I've heard with Dell if you tell them you're a business,
Posted By: everydayearthling on 2007-08-08
In Reply to: purchasing computers with customer service in US? - lilac
you'll get someone from the US. I already have two HPs but tried it anyway. I used to say home or home office but said I use it for business and still got someone from India but he spoke very, very good English compared to some I've spoken to in the past.
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I hope you're right! I've heard...
from many MTSOs that MTs will always be needed. The problem is low rate of pay. It's nearly impossible to make a decent living now and the rates are only going lower.
Just five years ago, I was working in-house at a hospital getting 12.00/hour along with an excellent incentive plan + beanies! The hospital went with EMR (electronic medical record). With that, many MTs were out of a job. Jobs like those are nearly impossible to find now.
After the in-house job, I got lucky when I found a great at-home job. I started out at 15 cpl + beanies. Now, MTs are lucky to get 7 to 8 cpl w/o beanies.
I do hope that things get better for MTs soon. However, the way things are now, I know that there is no way I can continue working as an MT, as I barely make enough to pay my bills.
Good Luck!
I've had two dell laptops and 5 Dell PCs. Here's the thing...
Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.
My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old. Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard. He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place.
One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.
Overall, I have been happy with Dell products. The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell. No generic accessories will work. My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house. Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.
Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet. I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.
I heard bad stuff about Dell, too.
We have never bought anything from them though. Gateway gave us a good deal with our first pc. They had good service (even sent us parts that needed replacement for no additional fee). They even guided me through the process of replacing the pasts.
The one that we bought from Best Buy is a Compaq. We get good after service from HPCompaq, although we haven't had any major problems with it yet. I just called their CSR for some software questions and they seem satisfactory.
I didn't have any training either - we just went with what we liked and made sure that the after-sales service is good.
I've tried Dell, which is what I prefer. sm
The reps have told me that all home desktop models now come with Vista. Period. I even asked if I could purchase one with XP if I paid extra and received a negative response. :(
I've searched and not all Dell laptops have the parallel port.
So I just wanted to check to see more specifics from those who have. Thanks.
I have a desktop Dell and it has been alright so far, but I've never owned a laptop.
What brand are you currently using then?
I've worked on a Dell Inspiron 8600 for 3 years
I've heard they're not as good as they used to be, but so far (knock on wood), I haven't had any problem except last week my AC power pack died. They mailed me a new one within 3-4 days (I was under 4 years parts warranty). I use a USB keyboard and mouse and don't bother to try to use the scrunched up laptop keyboard.
I've lost more than one hard drive on Dell computers
That's the message you get normally if the hard drive if fried. I just called Dell and they diagnosed the problem and sent me a new hard drive and I returned the bad one. Is yours still under warranty?
Escription users: I have a question. I've about had it with Dell junk computers.
and their Indian call centers..nothing like getting help from someone whom you cant understand. Even if they hear you, they have NO comprehension skills. Anyway, I have like 3 Dell computers which goes from bad to worse. For Christmas, I got my husband an Mac IBook ...wow..what a difference, now that's a computer. Anyhoo, they now have Microsoft office programs for Macs..anyone know if this computer would be compatible at all with the Escription platform since it's so picky. If not, any laptop computers suggestions that are not a piece of junk.
If you've been in the business
26 years you ought to know how the game is played. The out of work situation isn't exactly something that's just suddenly come up. Those who insist on "sticking to a schedule" are only fooling themselves. One minute out of TAT and up goes the recruiting ads, more fingers are hired and poof, the work is gone. If anyone expects to make a living in MT, then you grab the work when it's there; if you don't someone else will. Sorry, that's just a cold, hard fact of life. No sympathy from here. I don't like having to rearrange my schedule either but I do like getting a decent paycheck.
I think you're the one who needs to get out of the business.
or at least get out of the house and make some friends in the real world. You're losing it fast.
If you're not a business, but an IC...sm
you can use your SSN. If you do have a business license, it's how you set it up in the beginning...I have a business, but it is not incorporated or anything like that and I use my SSN.
you are still an IC when you're a business, you stop being an IC when...sm
you incorporate. Then you become an employee of your corporation. Most home based businesses don't require a business license. Since you aren't having customers traipse in and out, nobody really cares. No advantage to getting a tax free ID since you aren't collecting sales tax. The only thing you really should do when you get your own account is to set up a business checking account with a credit card attached to it. The physician office should make the invoice check out to your business, not you. The separate account simplifies bookkeeping and keeps the IRS happy. No need to really incorporate until you are making about $50K a year. Then you might want to think about it to save on the SS taxes. If you do get your own account, find a CPA that you can talk to (i.e. approachable). There are self employment IRA's etc that you will want to take advantage of. As far as getting up enough nerve to walk into the office, I call it "the $10,000 question." All you need is one acccount on your own to make an additional profit of $10,000 over what you are making now. But the only people who get paid that are the ones who get up enough nerve to walk into the doctors' offices. Are you one of them?
