Maybe Some Ranting Does Work ...

[mirrenlee]

I'm really surprised not to see any mention of it, either on this forum or TOF, so I want to know if I'm the only one who got a Customer Service (bit of an oxymoron) email from V123 yesterday, admitting "During the past two weeks you may have experienced the results of an error (also known as “bug”) in Voice123 SmartCast." ??? Never thought I'd actually read the words "error" or "bug" from them, but anyway, they are also, incredibly, offering a free month's subscription to anyone affected by this bug!

So maybe all the "ranting" and "negativity" that people have been accused of who have been frustrated with SmartCast (another oxymoron) have accomplished a bit of adjusting of the system.

After all, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, isn't it?

(Hi Joe, good to see you here. Love this forum.)

[JoeActor]

... and immediately after getting the "we fixed an error" email from V123, I got an audition notice...

Yeppers, you guessed it. I went to V123 and the project quota was already filled... all greyed out.

Good thing they fixed that error.

So V123, why would I want a free month of something that doesn't work properly? Somehow that sounds a bit masochistic. Three guesses who the sadist is.

If they really want to fix things, they'll need to remove the problem: SmartCast.

Good to see you too Mirren!
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com

[mirrenlee]

Oh god, that is absolutely hilarious! I have to say, I've gotten a lot of laughs out of the whole situation, but more the black comedy kind ...

That may explain why no one else has replied to my post at TOF - maybe they know it still doesn't work. Well, don't I feel stupid!

See, I'm getting my studio set up now - finally! - and so haven't been applying for jobs there yet, so it hasn't affected me personally. The thing that kind of annoyed me, though, was everyone who complained about the service seemed to get dumped on, while the service itself remained what I call a "Teflon person" - one who nothing sticks, too, no matter what they do.

Anyway, let's face it - we all know who "broke" the system, don't we, Joe? Hmmm .... ???? It was you, with all those Keywords!

I am SO glad you're over here now, and Moderating as well. A voice of reason is always nice to hear.

[KaraEdwards]

Since you enjoy dark comedy...here was my response back to that e-mail...

Dear Voice123,

I experienced this problem, and notified customer service about it.
This was the first sentence in your response back to me at the time...

Dear Kara,
Thank you for contacting us.
Actually Voice123 only sends invitations for projects that are still
open and taking auditions.

Perhaps in the future, you can respond in a way that does not imply the
talent is incorrect when notifying customer service.

I appreciate you fixing the problem and offering a one month extension.

Sincerely,
Kara Edwards

[JoeActor]

Kara,

Priceless... definitely dark comedy gold!

I'd be laughing if it weren't so tragic!

Maybe their "Error" email should have said:
"Sorry we blamed you for our problem. It's all fixed now... sorta. I mean it kinda works in some cases, so that makes you happy right? Now quit complaining. Be good users and assume that any future problems are your fault. Then our software won't have any problems, see?"

Off to pack more keywords in my profile,
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com

Originally Posted by KaraEdwards

Since you enjoy dark comedy...here was my response back to that e-mail...

Dear Voice123,

I experienced this problem, and notified customer service about it.
This was the first sentence in your response back to me at the time...

Dear Kara,
Thank you for contacting us.
Actually Voice123 only sends invitations for projects that are still
open and taking auditions.

Perhaps in the future, you can respond in a way that does not imply the
talent is incorrect when notifying customer service.

I appreciate you fixing the problem and offering a one month extension.

Sincerely,
Kara Edwards

[mirrenlee]

Oh, Kara, really? That's just unbelievable. You are admirably restrained with them.

Can we say "passive aggressive"? They seem to be the embodiment of this condition, and it is such a button with me, it makes me crazy.

Even the fact that every single one of their answers seems to end with the exact same text - something about thanking us for getting in touch with them and our satisfaction is their greatest concern, blah, blah, blah - just does my head in with frustration.

Which is why I never contact them anymore.

I do believe they have successfully introduced Monty Python to Alice in Wonderland - it's a whole new hybrid!

[KaraEdwards]

Joe,

That was funny :)

[avitoots]

Mirren -- First of all, Monty Python down the rabbit hole. Beautiful. Had me laughing. Kind of goes along with what I was thinking about this forum, so nice that it's not all flowers and incense. Can we all say . . . Ohm?

Anyway, I don't get any e-mails from V123, ever. As I've mentioned before, my fault doncha know. So I decided to make one more stab at fixing the issue so I sent them an e-mail telling them I still don't get any e-mails from them regarding stats or when an audition is opened, etc. and that I've already changed my e-mail address and my spam settings are relatively low and e-mails from everyone else get through so they shouldn't bother to make those suggestions as fixes. I also told them that, as a paying customer I expect this problem to be fixed to my satisfaction. We'll see what they say. Maybe I'll run into that caterpillar smoking the hookah in the meantime.

Arlene

[avitoots]

Forgot to tell you guys why I really contacted them in the first place. I received a lead that had script notes that stated the following:

am looking for this exact (or close to) voice at this video clip.

http://www.*******************.com/hyattsample.html

You can do the same sample from the video above if you'd like :)


So, I sent the idiots an e-mail asking them how we're supposed to match the voice at a link they didn't give us. Just tacked the the e-mail question on at the end.


Arlene

[JoeActor]

I hear ya' Arlene...

I've gotten a number of auditions like that. One of them even had the file uploaded to Voice123's server, but it was still *****'d out!

"Sure, I'd love to do a voice match... sorry but the V****123 censors won't let me hear it, tho..."

Every problem like this just whittles down the already vanishing number of auditions at v123.

Harumph,
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com

Originally Posted by avitoots

Forgot to tell you guys why I really contacted them in the first place. I received a lead that had script notes that stated the following:

am looking for this exact (or close to) voice at this video clip.

http://www.*******************.com/hyattsample.html

You can do the same sample from the video above if you'd like :)


So, I sent the idiots an e-mail asking them how we're supposed to match the voice at a link they didn't give us. Just tacked the the e-mail question on at the end.


Arlene