I've been burned so many times
Posted By: I ought to be toast by now on 2008-07-29
In Reply to:
I don't understand what is happening in the MT world today. I've worked as an IC for years, paid my own health insurance, paid my own taxes. I've chosen to work as an IC because I want the flexibility to decide my own schedule. It has always worked for me in the past. Today, however, that is not happening. Companies today who hire ICs as well as employee status are requiring that an IC commit to working a 5-day schedule, Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday through Thursday, specific shift hours, something without doubt beyond the limits of IRS guidelines. If I wanted a schedule such as mentioned, I would sign on as employee status. Let the employee status MTs commit to their shifts. If I make my 1000 or 1200 lines per day, the days I do it, the hours I do it are totally my decision, but I am receiving contracts that require me to work a schedule on a company's dictates, or I am turning down offers as IC status because in the interviewing process I am asked to commit to a schedule as mentioned when the entire purpose of my being an IC is flexibility. Why are they producing these contracts that are totally against IRS guidelines in order to work for them? Sure, they need to know what I will produce, but as an IC, they cannot dictate when and how I will do that.
TIA for your comments. I know I cannot be the only one who is scratching their heads, wondering why be an IC today if the IRS guidelines are ignored. Of course, I don't have to sign any contract, but I'm telling you, this is happening over and over again.
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I've done that many times. That is how..sm
I got my first job. I applied at a company who didn't have any job ads out. They gave me a test, I passed, and they hired me.
They've only had 2 times that the system....sm
was down several hours. Anywhere you work is going to have unscheduled downtime occasionally.
I think the platform is good and improvements are in the workings to make it even better.
I've had that happen to me a few times...
when I started with a new company about a year ago. But, when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my way too was correct, I called the QA on it...and most of the time, I was doing it correctly, just different than they would have done it. However, I conformed to *their* way of thinking, I guess to keep them off my back and finally got used to it. Don't take it too seriously, just do your best and what you know is right. Good Luck...wonder if we work for the same company??? 
I've done that several times in the past. - sm
The alternative (insanity? suicide? homicide?) just isn't worth putting up with all that c_ _ p.
I've got work available at almost all times of the day,
but I am on Lanier accounts. I think the wav accounts have a lot more people on them fighting for the work. Maybe there are people on your accounts doing way above their commitment. That would throw things off all around. Perhaps you should inquire about it. If you try all times of the day and still don't find work available, they should give you another account. Good luck. I know it is frustrating running out of work. I have other accounts that do that and it gets so tiresome. Some days I just hate this whole industry. These tight TATs are the root of all the work flow problems. 
I've said on here several times to always keep current job
nm
It's not that. The few times I've said anything positive, I get blasted
or accused of being a recruiter. That's why I posted what I did. Wasn't trying to be snotty to you. I was just being facetious due to the trolls.
I've done this a couple of times in the past
I had specific questions regarding the platform and Expander program compatiblities, as well as how lines are counted among other issues. As the recruiter did not know the answer to these questions, I was given the name and number of the MT manager to speak with. At least one job I declined based on the manager's responses, not because I thought she did not handle the questions well, but found out enough to know the company was not what I was looking for.
On those occasions where I spoke directly to the MT manager, the companies were very impressed with my knowledge of both MT and word processing/computer issues and ended up wanting me to come to work to a greater degree than I feel they would have if I had not talked to the manager.
I don't think it would be inappropriate to ask. The worst that can happen is the recruiter says no and can't answer your detailed questions. In that case, that company is not a right fit for you.
I've been out of work 2 times today
7 a.m for 1-1/2 hours, and now. I don't count the 1 or 2 reports that slip in. I've worked exactly 3-3/4 hours today in my 8 hour shift.
Don't count on it - I've sent them a resume 2 different times
and have 10 years experience and have never heard a word from them.
I've applied with them THREE times and have never received a response - sm
and it's not because I don't have experience. I had been with Brand X National for 8 years (you can probably figure out who) when I applied with Spheris, and I never got a response. Sent a second ap, nada. Third ap, still nothing.
Through this whole time period Spheris had want ads scattered all over the net. I'll never, ever understand why they didn't get in touch with me. Their loss....I'm now working for a local company and completely satisfied.
A lot of times, if they need extra help, they will over 1-1/2 times our regular rate. sm
This is the equivalent of OT but you get it even if you have not done 40 hours already. I have also received AmerExp gift cards a few times for incentives offered. I think it depends on the account.
I do know for sure that they are working on an incentive program but I have no details and not even sure if they are still looking at it.
I do know for sure that I make more $$ with Keystrokes than I have ever made anywhere else.