It's none of their business why you're leaving.
**
Yup, they're about to lose my business. NM
nm
I've had a few service-oriented business of my own, though (sm)
they were not in the MT field. I dealt with the rude, hostile and nasty clients by having TWO sets of prices: One, lower set for the easy-to-deal-with people, and another, HIGHER set of prices for the hard-to-deal-with ones. And if they were REALLY negative, they weren't worth working for at ANY price, and I simply referred them to a competitor who did a lousy job, and that I didn't like.
I've noticed a lot of business owners
have their own way of doing things - sometimes too extreme for me. They either have done so long their way - they don't realize things have changed since they started - or they go by the BOS down to the letter - each and every single letter - and possibly your accounts have not followed that closely in the past - or they are just picky as all get out and have a huge ego and want to make you feel inferior. There is also the possibility you may be doing some things 'wrong' - but if you have been in the business for 20 years - cannot be that serious - and obviously you know what you are doing!! I have run into absolutely crazy things in the last year with different MTSOs.... you dont' even want to know!!
If you don't know what a typo is, you're in the wrong business.
This is a message board, not a paid document.
No matter what type of business you're in, there does -
come a time when you have to draw the line somewhere. It seems like a no-brainer that if the price for transcription was X amount of dollars with letterhead provided by the client, then it would be X amount MORE with letterhead provided by the service. Still I would imagine she panicked a little, fearing she'd lose the account if she stood her ground about a separate rate for providing the paper. Knowing how expensive paper is, I still have trouble seeing how she could just let it slide in the beginning.
In her position, having allowed him to cheat her for a certain amount of time, what I would do next is give him notice that next month (or next week, or whatever), due to the overhead costs of supplying paper for the account, she could no longer do it at the old price, and then quote the new price.
If she gets 'replaced', she'd have to figure that it was going to happen sooner or later anyway, and if he was that cheap, there were probably other 'surprises' down the pike, as well. So probably good riddance. It might seem like a better deal to keep that account and let the guy keep cheating her like that, but then again, a better account is probably just around the corner. OR --- he could start to take her seriously when she sticks to her guns and says she has to raise her price. She has to make a living, too, right? OR --- he could go with someone else for a while, realize he had a good thing when he was using her service, and come crawling back. At that point, she could probably charge him almost anything she wanted, within reason of course, and he'd gladly pay it.
I had a non-MT, service-type business a number of years ago, and some of my BEST clients were the ones who left in a huff when I had the 'audacity' to raise my prices along with the rise in overhead, only to come back on their hands and knees a few weeks or months later. Some of them became the most generous tippers, too. It was funny how male colleagues of mine in the exact same business were rarely, if ever, questioned when it came to their charges for services rendered. Yet as a female, it was almost expected that if the client tried to get me to provide the same service for less, that I wouldn't stand up for myself and would just accept it because I was a female.
Until there is an equal double-standard to go along with the perception that women's work is worth less than men's, and we can pay half what men pay at the gas pumps and in the grocery stores due to our gender, then we shouldn't have to simply settle for less than they would get for the same job, either. And you just KNOW that if medical transcription had evolved into a 'men's' profession instead of a 'women's' profession, it would most likely be a good, high-paying white-collar job that they would have fought long and hard to prevent from being offshored. We just stood there and allowed the hospitals to reduce it to about the same level as janitorial work, or lower.
If a woman running an independent MT business such as this woman is STILL doesn't want to do things like give clients the bad news when a price hike is in order, why not simply borrow a strong male voice to make those calls? And to have a little spiel on the voicemail system, so that it SOUNDS like the system is owned and run by a man? If the client believed a man owned the business and was making those kinds of decisions, I bet she'd be able to command a higher price for her services all around, not just when supplying the letterhead. Something to think about!
No, I've worked in doctor's business office.
That is what the insurance company allows, not what they dictate. Who is to tell the doctor how long he can sit and talk with his patient. It is up to him. True insurance companies get together to decide what is the appropriate amount for the doctor to "charge" for a service but I've literally seen where the doctor sees the patient all of 2 minutes after patient is worked up by techs, but they still get paid for that visit.
