ChaCha Dances on Feet of Guides

ChaCha Guides Are Disheartened

R.R.T, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 5, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

ChaCha, a company who allows independent contractors, or guides, to answer text messages for a per text base of pay, has found itself on the end of great debate and rebellion once again. Founded in 2006 by Scott Jones, the voicemail guru, the company sent an email on August 4 to guides, setting off a forum, then internet after math of outrage, anger, and disappointment.

On August 4, guides who were being paid .20 per answered called, received an email introducing a new "pay for performance" payment system. For many, the email suggested a possible increase in pay or bonuses. However, once they were directed to a short video from the ChaCha Company, they were hit with the contrary. Guides would now only be making .10 a text, a full half drop in pay. The idea was explained in these terms, a user who now completed at least 300 queries a week (previously 250 before the 4^th) and keeps a 95% accuracy rate will be rewarded the .20, and all others would now receive .10 for anything below that amount.

From the stand point of guides, thousands of which ran to the forums in outrage and many in tears, this new format was not only a slap in the face, but a cruel punishment to the guides who worked the "anytime/flexible" schedule ChaCha had promised. In fact, stay at home mothers and disabled guides were the most offended. This new policy would penalize them for not being physically able, or constrained by family needs to meet the 300 queries a week. In addition, the quality of 95% was a familiar thorn in the guides sides. There is no system in place to follow a guides accuracy rate, nor anyway for a guide to fight or demand proof of any rate under the goal. In fact, many guides claim, "How will we even know, we never get feedback any other time, if they are scamming us on our accuracy?" With the new system, a user could even work 40 hours a week and still only receive .10 a text, if the quality control (who are unpaid interns) decides their rate is 94% or below.

This is one guides current online forum quote, "In all actuality, there is a limit to the number of Guides who can participate in the Top Guide program, and this number is independently based on the number of queries that ChaCha receives for said week. ChaCha claims to have 15,000 active guides. Therefore, in order for there to truly be no limit to the number of Guides who can participate in the Top Guide program, they would have to receive a minimum of 4,500,000 queries per week or 642,857 queries per day. The last time I checked, we had just reached a 300,000 query per day milestone. So, please tell me how everyone has the opportunity to participate in the Top Guide program."

ChaCha has explained the matter as a way to keep quality up, and in a sense keep those who are not defrauding the system at bay from higher pay scales or bonuses. The company sees the new policy as a rewards based system. A system that per their TOS can be changed at any time without notice. This is not the first time the company has knocked heads with their breadwinners. In 2006, the company paid .83 a text and began cutting pays over the next two years. Petitions were signed, boycotts called, and blogs blasted with anger. Guides who were around during the time say, those who began to up rise, where deactivated out of the system, a concept ChaCha vehemently denies.

The latest upraise caught the attention of online blogs and was introduced to the news sections of various sources who once praised ChaCha in their coverage. Today, the Washing Post even aired the grievances of the guides and the comment section rang with support for the independent contractors and against the company. Many guides are now packing up and leaving ChaCha, some are waiting until the rollover date of August 14, 2008 and hitting the road. Some promise to take all the people they referred to ChaCha as a user with them. However, there are many staying as well, caught in between a rock and a hard place, they are simply desperate for money.

Callers to the ChaCha system have certainly felt the dark clouds over the company. Many guides took to the system to vent. They answered calls with rude remarks, misleading information, or straightforward cuts on ChaCha. This tactic let many of the guides down, whether they were angry or not over the change, this was simply characterless to them. You can read the on going dilemma in the ChaCha forums or the Washington Post.

Will ChaCha survive this latest rebellion or are the rumors true, is the company going under and simply cutting cost on the way out the door?

Published by R.R.T

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