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Arise: Is it a scam?
Or a legitimate work at home company?

Here's the truth about Arise

That's what I set out to discover and here's what I found out:

The reason I was a little wary of this company from the get-go was because of a very strong warning I have always given to my readers, family and friends alike :

When you are looking to work from home, except for very rare exceptions, you should never have to pay a company to work for them, they should always pay you!

So, I'm sure you would understand when all kinds of red flags were flying in my face when I found out that, in order to work for Arise, you have to pay for your own training!

Yep, you heard me right; you have to pay fees (and a lot of them!) to work for this company.

Working for Arise, you will be considered an independent contractor and not an employee of the company.

 What this company does is set you up with companies that are looking for call center representatives.

Arise will provide the training, tech support and your pay check will come directly from Arise. So you can consider Arise as a sort of middleman between you and the companies you may be working for.

In a sense, you can consider this as "having your own business" as you will be asked to incorporate, meaning you will have to start your own virtual service corporation (more on that later).

Fees

 So let's go over the fees, there are a quite a few:


Background check

You can usually expect this to cost you anywhere from $12.00-$30.00.

The reason you are asked to provide the company a background check is because you will be dealing with sensitive information such as bank or credit card numbers, addresses, etc.

They just want to be sure the information will stay secure.



Basic work at home training course
$99.00

This is so that you can become a certified professional with the company. Expect the certification course to be about 20 hours long ( spread over the course of one week).

Once you are considered a "certified professional" you will be able to apply to companies working with Arise for positions that interest you!

I don't know if they do this anymore but as I had a close friend of mine go through the training with Arise, I thought I would share that she told the company that she would have a hard time paying this fee and they were able to waive it for her.

So it never hurts to ask your trainer about allowances like this if this fee would be a hardship for you.  Also, I know that from time to time, the company waives this fee altogether as a sort of "special" to try to recruit new agents, so keep an eye out for that!

Fees to incorporate

The company requires all of their independent contractors to form a Virtual Service Corporation. Fees to incorporate can cost you anywhere from $50.00-$500.00 depending on which state you reside in.

For more information on how to incoporate , you can visit your home state's website and they will give you all the details on how to do this.

Training fees specific to the company you will work for

Once you are a certified professional with this company, you can either choose which company you would like to work for or you will be assigned to a company that has a current need for call center representatives. 

Each company has different procedures and of course their products are unique , so it is required that you take a training course that will make you familiar with the particular company you will be taking calls for. 

These courses can range anywhere from $50.00-$250.00 depending on the company.  ( Some training courses are much more involved than others).



Arise' monthly service fee


The company charges a fee to all independent contractors in the amount of $19.75; deducted twice a month from your paycheck.

It is for each client you service.

So if you service more than one client, you will be charged $19.75 for each twice a month.


So, there are quite a lot of fees, no doubt about it but you will have to see if it is worth it for you. While the startup cost may be a lot , I have spoken to many people who say they have recouped those costs in the first one or two paychecks. 

Pay

From all indications, the pay is pretty good for a work at home job. you can expect that you will get paid either :


By the talk minute

By the hour

or

By the call


Keep in mind that they do have sales incentives available to their independent contractors as well as bonuses, bumping up your
pay to an even more attractive rate!


On average, you can expect to make anywhere from $10-$14.00 an hour and even more with bonuses and sales incentives!

What types of companies will you be working for ?

This is the fun part!

This company has a really unique and interesting set of clients including:


Disney

Apple

Carnival Cruise Lines

and

Turbotax

As I have mentioned, I know a few friends who work for some of these companies and they absolutely love the work! So, that is one thing to consider, as it appears that the work itself is enjoyable and could be quite interesting as well.

So , what are the pros and cons of working for Arise?

Cons


It appears that tech support within the company leaves a lot to be desired. From what I have heard, if you have a tech support issue, you may be waiting several days for resolution.




Be prepared to get a lot of feedback when it comes to your performance. Quality assurance specialists will be listening to and grading your calls. This can can be a deal breaker for a lot of people, who feel that this may be "micromanaging" but then for others,this may not be a big deal at all!



And then of course, there are all the fees that you have to deal with. But after the initial start up fee, the only fee you will have to contend with is Arise' monthly service fee, which is minimal compared to what you will be making.




Don't forget also, that as an independent contractor, you will be responsible for witholding your own state and federal income tax. That does not necessarily belong in the "cons" category, that is more of an fyi!

Pros



I have to say, that, all in all, this seems to really be a great work at home job opportunity.....



the pay is good,



the work is interesting and steady and....




you get to do it all from the comfort of your own home!!

So, if you're interested in my opinion on whether a home based job with Arise is worth pursuing, I would have to say that although I do strongly caution you to veer away from companies that ask you to pay upfront fees to work for them, I have noted that there are exceptions to this rule.

So, in my opinion, this company is one of those exceptions.

For more information or to apply with Arise, please click here