I've heard that before sm
then the account suddenly and mysteriously dries up and there you sit on OT waiting and waiting and waiting.
Now I've heard it all.
 I just saw on CNN (which is NOT my news station of choice, now I remember why), that people in other countries feel bad for the people on the Gulf, but they figure it is "our fault" because it is because of global warming and that global warming is the fault of the United States. Please. I was wondering when President Bush would start getting the blame for the hurricane. I guess it won't be long now.
I've heard of that .........
and have a friend that seems to have it. I just give him a hard time about it *weg*, since I have menopause. 'Sides, its IMPORTANT for me to give him a hard time at all given opportunities LOL
I've never heard of this. Why? nm
//
Oh, please. Now I've heard it all! nm
nm
Well, I've heard it all...
Well, I'm struggling through a dictation and finally figured out the problem.. The doctor is driving while dictating (quality is wobbly and he is by nature a VERY fast dictator) and his wife/girlfriend/friend/significant other is on her cell phone talking just as loud and fast as he is... It's terrible.. yak-yak-yak-yak-yak. She hasn't slowed down one bit to even take a breath.. 4 minute dictation.. has so far taken 30 minutes! OUCH!!!!! Why do I put myself through this??
I've heard of it
...about eight months ago and it was pretty user friendly, I'd say, based on the tour of it they gave me. Do you mind if I ask you the per-line rate they're going to charge you? When I talked to one of their reps last year, the per-line rate they quoted me was pretty darn high, which is the reason I didn't go with it, but if they've lowered their per line rate a bit, I would consider using it. Thanks, and please let me know anything else you find out about IntraScript. I'll keep an eye on your post and replies. 
I've actually never heard that myself, but
I wouldn't think you would be any less fertile than you were prior to this pregnancy. Be sure if you do miscarry to keep in touch with your doctor and when the bleeding has stopped that you go in for an ultrasound to be sure it is complete. I did not pass everything during my first miscarriage and ended up with an infection and was on antibiotics for a couple of weeks. An infection could obviously cause problems with fertility if left untreated. After both of my miscarriages, I was told to wait three months before trying again, but I ended up having a D&C in the office for the unexpelled contents the first time and the second time I opted for a D&C in the hospital under sedation because I found out the pregnancy was not viable and my first miscarriage was very painful - a lot worse than menstrual cramps. The three month wait could have been because I had the D&Cs. I am so sorry to hear someone else is going through it. ((((Hugs))))
Okay, now I've heard it all
I could be mistaken, but I think I am transcribing a doctor who is breast feeding while she dictates. I can hear the baby (sounds like a newborn), and her soothing little comments, and then a definite almost like an "ouch" sound, but she keeps trying to talk through the pain. 
I've heard both..sm
I leave it on the majority of the time, but on the weekends or when I know I won't be working I will turn it off to let it rest (so to speak). I don't know why but I just can't leave it on forever, which is why once or twice a week I turn it off.
Now I've heard it all!
Nice try, but your excuse just doesn't fly. Everyone's "overbooked," as you say and the vast, vast majority of people's salaries keep going down, down, and DOWN! We'll see how much you appreciate doctor's padding their wallets when, God forbid, you don't have health insurance and your doctor won't treat you or your child unless you're able to pay for it all out of pocket.
I've heard like maybe being put on (nm)
xx
I've never heard of this?
Please, tell me more?!! 
So I've heard
I don't take for granted how nice it is that she stays where I put her (she isn't yet mobile), never talks back, is always smiling, and hasn't even started teething. :) I wish I could figure out how to keep her like this forever.
That's why I was looking to find something to fill my time with, not something permanent. One day all too soon she will have a mind of her own! :) I honestly wouldn't have it any other way of course.
I've never heard of that either sm
Is this supposed to be similar to Word? Does your new computer have a number where you can call and they can give you instructions over the phone on how to work it? You could call the place where you bought it if not and maybe they could tell you who to call or even help you themselves.
that's what I've heard as well...
It's kind of like wireless internet set-ups where if the person wasn't aware of and able to patch the holes in security and someone tech savvy were in a certain range, they can hack into and use your internet service, access files on your computer, see everything you are doing.
I've heard of it
Sounds like a position that is similar to something that I read about in my local paper not that long ago. It is being implemented in one of the local hospitals in Minneapolis and is a job for medical students only. Here is a link to the newspaper article: http://www.startribune.com/1757/story/1060338.html
I've heard that one before - the
protein pump inhibitor. Nails on a chalkboard. Thankfully I just type ppi no matter whether they say it right or wrong.
i've heard some say
that their carpal tunnel symptoms went away after using the classic type kinesis keyboard, ? It did help mine, but mine weren't severe yet either. Or for another line of work, what about dictating for the doctors? I'd bet you could do better than these nurse practitioners as a whole...or take your medical knowledge and go into coding. Or teach local wannabe transcriptionists the trade?