Burned out
Take a break, take some vacation time. It happens to all of us at one time or another.
I have a particular issue with this comment - Quality - HA! It is a tool used to keep MTs down mostly, even when it starts out as a tool to help MTs. You are not fooling anybody. This is about money, it is about QA making more money than the MT who is doing all the actual work...
This is not true. I do QA and I can assure you nothing I do is down to put anybody down. I feel that it is my responsibility to educate, not to put down. Yet many people like yourself do not take it like that. I can assure you I am not making the money MTs used to make. Honey, I used to make anywhere from $25-$28/hr typing back in the good ole days, do you think they pay QA anywhere close to that? MTs are still by far making more money. I cannot type now due to a physical condition. If not for that I would be typing just like everybody else. If you don't like where you are now, move on. These jobs are a dime a dozen, no sense in suffering. If you don't want to move, talk to your manager, your QA, or maybe even someone who can be a support to you. Calm down and see what you can do to make your life or your job better. We are all experiencing these changes together, you are not alone. If you don't mind me asking where are you now that is causing you so much stress? You don't have to answer here if you don't want to, send me an email.
Must be why we keep getting burned.:)
xxx
Just got burned and quit...
after many months of no pay. Not worth it!
I too got burned by this company
She owes me 2 paychecks also and that was 2 months ago...I know I'll never see that money :'( She is very unprofessional and yes she never returns any messages, unless she wants to tell you off, which she does quite often to a lot of people. That's okay that company is going down, she's already lost a major money making account and it won't be long, I'm sure, before she loses the rest of her accounts and then she'll get what she deserves and is coming to her!!!
No, I have not been burned. I have been with same company SM
for many years. Not MQ. I have every reason to believe all the excited TTs around here are recruiters. If you were MTs, you would be working away on your accounts. Also, strange that former TT people posting literally anything negative are promptly put down. If company is so great, why must you resort to that behavior?
I have never worked for TT and have nothing to do with it. I am just an observer and what I observe about Transtech posts is people saying exactly the same thing all the time. Robotic, if you will. No offense, please and, do not attack me, as I am not attacking your or TT, but of course you will take it as such.
No, not R. Just someone else who was burned by Focus.
There's a lot of us out there.
Re: Burned to a crisp
I dealt with it by GETTING OUT. It isn't going to get better, only worse. I started a business which I'm enjoying. An MT friend got out and took a job as photographer for a small newspaper. Life is short.......too short to waste being miserable.
burned to a crisp
I am completely with you. Been doing this for 30 years. Making $800 less a month than when I worked at the hospital and doctor's offices. Where do these MTs work that are making $50, 000/year?. I would really like to know.
Your 1st paragraph should be burned into
THIS PARAGRAPH SAYS IT ALL:
I also questioned line rates for a handful of MTSOs and flat out said too low of a rate for me. I have 20+ years of experience. They'd be getting my 100% effort and 100% knowledge, but only want to pay for about 50% of what that's worth.
In a nutshell, this is EXACTLY the problem with the MT field. We should all burn this paragraph into our brains, carve in into our desks, write it on our forearms in indelible ink.
The MTSO's should memorize this paragraph, as well. Maybe we should print it out in flowery Gothic script, and put in on their desks when we go for job interviews.
If you reward a worker with fair pay and decent treatment, they'll put out 110-120% in effort. Pay the worker only half of what they're worth, and that's all you're going to receive from them.
LOW WAGES BREED DISGRUNTLED CLOCK-WATCHERS AND CHEATERS!
Same thing here. Tired of 24/7. Burned out
and going back to QA.
If I am burned out, it is by this attitude inside...
I think MTs should actually take a professional attitude to heart. All of the message boards are full of the most hateful, catty, snotty, judgemental, whining people but they want to be recognized as professionals. We don't appear to be a professional group because we are not acting that way, speaking that way...
Then, We have to learn to adapt, change, and make ourselves necessary for the future. Doing the swollen chest/head routine won't get it. Complaining won't get it. Threatening to quit or unionize won't get it. Making a dedicated effort to be better at our work, difficult dictators and all, WILL get it.
That is belittling, to incorporate all MTs as complainers, whiners, unable to change or adapt.
Mostly I see QA whining and complaining about MTs -
I also do not care to be called burned-out because I have certain opinions...that is condenscending (Assuming a tone of superiority, or a patronizing attitude).
Where I work there are mostly (or used to be as they are now transitioning to the trends of utilizing QA to lower pay/benefits) awesome QA, who keep their comments to themselves and are 'professional.'
