Purple going out of business ?

deafaussie

deafaussie

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Hi everyone

Last week, FCC had clarified rules on TRS reimbursement and made an order on all VRS organizations to do what they are told. I had read and re-read an order several times and has come to my realization that FCC may stop monthly payments to Purple until the debt owned based on illegal minutes earned from purple employees, contractors making calls.

What would Purple do if FCC refuses to make monthly payments based on LEGITIMATE minutes earned? Purple is in shambles financially owed millions of dollars in debt and now this.

The only option I can think is to ease operations, file bankruptcy and start selling assets. Unless, purple had pulled off with a magic wand and manage to stay with us

Its unfathomable to see Purple gone.
 
Please post a link to the reimbursement rules so I (and others) can read and participate in this discussion.
 
Where is SOURCE??????????????????????????????????
 
Don Cullen s blog

He is currently employed by Purple Communications as a Customer Care Technician.


As many of you already know, I currently work for Purple Communications.

We just received notice from Purple that when FCC had made their ruling on Feb 25th on how VRS providers can be reimbursed, they also included a very interesting requirement:

VRS providers are to pay FCC back for the amounts billed that had to do with employee-related calls. I know I’ve made calls while on my break at work using our VRS pertaining to my cable, electric, and gas bills. I’ve made calls to courts about my speeding tickets. Yes, I get speeding tickets. I’ve made calls to my doctor, to my dentist, to my dog’s vet, and so forth.

Majority of the time, I make those calls from work, since I work a 40+ hour work week. I barely have time to make calls while at home, especially since I usually work from 1p to closing. This prevents me from being able to call when I get off work. When I get up, I usually spend my time going out on errands- laundry, food shopping, and so on. So I opt to make my calls at work.

The end result? Now those calls are not billable. Meaning, now I am not allowed to make VRS calls while I’m at work. Now I am required to wait until I get home to make my calls, or get up early to make VRS calls.

Now before you tell me that I should wait until I get home, I should point out a very important issue: this is all about functional equivalency. Hearing people are able to make phone calls to their families, to their friends, to their gym, doctor, vet, and so forth while they’re at work. By denying the deaf this ability results in an imbalance.

I realize this FCC ruling is to protect taxpayers against abuses by VRS providers, but at the cost of this imbalance? FCC should have been more clear in this, and make exceptions for personal calls from employees to their own personal issues. I can understand denying them the ability to make billable VRS calls when doing it on behalf of their respective VRS provider—I agree with FCC marking that up as an “operating expense”. But I do not agree with them including all VRS-type calls, whether it’s on behalf of the VRS provider or not. This causes an unreasonable imbalance.

Now FCC is demanding reimbursement for previous payments to the VRS providers in the amounts of millions *IN FIVE DAYS*, this results in a large imbalance. Small VRS providers such as ZVRS and Purple will struggle to pay this amount in 5 days, while Sorenson VRS will absorb this easily with their large market penetration. End result? Some may declare bankruptcy and go out of business, some will be forced to massively downsize resulting in loss of hundreds of jobs, while Sorenson’s market share will triple. Sorenson will benefit from this. The rest of the VRS providers will not.

The one positive thing from this though is that those VRS providers who’re small and had recently launched will not have to deal with this recent development, and will go on to grow.

The internal memo that was circulated at Purple had no confidentiality notice, and I also specifically asked my department manager if I could share the memo with the public. My manager had no issue with that. But I’ve opted to not share it because I do not want to risk my job by sharing what actually was supposed to be confidential. So I will check with the executive management to see if I can share it. If so, expect another post.

It also has been brought to my attention from an anonymous source who shared a private work email with me that a different VRS provider has notified all employees that this is very bad news for a specific VRS provider that FCC is requiring them to pay back millions to FCC in five days, that one of the possible paths it will lead towards is bankruptcy. In the memo, it also stated that other VRS providers were also being served notice that they will also need to do the same.

It will be very interesting to see how this affects the VRS industry.
Click to expand...

Don's Blog Blog Archive FCC to VRS Providers: PAY US BACK!
 
Wow!

In a way, I think it is good start because many banks, creditors do not trust relay service. This may change because now it is much strictor, no more Nigerian scammers would be able to take advantage of free relay to generate scam incomes. I see that international calls are no longer accepted by FCC.

About these employees who work for TRS companies, I see two sides on the coin. First of all, hearing people at work generally do not use company telephone for personal purpose. They would bring in their cell phone or use pay phone to make personal calls. So that means telephone equipment at TRS centers are actually company phone, and it is used for business purpose not personal. I think that is how FCC and congress views it.
 
In my view from all this,

I don't think FCC is going after personal calls minutes if they were made from home or from work.

It seem to me that FCC is going after those calls that was not deem nessasary like a Deaf worker in VRS Customer Service having to connect to thier own relay service interpeter before they can help a Deaf customer so the calls are recorded.

It seem that VRS want to record customer service or tech support calls like every companies out there does it but do it using their own relay service to record the calls instead of recording the video itself because they knew they could generate minutes doing this way.

Don't misunderstood this, they cannot record personal calls but they still can record busniess calls or company calls like customer service or tech support just like every companies out there.

