Frequently Asked Questions

No problem!  Unlike other toll free services which automatically connect the caller when someone answers, WorkEasy gives you a buffer so business calls are always handled professionally.  Each time WorkEasy sends a call through, it gives you several call handling options including having the caller continue to hold (so they can get you) or send them to voice mail.  All you have to do is to instruct others in your household to "just hang up" if a WorkEasy call comes through when your not available and the system will seemlessly send the call straight to voice mail for you (no harm done or damage control needed)!  Trust us, your family will appreciate getting their phone privaliges back!

Each Department can point to you - but callers don't have to know that! Like most small business owners you probably wear several hats. That's why WorkEasy invented "Virtual Departments" so you know which hat to wear each time you answer the phone. Departments are a very powerful feature with several key benefits.

• Departments tell you which selection the caller made so you know how to answer the phone.
• Department's come with their own mailbox greeting(s) so your can provide relevant information based upon the department selected and your callers can leave a message for the Department they selected.
• Each Department can have it's own unique hours of service so you can have offer limited or extended hours for special departments based upon your needs.
• When you listen to your voice mail messages, WorkEasy tells you which Department your caller selected so you'll know how to handle their call.
• If you grow and add people to your organization, each Departments can point to a different Extension, so others can seamlessly take over different responsibilities! (won't that be nice)

Sure, by giving out your direct Extension for callbacks people assume they are going to get you each time vs. get you each time they select your Department (that tends to give away that it's just you).  All they do is dial your assigned toll free number and enter your three digit Extension number any time during your company greeting or Voice Menu.  When you answer, WorkEasy will announces that call call is for you (vs. one of your Departments) by speaking your name.  If you don't answer, or you screen a call, they will go to your Extension's mailbox and hear your personal greeting versus one of your Department Mailbox greetings.

Never.  WorkEasy can detect if you're on the phone and will automatically send the caller to your voice mailbox so they can leave you a message.  Because WorkEasy can handle several simultaneous calls to your 800 number and voice mailbox you'll never have to worry about busies or blockage again.

If your line is busy or rings no answer, WorkEasy will automatically send the caller to your voice mail box (or attempt to reach you at a second number and then send it to voice mail). If you opt to have hours of operation and a caller tries to reach you "after hours", WorkEasy will send them straight to voice mail without ringing you first.

Sure! All you do is instruct callers during your initial greeting to press 0 go straight to voicemail at anytime. You can let them know that you will be promptly notified of their message. You can then have WorkEasy page you, send you an email notification or even notify your digital cell phone with an alpha numeric message identifying that you have a message and from whom.

Absolutely not!  A WorkEasy call works like any other call in that respect.  Here's what will happen:

Let's say that you're on the phone and you get a call waiting tone.  You flash hook to take the other call.  WorkEasy announces the call as usual (i.e. "WorkEasy, call for Sales. To accept it press 1, to send it to voice mail press 2, to place the caller on hold press 3 or for more options press star.").  You have the choice to either take the call or send it to voice mail (without your caller ever knowing they were screened).  If you choose to ignore the call waiting tone because you can't be interrupted, WorkEasy will time out and send your caller to your voice mail box so they can leave you a message.

No.  WorkEasy can detect if a device, such as an answering machine, fax, or modem answers in which case it will automatically send the call to your voice mailbox.  If you want callers to be able to get through to your device all you have to do is give them your local telephone number.

WorkEasy will not connect your caller to any other voice mail unless you instruct us to.  Typically it's set up that if your cell phone voice mail answers, or any "other" voice mail service or machine, WorkEasy will automatically take the call back and put your caller in your ultra professional and extremely user-friendly WorkEasy voice mail box so they can leave you a message.  Then you have a couple different choices on how you would like to be notified that you have a message i.e. pager, email or voicemail to email delivery!

Sure you can! All you do is log into your admin menu (by dialing your toll free number and entering your passcode) and changing the number the system tries you at. It's fast,easy and immediate!

If you travel frequently you can have WorkEasy try you at your main number first (i.e. office or home) and if you don't answer there, it will automatically try you at a second number (i.e. your cell phone).  WorkEasy will NOT try you at more than two numbers because we don't believe it's a good idea to have callers wait too long lest they get frustrated and hang up without leaving you a message.

Not yet - but soon!   We have some very exciting features we are in the process of testing and releasing that will give enhanced power and control to users via a web-based control panel.   Please watch our WorkEasy announcements for exciting new features being released.

