Arise Virtual Solutions review: Arise is a SCAM 109

I too have had a bad time with arise... I started working with them in mid 2009. I worked for Apple customer service for a few months when they transfered me to Apple Telesales in mid November (A completely different department and they listed it as that). Now my sells were not amazing in November but okay that was attributed to getting used to a new system and selling the computers and all of the accessories. But when December came along i knocked my sales out of the park, and was over the SOW requirement... First week of january I was feeling good, a month ahead on some of my bills and what do I get? A big blunt Termination email stating that I was lacking on sales. I went to dispute it throught their "resolution center" and got a sorry we terminated you for the months of october through december, I explained that I was not working that department until mid November and I even sent them the emails stating I was completely telesales in mid November. I told them that I thought it was very unfair to fire me for a month and a half of work when I exceed the sales requriement in December. But they let me know that they were not going to reinstate me and suggested that I should pick up a different client. WHAT! you mean to tell me that you are suggesting that I pick up another client and have to struggle for a month and a half while I don't get paid to train for another client that I HAVE to pay $200 for when I could use that for bills! I could not believe it! I just barely was able to make enough with apple to break even on what I had to pay for the computer, training, and starting a incorportation fees. I truely believe that they try to cycle you around, my mom is the exception to that she has been with carnival for 2 years but I believe that it is attributed to the fact that no one wants to work it because it is extremely hard (system wise) and they do not pay very well. I do not really know but I am currently jobless... Arise gives you no job security and I do not recommend it, do not end up like me wondering what I am going to do to make money to pay my bills.

i50 – You ARE an IC… so sorry to break it to you…..

Arise does not dictate you every move. When you are scheduled to work, they do actually expect you to work… maybe that is where your confusion is.

Arise does NOT dictate when you work. ACPs are given access to a schedule and build their own schedules. Some clients do have a weekend requirement, but we are advised of this before ever expressing interest.

ACPs are not paid illegal wages. We are paid for productivity… if you are making less than what you would like, work harder! NOVEL CONCEPT, I know.

Arise will not ‘fire’ ACPs for ‘no reason’. If you are consistently not meeting the metrics you agreed to meet when signing your SOW, yes, you are at risk of loosing your SOW. If you do not want o loose a contact, do what is expected!

If you are looking for something that requires little thought with a big return, may I suggest playing the lottery? Looking for minimum wage...? Try Burger King.

If you hate it, leave. I am so sick of the HUGE lies of a small few.

FILE with US Dept of Labor too...SLAVE LABOR if ILLEGAL in the USA! The only thing Arise does is terminate good faithful workers that are EMPLOYEES as they dictate your every move, when you work, how you work and fire with NO JUSTIFIED reason...That is an employee NOT independant contrator. We have NO say so when we work, we are paid illegal wages, all which fall into the EMPLOYEE guidelines.

I my friend will back you...STOP ARISE ...they will fall soon. Stepping on good people and doing them wrong just to collect money for them to be certified with a lower paying non hourly company. I BEAT ARISE DOES NOT CHARGE THE CLIENTS LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE PER HOUR FOR THE AGENTS1111

DO IT AND I HAVE PROOF...AND DOCUMENTATION FOR YOU!

Would love to see more people file legal complaints.. SLAVE LABOR IS ILLEGAL IN THE USA.

EMPLOYEES NOT Independent contractors as they dictate your every move and fire you like an employee would for NOT reasons other than to charge more suckers for money to get certified

I have been an ACP with Arise for 3 years. Have held one client the full 3 years, and another I maintained contract for 12 months. Overall, it was great when it started. I was happy to "Own my own business" and work from home. There are the benefits of not needing to pay gas money, or buy an office wardrobe. However, I am now disgruntled and for reasons that many have yet to mention on this forum. First of all, we all know and realize that you are termed an independent contractor by Arise, however the client I support is constantly forcing deadline up-trainings that Arise people then push at us to complete with an or else attitude. I have received emails of threat if there is a training that I do not complete. According to the IRS, a behavioral control in regards to questioning whether you are an independent contractor or employee, by all means I am an EMPLOYEE! I am going to complete form SS8 for the IRS to determine and I am seeking legal counsel as well. With all the trainings I complete, metrics I meet, specialist certifications I get, WE DO NOT GET ANY RAISES, WE DO NOT GET THE ABILITY TO NEGOTIATE OUR SOW, WE DO NOT GET THE ABILITY TO NEGOTIATE OUR SERVICE AGREEMENT, THERE IS LITTLE TO NO ROOM FOR ADVANCEMENT AS POSITIONS ARE HELD BY FRIENDS OF FRIENDS-FAMILY MEMBERS-ETC!

