Long Distance Buying Checklist

Thank you for your interest in securing our long distance business. As you might expect, we are interested in any and all vendors who can provide us with outstanding service and excellent prices.

Please be so kind as to complete the following checklist so that we might properly evaluate your offer. Forward the completed checklist and any supporting materials to _________________ via Fedex so you can confirm for yourself we are in receipt of your information.

We can not consider submissions with incomplete checklists. If your offer is better than what we receive from our current long distance vendor we will contact you for additional information. Thank you for your time.

1. Executive Summary - In a hundred words or less, please state the main benefits we might receive if we choose your company to provide our long distance service.

2. Product - It is not our policy to provide unsolicited prospective vendors copies of our long distance bills until we are in the final stages of selecting a new carrier. In the past we have received the best prices when we simply asked for the best prices a prospective provider has to offer.

a. Price, Unit & Rounding - Please provide your per minute switched/T-1 prices, unit minimums, billing increments and rounding policy for standard long distance services. The simpler the better. For example, intrastate California - $0.065 per minute billed in 6-second increments rounded up to the next highest cent with an 18 second minimum. Please include Intrastate, interstate, international, calling card, 800, directory assistance, operator assistance, etc.

b. Term & Volume - We wish to minimize or forgo term & volume commitments. Our experience with contracts and volume commitments has been poor. We tend to receive the best prices and service from those carriers we can leave at any time. Please provide information about your term & volume commitments, if any, necessary to get your best rates.

c. Billing - We desire the flexibility of account codes, multi-location billing, management reports, on-line access to call records, flexible bill dates and no finance/late fees. Please provide a detailed but succinct description of your billing procedures, options and fees if any.

d. Other Fees & Taxes - With all the regulatory changes in the telecommunications industry, every telecom company seems to have a different way of computing taxes and regulatory fees. Please provide as complete a description as possible of any and all fees & taxes, regulatory or otherwise that might appear on our invoice. Include also how fees or taxes are computed.

e. Customer Service - We place a high value on always being able to communicate with someone who can quickly make changes to our account or resolve problems without having to leave a message and then wait for a "callback". Please provide the names, phone numbers, background, experience level and hours of availability of the customer service account team we will rely on.

f. Operator Service - We frequently need help connecting calls or getting long distance information. Does your company have it's own operator service or do you outsource it? How many numbers can we get each time we request directory assistance?

g. Conversion, Quality & Reliability - We desire a minimum of disruptions to our service when switching telecom providers. We have discovered the best way to judge a telecom company's ability to switch a customer "seamlessly" as well as their long-term quality & reliability is to speak with references. Please provide four references, two who have been with your service at least 12 months and two who have been with you for less than six weeks.

3. Company- We like to know about the companies we're doing business with. Please provide a description of your company including but not limited to type, age, size, ownership, etc.

4. Channel - Due to deregulation we understand we can buy the same telecom product from several different entities. What are the other channels available to us that can provide us with the same basic product you are offering?

5. Competitive Comparison

a. So we can hear it from you instead of them, what is the worst true thing your competition has to say about your company, product or service and how do you respond?

b. What is the single most important unique distinction that makes your company, product or service better than that of your competitors?

6. Anything Else - Please provide any other information you believe we should have to properly evaluate your company, product or service.

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