Yes.  WorkEasy can attempt to reach you at a second number if you don't answer your primary ring-to destination.  Your secondary destination can point to an alternate number for you such as your cell phone, or to a different person for backup coverage or to a third party answering or order taking service.

Absolutely!  WorkEasy offers two ways; Do Not Disturb and Hours of Operation.

Hours of Operation allows you to define when you want calls to ring through and when you don't (for example, you may only want to be "open" from 9 to 5 on weekdays).  If a caller tries to reach you or one of your Departments "after your normal business hours", WorkEasy will send them straight to the appropriate voice mailbox without ringing you first and play your After-hours voice mailbox greeting (just imagine, no more being disturbed by off hours calls).  And remember, your Extension can have different hours of operation than your Departments (i.e. you may want Sales to have extended hours than Service).

WorkEasy does not offer live operator answering because we believe that an ultra professional automated answering and interactive voice response system (such as WorkEasy) can actually present a more consistently professional image for your company (just think, no bad attitudes, employee turn over, training, tired, sick or cranky operators or language barriers to worry about).

WorkEasy however, is the first company to give you the ability to take orders automatically 24 hours a day via a user friendly automated order entry mailbox.  Now you can step callers through a simple series of questions and get their responses emailed to you as a wav file (just like a voice mail message) that you can listen to right over your PC.

An Order Entry Mailbox requires an introductory and closing statement to guide your caller through the process. This introductory message can optionally be followed by up to 60 seconds of music which allows the caller to gather any necessary information such as a credit card before proceeding with placing their order. The caller may press any key when they are ready to proceed.

The Order Entry Mailbox may ask up to 23 individual questions. The caller speaks their response after each question and has the opportunity to hear their answer and re record it if necessary.

Recordings for the Order Entry Mailbox must be recorded by the WorkEasy Voice Talent at this time as a user interface does not yet exists to allow the end user to record these messages. Please see Pricing for current rates.

WorkEasy records your callers' answers to each of your questions and saves them in a concatonated voicemail file.  You can either call in and listen to your orders over the phone or we can email them to you as a WAV file attachment with the Voice Mail to Email delivery feature.  If you call in to listen to and transcribe your orders, WorkEasy gives you very nice controls that allow you to step through each answer at your own pace making sure you get the information down correctly (speed up, slow down, skip, repeat etc.).  If you have your orders delivered via voice mail to email you have the added advantage of being able to keep the orders indefinately in your email browser for future reference (in case a credit card number is transposed etc).

When you answer a call from WorkEasy, the system greets you and announces the call, "WorkEasy call for," (name of the individual or Department selected), from (city and state call is from). WorkEasy then gives you several call screening options. Of course, you may make your selection at any time during the recording. For example:

Click to Hear Demo

"WorkEasy call for Sales from Pheonix Arizona.
  To accept the call press 1,
  To send it to voicemail press 2,
  To have the caller continue to hold press 3,
  or press star to hear the callers phone number."

As soon as your caller makes their selection from your menu they hear a pleasent recording saying "One moment please," and then they listen to a professional music on hold program - NO dead air, NO innappropriate music, NO controversial talk radio, NO advertisments promoting anyone elses business!

No problem!  You can have your Sales and/or Customer Service options route directly to a Standard mailbox so callers can leave you a message and you get back to them.  Unlike other service providers however, WorkEasy does require that you at least offer your callers a means of leaving your company a message and that you follow up with your customers in a timely manner.  We have learned over the years that it is only good business practice to give your customers a means of reaching you if they have a question or concern regarding their order or credit card charges.  If you don't want to give your customers the ability to leave you a message or plan on never returning their phone calls, then please seek out one of our competitors for your order taking needs.

If you need to provide callers with pre-order information about your offering such as pricing, availability, shipping rates etc., you can easily do that with an InfoBox.  Unlike a standard mailbox which plays a message and then prompts your caller to leave a message, an InofBox automatically returns your caller to your voice menu at the end of the message so they can make another selection - such as place an order!

WorkEasy was the first virtual office phone service to offer Extensions - just like big company's have - but better.  Like Extensions in big companies, WorkEasy allows you to assign yourself, and as you grow, each of your partners or employees in the field your own three digit extension number that is directly accessible off your own WorkEasy toll free number.  When a caller enters your extension number or selects a menu option that points to our Extension, WorkEasy will ring you wherever you have your current ring-to destination(s) set to (like your home or your cellular phone or your home first and then your cell phone).

