SOLUTION to eFax ills from longtime user
Written: Feb 27 '07 (Updated Feb 28 '07)
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Pros: Early pioneer of this technology
Cons: "Houston, we have many problems!"
The Bottom Line: Read this review for an excellent alternative! You really can find excellent service. Save money, both at home, and especially on the road.
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| flamingtater's Full Review: eFax |
Love at first fax:
Beginning in the last millennium eFax was vital to my work. I travel and must send/receive faxes anywhere I can log-on. I began as a free user and was happy to pay $12.95/mo when my volume of faxes in/outg exceeded the free number. It was dirt-cheap for this service as long as it was reliable.
Many years and few problems. Early versions of the software were pretty amazing. I liked having a loader/viewer complete with editing. The only problem with the early software was that saving edited changes degraded the resolution--like making a copy of a copy of a copy. That was not a deal-breaker. I was amazed at how tiny the saved document files were. I used eFax as my scanning and archiving software. Another freebie.
About banner ads, junk faxes & junk emails:
Banner ads can be turned off by going to the menu bar. Select tools, then options.
Junk faxes became annoying but still were not a deal-breaker. Seeing a first page image, from an incoming fax, in the email notification would save lots of time. You wouldn't have to open the attachment to see you've got junk. Most are penny stock scams, unethical mortgage refi outfits, and vacation scams.
Junk emails from any service provider, including eFax, can be reduced by editing your profile and not opting-in for various notifications. It's easy to discern an eFax ads from incoming fax notifications, or account statements, and quickly delete them.
Customer Support-I had a few problems needing customer support, usually when there were glitches with an eFax software upgrade. I go back to the dark ages of DOS. So I'm no stranger to what can go right, or wrong, with customer support. Outsourcing to India is not such a problem to me. I've spoken to support people in the US with far less command of language than those in India. Until '06, I was satisfied with eFax customer support.
Software-The software stored documents in tiny .tif files in the early versions 1-3. Version 4 began a change to .pdf files. You had a choice between TIF or PDF and I usually got smaller files with TIF. But somehow many files were getting much bigger they had been in the past. Huge in fact! Huge files make for big problems faxing even just a few pages. This began in '05 and got worse in '06. Outgoing faxes began not going through. But I remained a loyal customer and struggled on.
The final straw was two-fold:
1-My outgoing faxes began arriving distorted with key parts of the page missing, often in the middle. It's not acceptable to send a letter of instructions and have the document received with key instructions missing. I could send the same document from a fax machine and it would arrive fine.
2-Customer support refused to accept my problem even existed. Even their level 2 people had tunnel vision that limited them to "helping" me un-install their software, helping me to remove things from Registry their un-install program couldn't remove, and telling me to try again. I know this problem with truncated outgoing faxes is not uncommon from other posts. I'm not sure what to make of them denying my problem existed. But I found a solution.
My Solution:
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping for a new service provider. Things have changed since 1999! Many providers compete in this market. I compared and chose MyFax which I have used for almost a month. Their list of major corporate customers is impressive. MyFax provides a toll-free fax number for less than I paid eFax for a regular number that was outside my local area. MyFax sends notifications with an image of the first page visible on the notification. That's a huge timesaver. I used their customer support just to get started and they were great! MyFax doesn't require loading software on your machine so you can send and receive with just your email account. Elegantly simple! See my coming review of MyFax. I still have an eFax account I'm maintaining, while I transition to MyFax, but eFax will soon be past history with me.
Other posts describe problems with eFax billing their credit card after they closed their accounts. Here are 2 solutions:
1-I have ordered, and received, a second credit card. Both are active now, but I will have the old one turned off when I have notified everyone of my new fax number and drop eFax. Or...
2-Just go into your account info and change the expiration date on your credit card, and maybe a number or two. You will get notifications at the next billing that your card doesn't work. Problem solved. Email them back to pee up a tree. (Wish I'd thought of this before ordering the other credit card.)
The MyFax sign-up experience was quick and comfortable, beginning with customer service people who were very helpful and language fluent, intelligent, and didn't sound like someone reading from a screen. Upon establishing my account, I immediately received an email with key information to start using MyFax. The first 30 days is a free trial. You can get a free month of service--a $10 account credit--for everyone you recommend who gives a reference number MyFax will provide you. In the interest of full disclosure, I get no compensation since I'm providing no reference number for anyone here to use. I just hope this post has been helpful to you!
Coming attractions: Some future flamingtater posts will deal with subjects near and dear to mobile professionals. Stay tuned...
Recommended:
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flamingtater
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Member: Ric
Reviews written: 4
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About Me:
Seeking a combination of quality, comfort and value.
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