May 15 2007

Why Exactly Does Anyone Use WebEx?

Why Exactly Does Anyone Use WebEx?

We had a terrible experience with WebEx a couple years back, which I blogged about here.  Since then, we’ve happily been using Ready Talk with nary a problem.

WebEx’s sales reps spam me all the time, and no matter how many times I try to get off their list, I keep getting the spam.  It’s embarrassing that an e-company is in flagrant violation of CAN-SPAM, the most permissive anti-spam law around.

But I’ve been on two or three WebEx calls lately where, sometime in the middle of the call, an automated voice comes on and says “thank you, your conference call is now over,” and closes down the call.  Sometimes, dialing back in works, sometimes it doesn’t.  Once a couple weeks ago, when dialing-in didn’t work, I just emailed everyone on the call, and we switched to my Ready Talk number.

I’m not sure how much due diligence Cisco did on them before acquiring them for a gazillion dollars recently, but the mix of poor technology, overly aggressive sales reps in violation of the law, and awful customer service sounds like a nightmare to me.