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speedial 1
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(Date Posted:07/11/2006 7:23 PM)
Firstly, thanks for your help. My situation is such I have been at both ends of the relay service. Lousy hearing for intervals and just not great hearing at the other times. I f ind when opreators announce the relay call they do so at the speed of light. A hearing or hoh recepient does assume it's a telemarketer because the fact that it is a relay call combined with the operator's number happens too fast to really comprehend what is being said. My suggestion therefore is to slow down when announcing the call. The hearing person who is not familiar with the system really has no clue as to what the numbers mean.
At the user end- mostly the experice is good except sometimes when I have a question I feel like I'm getting the cold shoulder. We need to distinguish what you can't do professionally from that which isn't expediant. It doesn't happen often- but it happens. Let me say I personnally am in awe of the work you do (and what you have to put up with), and greatly apprecieate your concerns.
Reply to : operatorhere
Welcome to our forum! I'd like to see what the people who are deaf, HOH, or speech disabledcan suggest about how Operators and the Relay services can serve them better. What would you like to see happen tomake the system work better? Thanks for your input.
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Clear-Conscience
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(Date Posted:07/11/2006 11:22 PM)
I agree with you about operators announcing relay too fast. Those who do should really slow down. I mean, sheesh, most operators get paid by the hour, so if it takes longer, so what?
With the last portion (where you feel like you're getting the cold shoulder) I can only tell you that the operator is strictly forbidden both from extensive interaction with the person you are calling AND with you. That's unfortunate, and it prevents us from answering some pretty simple questions, but those are the rules of the system. If, for example, you were to ask us "opr what was that number they gave me?" we cannot answer that question, because we must remain transparent and also because we are not allowed to reference previous call info (for your privacy's sake.) So even if it's staring at us from our screen, we're not technically allowed to do it. Basically, we can only answer very brief questions, like "opr what is the person's tone of voice" or simple things like that. We're guarded very strictly against non-transparency and interaction with callers and voice users, since we are supposed to be human phone wires. Again, it's unfortunate, but it's not our fault, and if we get caught doing it, we will get it marked against us.
Thank you for your input and your kind words!
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--Clear Conscience
relayscams.aimoo.com
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speedial 1
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(Date Posted:07/13/2006 6:21 PM)
Thank you for your reply. I guess my question regarding "the cold shoulder" was directed to a question about protocol etc. For example, since there are so many problems related to scams why aren't operators allowed to tell us if the caller has an accent? If one is hearing certain information, such as a person's accent would be obvious. It really puts deaf person at a disadvantage not to have such information. The next point is one of ettiquitte. A hearing person has the luxury of "hanging up" immediately, or not answering the phone (if they have caller ID), if they don't want to take call. When using tty either you take the call without knowing what is about to happen- or you have to be rude to the poor ca who is working with the caller, by hanging up immediately because you are angry at getting one of these calls. I would think at some meeting or other it would come up as to what an operator can do to provide at least the same information a hearing person would have. The second thing. How would phone company handle "crank calls" or scammers if they knew or strongly suspected advance the call was a crank? Also no one would ask every hearing person to register or "get permission" from a medical person to use their phone. I think that is insulting. I would think the phone company would look into the matter and take some legal action, or refer call to FCC or other group, to look for other means other then placing another burden on the user.
If the phone company thought about how much money it cost to train an operator and true cost of keeping you in you job (benefits and all) and what it costs them in dollars for you to deal with all these calls, I think they may find a way. If nothing else it's costing them millions, probably. "Transpanency" happens on many levels. I would give up one level of transparency , maybe even pay a little extra, for the relief of either not having to deal with these calls (the operator can be my "caller id" by me refusing calls from certain countries), or being warned by the operator. We need something like a "Do not call registry" for these numbers. TTY users don't have to sign up if they don't mind getting these calls and operators can have the pleasure of denying the caller a responder, while saving money for the phone company.
Thank you for taking the time with all this. I know I was wordy. But is an important issue. I think tty users would get kinder service if the operators didn't have the "mental background" which comes with having to spend time on these phoney calls, before getting a legitimate user. Your work is, in my opinion, difficult, demanding and highly skilled and neither you or deaf should have to put up with this!
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Clear-Conscience
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(Date Posted:07/13/2006 6:38 PM)
I think relaying a person's accent is one of those things that are sort of iffy. Probably the reason that's not one of the approved tone of voices is that it calls for a judgment call on the operator's part. I suppose it could be said something like "(speaking with foreign accent)" or something like that. But they don't allow for that for some reason. I agree that it would be handy.
I would think the deaf have caller ID also, right?
Just so you know, most CA's don't care if you hang up on these calls. In fact, we'd rather you go ahead and get done with the call than drag it out.
