The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

A house ready for Christmas. And in case of disaster, an answering service could help

Tips to Help Prevent Holiday Disasters

December 12, 2019
Trade Service
By Centratel

The holiday season is upon us once again. It is the time to come together with family and friends and for many of us it means entertaining and hosting get-togethers at your house. Opening up your home to guests is definitely a great way to enjoy time with loved ones but it can also lead to disaster. No, I don’t mean an argument or typical holiday family bickering; I am talking about fire and water damage. In this article we will explore some common causes of water and fire disasters during the holidays and how you can help prevent them.

Fire

Cooking during the holidays means lots of heat. Burners, ovens, deep fryers and smokers just to name a few. Most of don’t normally cook a turkey, a ham or prime rib along with multiple side dishes on a regular basis. Trying to cook and keep track of everything along with trying to entertain guests can get out of hand quickly. A little bit of turkey grease overspill in the oven and you might be staring at flames the next time you go to baste the bird.

If the oil for the deep-fried turkey spills over the edges into the open fire a well-placed fire extinguisher can save lives. If you’re prepared, you’ll have the extinguisher and towels close by to put out the fire and sop up the spills. But no matter how prepared you are accidents happen. The best advice is to stay aware and prepare for the worst, keep that phone close and don’t hesitate to call 911 if things get out of hand.

Flooding

Opening up your home to guests creates more opportunities for small floods and accidents to take place. Whether it’s an overflowed bathtub, a backed up toilet, the shower head or kitchen faucet pointed in the wrong direction too long, or just soaking wet snow clothes and boots in a heap on your floor. Excess pools of water can wreak havoc on your housing materials and should be addressed right away.

Appliances

Guests often want to do their part to help out around the house. One of the most common chores guests like to help with is to wash your dishes. Not knowing how your dishwasher works and overloading and adding too much or the wrong soap is a fast way to flood the kitchen. Laundry machines are a similar hazard. It is a good idea to take the time to explain how your major appliances work to your guests. Not all dishwashers, washing machines, or other appliances work the same way, and user error can lead to a huge mess or flooding. Prevention is the key to avoiding disaster here, so make sure that your guests understand any specific instructions for operation that your appliances may have.

Plumbing

With more people in your home than usual, your plumbing may start to feel a bit of a strain. All of a sudden, more people are taking showers and using the bathroom than is usual for your plumbing system. This additional use can quickly lead to issues with drains becoming clogged or toilets backing up. These types of problems can cause unsanitary flooding that may lead to serious water damage. If your system backs up, clean and sanitize as quickly as possible but always make sure to call a restoration professional.

Holiday disasters can happen. With more people in your home the odds of a water or fire disaster increase but following these tips will help minimize your risk of damage to your home this holiday season. It is important to keep in mind however, that in the event that your home is affected by a fire or water disaster it is critical that you act fast and call a professional disaster restoration company. Fire damage if left unattended to can cause problems for years to come and possibly hinder the structural integrity of your home. Water damage can start to create mold spores in less than 24 hours if it is not properly taken care of. Disaster restoration companies are available 24/7 in the case of an emergency. So this holiday season, if you end up with fire or flooding; make sure to call a professional to get your home back to normal.

A Telephone Answering Service Representative taking calls at Centratel

Centratel is an elite national telephone answering service headquartered in Bend, Oregon. Centratel’s Trade Service Answering Service assists hundreds of businesses, during and after-hours. By a variety of statistics, Centratel is the highest quality answering service available anywhere.

Taking the Next Step

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed below.)

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed on the right.)

Terms of Service

Why Choose Centratel

BY SAM CARPENTER
September 1, 2024

1.CENTRATEL’S UNIQUE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL

Why is this important? Because it will provide you a truly accurate estimate of cost (we bill monthly), it will demonstrate our quality, and it gives both sides of this equation—you and Centratel—the necessary time to refine and perfect operational details.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial: “Of course, I love the cost as it is close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I told him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service, and I meant it. It’s a great fit. We have had NOT ONE complaint from a patient or in-house which, as you know, we received daily with our former answering service. I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require. Thanks for the great service, and the free month! To a great partnership! -KB, Phoenix“

2.STATISTICALLY, THE BEST IN THE U.S.?

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and reaction, and in the course of a single day a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who process the calls: Telephone Service Representatives, or TSRs. (Some answering services refer to them as “agents.” Others, “operators.”)

Like any other answering service, at Centratel we’re dealing with real live human beings and so human errors occur. But within this labor intensive service industry that is historically known for marginal quality, Centratel’s error rate is light years ahead of established standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (April through June, 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 6,491 message transactions processed. That statistic is unmatched.

There’s no artificial intelligence manipulation, we do not offshore calls, and we were founded and have always operated within the United States. (Note that since early 2020, the COVID six-foot social distancing mandate drove thousands of small-to-medium sized answering services out of business. Large, foreign-owned multi-nationals, often disguised by the name of the local answering services they acquired, now thoroughly dominate the industry. Hence, an even further decline in general service quality. See this analysis.)

3.CUSTOMER SERVICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Your concerns and requests will be instantly acted upon. It’s a work ethic that stands out in stark contrast from the general quality decline in human-to-human business-customer communications. You’ve seen it yourself, all around. At Centratel you will know the customer service people you’re working with by name, appreciating their special listening abilities as well as their take-action-now comportments i.e. see the testimonial in point #1 above. ‘Nuff said!

4.GETTING STARTED: IT’S SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service 30-day free trial started is accomplished within 24-48 hours. From the start, your “onboarding” customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions.

5.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems. However, if you have not used a service before, you are not familiar with the options, benefits, and pitfalls. As noted, our 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your desired message-taking and delivery protocols; to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure, or obligation. 

6.PRICING

Starting at $89 per month, our rates rank in the mid-range of the industry. We’ll bill you based on the number of calls we handle per month, not on total minutes/seconds expended. (Be careful here as you shop for an answering service: the time-billing formula naturally induces caller/agent conversations to drag out, thus increasing client cost.)

7.ACCURATELY COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING IS COMPLICATED

It’s apples and oranges. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each answering service has its own formula. Also, as noted above, some services charge by “time” while others charge by “work units.” Others combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend. The raw truth is that the only reliable way to determine monthly cost for a new service is to use that service for a solid month. Most answering services offer a 7-day free trial or no trial at all.

8.BEWARE: MONTHLY OR 28-DAY BILLING?

Important! At Centratel, we use a “monthly” billing cycle in which invoices are compiled from the first day of a month to the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.” There is no good reason for a 28-day billing cycle! It’s bait-and-switch: customers billed on a 28-day cycle actually receive thirteen billings per year and therefore the overall cost is higher.

9.NO CONTRACT AND SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE

We do not require a yearly contract for service because we believe you should have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without restraint. Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward.

10.VALUABLE FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you take the time to discuss answering service with us, on the same day we will ship you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its 4th edition…but soon to be released in a 5th edition (August 2024). We’ll send you a copy of this 5th edition, too, when it’s released. (Sam is the founder and President of Centratel. December 1st 2024 marks his fortieth year of ownership.)