Virtual Assistant & Web Dev for Law Firm
- Web Development
- Less than $10,000
- Aug. 2019 - Jan. 2020
- Quality
- 1.5
- Schedule
- 2.0
- Cost
- 2.5
- Willing to Refer
- 1.0
"Their promises that things would improve never came to fruition."
- Legal
- Houston, Texas
- 1-10 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
Uassist.ME was hired as a virtual assistant and web developer for a law firm. The team was responsible for managing emails and calendars, communicating with vendors, and handling travel arrangements.
The team failed to deliver work that was up to standards, often containing spelling and grammatical errors. Uassist.ME did not deliver on the amount of hours the client was billed for, leading to a termination of the engagement. This review includes the vendor's response.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am at an attorney managing a law firm with thousands of clients.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
For what projects/services did your company hire Uassist.ME?
I was looking for a virtual assistant to help manage emails, calendar, communication with vendors, travel arrangements, and miscellaneous research projects.
What were your goals for this project?
I wanted a virtual assistant to run my calendar, check some emails, make travel arrangements, kind of miscellaneous research, and other common virtual assistant tasks. I also hired you assist me on a separate project to develop a website which was an utter failure. Even after waiting over three months.
SOLUTION
How did you select this vendor?
I had worked with a virtual assistant for about 14 months with another company who was outstanding. She took a job with one of her other customers as a full-time employee, so I need to find someone else. I read about you assist me and thought I would give them a try since they were one of the cheaper companies out there. But now I know why they're so cheap. They hire lower quality candidates.
Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.
I agree with a lot of the more recent reviews that this is substandard virtual assistant company to be avoided, especially given the wide range of other truly professional companies that are out there. I hired them work as both a virtual assistant and help developing a new website. They talk a big game about their capabilities and are very courteous on the phone, however, when you look at their work product it is substandard.
There were grammatical and spelling mistakes every third sentence of the content they drafted for me. I even gave them spelling and grammar lessons on keywords they were repeatedly misspelling, and they continued to do so. I had them replace my original virtual assist him with a new one who turned out to be worse than the first. I also paid for 40 hours a week but only received about 20 to 25 hours of actual work.
I asked them to credit the unused hours they refused to do so. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. They also claim that all of their virtual assistance and web designers work at an office space. This is false. I routinely spoke with people who were working from home where dogs were barking and babies were crying in the background.
When I made a comment about where they were working I always got the same response: They were either having computer and network problems or their Internet was down again. I wish someone had warned me about this company so I didn't waste my time and money. I would be happy to give more examples and even show you their work product in order to help you avoid working with this company.
What was the team composition?
I had a single virtual assistant who I had to terminate and later found the replacement just as incompetent.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?
The slow speed at which they performed their work prevented me from getting my website up and moving even after three months of payments. Part of his problem was that you assist me was only delivering on about half of the hours that I was paying for. That is way infuriated me the most. They claimed they needed more time to warrant even using the hours that I have paid for.
How was project management arranged and how effective was it?
Keep an eye out for this problem with it was just me. They put their best people as their sales agents. Evidently if you do well as an assistant they promote you to a sales rep but of course that means they bring in someone new who is not as good. The same goes for the project managers. They talk a big game and give the impression They know what they're doing, but then you see the work product from the actual virtual employee and it doesn't meet the grade.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
The best thing I can say about this company is that they always agreed with me when I described a particular problem Their work product and that it was their fault.
For example when I said I thought I was doing a good job providing details regarding the scope and deadline of a project but that things weren't being met on either end, the project managers agreed with me. In the end, it turned out they were just placating me so that I would continue paying them. Their promises that things would improve never came to fruition.
Are there any areas for improvement?
They need to run all of their workers through more English spelling and grammar classes. For company trying to service and English speaking audience I'm shocked that they can't even get the basics correct.
Company Responses
The vendor responded on June 5, 2020.
We’re sorry you did not have a positive experience with our company, but your feedback is valuable and will be considered for our continuous improvement. In our opinion, when you hired us for administrative duties, the main roadblock we found was that our candidates were not a match personality-wise for you.
Months later, when you came back with the web development project, we did not get any major complaints until the last payment from your subscription went through. You requested a refund for the last payment (January) and wanted to extend the duration of the plan paid in December until February. Per our terms, we don’t roll over minutes, and, at this point, we were already outside the cancellation policy for January and much more so for any adjustment to December.
We’d like to point out that the capacity of the VA was not questioned. Instead, we were told the reason you wanted to get a refund was because you had been absent and had not delegated much work. Considering the situation, we made an exception for you and proposed to extend the last payment for 2 months. During this time, our VA continued working and receiving tasks from you until we were notified you placed a charge-back. We disputed it and it was settled in our favor as we had proof we delivered according to our terms and conditions.
Thanks for the opportunity to work with you, we wish you the best in your future endeavors.
RATINGS
-
Quality
1.5Service & Deliverables
"I think my notes above speak for themselves."
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Schedule
2.0On time / deadlines
"They simply didn't work the 40 hours I was paying for. The only work on average 20 to 25 hours per week."
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Cost
2.5Value / within estimates
"I was trying to save money by going with Uassist me but as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for."
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Willing to Refer
1.0NPS
"See my notes above