Somthing stinks at Cbeyond

In case you’re not familiar with Cbeyond, they are a VoIP telecom services provider for small businesses in many large markets in the US.

Unfortunatly in practice they resemble that white belt wearing, cigar smoking used car salesman in that not so great part of town. He'll say or do anything to get you into that brown minivan instead of that roadster you had your eye on.

Unlike the car salesman stereotype, Cbeyond recruits mostly young, often attractive people just getting starting in the work force. They then train these people in an very aggressive sales techniques before releasing them into the community.

That’s where fun starts. If you own a business, any business in southern California (and I assume in Cbeyonds other markets), you will be contacted by Cbeyond sales people over and over and over again even after making it clear that you are not interested. They simply will not take no for an answer and will show up in person and on the phone. If the first person says no, they will often try and find someone else in the company to talk to. They are in a word, relentless. I have to think that at least some of their business comes from companies who sign up just so the sales calls will stop.

I was at a clients office recently when a Cbeyond sales rep came in and started grilling the receptionist looking for details on their current contract, names of other people he could talk to etc. This client has all its telco and data services provided by their giant corporate parent, so they simply have no say in what services they use. She explained that to the Cbeyond sales rep, but the guy would not back down. He was relentless to the point that the receptionist was on the verge of tears until someone else realized what was happening and escorted the young man out.

Beyond the relentless and highly annoying sales effort they will take over all your voice, data and even cell phones. They claim you will save money have a faster Internet connection and have a fantastic quality of service.

The problem is that all too often the rhetoric doesn’t match reality. Unlike their relentless sales force, their customer service is often hard to get a hold of, and indifferent once reached. The quality of service is often worse than what companies were using before. Most importantly from what I have seen, I have yet to see a company realize the cost savings that Cbeyond promised.

Cbeyond has some innovative products that are a good fit for some companies, but their shady sales techniques and less than stellar support leaves a pungent aroma that makes me want to stay away.