I have, however, been subject to comments over the years from people who appear sadistic when they approach MTs. Unfortunately, these more than outweigh the people who keep it business and to the point.
Constructive criticism? You bet I welcome it, and appreciate it, and learn from it, as do most MTs I believe. What is difficult is to get comments like above, and the general attitude than can infiltrate throughout a company that the MT is not professional or worthy.
The divide is wrong. QA should be no better than an MT, and my comments about MTs - bottom line, QA would not have jobs without us, period. What would you have to critique?
How easy it is to sit through and listen to an already typed report, and make corrections. That does not even take a lot of skill, if you ask me. Even re-reading my own reports I can find minor errors every time. That is why I try to quickly do a once-over before I send a report, if time allows and I am not pressed to get my lines or hours in so that I do not lose my benefits...
Maybe it is different where you work, and it used to be where I work, but it is quickly changing.
Another one burned by Four Seasons Transcription
I was a current employee of Robin Hall's that still hung on thinking and believing she would pay me. My paycheck was 5 weeks late when I finally said enough is enough. I told her I quit as of 02/01/08. Since that time she does not show online, does't answer her home phone, cell phone, or e-mail. This woman is a very very good con artist and apparently has been operating this way for a long time. I even called on her business number listed on her business webpage... guess what... that number has been disconnected with no forwarding number. I still have yet to be paid and she owes me over $800. The part I feel the worst about, I referred a friend to her shortly after I started. She owes my friend over $900 and can't get a hold of Robin either. I know there's probably not much I can do about what she did to me but I hate that fact that she will continue to cheat honest, hard working MT's. I've posted on just about every site I can think of from Guru (where she found me) to Freelance.com. If anyone can think of any other sites I'll post on them too. I can't stress enough, please before you accept a position IC or employee status with ANY company..... check them out in any way possible.
Becka
I hear ya about being burned, cant be too careful. nm
xxx
Then go with TT...you will be just as burned out at KS trying to get a decent check. (nm)
xxx
I too was pretty burned out. A couple sm
years ago my mom got very sick and I had to take time off to take care of her until she died. After that I didn't work for about 18 months, (I know everybody can't do that) and I found that when I did go back it was like starting fresh! So a long vacation away from MT (don't even go in your office during that time) probably will help tremendously.
Also I don't know of any other profession where I can have the freedom I have and make the hourly salary I do (even with wages being lower) so I choose to stay in MT. Have at least 10 more years to work anyway.
Good luck.
A good MT leaving with no burned bridges, will likely
x
Pretty funny. OSI gripers burned up the board with sm
their complaints. None of the posts match when you click into them.
Lots of people have been burned by them..be careful, very careful. NM
xx
What good does it do? They've lied, they've betrayed us.
They've taken all they are going to take from me. I am not going to waste any more time being angry. I hate the way things ended, but I refuse to accept the blame for any part of it because I know that was a lie too, even though they did try to blame the MTs. I know part of the problem was quality issues, but QA wasn't to blame for that either, although they have been.
It is time to pick up and move on. I think mgmt will reap what they sow. For those who worked on the main account Webmedx is still hiring, though the best time slots have already been taken.
What the heck? I've never heard that in the 8 yrs I've worked here. sm
Go back to your STM or over his or her head.
Since you've brought it up, I've stopped SM
giving the negative info because every time I have in the past I am called a disgruntled ex-employee or told that my experience has no relation to what the company is like today.
I won't repeat the information I've given in the past, anyone can find it on searches. I've decided to just let the people have their experience with the company and that experience will validate everything I've ever said about those people.
The same people own and run that company--they may have new names doing the management, but it still runs the same way.
You've got it ~ you've hit the nail on the head....
I can Google until dawn and still not find John Smith in NY - you know the neurologist... Cut me a break! I've now learned to ask my online company for a list of referring physicians (since none of the accounts are in my state) and also ask for websites for the hospitals, but I still don't take more than 5 min of my own time to find referring physicians. I send it right through with a verify cc:...
As far as making an educated guess, I would only do that if it was my own account and I know the dictator well. For the online company, it is their responsibility to make that educated guess as it is their client, not mine. I leave that up to the company to make assumptions; this way it is on their back, not mine when it comes to the legality of the report. Ultimately, the physician is responsible when signing that report or there should be clause on those reports that state dictated but not read. If that clause is not there, then it is the physician's responsibility to know the content, not the MT. An MT can only transcribe what they hear and really should not be making educated guesses on anyone since we live in a world of sue-happy patients and their malpractice insurance is so high. If there is a question, it needs to go the dictator to resolve.
JMO - been doing this for over 20 years.