I've heard these ads for these
seminars before, and I'll admit it is frustrating. It's what makes your friends and family members think you have a cake job and anyone can do it. But in all reality, most people that hear those ads and go to those seminars don't really buy into that. And even if they do, they soon realize they've been had. I encourage those who think my job is a cake job to go those seminars. Not only does it give them false hope, it also wastes about 3 hours of their time. Serves 'em right for thinking I have it so easy.
I had a coworker (in the office where I temp) who went to one of these seminars and she actually thought she could do it since she was a physical therapist assistant and had some medical background. I told her she might be okay if she sticks to orthopedics or physical medicine, but otherwise I doubted it. She was miffed that this company held this seminar and wasted her time as well. She ended up working per diem for a nursing home as a PTA to bring in extra money, realizing MTing wasn't something she could "just do for extra money". Satisfaction.
Heh ... twice the price cuz they're an AAMT business partner! - nm
Even with a salary you're kind of a small business owner!
Even if you're paid a salary you are your own agent, so to speak. Why not hire a part-time helper and pay them a subcontractor rate. That's what a service owner does. You are no hero for not getting some help. MTs who have their own accounts have responsibility for 7 days a week coverage, but not all of us type 7 days a week. Put an ad in the job seekers board and pay someone to take up the overflow. You will burn out and not be able to work at all eventually. Good luck to you.
I've never heard of a company having to pay
when they got out of TAT. In the contract it states that TAT time is, and if consistently out of TAT is a negotiable point for renewal/cancellation of the contract, but no financial penalty to the company for not meeting it. My company is out of TAT 80% of the time and rarely offer a bonus to work extra, though does occasionally offer bonus, more often just asks everyone to work 2 more hours.
The reason I've always heard...
Rochester does not outsource, while Scottsdale does, but I'm not sure if Jacksonville does or not. I recently worked at Mayo Rochester (loved it, had to move) and I always heard it was because of quality issues. They felt they could hire better MTs themselves, rather than outsource and trust another company to do it. It is likely, however, due to difficulty keeping employees (everybody wants to work at home, and there have been lots of people moving away), that they will be going to telecommuting soon, which I'm looking forward to, since I can work for them again!
from what i've heard, its a lot harder
I know they could care less about us, we're just numbers/slaves to them, but why don't they get a little integrity for the business, make us happy for once, in turn improving quality and giving themselves a good name, and pay by the hour while we learn this technology at least. How can any company cut pay across the board like that and get away with it?
first I've heard of it..sorry I missed it; but
they'll get their code of conduct course in jail I guess.
I've heard this a few times- maybe you have too
Do you think anyone would ever be on their death bed, surrounded by loved ones and say, "I wish I had spent more time working." Doubt it. My kids are grown now, and the good memories for them are the ones I didn't think were so great. Like the time we lived in an apartment building in the Northeast, had all our Christmas decorations in the storage room in the basement, and someone stole them. We made all our own that year with aluminum foil covered cardboard and strung popcorn. Not even any lights, couldn't afford them. They to this day call that tree their Charlie Brown tree. That's just one of many "little memories" that may not seem like much when they are happening, but it's the things they remember.
I've heard that 4:1 is average.
So an hour of dictation would take about four hours to transcribe. It all depends on the dictation and the transcriptionist. There are so many other factors, too. Is it repetitive, can you use an expander, is it one person, are you used to that person, how focused are you, how user friendly is the platform, etc.
I've heard that most of their dictators are..
ESL? True? And bad dictation. Just curious.
Thanks
you are absolutely right, I've never heard of this
I have to wonder about compatibility issues and what operating system or platform it is being used on. If the platform is proprietary even if it uses Word, it may be a stripped version of Word. If that is the case, this would make ST not act properly as it was only intended to work with an full version of Word...that is what makes me keep coming back to it not working properly with Word. If you have to correct things on Tools, it is a compatibility issue with Word.
The only known issue I was aware of was that once Stedman took over ST and Word went to 2003, ST has expansion and crashing issues because of an upgrade that Word made causing compatibility issues within ST.
My best advice is to go directy to customer service or perhaps locate B. Grow and ask her advice.
Vacation? I've heard of that
I haven't had a vacation since 1996 and I've had ONE two-day weekend off since 2001.
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