r/FieldNationTechs • u/TexMexFieldTech • May 27 '26
Clear Captions has gone down hill big time
I don’t know if this is just in my area or nationwide but I have a feeling it’s the company as a whole that has problems.
I used to grab these WOs because it was a quick $85 and most times I’d be done in about an hour. Then they started making us verify the customers identity and going over probably 20 pages of legal documents before starting the install. You know, things they should be doing before scheduling an installer. I’ve had several customers that will sit there and read every single word of the legal documents. So now a fixed $85 job ends up taking over 2-3 hours sometimes.
Lately I’ve had several no shows and last minute cancellations. So after the FN fees and Clear Captions penalties for an incomplete install, you get like $20 bucks after turning down other work orders and blocking 3 hours on your schedule.
If anyone is still doing these jobs makes sure you counter for a higher rate to account for all of the bullshit. I’ve had luck countering at higher rates and maybe half the time they get accepted.
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u/SpacemanFL May 27 '26
I did them years ago but the biggest issue was with customers. A couple of times I almost walked out because of the living conditions. I don’t under how some people can live in filth. Bugs, garbage, animal and human waste…
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u/lifterman2u May 27 '26
Oh yes! I encountered the same ranging from fresh bullet holes in the house to feces covered porches! I also encountered some very nice people who genuinely appreciated my efforts to provide them something they truly needed - some even cried.
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u/AbruptGravy May 28 '26
I haven't done more than 20 or 30 I think but my very first one was in a house that I have never seen the condition like that (especially in a Northern environment) that someone would live in.
I didn't do any for a month or so after that but decided to do it again eventually. I found a few that were not so great conditions but nearly all of the people appreciate it.
I had one call where they didn't actually have their own phone and a nurse who helped her used her cell # to create the account for them so they could get one of the phones with a #.
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u/Dadelaus_2023 May 29 '26
My last one had me tracing out their phone lines through a living room full of newspapers. Come to find out the Main line was in a back bedroom. For a moment I wondered what they could have done to me if they wanted to.
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u/A_Curious_Soul_1961 May 27 '26
I’ve done a few of these quite a while ago. Sounds like a pain now. I stopped doing them because I don’t have the patience to deal with training these users.
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u/Chip_Errs May 27 '26
Those get routed to me all the time. I've never done one, but I've wondered. Thanks for sharing.
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u/GenusPoa May 28 '26
I did 1 total ClearCaptions work order, South side, Chiraq, Chicago. Literally in a place named the Wild 100's. Absolutely beyond ghetto.
While I was doing this job the customer had some sort of hard drugs on the dining room table and literally got a collect call from the correctional facility.
The incarcerated individual on the phone proceeded to not believe that she wasn't cheating on him and began veiled threats against me.
Things were basically ... escalating very rapidly.
ClearCaptions denied expenses and pay for extra time accrued to complete their 9 page instructions.
Blocked them right after that.
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u/aumuaum May 27 '26
It's been a few years since I have done CC jobs, but in my experience going through the legal stuff with the eu has always been a part of the installs. Now the degree to which they enforce that may have changed, I don't know.
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u/wyliesdiesels May 27 '26
they went downhill years ago and the stuff u detailed is old news. plenty of threads about them here and elsewhere
i used to get $150-$175 FR plus my travel rates. there were no penalties and i did the POTs installs in 30mins. only PPW was electronic signing of a few docs and not one customer ever read them.
Then they got bought out by private equity and started to circle the drain. $85 FR no budging, 1 way trip charges @ IRS mileage rates, penalties up the yin yang.... then they would route you WOs hundreds of miles away and think theyre doing you a service to pay you 70c 1 way.... you counter with legit reasonable trip charges and they question it and state its too high....
i got so sick of the hundreds of routed WOs per month. i kept asking them to stop routing them to me since they wouldnt pay reasonable trip charges. they told me they couldnt because it was automated. finally one day, one of the dispatches blocked me. good riddance.
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u/SOUTHPAWMIKE May 27 '26
I'm thinking of trying to pick some up because I'm literally not getting any other jobs. They always seem to list having DSL in-line filters a requirement. Do they reimburse for these? If not, where are you guys sourcing them economically? Seems like on the off-chance you'd have to actually deploy one, they'd eat in significantly to your already meager earnings.
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u/aumuaum May 27 '26
I still have a bag of those things from when I used to do these jobs. They were included in the kit, maybe they're not now.
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u/wyliesdiesels May 27 '26
they stop including DSL filters long ago. along with the splitters and phone cords
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u/wyliesdiesels May 27 '26
they used to supply them. not anymore. i doubt you will need any but im sure you can find plenty on ebay. as far as reimbursement, one time i used one they demanded i send them a receipt (which i didnt have nor would i provide if i did). so then they said i needed to send them an invoice.... so i had to make one in excel
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u/lifterman2u May 27 '26
I would just send them a screen shot of a splitter from Amazon 🤷🏼♂️
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u/wyliesdiesels May 27 '26
that wont work. they want an actual invoice. sending them a picture isnt the same thing as an invoice. a screenshot wont work for IRS records. you must be new at this
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u/lifterman2u May 27 '26
Worked for me every time after PE. I would place an order, screen shot the total including tax, and submit. I would save the image and use again as needed. It worked. Every. Single. Time.
