I used to get my important documents with eFax
Written: May 13 '03 (Updated Oct 17 '04)
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Pros: Receiving faxes is the free service
Cons: Outbound faxing charges, the workers are in INDIA
The Bottom Line: It was the ideal way to turn your home office into a fax machine, but boycott them due to outsourcing to INDIA.
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| bonniesayers's Full Review: eFax |
Several months ago I got an email about joining up with eFax so I went ahead and downloaded the free system to receive faxes for future use. The free service gives you numbers that are most likely a toll call to contact. I had no immediate need so bypassed reading about signing up for their other services. I was getting emails informing me that I had a fax about once a week and had no clue where they were coming from.
Since the initial sign up was with my main email account I had no way of finding my pin number unless I wanted to search through hundreds of emails so I just ignored those emails and tried to delete them as I received them. I was annoyed at the number of faxes coming to me when no one was even informed of this service I had signed up for.
I have lucked out over the last few years that when I did need to send a fax I could rely on one of the elementary school office employees where my kids attend to send a fax on my behalf. My other alternative was to have them make copies of school reports for me and then I would mail them to those requesting said copies instead of faxing. It seemed that each office I was dealing with would want to know if I had a fax number. I would often reply that I was a stay home mother and did not have access to a fax.
In recent months I have been going back and forth to Court regarding visitation issues with the ex. I signed up with a pre-paid legal plan and spent many days waiting for a return call from one of the attorneys. I was requesting some assistance on some documents that led to the attorney asking me to fax over a note explaining what I had just discussed as well as the document. This occurred at the worse time for me because my printer had just bit the dust the week before.
I had ten minutes to go pick up my oldest son at the school, which luckily is located around the corner. I quickly composed on notebook paper a letter confirming the details of the conversation with the attorney and left for the school. There are no typewriters to be found in the school office so I asked if I could use the computer lab. Ten minutes later my children and I approached the school office again with an attempt to have the letter faxed to the law office. I knew the Principal was in the library in a meeting since my kids were too loud in the hallway and she requested they stay in the lab with me. I was so focused on getting the letter typed up as fast as possible that I let my kids roam the halls for a few minutes. The girl in the office faxed the letter and document allowing us to get back home twenty minutes later.
After that ordeal I knew it was time to get a new printer and I hoped no one else would want a fax from me. Then the company I contacted to start the supervised visitation in my home took many days to return my call, thus it was late Friday night that she wanted to fax me the intake documents I needed to fill out and send back in order to start the visits.
I remembered eFax and told her that I would try something out online and get back to her. Instead of going to my main email account that had the free service from eFax I went to a yahoo email account and clicked on the data from there to start the download process.
After reading the website data for eFax I decided to go for the local number with the eFax Plus service. The sign up is $19.95, which includes a ten dollar non-refundable activation fee. The monthly fee for having the local number and the access to send faxes is $9.95. I did this on Saturday, March 14th and have had no problems thus far. My credit card statement has them billing me on the 15th and continues to come through on that date monthly. The account is actually called J2*eFax Plus Service.
Since earlier in the month I had downloaded the SBC Yahoo Dial service due to the switchover with Pacific Bell I knew the three digit preface was in my area because it was the same as one of my dial up numbers. If I remember correctly, you get a choice of picking the local number you want so this is how I made the decision.
I first downloaded the eFax Messenger so I could read faxes that transmit to my number, then I went ahead and signed up at the page it sent me to for the eFax Plus. I actually got two thank you for registering with eFax emails, one for the free service and the other for the Plus service. Each email included the link for downloading the messenger and the phone number plus pin code. So it seems I have two fax numbers, but they both have the same pin code.
By going to the website you can view the last 200 emails you have sent or received with any of your fax numbers, check your billing data and change the credit card information or update it. There is the option for a toll-free number, but I did not look into that. There is no cost for receiving faxes to the free numbers, but there is a twenty cent fee for toll-free numbers, and that is per page. Sending faxes is ten cents per page, but I have not quite figured that out yet. My new printer has a fax feature so I am trying to figure out how to combine the two to work efficiently for me when the time comes to send a fax.
There is a form you can input email addresses with the data in an email format so you can notify business colleagues of your fax number. There is also an extensive help section that has over twenty questions with a percentage rating to click on offering feedback on how well the help section was with your questions. The site mentions that, “ Outbound faxing charges are not included in your regular monthly fee. They are debited from a separate prepaid usage balance, and your reorder amount is billed to your credit card whenever your usage balance drops to $2.00.”
The next step I needed to accomplish once I notified the company of my fax number was receiving it in my yahoo email address. The file was huge and I knew I could not keep it in my box without the opportunity of receiving future emails and more faxes. Yahoo had three options for me when I opened up the email that contained the link to the fax. I chose to download to Yahoo! Briefcase and deleted the email, leaving more space in my email account.
The email states your fax number and once you download the documents you are in the eFax Messenger Plus section. Here you have a small sidebar that shows the pages in the left-hand corner with them numbered. The problem I had was all the pages were sent upside down!
