Great Service once you finally get it up and running!
We started using a CRM program (RepairShopr) that has some great integration with being able to associate inbound phone calls with our customer records and shows a live pop-up of the ticket status of the customers as they're calling. Fonality was one of the providers that supports the integration so we decided to make the switch.
- The call quality is outstanding. I do a fair amount of small business consulting and have used a variety of VOIP providers in different roles. The call quality with Fonality has been the best of any service I've used.
- Ticket Response Time is great. I've had to make a few phone calls for minor issues after deployment and I usually get somebody on the phone within a few minutes and they've been knowledgeable and helpful.
- Abundance of useful features. I'm sure a lof of VOIP Providers have similiar features, but the integration that Fonality's Hudweb provides has been very useful. For our business, if I hear a call ringing at a co-workers desk and he's away, I can literally just drag the phone call to my own extension and answer the call for him without having a specific ring group in place to ring both phones.
Cons
- Onboarding. I spent 8 hours getting our system setup with tech support. EIGHT HOURS of actual time on the phone with support. It took their support staff 7 of those hours to basically determine that my router was blocking a required port and preventing activating my system. Even after reaching out to their sales team to impress upon how frustrating this was, the sales associate helping me (Dan Halloran) offered me a measly two weeks ($35 equivalent) of free service for the time I wasted on the phone and had my own customers waiting an extra day for service. I understand a 2 or even 3 hour onboarding, but it was pretty ridiculous. Honestly, I probably would have just cancelled the service if it wasn't for the unique integration they provide with our CRM Provider.
- Communication. During the course of signing up, Fonality called 1hr before my scheduled install because an employee had called in sick and they didn't have anybody else to help me. They were able to get another technician to help, but he was (obviously) not very knowledgeable as he wasn't able to get my system setup.
- On another occasion, my sales rep (Dan Halloran) indicated via e-mail that he was start the porting process for me. 7 days later, I reached out to inquire about the process, and it hadn't been initiated.
- As a third example, the rep that was finally able to get my system going (Syed Rizvi) was supposed to follow up with me on a Friday, and I never heard from him. After reaching out to him nearly 5 days later, he apologized and indicated he had been very busy.
- Mobile App. Overall, the Mobile App (I'm using the one on Android) is great. It has it's own dialer so that I can call my clients so they see my work number instead of cell phone. But, I can't access the contacts on my phone from the app. I have to lookup a number, memorize the number and then type it into the dialer. Very minor, but would be great to see this added.