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January 26, 2009

Knowing the On-Line Means Resolving On-Time

Several vendors require that disputes be filed on-line and with their specific forms. Understanding the vendor requirements and meeting them ensures issues get resolved quicker. Two such examples are XO and Time Warner.

XO (Allegiance) and Time Warner (Xspedius) now require us to file their claims using their on-line forms. The Link to get to XO/Allegiance site to log the information is http://www.xo.com/forms/Campaign/Carrier/SubmitYourCabsAndRecipCompBillingDisputes/SubmitYourCabsAndRecipCompBillingDisputes.aspx. The site asks for the contact information and data that we should be able to locate in the claim or detail spreadsheets that are in claim center.

The Link to get to Time Warner is https://billing.twtelecom.com/disputes/ and click on ‘submit a dispute now’. You may need to ask a Time Warner rep what the account number for the BANs are that you wish to dispute as Time Warner has an account number and a BAN but the on-line system does not use the BAN. The paper bills do contain the account number but since we receive the mechanized bills, we do not normally have that information. Also, since most of the accounts bill on multiple states, picking the right TW City isn’t a big deal. Click on ‘begin dispute’. You will get to a new page where you will need to ‘add charge to dispute’ for each line of data in the claim form. The data we are asked to provide should also be in the claim or detail spreadsheets in claim center. Once completed, you will click ‘Submit & Send Dispute’. Time Warner provides a reference number for each submission. You can add this number to the external claim number in claim center to use when following up with the vendor on your claim.
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January 14, 2009

I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more…

When we started to audit Italian carriers, we came to the realization that some auditing tool we got used to here in the US, like CO Finder, are not available for Europe.
We needed to find a solution, and we did. Here is the link to the Distance Calculator website, that we found the most useful so far: http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/calculate-distance.html . Unfortunately it is only good for intercity distances, since you can only get the measurements from one city center to another. But it is very accurate and provides you with both – miles and kilometers.

January 05, 2009

Be SPECific

Did you know there is a code on the ASR that is used to designate the specific product and/or service to be provisioned? Service and Product Enhancement Code (SPEC Code) is a standard code developed by Telcordia Technologies for the identification and ordering of tariffed products and services. The structure is standard across all vendors and is constructed of 5-7 alphanumeric characters. The first three characters typically represent the base product and last four characters specify the options. Vendors should have a listing of SPEC codes and their descriptions. This information can be very helpful in determining whether the rate elements on a particular circuit are applicable and billing correctly. Note: the billed SPEC code can also be found in the FID data on the CSR; however, it should be verified to ensure that it is the same as what was ordered on the ASR.