal that until you see the contract which was AFTER I had sent my ss# and other personal information!

The whole experience has left me queesy..hoping I have not been taken, and that they are not going to use MY INFO now for thier mailing list!!!

I have only done at-home work where I was taking inbound calls using their 5/9 program..and I had a brick and mortar job doing outbound sales , where the leads were loaded into an automatic dialer into the computer. I ASSumed wrongly it would be the same, especially since there was no mention MANUAL dialing in the initial ad!!!!

So what I learned from this experience is......MAKE sure ithe company is legit and know what you will be doing for the job BEFORE filling out a W9 with all your personal info on it!!!! ARGGGGGHHHH


I always assume I need to have a nation wide calling plan and I never assume it's an automatic dialer. I've only worked with one company with an automatic dialer.

I always assume I need to have a nation wide calling plan and I never assume it's an automatic dialer. I've only worked with one company with an automatic dialer.

I agree.

Also, i currently work for the lady whom you are concerned about. I found my job through a thread she posted on this very forum. I've been there a week now and i LOVE it! It came at the perfect time and i'm so happy / lucky to have been hired by her.

She is a total sweetheart. She has my personal information,SS code, and i've not had any problems. She also pays me the full amount i'm owed for my work, and promptly!

I'm sorry that the job didn't work out for you. Good luck on your next one.

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.
This is only my second foray into the world of 'work at home'...my other jobs are at actual call centers. The other work at home job I had was incoming calls, and inbetween the incoming calls the program which was used (Five9) had an automatic dialer that would dial out from my computer. I did not need to have a nationwide plan for this.

Sorry but I never had a job where I had to manually dial hundreds and hundreds of numbers...don't think I would care for that!

I just learned to read the contract first and get the full job description before filling out a W9....live and learn i guess...!
Just a little paranoid i guess because of the scammers!

Sounds like you learned a valuable lesson. We all need to be very careful and know what is involved before giving our SS#. There are a lot of people who want to take advantage of us.

I'm not sure if you're worried about the manual dialing or the cost of the nationwide plan.

If it's the dialing, I can't help you there except I do telemarketing for one of my clients and it only takes a sec or so dial a number, not a huge issue for me.

If you are worried about the nationwide long distance plan you should check into prices if you haven't already. I have AT&T and I have unlimited long distance for $20/month. I feel this is very affordable but there are lots of different options available. There's also MagicJack...I've never used it but some people swear by it.

So if it's a price issue you might not want to be so quick to let the job go and really, in my opinion, the same goes for dialing.

I've been working from home since 1998 and good jobs are hard to come by and sometimes it take a little more work to get them.....just something to consider.

Wishing you well in your search,

Dawn

Magicjack is awesome. You may want to consider skype which is about 2.99 cents per month and unlimited nationwide outbound calls. Consider it an investment because you can always use it for other calls and such. I personally have magicjack and skype and I dont do a phone job anymore.

Blessings
Brandy

I'm sorry... But I think I'm missing something here... How exactly were you scammed?? Just because the company didn't specify what type of phone system/dialer you'd be using?? Or because they asked for your ss#??

How was it a scam?

I have worked at plenty of jobs where I had to use my own phone to dial outbound. That is not unusual at all. Since you are new to the work at home world there are alot of things that you are still needing to learn. I have been working from home for over 6 years and a company does not have to provide an automatic dialer to dial for outbound calls. Thats just the way it is. Learn to ask questions during your interview before you take a job. Write down anything you can think of to ask your interviewer, that way you won't be shell shocked when you think its going to be this way and its another. Working at home is wonderful and not everyone is out to get you. Many, many jobs I have worked for have my SS# that don't mean they are scams. As a contractor they have to have your SS# so they can send you a 1099 at the end of the year when you file your taxes. Sounds like you need to read up more about working at home. Much luck to you.