eVoice Review
Editor’s Rating:
Avg. User Rating:
| Overall |    |
eVoice Review Summary
eVoice Pros
- Added 2 new plans for a total of 3 now
- More than enough minutes for the very small business owner (1000/mo)
- Get additional 100 minutes per extenstion added
eVoice Cons
- 2 lines max(1 local/1-800)
- No queing
- No internet faxing
- No conference calling
- No after hours mode
- No Canada or International
Bottomline
If you are looking for a basic Virtual PBX, and don’t need features such as conference calling, internet faxing, or queing then you will probably do fine with eVoice. You can now select from plans on the low end with only 300 minutes/2 extensions, to their top plan with 1000 minutes/5 extensions. Be aware of their customer service issues and BBB rating, however.
eVoice Features/Benefits
eVoice is a subsidiary of J2 Global along with Onebox. They offer 3 basic plans, however their feature list appears to be lacking in some cases, and in attempts to contact the company to clarify, we got no response in repeated attempts. This raises concerns about potential customer support.
| Pricing: | Professional: $12.95/mo SOHO: $19.95/mo Small Business: $29.95/mo |
| Setup/Installation Fee: | No |
| Disconnect/Cancellation Fee: | No |
| Free Trial: |
Yes, Get a 6 Month eVoice Free Trial! |
| Customer Service: | 24/7 poor |
| Included Minutes: | Professional: 300/mo SOHO: 500/mo Small Business: 1,000/mo You get 100 additional minutes for each extension you add |
| Incoming Lines: | 2 max |
| Extensions: | Professional: 2 SOHO: 3 Small Business: 5 You get 100 additional minutes for each extension you add. $9.95 each/month to add an extension. |
| Local & 800 Transfer Fee: | Free |
| 800 Vanity Number Fee: | $30 – one time |
| True 800 Number Setup Fee: | Free |
Likes
Simple Approach: We like their approach of offering 3 basic plans that are very similar except for minutes and extensions. We also like the fact that you get an additional 100 minutes for each extension you add. However their prices are similar if not more than their competitors with considerably fewer features.
Dislikes
Questionable Customer Service: eVoiceReceptionist and another Virtual PBX company called OneBox are both owned by J2 Global Communications. As we were doing this review we had several questions, and made repeated attempts to contact both eVoiceReceptionist and OneBox contacts to get clarification, and got no response from either. We question the customer service commitment when we could not get our pre-sales questions answered from either of the J2 Global Comminications companies. It may not be an issue, but it is something to definately be aware of.
Lack of Features: This puts them at a distinct disadvantage to their competitors when you consider the price difference. No queing, no internet faxing, no conference calling, no after hours mode, no Canda or International. and no call from web.
Limited to 2 Incomming Lines: Again from what we can tell via signing up for their service, it appears you are only allowed to sign up for a maximum of 2 incoming lines – 1 local and 1 – toll free number. This may not be an issue for most companies, but it may be a problem for small businesses who have a national presence and want local numbers across the US that would ring into one central Virtual Phone System.
Poor BBB Rating: When we went to get their Better Business Bureau Rating for our comparison grid we were actually shocked to find out that they have an "F" rating due to their "failure to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading…" and other reasons.
Where to Buy
Summary
If you are in that mid-range area where you will use around or just under 1000 minutes a month, and don’t need features such as conference calling, internet faxing, or queing then you will probably do fine with eVoiceReceptionist. You can now select from plans on the low end with only 300 minutes/2 extensions, to their top plan with 1000 minutes/5 extensions.
SERVICE DOESN’T EVEN WORK ANYMORE
My phone lines haven’t worked for 2 days. I’ve call customer service and was put on hold for 1-2 HOURS each time and hung up. Can’t log into web site account because I’m getting server and 404 errors!
Since My1Voice was bought out this service has been terrible.
I don’t even know if they are in business anymore.
Major sucks. Functionality is confusing, many things do not work properly. Support sucks. When they don’t fix the things and get frustrated at my inisistance for an explanation, they put me on hold and went on break.
This company has the worst customer service. They screwed up my company’s name in the Caller ID directory, and refuse to correct it with the local telecom. They state that if they call Verizon, their tickets never get resolved, so they don’t bother. They also state that if they do correct it, it will say J2 Global instead of my company’s name when I call people. How ridiculous is that. Stay away from this company.
Our company was originally contracted with My1Voice, and we were satisfied with their service for the time we had them. Then, a couple of months ago, eVoice took them over. We got a lot fewer features for the same price, and despite their claims that everything we’d had with My1Voice would continue to work, we ended up having to report an issue with sub-menus not leading to info messages. When reported, I was told this was a system-wide issue. I asked to be notified when it was fixed, and they said I’d just have to check my line and see if it was fixed. To date, it hasn’t been. It also took two calls to correct a Caller ID display issue, when previously, that option could be set through the My1Voice control panel.
Now that we’re porting our toll-free number to another service, we’re getting charged a $40 administrative fee that’s included in a customer agreement that we never saw… and never agreed to. We were never willingly eVoice’s customer.
We’re glad to be leaving eVoice behind. I hope that others who read this review will think twice before giving eVoice their business.
Lisa,
How did you get them to fix your caller Id? I’m having the same issue, but they say they can only make is say J2 Global.
Aaron, I had to call customer service and ask for the outbound caller ID to be the toll-free number instead of the number of the person calling. We couldn’t tell if the incoming calls (to our cell phones) were regular calls or to the toll-free number. I don’t know if there was a name associated with the number. It doesn’t really matter, now, since we moved to Phone.Com as of yesterday.