The options on this page are file, where you can create a cover page, edit, where you can delete or move the page, view with the options to fix page height and length, plus Navigate, Rotate, Tools, Annotations, Stamps, Window, Help and the eSend bar. This is now on every page that I open plus another logo is in the systems tray and when I scroll over it I get my eFaxnumber for easy access.
The bar below has the options to open, print, save, zoom in and out, prev or next for looking at the pages within the fax and then an advertisement. The third and final row has little icons to click on for voice, stamp, shapes and lines. I printed the fax from this page and then closed the window.
When you want to send a eFax you have the option of scanning a template or using an existing one for the cover page. Some of the stamps you can apply to your eFax are confidential, urgent, wink, final, paid, draft, received and approved. My faxes are stored in the mail attachments’ section of Yahoo! Briefcase.
I was hoping to get some kind of email about the monthly billing cycle but I never received anything, thus I ended up calling my credit card company to verify the date and amount they posted. Initially I did receive a few faxes offering assistance and ideas on faxing. They slowed down until I received one today so maybe since it has been another month they are checking my interest level.
Last month I was waiting on notification of whether a state organization would pay for my children to attend camp this summer. When I called and received the good news I was able to offer my eFaxnumber for the documents because I wanted to see this immediately. They required my signature and I noted a few discrepancies and informed the sender via phone and she faxed over the final versions. These documents all printed out on my printer with ease and looked professional. It is just as fast and easy as getting faxes in a machine that would take up space and make a lot of noise and interfere with my dial up connection and phone line. For about ten dollars a month I get the option of sending faxes when I figure that aspect out and I get a custom local number so no one has to incur long distance fees. It makes my home office appear more functional and professional.
eFax is a service for those over the age of eighteen with the option of canceling at any time, either by the customer or the company. All users are required to have a working email address and select a pin number. The number can be changed and a password can be added to protect faxes. The payment options when signing up are a credit card or debit card. This is the card the billing will be done on a monthly basis. For those who have a business account they will be invoiced.
***UPDATE***
I received an email October 6, 2003 informing me that the monthly subscription fee for all eFax Plus numbers will be $12.95 beginning with the next billing date.
***UPDATE***
Two months ago I filed for Bankruptcy, so I had to change my monthly billing for eFax, eBay and 24 Hour Fitness. All three were charged on a monthly basis to my MasterCard. Even though I have plans on reaffirming this card I needed to change to another method of payment during the interm period.
It was an easy step online for eBay, 24 Hour Fitness sent me an ETA form to mail in with a copy of a voided check. The problems incurred immediately though with eFax. First the website was down and I was on hold for a long time on the phone. The end result was to try again online to make changes.
The billing date for my account is on the 15th and sure enough on 9/16 I received a message from eFax Suspension Notice. Since I am in Los Angeles and the headquarters for eFax are in Hollywood I made the local call. Instead I ended up speaking with Henry A in India. I learned that they do not bill monthly from a checking account, but they would send me a bill when the credit card would be rejected so I can pay for a full year. I was assured I would get this all straightened out with no interruption in eFax service.
Two days later I got the fax with the bill. This was for one month Sep-Oct for $12.95 and one year for Oct-Oct at $139.95. The letterhead shows the address of J2 Global Communications, Inc. at 6922 Hollywood Boulevard, 5th Floor, Hollywood, CA 90028. The number is (323) 860-9200, yet they outsource to INDIA.
I refuse to do business with a company located in my State that takes work away from US citizens and gives it to people that do not comprehend the English Language.
I did not respond to the eFax, yet they keep trying and trying to get their money through a credit card that has been cancelled. The dates thus far I have received Suspension notices are - 9/16, 9/23, 10/7 and 10/17. The date of the bill is 9/18.
Each message states the following, "If your charges are not approved within two weeks, your account will automatically close." This does not seem to be the case since I just got another notice today and it is over one month from the first one.
Henry A did send me an email a few hours after my call. The information contained was for a wire transfer payment, money order or check. It was noted that they no longer accept checks drawn outside of the United States. Interesting that they allow workers to take the place of those who are in the United States!
Another bit of information mentioned in his email, "Your account must already have been created before you can use one of the alternate payment options above. Check payment will only be accepted for one year in advance." I cannot tell if that means you can prepay for one year like the invoice I received after this email, or that you can write a check up to one year prior!
Not once did eFax ever contact me via US Mail. I asked specifically for this method. I ran out of ink and cannot afford to make a purchase at this time. What if my computer bombed out or I had a virus and missed all the emails. I really do not like doing business with a company where all business is done via email and the calls are to India.
My association with eFax has been terminated on my end, now hopefully they will get the message and stop trying to gain access to a cancelled credit card. I cannot even attempt to reaffirm this card while they have the account information, since they might try to get months worth of payments if it does get affirmed.
I would find other means of getting faxes, especially if you want to boycott companies that outsource to INDIA.
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Epinions.com ID:
bonniesayers
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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