July 10, 2008 by Dan Siegel.

Here’s the transcript of my ongoing support problems with eFax:

Welcome to chat.The session has been accepted.{Gary G.} Hello, Daniel. Welcome to j2 Global online support. I am Gary, your Online Live Support Representative. How are you doing today?  {Daniel Siegel} I am very unhappy with eFax.  {Gary G.} How may I assist you?  {Daniel Siegel} I suppose that, in light of your tech support department’s complete inability to assist me, my best option (the only one?) is to cancel my account.  {Gary G.} I am sorry to hear that you wish to cancel. Please provide me your Fax number as well as the PIN for verification.  {Daniel Siegel} 610-471-0570  {Daniel Siegel} I just hung up with your tech support person - Nathan - who suddenly could not hear me when I asked to be elevated to level 2 tech support. Your support is beyond terrible.  {Gary G.} Please provide me with the PIN for verification.  {Daniel Siegel} XXXX  {Gary G.} Thank you for providing your information. Please give me a moment while I go through your records. In the meantime, please type the number corresponding to your reason for cancellation:1) Moving to another provider2) Bought a Fax machine3) Business or role changed4) Short term project completed5) Financial reasons6) Problems with Faxing or Billing7) Dissatisfied with Quality of service Too Costly  {Daniel Siegel} I want to receive a copy of the transcript of this session.And why do your support people all use phony names? I’ve now met Lloyd, Nathan and Patrick from India? 7 - YOUR SERVICE NOW STINKS! AND THE LACK OF TECH SUPPORT IS ABOMINABLE! And no one seems to care.  {Gary G.} I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.  {Daniel Siegel} Where are you based?  {Gary G.} May I know the exact issue you are facing so that I may help you with the same?  {Gary G.} We are headquartered at Los Angeles, California.  {Daniel Siegel} I cannot receive faxes from local phone numbers, the same problem I have had since Monday. I spoke with Level 2 support (finally!!!) on Tuesday, but it did not resolve the problem, and no one has responded to my email.  {Daniel Siegel} No, where are YOU located?  {Gary G.} We are headquartered at Los Angeles, California.  {Daniel Siegel} That is not responsive. Thus, I presume you are in India too.  {Gary G.} Daniel, as per our records you have already been charged monthly fee for this month. As you have plenty of days left for your billing cycle to get over, I suggest you to make use of our service atleast for the period you have paid for and make use of our service for sometime more so that you can receive and send any pending faxes that needs to be done and thereafter you can also inform your friends that you are closing the number.  {Gary G.} If however, you still feel that you do not have any use for our services by the end of your current billing cycle, then you can always contact us back anytime.  {Gary G.} If you wish I will also send you a test fax.{Daniel Siegel} I can’t receive LOCAL faxes. Your attempt won’t help.{Daniel Siegel} Hello? 

{Gary G.} Is the sender of your fax a eFax user?

{Daniel Siegel} And I just called back to your tech support, and guess what, his name is Stuart! {Daniel Siegel} Faxes have been sent from my office’s fax, from my home, from another office ten miles away, and from my computer. None goes through, but faxes work from outside the area.  {Gary G.} If your eFax number is working but a certain caller is unable to reach it, this may indicate a problem with the caller’s local or long-distance phone carrier. Ask the caller to try to complete the call using a different phone carrier (for example, a 10-10-xxx long-distance service).  {Gary G.} If the call can be completed over the alternate carrier, the caller’s usual carrier is mostly likely experiencing a problem. We would not be able to troubleshoot the issue from that point, since the phone carrier can only act on trouble reports from its own customers (in this case, your caller). However, we have provided the form letter below for your caller to use in reporting the problem to his/her carrier. With this information, the carrier should be able to solve the problem. 

{Daniel Siegel} I have called the local carrier - Verizon - and they say it is not their problem. I emailed this to tech support yesterday, and no one replied! 

{Daniel Siegel} I have called the local carrier - Verizon - and they say it is not their problem. I emailed this to tech support yesterday, and no one replied! 

{Daniel Siegel} Also, Stuart just informed me that his name didn’t matter. I explained that I thought it was decietful to use a false name. I find this whole process totally distasteful and will place the entire transcript of this “chat” with eFax on my blog as soon as we conclude. 

{Gary G.} If you wish I will send you a test fax. 

{Daniel Siegel} It won’t help. 

{Gary G.} I suggest you to contact our Customer Support over the phone at 1-323-817-3205 (Available 24*7), as they will be able to assist you better with your issue.  {Gary G.} Please do not select any option or extension when you call. Please wait for our Customer Service representative to attend your call. They would be able to assist you further.  {Gary G.} If you wish I will keep your account active. 

{Daniel Siegel} In other words, you’re blowing me off, too. 

Thankfully, I was transferred to Level Two support from India and spoke with someone named Drew, who I believe really was named Drew. He was helpful at least.

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July 8, 2008 by Dan Siegel.

For three years, I have used eFax service as my virtual fax service, without a hitch. Until yesterday. That’s when a law firm tried three times to fax me an 11 page settlement agreement. Only the cover page went through twice, and a third time 2 pages went through. I then tried to send a fax from my computer, to no avail. So I called tech support (NOT a toll free number by the way) and was transferred to an Indian woman who sent a one page fax, which went through and insisted my problem did not exist.

Today, I tested the fax service again. I tried to send faxes from my office fax machine, my computer and from home. None went through. I called tech support again, and they continue to insist that the service is working and, presumably, it’s just a coincidence that nobody can send me a fax except “Lloyd” from India. I even showed him the three faxes from yesterday and he insisted that even though the cover page said 11 pages were sent (and there was an error page attached to each page) that the senders really only tried to send 1 page.

Now, they are claiming that they are doing “troubleshooting” but the rep refuses to answer the request to speak to a supervisor, refuses to answer any of my questions and is clearly exasperated with my very obvious frustration. The bottom line — if eFax won’t work for you, they won’t care and won’t do anything outside of what the manual tells the automatons to say/do.  And, adding insult to injury, my now 30 minute call isn’t to a toll free number.

 More soon. But, please God, it won’t be by fax. And, of course, this is why I strongly request that everyone stop using faxes and scan and email instead.

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