Hi.

I would say that Arise is still worth getting involved with. Again, it all depends on your own strengths and weaknesses. If you're not good with sales, then don't sign up with a sales-oriented opportunity.

I am currently with B&N. They pay $1.45/phone call and $1.25/email currently. If you're a speedy typer, you can make tons of money with it.

Also, I've only just started with the B&N training, and because of my background and input in the course, I'm being considered for a training opportunity.

Just be careful choosing the opportunities. They allow you to read the opportunity information before you sign up with a client.

hey all,

i just started the enrollment process and after reading these threads i am doubtful. is arise still worth pursuing?

please advise! thanks much

I wouldn't say that Arise is a scam. I would say that there are pros and cons about it, just like every company. There are clients that I would advise people to stay away from (i.e. those that pay per call or that pay less the longer you stay on the call). However, they do have clients that offer a minimum per hour. Also, they offer clients that have email customer service jobs. It just depends on your own strengths and weaknesses. One of my own strengths is how fast I can type per minute. I type 90 words per minute. Because I know this is a strength of mine, I signed up to work for Barnes & Noble. They pay $1.45/call and $1.25/email. There are 2 different schedules, one for phones and one for emails. In my last job as an email customer service agent with another company, I typed 200 emails a day. The logic here is if I can type this many emails with Arise, then I can make a lot of money. So, in conclusion, I have to disagree that it is a scam. However, I do stress that one must know his or her own strengths and weaknesses. In addition, one must research the opportunities with as much intensity as they can. Good luck!

I've been with Arise.com for two years now servicing Walgreens.com. I love this company. I get to pick the hours I want to work and I am compensated very fairly. I make more at this job than I have at any other position I've ever had. Since Walgreens.com is a 24 hour company, I can work after I put my kids to bed and not have to pay daycare for them. I have no commute and no lunches out!

While the training can be steep if you are already broke, I made my investment back within the very first week I worked. The only expense I have now is my phone line that is $13.00 a month. Much cheaper than gas and eating out and wardrobe and daycare.

I won't go back to a regular 9-5 job now that I see how great working really can be!

I agree. I started with Arise with the understanding it was going to take start up money on my part. I had no idea I was going to have to pay so much for each opportunity with them.. When I started they were still posting opportunities that would pay over 9 dollars an hour without sales, you don't see those anymore either.

I have a problem with the resolution center that never gets back to you.

I have an issue with the fact you can be accepted in to an opportunity and 5 min. later rec. an email stating it's too late, you window of opportunity to sign up has passed.

I have an issue with paying so much for training only to find out the work is seasonal. (Trust me folks, hit a lull with some of these companies and you are down to 2-4 hours a week)

I do have a problem with any company that says you can work here and after a while you can quit your other jobs and just work from home. Arise DOES say that. Then they don't deliver.

It's very frustrating for people looking for an honest opportunity from home that will actually be a year round job.

Arise is a SCAM, They like a few other scam scheme will show some possible things to do but like few other (madoff, nader, etc...) they can not be true, please OPEN your eyes. When you account them it is other kind of business... They take advantage of our hard economy and find a lot of needed people who dream they can work at home and also put big names their list (part of the rip off) and then they begin collecting money to train you, after that you will have your show-time business opportunity and it is most likely you will fail (as what you can expect) but they say that you will not meet the criteria... Did you ever take pictures to your kids to be shown to potential commercial makers...? have you seen the girl who drive the rose Mary K...? someway it is like the lottery... you will get pay but you must be very lucky to have a possitive cash flow and be kept in... have you ever apply for USPS or TSA?, , , , Also as you can imagine, there will be seasons needs that no matter what you are able to do you will be accepted because there is a need for a ton of working men hours to answer the phone for any of these Big name companies but when there is no need for that anymore they will through you out because of "bad breath"... I want to believe that some of these companies do not know about it but the true is they make money (saving) no getting involved with...so they don't really care. They may change their name again..who knows.

