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Use MP3 Skype Recorder to defend yourself against faceless corporations
"I want you to know this call is being recorded." Those were the first words I told the service rep who picked up the phone at my ISP's large call center (012.net, to any Israelis who may be reading this). Having tried resolving a basic problem with the service for two months now, I was beyond frustrated; I was desperate, at my wits' end. My requests were repeatedly shot down, ignored, altered, or simply brushed off.
Every time I called the ISP I had to describe my problem anew, to a new representative; and the most frustrating thing was that I could not tell them, "but the previous guy told me that ...", because I had no way to prove it!
MP3 Skype Recorder completely changed things for me. Having started the conversation with those magic words (and making sure to get the rep's name), things went amazingly smoothly. Within 13 minutes, my issue was resolved, and I was even recompensed for some of the trouble I went through.
MP3 Skype Recorder is freeware, and does not impose any limits on the duration of the call. The MP3s are low-quality by default, which is fine for a phone call; the entire 13-minute calls takes up only 2.5MB of disk space. The interface is sparse, but it definitely does work. Lee covered the program a while back, but versions released since offer better compression, fix sound quality problems (clipping and distortion), and are compatible with Skype 2.4. Oh, and the name has been changed.
Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsThrushApr 26th 2010 9:17AM
In some states, such as Rhode Island, you are not required to notify all parties on the call. As long as one party is aware, it's legal. Though notifying the company you're calling may be enough to alter their customer service.
The_DocApr 26th 2010 9:22AM
Be careful. In some (12) states, you must get the consent of EVERY party involved in a phone conversation in order to legally record it. So if EITHER you OR the company's call center is based in, say, Pennsylvania, you must get their permission first.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/recording-phone-calls-and-conversations
mmbbApr 26th 2010 11:19AM
I first heard about this technology back in the late 1970's, albeit it required sticking a suction-cupped microphone on the handset.
Better article would have been "Use recording software" instead of pitching a particular product. Eh, no matter, my 1970's-era device still works just fine.
geoff.gariepyApr 26th 2010 10:53AM
My health insurance company (Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of California) will cheerfully announce that 'every call is recorded', but their telephone agents are not allowed to speak to you if *you* are recording the call. Nice, huh?
Yosi TaggerApr 26th 2010 12:44PM
Hahaha, I'm israeli too and trust me, all the ISP companies are the same...012, netvision, etc....they are all a bunch of thieves
Yonatan AmirApr 27th 2010 2:20PM
To some extent, yes. But I have found 012.net to be of exceptional chutzpah. They "reimbursed" me with a few months of free internet access. I never logged into the service, but that didn't stop them from threatening me with collecting the "debt" that was accumulated when the free plan was up!
I told them to have a lawyer contact me, and that was the end of it.
EJApr 26th 2010 1:33PM
You also can do that with a modem and a software, if you don't want to use skype.
youngorthoApr 26th 2010 1:52PM
Most companies instruct their customer service employees to terminate a call if you tell them you are recording the call.
klApr 26th 2010 6:10PM
I understand the recording part. Can you tell me how to play back an mp3 file during a skype call so that both parties can hear the mp3 file?
RoboApr 26th 2010 9:26PM
Honestly, I work customer service in a call center and I could care less if someone were to tell me that they were recording the conversation. The company records every conversation that takes place on incoming calls (inbound call center) anyways so it really would have no bearing on how I conducted myself as a representative.
In certain circumstances like the one the author mentioned I can see the usefulness of doing something like this but I've found that in my own personal experience that it's usually the person calling in that you have to be weary of. Many times have I just had customers flat out lie to try and get something that they don't deserve only to have prior calls by that person reviewed before proceeding which revealed blatant and extravagant lies.
If anything, working in a call center environment has made me aware of how truly insane, rude, deceptive and uneducated a good amount of people are. That being said my center is local/regional. It's even worse when you know that you share the same roads as some of the people you speak to.