It’s a reasonable service and after we negotiated a discount for our non-profit, at a reasonable cost.
I know this might not bother others, but I absolutely *HATE* that they add a line item in the bill for "RingCentral Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee". If you dig in further, they do eventually say "The CRF is not a tax, nor is it mandated by any level of government or government agency." It is simply the cost of doing business, but they tack it onto the section containing all of the other government mandated taxes and fees to disguise it and so they can have a lower advertised base cost of the service. It really speaks volumes to me how a company that would do this views its customers.
VoIP is really the best way to go for phone service these days. The call routing features are great, especially when people are out of the office and we need to cover calls into the main line.
Overall, it gets the job done! Based on what I reviewed when doing my original search, RingCentral was one of the companies with brand recognition. It was interesting to see that they've branched into conferencing but were also doing so at a comparable price. We were heavily price-driven with our decision so the team was extremely flexible in that regard. I also enjoy the controls and flexibility for meetings of over 10 people. We have a global remote team where multiple team syncs and cross-functional meetings will host over 10 participants. The flexibility and controls for a meeting host in these scenarios are pretty useful. Multiple apps - we don't provision Macs or PCs specifically but allow our employees to pick based on personal preference. Both types of operating system have functional apps and the interface when using a Mac to talk to PC is crisp.
One downside of RingCentral Meetings is the overall user experience. Having used tools in the past like Zoom and Google Hangouts, I was expecting a bit more ease-of-use when it came to features like screen sharing or sharing host permissions. It hasn't been as intuitive in-meeting compared to tools I've used in the past. Static text - the overall web-layout and management of settings can be a bit confusing. It feels like the part of the site that is meant for managing Meetings was designed in the 90s.
We were a global growing company before, during, and after COVID. One thing we needed to sustain our growth was a flexible way for our employees to collaborate without meeting in-person. Even as we continue with a hybrid working model, it's still a great way for our employees to get business done. Cost and long-term savings. We will have a need for a solution like RingCentral for as long as our business exists. One thing we appreciate is the cost flexibility and peace of mind that as we scale, our best interest is at heart with our account management team.
When it works, it works pretty well. They have lots of features when they work. Heaven help you if you have a problem, however.
Ring Central does very little to support their customers. You'll run a gauntlet of hidden charges, careless account managers, and people who barely English. They had the gall to try to charge my credit card for another year of "service" after I cancelled the account and ported my numbers out to Grasshopper.
When you call in for help, they give you the runaround, shift you from one person to another, and no one can help, but always the other guy can. They tell you the price will be one thing, but it's always higher. Did I mention that they charged my card AFTER I DISCONTINUED SERVICE? Avoid vigorously.
They have to capabilities we require to run our business.
I had a significant and unexpected charge on my bill for the last 3 months. And for the last 2 months, I have emailed my account rep 4 times and still have answer on the extra charge. I got one email saying she is looking into it but still have not recieved a response. From the start, this company has been very misleading and went back on their word during negotiations. Expect to pay more for low quality service.
They were supposed to provide a value based solution for our use case but will all the additional costs that they cannot explain, there is no benefit.
I really like how convenient and available that RingCentral makes you to your customers. It makes the necessity of having to be physically present at your office unnecessary and gives the appearance that everyone is available to your customers. The features make this a great tool for the business environment.
This system is not for everyone. Rural areas will encounter issues with number portability, internet bandwidth and the solutions offered from RingCentral can get pricey which cause it to lose its appeal as an affordable alternative to copper telephone lines. We are rolling back this upgrade not because of it's function or what it can do but primarily for what it can't do in the rural market that my company services.
Outside the costs and logistical issues, RingCentral was solving the problem of staffing at locations that just didn't require extra manpower to answer phones. Benefits that were expected were never revealed due to poor adoption by the employees, the expense, logistics and spotty service using solutions from RingCentral.
The platform is very easy to install, we acquired the license for all our terminals and obtained a considerable discount, the deployment was carried out quickly and to date most of the terminals have the software installed and working, many of our collaborators have felt grateful and have praised the ease of use and the expansion of space available at their workstations.
We would like to have the functionality to record calls and that the platform will be integrated with our servers in order to be able to quickly store all incoming and outgoing calls, the software has a somewhat complex structure which makes integration with other platforms difficult.
RingCentral is our corporate platform for digital communication through remote IP connection, this type of connection is much more efficient and less expensive than the analog communication that is used regularly, for a long time that the company opted for a change in environmental policy in the Since the reduction in the consumption of plastic materials was one of those policies, with the help of RingCentral it has been possible to reduce expenses in the acquisition and maintenance of networks, which has been a step in the correct decision.
The App for Ringcentral's mobile platform is the best I've seen in the industry. Their pricing is good for what you're getting. These are to two factors I would consider to be their strength.
Ringcentral seems to 'go down' nearly monthly. If you have a multi-line large office, Ringcentral is hampered with changes and their back-end integration has so many ways to interface it begins to feel like a maze through changes and updates to their software and dashboard. Their contracts are also un-ideal. Each time you add a new ringcentral line it extends your entire contract by the original duration. If you have a two year contract and add ringcentral, it locks in all lines for that duration of time. Creating flexibility ends up feeling like a prison.
Out-of-office communication is stellar. Mocking your cell phone as the primary office line is ideal for reaching clients. If you are an individual working as an independent contractor, or have a single line business Ringcentral is ideal.
The value save is huge with ring central. We switched from Verizon and we are saving hundreds of dollars per month.
This software does take some time to get used to the quirks. Definitely recommend working with their team for set up.
VOIP phones with integrated texting and the ability to have access to our office number for incoming and outgoing calls from any location are huge pluses. The cost savings is what sealed the deal for us.