I've been a QA 15 years and I've never heard
of any company only paying for the actual Keystrokes of the blank. You would literally make less than minimum wage that way. Waaay less.
Me too. I got cut off one too many times.
x
I can't tell you how many times....
this has happened to me! It's as if they either don't listen, or don't want to hear that you are only able to take X amount of work each day. Don't you feel taken advantage of? The only solution I've found is to leave the MTSO and keep looking for someone who will respect your requests. It's tough to bounce around like that, but I don't think your existing MTSO will change. Good luck.
I think so, although at times the
communication can be not so great. I don't know how many MTs KS has, though they seem to be growing so fast that the number is subject to change weekly, but there is still a small feel to it. The owner is fairly forthcoming with information, at least from what I have seen thus far.
Here are the times - SM
If your last name starts with the letter A through F: 10 AM
If your last name starts with the letter G through O: 11:30 AM
If your last name starts with the letter P through Z: 2 PM
You have said that 3 times...
Who are you trying to convince? If the hourly QCs were worried about quality instead of their own prestige and how much money they make, things might have been different....
Not at the times it happens. Not at all....
Anyone who has done this for a while knows that there are slowdowns around major holidays, like T-giving, Christmas, 4th of July. At my other companies, I did not run out of work on May Day, Cinco DE Mayo, Columbus Day...you get the idea. They overhire. Period. They have a right to do so. The MTs you lose due to that practice are the high producers with stellar accuracy ratings, not those who shall have trouble finding other jobs.
How many times can you do that?
It takes at least 90 days to get benefits at a new company. It is not just an easy decision to move on. If you can't get that concept then just skip the messages by the MTs who have every legitimate right to complain about these companies.
Why don't you think before you post such flippant answers?
In times like these...
Ya'll, in times like these, I tell myself. Self, the ink has already dried on the paper, nothing can be changed. There is no use getting heart palpitations/angina over it. From past experiences, most everybody knows what is going to happen. Now, I tell myself, when the time comes, you have to consider all the pros and cons from all sides and then make a rational decision. I remember when MQ went through this and all the hair pulling-out and teeth gnashing (myself included) that went on. If you cannot accept what is written in concrete, you (I) need to make a decision and go for it. In the meantime, I will put my nose to the grindstone, tighten my proverbial budget belt, and work as hard as I can and try and save some money for a rainy day.
P.
Again and I have said it many times sm
before......it has only become like this since the schools have advertised MT as a work at home job! Also those who only got into this profession soley for the fact of working at home......I really feel bad for you.
The MT profession is an honorable profession to be in. It is about the patients and never should have been represented as it has been in the last 10 or so years. This has what has brought it to the level it has become.
Tried to start with them 3 times
I was offered a position with them, gave notice in-house, then they called me the day before I was supposed to start and said the had lost the account. A similar situation happened 2 other times.
Times change. It's not about YOU, it's about
what the reality is today, not four months ago.
Congratulations on your windfall, though.
If you have doubts, email or call the person who hired you and they'll verify this.
last year I was down quite a few times because of
evacuations. Just decided to move out of Florida instead.
DISHONEST TIMES 2!
I transcribed 1,195 lines and ichart reflected only 154.08 lines the next day! I documented line counts every day, and for one pay period it was 2500 lines off on their end! - disqualified from benefits too. NO answer from supervisor.
This has been discussed many times over the last
few weeks. Do a search of this site and you will find many posts. You can scroll down or go to the second page and probably even the third page at the bottom and find posts from people who work there. I know I am very happy. They are a very nice company with excellent benefits.
I have said many times for two years
That I am with Medware, they treat me fair and keep me in work. The line rate is higher that MQ where I spent 4 years, the insurance coverage at Medware is $17/week for United Healthcare, the incentive plan is attainable, we get direct deposit every other Friday. They treat you fairly. Sometime I wish I did not read this board, but I still believe there are those who are looking for a better company and ask for information. I happen to like working for Medware. Calling someone an idiot is rude, I guess one must consider the source. Time to go to work.
RE work times
Yes, that would probably work. My experience was that they would download work to you at night and it was available that evening and through the next day. Like I said, you kind of make your own schedule within the window of time they need it back. You may need more than one doctor though if you want 6 hours of work per day of steady work. I had 4 doctors, one that dictated 1 1/2 hours a day and one that dictated every other day but had 5 hours of work each time. It varies by who you have for doctors. You can make them aware that you would like that many hours and they can accomodate it I'm sure. Only one thing you need to know though is NO DIRECT DEPOSITS and they use snail mail unless you pay to have it expressed.
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