You asked "How would phone company handle "crank calls" or scammers if they knew or strongly suspected advance the call was a crank?" The thing is that they DO know. They choose not to do anything, because those calls still make money for the company. In fact, we are told explicitly to process every crank call and scam as if it were a regular call. They are fully aware of the problem, and they choose to do nothing about it.
You said "Also no one would ask every hearing person to register or "get permission" from a medical person to use their phone. I think that is insulting. I would think the phone company would look into the matter and take some legal action, or refer call to FCC or other group, to look for other means other then placing another burden on the user."
I don't think it's insulting at all. Hearing people have to go to great lengths to register their phone. I can't believe that you think we don't. We have to give our name, social security number, billing address, personal information, and on top of that, we have to PAY for it. What's insulting is to say that one small portion of the population should get their phone service for free while everybody else has to pay for it. It is insulting is that people can use relay anonymously, while hearing people have to register every bit of their personal info to use the phone.
You might think the phone company would look into the matter, but the truth of the matter is that they make more than one dollar per minute on these calls, and scam and prank calls bring in millions of dollars per year to the phone company. So they ignore the problem, because they are making tons of money from it. The unfortunate nature of registration may turn out to be the only solution for this, and I suggest that paying for the service is the best solution, because then the Nigerian criminals would not be able to use it, and the prank callers wouldn't use a pay or registered service. So really the registration is to your benefit, because it clears up the lines for actual deaf users to have it available.
You said:"If the phone company thought about how much money it cost to train an operator and true cost of keeping you in you job (benefits and all) and what it costs them in dollars for you to deal with all these calls, I think they may find a way." Yeah, you would think. But it doesn't work that way.
You said: "If nothing else it's costing them millions, probably." They make it back with scam calls and pranks.
You said: "The operator can be my "caller id" by me refusing calls from certain countries." Unfortunately, when it comes to calls from Nigerians, we can't tell from the info on our screen where they are calling from. There used to be a "Do Not Call" function for hearing people to refuse relay calls, but that was done away with.
You are absolutely right that the relay experience would be a lot more pleasant if the operators weren't constantly abused by criminals and people making ugly calls. Thanks for your input, and I hope this explains a few things.
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--Clear Conscience
relayscams.aimoo.com
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speedial 1
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(Date Posted:07/13/2006 9:53 PM)
Thank you for your prompt and complete response- it is enlightening. I would just like to add that hearing people don't really "register" their phones, they open an account for billing purposes. Yes, I agree with you deaf people and other should pay for the service. It is unfortunate that one group has some disadvantage over another but if one receives an additioanl service- especially a personal service society should not have to pay. The telephone companies have "knacks" and extra charges for all kinds of services, the relay would be one. I understand the furor it may cause in deaf community but we can't have it all ways, and relay is after all a personal service.
The point I was making (and I will end it here, so as not to take up all ur board time) is that I would pay something reasonable for the service, especially if scams could be stopped by the system "firewall"- whatever that may be. That is I agree that being deaf or otherwise having a problem does not give us entitlement- although I know many bitter or defensive deafies may think so. However, to get medical documentation would be one step too far. Hearing people do not get medical approval for phone use. Phones are not like parking permits. Not every one drives and driving is not prerequisite to saftey and security- driving is a privilige and can be revoked. Maybe phone privilige of scammers should be revoked. No one should be convientlly deaf- that is get the priviledges, including government monies on one hand and claiming not to have a disability on the other- but that is for another venue
Maybe relay users need to say how the phone companies encourage scammers to make money- that can't be good for public relations. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.
Reply to : Clear-Conscience
I think relaying a person's accent is one of those things that are sort of iffy. Probably the reason that's not one of the approved tone of voices is that it calls for a judgment call on the operator's part. I suppose it could be said something like "(speaking with foreign accent)" or something like that. But they don't allow for that for some reason. I agree that it would be handy.I would think the deaf have caller ID also, right?Just so you know, most CA's don't care if you hang up on these calls. In fact, we'd rather you go ahead and get done with the call than drag it out.You asked "How would phone company handle "crank calls" or scammers if they knew or strongly suspected advance the call was a crank?" The thing is that they DO know. They choose not to do anything, because those calls still make money for the company. In fact, we are told explic
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Clear-Conscience
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(Date Posted:07/15/2006 1:18 AM)
I personally think that if there were to be a fee charged for the service, it wouldn't be necessary to submit medical forms, because no pranker or scammer is going to pay to have access to the service. I think that's just one of many ideas of how to improve the system. Really, as long as it's a pay service, I don't care if they give discounts for people who can prove that are economically disadvantaged, but it needs to have some sort of gateway to keep the criminals and hooligans out. If somebody comes up with another way of keeping the scammers out that doesn't involve medical documentation, I'd be all for it. Thanks so much for your input, harleyboo, you've been a blessing. Feel free to take up our board time any day 
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--Clear Conscience
relayscams.aimoo.com
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speedial 1
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