In the past certain VRS would have hearing employee work in tech support and when you dial their tech support number you would get thier own relay service interpeter which would dial to thier tech support employed with hearing workers instead of hiring Deaf workers to do the tech support because they knew they could generate minutes doing this method.

And now pretty much all VRS are using Deaf employee in tech or customer services that you would connect directly via Video Phone however some VRS tried to get around recording the calls with thier own relay service interpeter which I am pretty sure are the minutes that FCC is going after.



.
 
making any TRS calls from home and any companies other than TRS companies would be fine. But a TRS employees that works at one of these TRS companies may or may not be able to make or receive personal calls. It is now up to TRS companies whether to offer employees personal TRS calls, if they do it may not be billable under new rule. That is what I am trying to say, and that is based on my understanding from that new ruling.

Those employees from one of these TRS companies can still place or receive TRS calls from their home, their own cell phone or PDA; these calls are billable under new ruling.

I can see why they no longer able to be billable. How can TRS companies prove those personal calls that employees makes or recieves calls though their company system really legitimate? In other words, any TRS calls made or received are now considered business related operations, thus are not billable.


TechBill said:
In my view from all this,

I don't think FCC is going after personal calls minutes if they were made from home or from work.

It seem to me that FCC is going after those calls that was not deem nessasary like a Deaf worker in VRS Customer Service having to connect to thier own relay service interpeter before they can help a Deaf customer so the calls are recorded.

It seem that VRS want to record customer service or tech support calls like every companies out there does it but do it using their own relay service to record the calls instead of recording the video itself because they knew they could generate minutes doing this way.

Don't misunderstood this, they cannot record personal calls but they still can record busniess calls or company calls like customer service or tech support just like every companies out there.

In the past certain VRS would have hearing employee work in tech support and when you dial their tech support number you would get thier own relay service interpeter which would dial to thier tech support employed with hearing workers instead of hiring Deaf workers to do the tech support because they knew they could generate minutes doing this method.

And now pretty much all VRS are using Deaf employee in tech or customer services that you would connect directly via Video Phone however some VRS tried to get around recording the calls with thier own relay service interpeter which I am pretty sure are the minutes that FCC is going after.



.
Click to expand...
 
Kelby's Purple Blog

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okdDmTAMXzs"]YouTube - FCC Declaratory Ruling on Deaf Employees of Relay Providers[/ame]

http://www.purple.us/blog/

Someone said: Look like VRS industry is in a bad situation, may end up declaring VRS "dead".
With the new ruling, how will the business gain money by using their service?
How will the business grow?
Doesn't look good for deaf employees...
 
The solution is easy. Workers can buy their own P3 netbook, or whichever VP, and make3 personal calls using that. The calls are not being made on company equipment, so no issue. That would be equivalent to hearing using their cell phone at work. Problem solved. The paying back in 5 days is the real problem.
 
Thats sad. Now- I beleive that if a VRS deaf/hoh employee needs to make a personal call or accept a personal call, I would say that it will need to be recorded as a non VRS-employee call .

A company I used to work for had many contracts and you never know which one you will be work on for the day so all you time has to be tracked by the employee by contract numbers and time used. If there is any "downtime" it better be used as a training time so taking tests,learning videos,etc will look better for the employee. Back to the point, any vrs employee like a deaf tech support that needs that 10 min break to make that personal call can simply record time/date and number called. This can be sent to your manager for approval and manager will send to the accounting/billing dept to correct the VRS calls usage log to get paid for it.

Its NOT a problem as the purple employees are creating such hype. You just need to work smarter, not harder.
 
dkf747 said:
The solution is easy. Workers can buy their own P3 netbook, or whichever VP, and make3 personal calls using that. The calls are not being made on company equipment, so no issue. That would be equivalent to hearing using their cell phone at work. Problem solved. The paying back in 5 days is the real problem.
Click to expand...

True, I re-signed Purple sales contractor instead of outreach representative last month. I m part-time worker only. I always buy own netbook and flasher at all. I former worked for Sorenson and got free BB mobile and not charge for phone bills and borrrowed company s notebook. That s unfair!
 
Chevy57 said:
Kelby's Purple Blog

YouTube - FCC Declaratory Ruling on Deaf Employees of Relay Providers

Purple Communications Blog

Someone said: Look like VRS industry is in a bad situation, may end up declaring VRS "dead".
With the new ruling, how will the business gain money by using their service?
How will the business grow?
Doesn't look good for deaf employees...
Click to expand...

Kelby Brick and Mr. Cullen has made excellent points. I hope the VRS companies and FCC will find some ways to find a resolution which is beneficial to them both. I personally know Kelby well cuz he is my friend and former suite mate at Gally.
 
After re-read the new ruling several times, I understand, what they mean is that those calls made by TRS employees at one of these TRS companies are not billable BUT can be used for tax deduction as business expenses. Looks like it is reasonable and not a big deal. The whole idea behind this is to minimize the fraud. And it would be like, if TRS decides to cheat, they will deal with IRS and they may not be able to file bankruptcy on it, instead of cheating FCC and oh have to pay back, hey just file bankruptcy and get away from it.
 