ARISE.COM is a very cheap alternative for a train facility to supply personnel for these big companies so they can deal with their peaks needs and makes money on the training process, even they commission on your time sales also, companies also paid a "set up" fee while you pay your train. After you are trained, you no longer have any worth for them unless you are very exceptional...(but you wont be here if you are)... otherwise they will now want to train another person for the same job or you for another "client company" and collect fees again...

hi all,

has anybody in the UK received the below automatic email from arise? this is the 2nd time i m receiving exactly the same email i have i have applied for an opportunity. i am begining to think that they've reached their target like they say when you call their recruitment line that they are looking for "500 business partners".

Please review your VSC's status in the Shop Direct Orders opportunity.

Reason: The VSC's ACP employee did not meet all or some of the posted application requirements listed on the opportunity. The scheduling team uses the VSC's ACP employees credentials posted in combination with the Ideal Match results (Customer Service, Sales, Technical Support, Voice assessment on file, etc.) to ensure the requirements are met. These assessments scores help to place the VSCs in the opportunities best suited for them. While you may meet the basic criteria for the application, there may be ACPs who are more qualified and exceed the screening criteria. Please ensure that the VSC's ACP employee profile is up to date and accurate.

Other considerations taken into account are the VSC's ACP employee’s commitment adherence and previous service provided (i.e., Premature termination of an SOW may reflect negatively on future interest). All of these factors have led to this decision and it is the VSC's responsibility to ensure all ACP employees under the corporation meet the minimum requirements before expressing interest in a service opportunity.

This message has been automatically generated, please do not reply to it. If you have questions regarding this email, please contact the Arise Resolution Center.

Thanks for your comments. I have a phone intervi ew with them this afternoon. It is true that no company is perfect (nor employee for that matter). I do not know how much the policies have changed since, but I will be careful and ask some questions of concern- training, costs, certifications, etc.

Seriously – a complaint because you are expected to maintain a functional workstation…. really? Honestly?

You would not have been terminated if you were meeting ALL of your metrics. There isn’t a job in the world that you would be able to keep if you consistently did not do what was expected of you. While your quality may have been exceptional, that is not the ONLY metrics agents must adhere to. For example, you can have GREAT quality, but if you do not show up when you are supposed to, it makes no difference.

Arise is not the negative picture you all are painting. Besides, if it is so horrid, then why have you stayed so long?

Bottom line- it is not perfect, but it is not a fraud or scam. You are expected to be accountable… this is never a bad thing especially in this society.

I am been working with Arise for about 4 years now. It would cost $99 to enroll in a certification course. Sometimes the prices would be slashed to $75. Now the enrollment fees have skyrocketed. At one point you would pay $150, now it is as high as $300!
With the increased enrollment fee, there are more companies that are not even paying you a gauranteed hourly rate! For example, you may be compensated on a per call basis NOT on an hourly basis. So there may be times when the call volume gets very slow and you are not being compensated for your time, unless you are on a call with a customer. This can be frustrating, when volume is slow or if you have a customer with a complex issue that may require extended time and efforts to resolve. Imagine being on call for 1 hour with a customer and only getting paid $1.45!

I have trained with at least 6 different clients. There are only a few, however that may be worthwhile. I have absolutely noticed that some of the training course do seem to riddled with all types of unrealistic obstacles.

Training can last anywhere from 2 - 5 weeks. During this time you are not receiving compensation for your training. You will need a lot of ink and paper. Generally lots of printing is invloved. You also need some extra time outside of class time to study and complete homework.

Before you see your first dime, be prepared to shell out extra time and money!

OH... sometimes there can be a lot of technical issues that may cost you extra money. For example, you may need to upgrade memory. There are so many programs to download and run all at once. This may affect your computer's performance. Also, this could be a problem if you are in the middle of working with a customer and your computer crashes! It's more of a problem if you are only being compesentated for each completed phone call.

Do you get my drift here? There are opportunites to make money with Arise, however, its what your profit after all of your expenses that count. Considering the energy consumption, paper, ink, upgrades, phone costs, taxes, etc. You may be making less than minimum wage sometimes.

I did not always feel this way, but I do feel "scammed" now considering what this company used to be. I feel that they are in the price gouging business right now because it simply works. There are a lot of desperate people who can't find jobs and in need of money. So even with complaints in hand, these people sign up with this company.