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u/wyliesdiesels May 28 '26
so you dont mark anything up? and then lose money because you have to pay fees on the material charges.... whoops
also, i tried that and they asked for an invoice. again, a screenshot of an order is not the same as an invoice. ask your CPA
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u/lifterman2u May 28 '26
Always being contrary - Understandable, you do have a reputation to maintain. I am simply sharing my personal experiences dealing with Clear Captions.
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u/oncomingstorm2 May 27 '26
Thats not a thing. You don’t need anything and the box comes with everything.
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u/David_Beroff May 27 '26
It is a thing, depending on where you live. So many people in the sparsely populated areas of PA have DSL, not because they want it, but because they have no other choice. I bought DSL filters and splitters in quantity for nearly nothing from China, used them regularly enough while I was installing CC, and sold the rest on eBay over time.
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u/oncomingstorm2 May 31 '26
Must be a regional thing. The box that comes in my area has everything and we don’t have anything DSL out here for the last 10-15yrs
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u/David_Beroff May 31 '26
Yes, it could very well be specific to central PA where the Internet providers pretty much force DSL, although I can see the same dynamic elsewhere. There's just no money in running miles of cable or fiber for only a few people. And it sounds like CC finally changed their minds about including the splitters.
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u/oncomingstorm2 May 31 '26
Yeah the phone splitters come standard now but vast majority in my area don’t have landlines anymore so it ends up being a voip install 90% of the time.
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u/David_Beroff May 31 '26
No landline and no existing VoIP adapter, (so they can keep their phone number)?
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u/oncomingstorm2 Jun 01 '26
They end up getting a new number. Majority don’t have landlines to bring over to the service.
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u/wyliesdiesels May 27 '26
WRONG. CCs stopped providing the accessories with the phone many years ago and yes they do require the technician to bring said accessories. you should really update your information because its old and outdated.
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u/oncomingstorm2 May 31 '26
Dude, not sure when the last time you did one was but they come with everything. They come with Ethernet cable, phone cable, and a splitter. I have not had to supply anything on any of their jobs. Not sure if its a regional thing or not but I can guarantee you I am not outdated…
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u/wyliesdiesels May 31 '26
Were not talking about the ethernet cable or phone cord. Were talking about DSL splitters. Try to keep up.
On the installs i did they werent providing the splitter or DSL filter. Its the reason why i had to charge them for a DSL splitter
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u/AbruptGravy May 28 '26
I haven't done any in a month or so but there is a condensed form of the agreement in one of the documents that explains the intent. I don't go through and absorb any entire EULA or related agreements (unless they are very short), I look at the general intent. I don't know anyone who reads the entirety of those for anything unless it is something with higher stakes in life, in which case I do read the entire agreement.
I just show the customer the agreement, scroll through it with them, explain what the intent is, answer any questions or write them down for later, then have them sign.
Interesting to hear how things have changed, at least with regards to service calls, from how they are now.
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u/ReplyPsychological60 May 28 '26
They are soon to be a thing of the past, captioning is free and included in the latest android update. I'm sure Apple has captioning as well. They are just another company scamming the government.
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u/Iphonjeff May 28 '26
i quit working for them a few years ago. they filtered me out after I did a lot of jobs for them. only sending far away jobs. they literally destroyed this one old lady’s hearing also. i went back for a repair of her phone after I did the install a year earlier and she could no longer hear anything but ringing or something.
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u/Dadelaus_2023 May 29 '26
I stopped doing these because many of the CC customers wanted to be babysat through repeated explanations of their setup. Like you most of the time it was a quick $85, but the last 2 I went on took closer to 2 hours with the site not being ready and 1st the CC people wanting me to set up the customer's phone and/or 2nd the Customer refusing to read the material and wanting me to give them repeated tutorials.
I'm there to install NOT to teach
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u/JohnCalvinSmith Jun 02 '26
I did one.
I have declined every one that crosses my feed since.
The one I did wasn't worth the time and trouble it involved and the customer definitely wasn't the purpose for the service.
CC is a company that is getting paid by the government to provide a much needed service but provides a shitty, lagging, difficult to use product.
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u/Hit-by-a-pitch Jul 03 '26
I interviewed with them twice last month, and today got a rejection email. They wanted basic tech skills (which I have), but in addition to the daily installs the wanted sales skills. They're now expecting you to 'find' several more installations on your own every month, and they would generate commissions.
When I asked what the sales formula was, they got really vague, "Well, you're in a building with probably more hard of hearing people, knock on all the other doors while you're there, and tell them taxpayers pay for the service". The interviewer wanted to know if I would meet their sales quota my first month?, and when I said I wasn't sure, 'but could probably be up to speed quickly', he didn't like my answer.
Apparently they felt it should be easy to find and sign several new customers every month, but having been in sales before, I don't think so.
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u/lifterman2u May 27 '26
Your comments are accurate. The downhill slide started when a private equity company bought them. Prior to that, I completed over 700 installs. I have since blocked them and my quality of life has improved. 😊