I will add this: I complained that I thought the $40 fee was on a customer agreement that we were never made aware of as customers of My1Voice, and seeing as how we never agreed to it, I felt it was inappropriate. They waived the $40. When I called to cancel service yesterday, and was asked why we were leaving, I told the service agent that we were unhappy with the services offered through eVoice compared to My1Voice, and that we’d had issues that went unresolved. The agent actually *agreed* with me, apologized, and canceled the account.
I suspect they’ve had lots of problems with the transition, but then, they should have made people aware of what the differences were before the transition.
Just wanted to follow up. I successfully switched away from eVoice to RingCentral and couldn’t be happier. RingCentral has more features and a lower price. I made my last call to eVoice support yesterday, waited 20 minutes, and cancelled! Felt good.
Things about RingCentral that are better: they have a desktop app that can be used to answer/transfer calls, listen to voicemail, etc. No need for the old my1voice “forward to Skype” feature because now you can answer with your headphones directly on your computer. Only downside is that RingCentral does not have a “voicemail to text” feature so you can read your email. I can live with that. The iPhone app for RingCentral is pretty useful, too.
evoice is garbage. I have been with my1voice (which was awesome) and this BS company just bought them out and they switched me without any notification. I can’t get a hold of anyone from customer service and I don’t know how to navigate through their system. I sent an email and got a canned response. All I asked for was a call back to help me. I am trying to run a business! I am so frustrated with this service. I finally call in today and got a hold of someone (overseas) that explains it! He tried to tell me my email was wrong in their file…I am so done with this garbage service.
agreed. I am in the process of switching to ring cental, as well. Hope they can handle all of the old my1voice accounts. How much are they making you pay for your number?
Wow, does eVoice suck! I was a happy customer of my1Voice, which was acquired by eVoice. It is now two days after my account was switched to eVoice, and I am unable to login at eVoice.com. No one answers their support phone line, and when I emailed for help logging in, I received a response 24 hours later asking me to call! I’ve been without complete phone service for 48 hours now. Can’t wait to cancel with eVoice — I’ve already signed up with RingCentral and am in the process of switching to them.
eVoice has fewer features, higher prices, and awful customer support. If that’s your thing, then by all means go with eVoice!
The product is decent and I like that . The customer service is reprehensible. Does anyone know if any of their competitors offers a similar service with an app for the iPhone?
I would choose zero stars if that were an option. E voice has terrible customer service. When trying to reach a supervisor, I was told I would receive a call back within 24 hours, never received a call. I called back after 48 hours and was told they were transferring me to a supervisor. After a rude conversation between myself and someone I thought was a supervisor, I found out they transferred me to another sales representative, who in turn ended up saying “I am disconnecting your call now” and hung up. E voice lacks many things, one being customer service. I do NOT recommended.
I am with evoice for 3 months already.
I like the service and initaily it was perfect for my needs. I’ve started looking for a new proveider after my phone rang after 1am – eVoice does not allow to setup after hours configurations. All calls are being directed to my cell 24/7.
In my plan I have 40 free voice to text messages. each additional is $.10. It adds quickly and we cannot stop this service.
What is adding to the insult is that I never received the my toll free number, Indian support does not always understands basic concepts and I cannot remove caller screening from one of the extensions.
Based ont eh reviews here I will be switching to VirtualPBX.
Evoice! I love this company got all my voice mails on time and very professionali recordings and I had the six motn free trial!
AA+A+A+
Sherrell
Although the initial service of how it works is ok – some features that should be there – are not.
If you have multiple extensions – and have the call routing feature – when the call comes into your cell phone – it does not display the extension number the customer called. What is the point of having extensions if you don’t know which one the call is coming from?
You also have to log onto each extension to change features – instead of having one overall control panel for your number.
It shows you the caller phone nubmer, but you can configure in your account admin so the attendant identifies the extension and you can select 1 to answer 3 to send to VM.
I am re-reviewing my post on e-voice. I have been using it for about a year now, and it works fine. It took some tweaking at the begining, but I am satisfied with their service as it works for me.
I’ve been with them for awhile, Five extensions, customer service is fantastic. 9-7 Mon-Friday. After hours just ask for Level Two and you get an American person. I love the features they have. I never miss a call now.
And I can have my home phone ring or have my cell phone or both. Also love the Voice mail to text.
No problems for me at so far. And its better then the i phone VM because I get an e-mail when I get a
new message.
Scott
I’m assuming Scott Nelson’s review above is not legit.
Sign up is easy, however, getting a hold of anyone on customer service is a major pain. Also, canceling is extremely difficult and impossible to accomplish through the their online account interface. You need to call into their support hotline to accomplish this. That’s unheard of.
Phone call services worked fine… but if you ever have a problem or wish to cancel you’ll find it impossible to get a hold of anyone. I recommend staying away from this service. 14 negative reviews and counting can’t be wrong.
wow these people are the worst… easy English is difficult to understand and communicate with. THEY CHARGE YOU PER MINUTE BUT, THEY CHEAT YOU OFF SINCE U DON’T KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE REALLY CALLING. THEY CAME UP ON 60$ FROM ME ASIDE THE HIGH COST! WILL NEVER EVER WORK WITH THEM AGAIN…
These people are lying, sleazy, scud buckets. I had an account with them which I wished to terminate. They now want $40 to port my number. This isn’t the only sleaze they pull. It/s been happening pretty regular. Don’t get involved with them. They lie!!!
horrible horrible customer service, by far the worst i have ever experienced. spent over 2 hours on the phone on 3 separate calls to fix a minor glitch in their forwarding service. Indian call representatives do not listen or do not understand simple english. whatever you do stay away from this company unless you want to raise your blood pressure 50 points.