Being a Virtual Assistant I naturally use an online fax service. So my faxes arrive in my email in box instead of through my phone line. I love the idea of the internet based faxes and have been using them for years! Besides the convenience it is also better for the environment.
The company I have been using is Myfax.com and I was very happy with them (despite the $20 fee I was paying each month). Back in December something happened, I started having issues receiving faxes from some people.
My clients started getting error messages that said "A communication error occurred during the fax transmission. If you are sending, try again/or call to make sure the recipient's fax machine is ready to receive faxes. If you are receiving, contact the initiator and ask them to send the document again".
I tried faxing my Myfax.com number from my own land line fax and it wouldn't go through! I got the same error message. I had always been able to fax myself things in the past. So, I tried faxing to other Virtual Assistant's Online Fax services and it worked (except for the other VAs that had Myfax.com!). I spent HOURS on the phone with Myfax.com and then with Hewlett Packard because Myfax.com convinced me it must be HPs fault, then HP tried to tell me it was my phone company's fault. Nobody was taking ownership. I then tried faxing my Myfax.com number from two different Brother's brand fax machines and those wouldn't go through either!
On top of the HOURS wasted talking to customer support at Myfax.com, they started double billing me from that day. When they were trying to assist me (or convince me that they weren't the problem and it must be HP) they set up a new test fax number and assured me I would not be charged for that. The new test fax number did not work either and guess what... I got double billed $40 instead of the normal $20.
I contacted Myfax.com when I saw the bill and they said they would credit my account. I waited patiently for the credit, got my new credit card bill today only to find out no credit was issued and I was double billed again! They have over charged me $49.67 in the last two months and the service has been unreliable and my clients are getting frustrated that they can't get their faxes through to me.
I finally decided to cancel my account and sign up for Trustfax.com. So far, so good. Trustfax has been receiving my faxes without a hitch all week.
I've heard two other Virtual Assistants complain about issues with Myfax.com. They are having the same issue. People are not able to fax them consistently.
After I saw my credit card bill today with the double billing from Myfax.com I decided to call my credit card company and ask them for help. I was delighted to find out that my credit card company (Chase United Visa) issued me a refund and said they would handle the problem with Myfax.com! What a relief it was to get some great customer service. Not to mention that I am flying to the FoVA conference with the miles I have earned from my United Visa!
PS. I tried to send a fax to someone with efax.com earlier this week and that didn't go through either. It seems there is some kind of issue with HP and Brothers fax machines communicating with internet fax service numbers that start with 866. This is a new problem. I have a feeling me and the other two Virtual Assistants experiencing this issue are not the only ones having problems with Myfax.com (and maybe efax.com).
Friday, March 28, 2008
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10 comments:
Hi Sally,
I use and recommend www.intermedia.net for fax via email service. I've used them with no problems for over a year. I have aso heard of www.trustfax.com but I have not used them so I cannot tell you how about the quality of their service. Good Luck!!
You mentioned on the forum you received quite a few faxes, but for me I'm not at that point. I posted more of comment on my blog and when I reach the point of receiving the number of faxes that you're getting, I'll definitely look into an online fax service.
Sally, I am so sorry you went through this. I've been using eFax for incoming faxes but my fax volume is so low that I haven't had one come in for quite some time. I guess I can expect a problem for my next incoming fax.
I prefer a real fax machine for outgoing faxes. It's just so much easier for me. But for incoming, I want them kept private so I prefer the online fax companies.
I just don't want a monthly bill for something I use so infrequently.
How is trustfax or some of the other fax services doing? It was refreshing to find that we were not crazy even though we have been told every way that the myfax.com problem was ours. Very condesendingly by the way!
Former user of Ring Central, Awesome system, not for the budget minded. I used my FAX for 2 years, something did go wrong with my FAX and their service. Cancelled and went to Trust FAX, they are pretty good thus far. Although faxing from a Brother machine to an 866 number just will not work. Sad news about that inability. Peace All !! Hope This Helps You ....
Hi Sally,
I found this blog post through a topic at VAnetworking.com, and thank goodness! It's so nice to hear about specific experiences that people are having, both good and bad, before committing to using a faxing service. Thanks for the info!
Don't know about this one, but I use www.popfax.com and I am satisfied with their services, regards!
I tried out MyFax when they had a promotion and from the first, and only, fax I had many error messages and the person I was faxing kept telling me only the first page was sent but MyFax claimed all 3 were. I did cancel, or a least try to cancel, but they gave me the run around. They claim I was given several months of free service (even though I only used it that one time during the free period), that's right.. they never canceled it and kept adding to the charges - then the emails demanding I pay in full otherwise they would not cancel. I refused to pay and contacted the BBB. It was a last resort but they kept harassing me for payment and every month the bill got bigger.
myfax.com billed me for money I did not owe. I signed up for a free trial but never sent one fax.
They billed me for $10.
When I tried to correct this mistake it took me 2 months of phone calls, chats, emails and leaving messages before I finally got it resolved.
If you look on google you'll find many complaints about myfax.com and I believe they are now owned by the same company as efax.com and BOTH have tons of complaints!
You will regret it if you give any money to myfax.com. They have NO customer service, all they do is give you the runaround and tell you to call a number that you can never reach anyone at, and they never return calls!
I have the EXACT same problem! I have used MyFax for 5 years with no issues until sometime in December and now I have had multiple problems receiving faxes from certain numbers (including my home fax). I called customer support a few minutes ago and they blamed the sender's service provider, saying their company probably has trouble sending to certain numbers. I replied, "but it's happening from multiple senders in different states. How can they all have trouble sending to my number unless the problem is with my number?" MyFax's reply was "some providers have coverage nationally and it's likely they all have the same provider or the same parent provier." That is simply not good enough for me, considering I rely HEAVILY on receiving faxes to do my job. I will be switching today. I will look into Trustfax. Thank you for the recommendation.
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