Update from Don's blog.

A message from Kelby Brick (Vice President of Purple Communications, Inc., for Regulatory and Strategic Policy) was recently issued. Keep in mind, the message was compiled in a hurry since he’s currently in Washington DC addressing the situation.

I apologize if this post was hurried, but I just clocked out, and am in the middle of moving to my apartment, but will endeavor to respond to all commentaries.

FCC’s Ruling on Feb-25th is concerning:

o Is a civil rights setback and puts a discriminatory burden on deaf and hard of hearing employees of TRS providers.

o Could lead to reduced employment opportunities among the deaf in a field that serves their community.

o Retroactive impact of the ruling and related financial clawbacks could be financially devasting for the industry.

o If small providers go out of business, the consumers and the FCC will be left with a single, dominant provider with no incentive to innovate

Purple is a good company and worth saving by the FCC:

o We are an active member of the communities we serve

o We are an equal opportunity employer of more than 1,000 people a diverse mix of deaf and hearing throughout all levels of our company

o We are innovative and have led in developing custom software, new products and services for the deaf and hard of hearing community

o We along with other smaller providers, stand in the way of total market domination by the largest provider, and such competition is key in giving deaf and hard of hearing users choices for this important service

· Our respectful request is that the FCC permit the release of funds owed Purple this week which would allow us to resolve any historical issues while continuing to operate our business; innovating and competing on behalf of the deaf and hard of hearing community.

You can convey the above message to:

Chairman Julius Genachowski
Julius.genachowski@fcc.gov
202 418 1000

Commissioner Michael Copps
Michael.copps@fcc.gov
202 418 2000

Commissioner Robert McDowell
Robert.mcdowell@fcc.gov
202 418 2200

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn
Mignon.clyburn@fcc.gov
202 418 2100

Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker
MeredithAttwell.Baker@fcc.gov

To find your Representative and Senators, go to Congress.org - : Elected Officials

Kelby
Click to expand...

Don's Blog Blog Archive PurpleVRS Responds to FCC Ruling
 
What do Kelby mean by "Purple is a good company and worth saving by the FCC:" ?

Does that mean Purple is really in trouble?

It looks like it is really a wake up call for everybody at Purple co.
 
diehardbiker said:
What do Kelby mean by "Purple is a good company and worth saving by the FCC:" ?

Does that mean Purple is really in trouble?

It looks like it is really a wake up call for everybody at Purple co.
Click to expand...

There is another view: A former Purple employee who is deaf has been working with the FCC, the FBI, etc in their investigations of Purple.

Go to You Tube and look for his username: DeafThat and click on his most recent (yesterday, I think) v-log, Part 7. It is an eye opener and if you are still interested, he has six other parts re Purple.
 
Yup!

I am sorry for Purple co and others who opposing this ruling, but I am siding with FCC decisions and I think they are on the right track to either minimize or stop the abuses. I value TRS, and I do not want abuses to go on which could result congress decision to stop subsiding TRS. Stop subsiding TRS could result Deaf and Hard of hearing paying hefty fee for these service.

I also think FCC knew about this for few years and need hard evidence proving congress such abuses. Once FCC discovered about Viable VRS abuses, that is when FCC informed congress, here is the proof that we have been trying to tell you all along... BAM!, new ruling.

Tousi said:
There is another view: A former Purple who is deaf has been working with the FCC, the FBI, etc in their investigations of Purple.

Go to You Tube and look for his username: DeafThat and click on his most recent (yesterday, I think) v-log, Part 7. It is an eye opener and if you are still interested, he has six other parts re Purple.
Click to expand...
 
diehardbiker said:
Yup!

I am sorry for Purple co and others who opposing this ruling, but I am siding with FCC decisions and I think they are on the right track to either minimize or stop the abuses. I value TRS, and I do not want abuses to go on which could result congress decision to stop subsiding TRS. Stop subsiding TRS could result Deaf and Hard of hearing paying hefty fee for these service.

I also think FCC knew about this for few years and need hard evidence proving congress such abuses. Once FCC discovered about Viable VRS abuses, that is when FCC informed congress, here is the proof that we have been trying to tell you all along... BAM!, new ruling.
Click to expand...

Yeah, DHB. Now, I don't want to upset you but at the end of that video there are text and video comments by others. I noticed DeafThat said, "Sorenson is worse", something like that and he would not go further; he basically said to watch and see what happens. Now Sorenson has about 80% of the VRS market which does not sit well with me because, to make a long story short, I truly believe that complete ownership of all VRS businesses should belong to the deaf community, provided that they are highly qualified, ethical and have the capital to run it.
 
I have no reason to be upset of.

Tousi said:
Yeah, DHB. Now, I don't want to upset you but at the end of that video there are text and video comments by others. I noticed DeafThat said, "Sorenson is worse", something like that and he would not go further; he basically said to watch and see what happens. Now Sorenson has about 80% of the VRS market which does not sit well with me because, to make a long story short, I truly believe that complete ownership of all VRS businesses should belong to the deaf community, provided that they are highly qualified, ethical and have the capital to run it.
Click to expand...
 
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