Referral Bonus

[qharrison77]

What ever happened to unselfish acts? My referral bonus is helping friends and family save money every month. My initial 'bonus' from ooma was saving me $30.00 a month. $360.00 a year that I can apply to my mortgage or what ever else I choose.
A short anecdote if you will. I asked some one on this forum a non *NON* ooma technical question. He didn't say "Barry, (I'm Barry) Put $5.00 in my paypal account and I'll help you" He answered the question. Seemed glad to do it. Now, that's what I'm talking about! Thank you again sir!
I want ooma to stay in business. My opinion is why not just spread the gospel of ooma and help others save money and let the company put money where it is really needed.
Having said that; Mojo, Dennis,Booby B, you can send the new scout to : B4549 Cornfield, Indiana.

Barry, ooma is a company they make a profit. If they went to ABC or Fox and said hey you know what we have a cool commercial to get the word out about ooma, would you let us show it for free prime time. Do you think they would say you know what we want to do an unselfish act today. ooma gets money up front for their product, and they will get the $99 a year from most because the premier features are worth it. All I'm saying is marketing costs money, share the wealth. By the way if you want to put $5 in my paypal I would not complain.

[number9]

Disagree.
Any money ooma would use to pay for referrals I think should be kept and applied to things such as R&D, customer service, and advertising,etc,....

Don't expect the $5.00 anytime soon!

[hwgang]

Because of the large sales spike that put a strain on our support resources, we've reshifted some of our engineering and staff priorities to optimizing and automating the support processes (particularly the number porting process).

And it shows! I think those priorities are the right ones and it's much appreciated from this customer's viewpoint.

Another word for "large sales spike" is "success"! Glad to hear it.

[Neubiee]

A five year old introduced the Apple ipod to me - I bet he deserves to be compensated by Steve Jobs. (which costs about the same as ooma hub)

I believe people should be rewarded but the minute you throw a cash reward you will start to see telemarketers/independent dealers etc signing up 85 yr old grandmas who are on medical alert devices. and oh forgot to mention - SPAM email!

I think they should stick to non-monetary but valuable rewards like international calling, ooma "miles" that can be redeemed for new equipment etc.

Also, isn't it about time ooma starts talking about customer retention? Once the equipment starts acting up on day 366 or if there's a better sequel to MagicJack - I'm pretty sure there are going to be quite a few disgruntled OOMA'ers.

[oomg]

A five year old introduced the Apple ipod to me - I bet he deserves to be compensated by Steve Jobs. (which costs about the same as ooma hub)

I believe people should be rewarded but the minute you throw a cash reward you will start to see telemarketers/independent dealers etc signing up 85 yr old grandmas who are on medical alert devices. and oh forgot to mention - SPAM email!

I think they should stick to non-monetary but valuable rewards like international calling, ooma "miles" that can be redeemed for new equipment etc.

Also, isn't it about time ooma starts talking about customer retention? Once the equipment starts acting up on day 366 or if there's a better sequel to MagicJack - I'm pretty sure there are going to be quite a few disgruntled OOMA'ers.

Which is why I suggested a plan that extends the Premier service for an ooma user who brings in a new Premier customer (See page 1). It is a great product, and I have already promoted its virtues to many friends and business acquaintances.

I have now acquired a second system... currently have one for my home and the second for my office. I do have appropriate back up for both systems, but also have conficence in a high degree of system and equipement reliability. Having said that, I do think ooma could overcome some of the initial fears of potential users by providing some sort of extended replacement program; e.g. replacement at discounted price where the equipment fails during second through fifth year of ownership due to no fault of user, and the defective unit is returned to ooma. I for one would much prefer a program along those lines to a service contract.

Of course, if one desires to supplement his or her income, nothing prevents anyone from starting a small telephone equipment business and purchasing units from ooma for resale. Such a small business might work well since (I believe) there are a number of potential users who think they are incapable of installing the equipment.

[Shell]

Personally I agree with number9 I would rather have ooma spend the money on making things better. I love ooma so far and I don't need to be compensated to tell people that.

[oomg]

Personally I agree with number9 I would rather have ooma spend the money on making things better. I love ooma so far and I don't need to be compensated to tell people that.

Ultimately, ooma has to decide what works better for them. Having the best equipment in the world does not necessarily mean that the world will be at your doorstep.

By way of example, ooma will sell their product directly to a new customer. If one were to follow your reasoning, it could be argued that they should not wholesale the units to retailers and lose that profit on the individual unit sales, but then again, the overall profit may actually increase by selling more units at a lower price. I rather suspect that to be the case.

The same holds true for a referral bonus. If an ooma user literally makes the sale, there is nothing inherently wrong with giving that person a bonus. Businesses pay sales staff every day... just to demonstrate their product, explain how it works, and elaborate on its benefits vis-a-vis the products offered by its competitors. Doing so may actually increase ooma's overall profit, and thus, allow more funds to be dedicated towards product development.