Each extension comes with:

• It's own unique ring-to destination(s)
• Personal voice mailbox during hours and optional after-hours greetings
• Unique security Pin code (when login in via telephone)
• Message notification options
• Unique Hours of operation and correct time zone for message stamping
• Optional Message forwarding capability
• Optional Outbound dialing capability
• Optional Call transferring option

WorkEasy comes with one Extension for your personal use.  You can add up to 899 additional Extensions (numbers 100-999) for partners and/or employees as needed!  Extensions can be quickly and easily, added, modified or deleted on the fly to meet your changing business needs.

No problem!  All you do is tell the caller that you will transfer them back to the Automated Attendent where they can then enter the new desired Extension number to be transfered...then you hang-up.  It's that simple!  WorkEasy will send the caller back to your menu where they can then enter the new Extension number desired.

Sure can! WorkEasy allows Extensions to copy or forward voice mail messages to each other, with or without a comment, and even send messages to one or more individuals without having to dial each person directly.

WorkEasy enables you to easily manage changes in your workforce by giving you the ability to quickly add, modify or delete any Extension on your account without charging any change fees or having to wait for days for the change to be made.

WorkEasy is hands-down the most professional, most powerful and flexible and the most reliable virtual corporation communications service available in the nation!  But please note - we didn't say "the cheapest".

You see, we've learned that you can't be all things to all people.   It's simply not possible to offer the most reliable, highest quality platform, the most innovative features and the best customer support and be the cheapest service out there - they are mutually exclusive (it takes money to get the best people and equipment).  That's why we decided early on to narrow our focus on meeting the needs of value minded success oriented entrepreneurs who want and need a very professional, very reliable and very powerful communications solution that will help them make their small business a success - at an affordable price.  By narrowing our focus in this way we have enjoyed continued success over the years while countless "cheaper" competitors have come and gone (much to the dismay of their unsuspecting subscribers).

Remember, it's like they always say...you get what you pay for.

WorkEasy has been in business since 1987, that's over 16 years!

We are proud to be a pioneer in the industry, having developed the very first virtual office phone service offered in the nation.   Since then WorkEasy has had the joy of helping thousands of entrepreneurs just like you make their dreams a reality.  We continue to be a leading innovator and are not only the oldest, but more importantly, the most trusted name in the industry.

Absolutely not!  WorkEasy is a simple yet extremely powerful service you subscribe to on a month to month basis (no term contract, no minimum usage).  All you need is a touch tone telephone (office, home or even cellular) to enjoy the most advanced communications solution available today.

Because they are a lose/lose for you!  Most folks want to buy a minute package because they think that's how they are going to save a lot of money on their rate per minute.  Competitors lure you in with gimmicks such as "Prices as low as...!" only to discover that in order to get that low, low rate you have to purchase a million minutes a month that don't roll over.  See the example below to see how one of our competitor's "great deals" actually ends up working out for you in the real world.

In reality, you end up either over buying minutes and paying for minutes you don't use (pure gravy for the provider) or under buying and paying a much higher rate per minute for calls that go over.  Our competitors love minute packages and push them as a great deal because they make a ton out of you either way.  We know because we use to offer minute packages but quickly learned it was a bad deal for our customers and ultimately a great source of frustration for them.

Remember as a dynamic, growing business you will probably have dramatic fluctuations in your usage from month to month when you consider your ramp up time, advertising runs, seasonal and holiday influences, adding employees etc.   Value conscious users know it's best to pay for ONLY what you actually use and take the guess work out of your monthly usage projections.

They offer a 5000 minute package at 4.5 cents per minute at a cost $225.00 - Good deal if you use all 5000 minutes each month and don't go over (incurring a higher rate per minute).

However, if occasionally you:

• use 4000 minutes, you effectively paid 5.625 cents per minute.
• use 3000 minutes, you effectively paid 7.500 cents per minute!
• use 2000 minutes, you effectively paid 11.25 cents per minute!!

No we don't.  Only the actually telephone line provider, such as your Bell company or cell phone company, has the ability to generate different ring tones.  WorkEasy does however distinguish itself from other calls through the Caller ID function now available on most phones (it appears as WORKEASY) as well as the Call Announce feature which announces the call as a WorkEasy call as soon as you answer - giving you the ability to either accept the call, have the caller hold or send it to voice mail.

WorkEasy allows you and your callers to record messages "up to" 10 minute long.  True most folks don't need to use that much time but it's sure nice to have it if and when you do.  Sometimes new customers are concerned that their cost will sky rocket out of control if callers just stay on the line the whole ten minutes and run up their usage.  It's a logical concern but one that almost never happens. Here's why.

