VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Yoda117 · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:57 am Post subject:

well at least the hit-or-miss level of customer service has remained the same.

Haven't checked the site lately, but the security issues I found on the board have pretty much remained (1 was fixed to my knowledge, but some of the others still remain).

I'm willing to bet that is the same with the user interface as well, but since I'm not in the business of testing for free, I'll leave that for others to determine.

Lack of leads isn't why I'm not a dues paying member of that site. Lack of what I feel to be proper security controls is the pre-eminent reason I'm not giving money to that site. The oft-times pittance of a fee offered is a close second.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

Lizden · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:28 am Post subject:

Pam · Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:

Philip honey, I got nuttin on you. I bow at your altar.
Money Mouth

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Pam Tierney
www.pamtierneyvo.com
imdb profile http://imdb.com/name/nm1941932/

Now what did I come in here for?

dagoldenknight86 · Guest

I had a one month trial of Voice 123 and got 3 private leads. 2 decided to go with me. I told them I'd love to do the projects and sent them my contact information and never heard back from them, lol. I have a teen-young adult voice and had about 2 auditions from smartcast a day.

Obviously Voice123 has served some very well. But I'm not going to subscribe to their 275 a year plan. I wasn't satisfied with the results I got. I get great responce with the marketing I already use: networking and cold calls.

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:59 pm Post subject:

3 private leads in your first month is actually very good for that service.
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Jeff
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Yoda117 · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:44 am Post subject:

marko · Guest

I've been with V123 for about 5 years and pre-smartcast they were awesome for me. Now? what's a synonym for "sucks big time"? Philip is dead on about their BS rating system. Why don't we have a client rating system? I'd sure like to rate a client or two that gave me 3 measley stars for an amazing audition*. I should post a response I got from one of their crack squad of customer service reps after complaining vie email about their blatantly skewed rating system. 6 paragraphs of dreck and voice123 PR. I have honestly had a string of 5 "5 star ratings given!"within the last two weeks and nothing come to fruition from it. Of course, they occasionally still send the dollar a holler gigs which are asinine from everyone's perspective except the client.

I feel better now. Thanks for allowing me to vent. And no, I will not be renewing my membership again. They've gotten a bit greedy with their pricing and not enough ROI.

*according to my wife & mommy.

Yoda117 · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject:

Hey Marko,

know what's fun... just respond to Customer Service with the pre-generated stuff they send you. I do. It's fun to see how much they're willing to let an e-mail go before they realize what's happened.

It also proves something I've said for a while now. Most e-mails don't actually get read.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

mcm · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

marko · Guest

I will cover the cost, no problem. Laugh

bobfromboulder · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:24 pm Post subject:

I wanted to chime in, since they switch to "SmartCast" just as I was considering joining. Reading up on how things worked, I decided not to join. My reasoning behind this was:

They charge *you*, the actor, for their service. You are where they get their money from, and to whom they should be catering their service. You can't do much except put up your profile and wait for auditions to be offered to you.

The clients (voice seekers) pay nothing. But they're allowed to rate the actors, without being rated themselves. They (seekers) are also allowed access to all voice talent on the site regardless of their budget, rating (lack thereof), or subscription level (lack thereof).

I don't feel like I'm bitching here, just doing the math. It just doesn't add up to me. They're getting paid by the actors but catering more to seekers?

Yoda117 · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject:

bob, you forgot another good point of V123.

They have protection mechanisms in place for the seekers, not the talent.

Just a reminder for the folks playing at home: the seekers are the folks using V123 for free. Talent pays $295.

So not only does V123 work for the folks who don't pay for the service, instead of those who do, it also offers protection for the folks who don't pay, not those who do.

I am totally confused by this business model, or how it's been working for the last few years (you'd think people would have learned by now).

Is voices.com the same in it's billing scheme?
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones