Thank you, Denise. Couple of questions . . .
Posted By: Regina on 2007-02-26
In Reply to: Keystrokes Feedback - Denise Thompson
Did they have you do any transcription in the pre-employment phase? Do you get a lot of ESL? What type of work do you do? Is the work put into a pool or are you assigned accounts? Do you have benefits?
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A couple questions
Do they hire part-time? Do you need a C-phone or are they internet based?
Thanks
...couple more questions if you can...
Tested for radiology, but I can do acute care. Can you tell me about the rotating weekends? How many weekends do you actually end up working over about a 3-month period? Does the software have a built-in expander?
Thanks!
I have a couple questions
Do they hire part time? The website mentions Word 2000. Does it have to be Word 2000 or will a newer version work, i.e. Word 2002?
a couple more questions
What is the minimum line count you need with them for part-time and if you need to work outside of your schedule or type earlier/later in the day, how flexible are they with that? Thanks for the info!
Just a couple questions
How is the platform?
Is rigid schedule required for full-time?
Are there production bonuses?
Thank you!
A couple of questions for you...
What do you mean by acquired 3 private accounts through them? They are your accounts? You bill them, collect the money? Or they are small accounts that only you do? Not sure what you meant there.
If you have no benefits, are you an IC? If you are an employee with no benefits, I'd be looking elsewhere. If you're not being paid what an IC would make, you're getting the short end of the stick.
If you are an IC, you'd need to rewrite your contract at the end of the contract period.
If you're an employee, go for it. Ask for what you feel you deserve. If they value what you do enough, they should be able to meet your needs (especially if they're getting away with not paying benefits!).
Best of luck!
Thanks-couple more questions
This helped some. What is their line count requirement and is it pretty attainable? Also, is 40 hours considered full time or can you work less than that for full time? Again, thanks.
A couple of questions
TTS does this to all of ICs. She literally will call MTs and threaten your job because you are not on the schedule for your hours. I was let go because of not working my set hours, yet I did my line count on a daily basis that I said I would do. Who would you report this to? Would you report to the DOL or the IRS?
a couple questions
Also, how do they calculate VR lines, and can you get a good line count?
answer to a couple of your questions..
I did not receive a bonus once I was off 100%. I get what I would consider average pay for most national companies. The last couple weeks have been very, very slow as far as work, but it seems to be picking up. Not sure about the benefit issue, as I have not been there long enough. Decent living is different to everyone, but you should have no problem making their minimum line count and there are some doing quite well, but I am not one of them. LOL. There is a $20 per month charge for their computer, but you can use your own equipment and not get charged the extra. Hopefully that helps some.
A couple more TransTech questions
I'm looking to leave my current job and was thinking about applying to Transtech since there seems to be quite a lot of positive feedback on them. Before I go through all of the testing/application process, I have a few questions. Are there accounts actual typing or VR? Also, what is the pay per cpl generally with experience? Thanks a lot!
Thank you. I emailed you with a couple more questions.
nm
A couple of questions about Transolutions
Does anybody know if their benefits package includes a decent medical insurance plan?
Also, does anyone know what their internet platform is like (I think it's called Apex?). Good, bad, etc?
A couple of questions, if you don't mind...
1. Do they have a production incentive/bonus?
2. Where I am right now, if I work even a minute over my 8-hour shift, I have to e-mail my supervisor explaining why. Is KS that strict, or do they allow you to go over a little? I don't even care if they pay OT or not, just want to finish my job without worrying about the time. (Sorry, threw in a little vent there.)
Thank you!
Acusis--a couple more questions
I just submitted my information to Acusis and had a couple of questions. What is their minimum part-time requirement (lines/hours) and do they provide any equipment? What platform do they use? Thanks for your help!!!
Couple specific Encompass questions sm
Do they have a consistent workload?
Heavy ESL?
Their benefits package seems amazing, their requirements seem very well detailed and they seem very structured in general. I like the black-and-whiteness of it. They seem to have their biz together. Anyone that can verify?
Any loopholes on their behalf from anyone's experience, such as docking for errors, exreme nit-picking (although my accuracy is excellent thus far). I'm hoping they're not a company that portrays themselves as reputable, family-oriented, professional, etc. and then harass and turn into monsters once you're on board. Thanks!
A couple questions about Opti-Script
What type of insurance do they offer and what kind of platform do they use?
OSI--Would either of you OSI employees mind if I emailed you privately with a couple of questions?
nm
Denise
Wow...Thanks so much for the info on this company. I was actually supposed to get up and going tomorrow with them and today I had emailed back and forth with them to set up, and I sent two emails asking for a confirmation on the pay scale and haven't heard back so that made me wonder a lot!! I didn't think that was a tough question so when I didn't get a response on two attempts, I pretty much convinced myself that it might not be a good idea! Thanks again for the honest posts!
Denise
I do not think the Terminator is the source of all of California's problems. How about addressing the issue of too many illegals taking too many resources (look at how many California hospitals have been forced into bankruptcy simply because of unpaid bills), too many folks riding the welfare train and not taking any personal responsibility, etc. The Terminator is not blameless, of course, but there area many other factors at play here. The saddest part is that great medical institutions such as the University of California system are being hurt. MTs and others are being laid off. Medical education programs are being cut. No one person or thing is the source.
Denise
If you will allow an old pro to offer you some friendly advice, here goes: It is extremely unwise to post your personal information on a public bulletin board. It simply is not safe to do this. E-mail is a much more appropriate means of communication. Good luck to you.
The supervisor's name was Denise. nm
xx
question for denise
can I ask what platform you are on? I have a friend who works at KS and is on Meditech having a horrible time getting her lines.
Anyone know which company Denise Williams is recruiting for?
for the Editor position?
I just asked the moderator to remove Denise's post...sm
from the board. Since we all figured that she must be new on this board making such a faux pas, I thought that she does not know how to tell the moderator to remove her post.
I agree with Denise...I have also only been at Keystrokes for a shor time but I love it...it already
beats the company I was with before, and I was with them for a year-and-a-half...I can see if someone wanted an opinion about a company and you had a bad experience to share, but not just to get on here and say how horrible a company is...move on and good luck....
Actually I posted looking for answers to my questions above, not looking to answer questions, but
to here goes...firstly, I don't know about the platform, only that it is Word based. Secondly, I have many years cardio, and thirdly, no the test was not hard. Still looking for any answers to my questions above. Thanks in advance.
A couple
Lee Perfect I believe and TTS. Try putting your resume up as well. I got a ton of hits off of here and another transcription job board and another job website. Not allowed to give you names of the sites though.
There are a couple of ways....
You can either use Alt+tab and that will switch you toggle you between programs or you can just keep a notebook and write down the acc#. I thought this was going to really hurt my production but after you get use to doing it, it doesn't really seem to be a big deal at all. Good luck!
It took me a couple of weeks...
had to get all those shortcuts in but once you get used to it, it is okay. I always keep track of how many reports I do and I don't look at line count until I do so many. I can get my required line count in 6 hours or less and when I first started it was a lot longer than that. So, it does get better. 
Yup. Same here. Just started a couple
of months ago with promises of good accounts, never run out of work, etc. I really regret going with them. Now looking for something else. What a disappointment! Same thing with Medware in the past. So don't look there either. These companies over-hire and offshore, and this is what happens. Ugh. 
I used it a couple of times and liked it. nm
x
There's only a couple of accounts that way....sm
the majority of them don't have that type of set-up with the client and there's generally plenty of work available between a primary and secondary account to keep you busy.
As far as communication goes, I've received at least 1 e-mail a day on my account advising what the status of it was and any additional information that needed to be passed along. If you use an e-mail service such as hotmail you have to check your junk folder as sometimes your e-mail system will think their valid e-mails are junk mail and filter them out.
A couple reasons
Their VR software isn't as good as eScription, which is what I really like. It doesn't put in any punctuation unless the doctor dictates it. While you train, you get 2 cpl with a max pay between 3 and 4 cpl after training. It sounded way too labor intensive for that pay.
I did this a couple of years ago--SM
Hospital benefits were great. Acct managed by Diskriter staff. I had a decent acct manager but I have heard some of them have not been that good (the person I worked for has since left). I used Chartscript, I like that platform, but the lines were tough to come by. I normally would do a good 1500-1600 lines a day at my previous job (and at jobs I have had since Diskriter) with about 6 good hours of working and for some reason it took a full 8-hour day to get 1300 lines with Diskriter. That is why I left.
It has been a couple of years since I was there
.
Yes and no. Went through this a couple of weeks ago.,
Hired for new account that didn't come on-line as projected. Extended training/staging time that at least we got paid for, but half of what I make transcribing and then when we went live there was no little work for week we were lucky to get 4 reports a day. Other accounts were low so couldn't give us a backup, but looks like most accounts are back to producing again and lots of OT now.
My situation isn't quite the same, but the result was the same and I sympathize with you. When you have bills to pay you need to be making the lines.
It took a couple of months
I got behind on bills and had to move on.
Couple things (SM)
#1 -- All caps is considered shouting.
#2 -- Spheris has been discussed here extensively. Do a search first -- you might find all the info. you need.
Couple of advantages
No harm in doing your own - but I have been audited and it was not fun. This fellow is my new accountant I do believe. If after 20 years of IRS management he has no clue how to do my taxes, then I am dead in the water. You might have a CPA do your taxes one year and then use it as your guide. I just feel far and away safer from my own experience than having to worry about it. He also said to save all records for 6 years. The IRS can go 3 years back on one audit.
I did a couple of years ago.
If it is the same company, they pay weekly (nice), and are such nice people. Everyone in the office was readily available to answer questions. The only downside was they did not have a platform at that time. Work was received and sent via FTP files, and I prefer to work on an actual platform.
Yes, a couple of ways (sm)
The reason you are being told that is because ExText (WordClient) must be installed in the C directory. There are a couple of ways around this. You can have your computer set up to dual boot or you can set up a virtual machine on your computer. As long as it thinks it is C it will allow a second install (or more) on one computer.
I have been with them for a couple of years-sm
and I say they are great. Don't know anything at all about bait and switch - could be happening but it did not happen to me. I am with Shirley on the 9/10 because come on- it is a job. Probably account, account managers, things like that make a lot of difference but I say the management right up to the owner of this company are top of the line. Every issue I have ever had with them has been addressed fairly and settled fairly. I say talk to them.
A couple of years ago...sm
I had KU as a back-up account when I worked for MedQuist. I don't know if they outsourced all or their work to MQ or not.
Diskriter does, or at least did a couple
xx
I agree with QA. There is no way a couple of sm
commas are dragging your score down that low. As a matter of fact, on normal QA scoring, you're not actually deducted the full amount for each instance of punctuation. You'll have the full amount for the first one or two (and it's not a hefty amount of points) and the others will be repeat errors. For a score that low, you're either omitting dictation or have incorrect/misuse of terminology. Those are the items that drag your score down.
Couple More Thoughts
i choose as an ic to have my own set schedule for my work hours and tell a company when i am available, which is a lot different than agreeing to remain there if there's no work. of course, i usually do just that, keep checking for work, but there is a very subtle difference between saying i will work these hours on these days and saying this is when i'm available. along with that comes the mental shift in informing people of one's days off/vacation time, etc. as an ic, you don't request the time, you say that's what you'll be taking off (i might offer to help find coverage, but no guarantees). you don't ask for a raise; you propose a line rate increase b/c your business expenses have risen. likewise, if you carry it to the extreme and are never available, a company might not need your services! but yes, IC vs. employee status is a subtle distinction and mind set, but an important one!
whether IC or employee, what you do is worthwhile and for me, i've truly found my occupational bliss, even with all the downsides to the profession and how it's evolved in the past couple decades.
a nice day and weekend ahead to everyone :)
-t
You have a couple of problems..
...If you deposit a bad check, you own bank will probably charge you a service fee for having to handle it. I was charged a $38.00 (same as their bounced check fee) fee when I deposited somebody's bad check. This is one of the reasons stores have a policy of charging you a fee if you pay with an NSF (insufficient funds) personal check. They get charged a fee by their bank for depositing it. The banks get cranky about the bookkeeping involved, posting the amount, debiting it out again, etc.
Second, I am assuming you work at home and the company is not in your home town. Therefore, the crime of writing bad check will probably be considered to have occurred where the company is located. Good luck dealing with a bad check across state lines.
I'm assuming the check is for a few hundred dollars. In my city, there is something called night court which is an after-hours service of the city prosecutor's office. It basically is a small-claims/arbitration court and you can go talk to an assistant prosecutor about the problem. They may send a summons to the check writer, but it really will not require them to appear. Some people are frightened to get such a notice, but if they are in another state, what can be done to them for a relatively small check?
You might have a mail fraud angle on this, since they mailed the check to you. I don't suppose you saved the envelope? Postal inspector might be someone to contact. Just a thought.
Here are a couple more you might find useful
I had saved these links in my Favorites in case there ever came a time to present our case.
Here are 2 other links where you might find some useful information for your article.
1. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/17/1548054.aspx
2. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/22/MNGCO2FN8G1.DTL
The second link is about the Pakistani MT who was trying to blackmail UCSF with personal information.
A couple of days
You should hear back in just a couple of days. Be ready for a long telephone interview.
This was a couple of years ago
and I really am over it. Went through a false start with a company that looked like it would be a long-term home for me, but wasn't. (This time, I was the one who said good-bye after a year.) Now I'm with a company that I really like.
Have you not noticed that the trend with employers nowadays is to fire you and have security escort you off the premises? They do this so that discgruntled soon-to-be-ex employees have no time to mess things up on their way out rhe door. Sure, SPi (a Philippine-owned company) knew that the plan was to dump all of us when they acquired CyMed, but it was just 'good business' to play their hand close to the vest until they were ready. They wanted us to want them, until they no longer needed us. They needed us to work during the transition to offshore. Then they were through with us. At least I got unemployment.
This happened to the employees of the local branch of a national restaurant chain. It was my favorite breakfast place and the company was closing restaurants all over the country, but the locals were assured that this was a profitable shop (it was always crowded) and they would be okay. Right up until the morning they reported to work to find a sign on the door that the place had closed. Had the corporate office given them notice, many would have found other positions prior to the closing. What would the company have done then? They weren't quite ready to close and needed those people to keep the place staffed until they were ready. Dog eat dog world.
So I'm a lot more proactive now and at the first rumblings of a problem my resume goes out there. This is what happened with my last job. Things started to seem 'just not right' and so I found my current job. But if I become uncomfortable here, I'll start looking again immediately.
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