WorkEasy uses digital technology and true answer and disconnect supervision on our lines so we know when a caller answers and hangs up the call.  That way you're not billed for minutes that weren't actually used.  And in our experience (we've been doing this a long time) people just don't sit around and eat up minutes on other people's voice mail unless it is a malicious caller.  If you do get a malicious repeat caller we will gladly block their number from calling you again and will usually adjust your bill accordingly.   In all the years we've in business, we have only had to take that action a couple of times.

Siento no (Sorry we don't).  The minimal number of common system prompts (such as "one moment please" and "please begin recording at the tone, when done you may hang up or press any key for more options") are in English.  However you can record all or your custom messages (such as your company greeting, voice menu and mailbox greetings) in any language you require.

When you subscribe to WorkEasy, you are assigned your own unique "customer friendly" toll free number to use as you wish in advertising, on your business cards, brochures etc.  You don't have to share it with any other company!

Yes.  Because we recognize the value of a toll free number and the advertising investment you will probably put into it, we are one of the few providers that will allow you to take your number with you for a minimal processing fee upon service termination.  Please note that due to their scarcity and increased value, it cost a little bit more to release a true 800 number than other toll free numbers (i.e. 888/877/866).

Yes, we can "port" your existing toll free number over to WorkEasy to use with your WorkEasy service.  While technically we will have temporary ownership of your number (that's how the Long Distance Carriers look at it) we view the number as yours and will immediately release it back to you upon service termination and satisfaction of any outstanding balance you may have.

Please note that while most accounts are turned up within 24 hours, porting a toll free number can take up to 15 business days and there is a one time fee associated with the paperwork required to transfer it.  We will gladly set you up with a temporary number so you can get your account set up and ready to go when your toll free number moves over to us - then it will be a seamless change.

If you need the benefits of our service immediately, in most circumstances you can forward your existing toll free number to your assigned temporary toll free number with us until yours ports over.   Of course, you will incur a double rate per minute from your existing carrier plus WorkEasy while you do this, but for some folks that is a necessary expense.

Sure.  You can have several toll free numbers all point to the same account so they'll all be handled the same way or you can set up separate accounts for each toll free number to handle them uniquely.  Please note, if multiple toll free numbers point to the same account you will not be able to distinguish which number they dialed for service.

WorkEasy service is currently only offered via a toll free number because WorkEasy Corp. does not have a local presence in every community.  If you want all of your calls to go through WorkEasy but still have callers dial your local number all you have to do is forward your local line to your assigned WorkEasy toll free number.  That way you still have a local presence to your customers but you can take advantage of the power and flexibility of WorkEasy virtual office services.  Of course, because all forwarded incoming calls end up going through the toll free number you do pay the rate per minute associated with our service (in most cases though it still ends up be less expenses by far than having to buy an expensive phone system in house).

Some of our clients also just use our service as a back up in the event that their local lines are busy or they can't answer (i.e. not in, busy or closed).  In that event, you can just have the Bell company set up call forwarding to the toll free number on a busy or ring-no-answer event.

WorkEasy service will bill you at our very competitive rate for any calls placed to your 800 number.  You will continue to receive your regular bills for local telephone service from your Bell company and long distance calls you place from your long distance carrier.

Billing for an "inbound" call starts when a call to your WorkEasy toll free number is automatically answered by the WorkEasy system (usually by immediately playing your company greeting and voice menu).

If and when a caller selects to speak with you, WorkEasy immediately places the caller on hold (playing a professional Music-on-Hold program for them) while it generates a second long distance call out to you at your current ring-to destination.  If you answer the call and press one to connect to the caller, we then start billing you for the second "outbound" call at its current rate per minute.  If a device answers (such as an answering machine or fax) or if you choose not to take the call, the system redirects the call to voice mail and you will have only paid the inbound rate per minute.  Of course, if you have it set up so calls never ring out to you then you will only pay the inbound rate per minute.

You are only charged for checking voice mail messages if you call your toll free number to log-in and listen to them.  In order to circumvent that additional cost to you, WorkEasy is one of the first service providers to offer voicemail to email delivery.  Voicemail to email delivery automatically emails you a copy of each voicemail message left for you.  The message is promptly delivered to your email address as a wav file attachment which you can easily listen to through your computer speakers.

Sorry, not at this time, though that may be an option in the future.   Please watch announcements of new exciting features regularly released.