Arise is AWFUL. I too was contracted thru Arise for Home Depot. The EXACT same thing happened to me as with "I no longer Arise" mentions above. I too received the highest possible Quality Scores for my calls & received preselect (allowing you to pick & choose your hours before the remaining 90% of the agents). One day, I went to log on & I was blocked. I emailed everyone I could think of & was only told it was due to performance? HOW CAN THEY SAY I DIDN'T PERFORM? I was one of the best & always in the top 10%. They are a scam. I constantly get emails from them inviting me to select other client opportunities (of course, for a fee of $200+ per training session). And for what? So I can pay them to train me (oh...did I say how much their training has lacking?). I WOULD NEVER ADVISE ANYONE TO GO TO WORK FOR ARISE. They will just terminate you without any forewarning or reason, just to get your money by getting you to retrain for another client & then they will get rid of you again - just to keep the whole horrible cycle going. I was devistated when they let me go. I was NEVER terminated for performance from ANY job - and I will never go back to ARISE so I can say I will NEVER EVER be terminated for performance again. Think before you get involved with that company - PLEASE!

Thank you Vegas!

I have been with Arise since August 2008, have 3 clients, am a top performer and supporting myself working at home. I praise Arise for giving me this opportunity during a down turn in the economy. As Mieke stated each person is contracted and responsible for providing high quality of service. If you don't perform get out of the house and get a job.

Hello from across the pond! I am a UK based ACP and have been for a few months and just LOVE it! My experiences have been quite the opposite and I agree with Mieke in that you must research for yourself.

Cheers!

I am an active agent and have been for over seven years. For those reading this board, please keep in mind that your success with this company is directly linked to how YOU perform as an agent. Arise is not perfect, no company is, however, they are a legitimate work from home company. Please also note that some of the ‘complainers’ refer to Arise as an ‘employer’… this is indication they do not understand the Arise Model; they did not read and ascertain a strong understanding of the company and requirements to become and ACP.

For the complainers- I do not understand how you can call them dishonest- did you read the MSA you signed? Did you read the SOW you signed? Every agent is required to adhere to a certain minimum standard and it is each agents responsibility to ensure they are. Arise will not hold your hand- remember you are a small business owner.

I have talked to many agents that have lost certification based on metrics – they ALL feel as though it was unfair, however, I always ask what they have done to improve areas where they were deficient and you can hear a pin drop. These are the same agents who are logging in late or just logging in when they were not supposed to (pirating) and hanging up on callers- this makes us look bad to the client. The quality was sub par and I for one am elated that those who continually are not meeting are no longer being tolerated.

Personally, I have held eight separate certifications as an ACP. One of which I have held for over four years – this is not seasonal… this is continuing. So, do your homework and fully research the opportunity – do what is best for YOU.

I was thinking the very same thing. I have been working for Arise for almost 2 years. Although I haven't been terminated from a client, I have experienced working for a client and then the client leaving Arise so everyone lost the account, that has happened to me twice . And from what I understand it was due to greed on Arise's part. I am going to go to Tori Johnson of Good Morning America as well since that is where I learned of the company. And you are right about the cash flow part. I have been working a particular company for 1 year now and they have had about 8 new classes at a whopping 225.oo dollars per head, they hire about 80 agents per class do the math. They let some come through and make it so that most can't certify by fixing the exams so that they fail. I got this information from an employee that worked for them for over 8 years in the office.

I think we need to form an alliance and file a law suit against them. They are indeed unscrupulous and dishonest. We need to get this out on the news and to their clients also. People need to know how they are treating the agents...like we are nothing. They rip off people to enhance their cash flow. This needs to be made public so it is stopped.

You forgot to add Home Depot to this list of companies who are contracted through Arise. I worked thru Arise for H.D. for 4 months. I even received preselect (the ability to choose your hours before 90% of the other agents) because of superior service. Then, one day, I went to look at my schedule and I couldn't get to it. They locked me out of the system & terminated me WITH NO WARNING. Said I wasn't meeting statistics...haaahhhaaaaa...You don't get preselect with them if you aren't one of the top performers, but they nixed me, and now I have nixed them. Be VERY careful!

My wife works for arise. VERY VERY BAD COMPANY! Save your money and look for a real job. YOu won't last with arise. The company has a very high turn aound for employment. You'll pay for training and pass the certification and work for a month or two and then they'll terminate you for no reasons and start new training to lure people in and repeat the cycles...just to make money.

A

i was interested in joining aris but I was curious to why you call them a scam?

Biggest scam. The clients need to talk to the ACPs and find out how they are REALLY being treated.