Collection & Credit Insights
February 2004
I didn't mean to delete that!
Data loss. Any computer user can experience it. Hard drives fail, disks
are damaged, operating systems go wild. It all can result in the destruction
of precious computer data files. Sometimes programs are lost too.
A short while ago, we had two such situations crop up. First we had Windows
XP choke so badly it had to be reinstalled, and during the reinstall we
lost access to all data on the hard drive. Then somebody accidentally
deleted information from a CDRW.
The classic answer to both situations is to practice your favorite stress-management
technique, because this kind of lost data cannot be recovered. However,
it occurred to me that it had been quite some time since I actually researched
the question. So I set out on a quest. Here is what I discovered.
There are companies out there who will be happy to recover any data you've
lost, whatever the reason. However this is very pricey. The best quote
I got on restoring the hard drive data through such a company was $600.
Whew! A little rich for my blood. But it was fun to research these services
- a lot like stepping into a spy novel. For instance, did you know that
everything ever written onto your hard drive can exist as "shadow
data" and may be recovered given the right tools? Of course in some
cases the right tool is a scanning electron microscope - and who can afford
that!
I also found a plethora of CD and DVD cleaners, polishers, and restorers
that promise marvelous results on physically damaged discs. Didn't try
any of them because that wasn't my problem, but they look quite promising.
Go to BestBuy or CompUSA if you want to check them out for yourself.
Finally I discovered that for the do-it-yourselfer there are software
programs that can restore your data. After downloading and testing several
of these, I settled on Restorer 2000 Professional, available for $50.00
at www.restorer2000.com.
I chose Restorer because I thought it was intuitive to use and very effective.
It easily recovered the data lost on the XP hard drive. It also recovered
numerous files that had been deleted from floppy disks. However it didn't
work on all CDs. What I found was that if you've used the popular Roxio
Easy CD Creator software, it writes a proprietary file system onto the
CD which the recovery software couldn't handle. Still I think the program
is a good investment. There are plenty of things that can cause data to
be lost; it's good to have a reliable tool to help in these situations.
Gail Christopherson
Ann Arbor Credit Bureau Data Wrangler
Office Location
Ann Arbor Credit Bureau
(734) 665-6173
(800) 710-4821
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR JACKSON OFFICE AND ADRIAN OFFICE HAVE MERGED
TO OUR ANN ARBOR OFFICE.
Upcoming Events
Collections Seminar
Spring 2004
Welcome to Our New Clients
- DMC Westside Towing
- Curves of Allen Park
- Curves of Southgate
- Mercy Healthcare at Home - Muskegon
- Birchwood Family Dentistry
People don't care how much
you know, until they know how much you . . .
collect
High Payment of the Month
High payment honors go to Jason Shurmer this month. He brought in $3000
for a local medical facility. Congratulations Jason!
It Don't Come Easy
While we accomplished many important things in 2003, I am glad to see
2004 roll around. A number of hardware upgrades, including the installation
of a new predictive dialer, were completed early in the year. The improved
technology was startling, in that it is now financially available for
small companies like ours! One big benefit, the phone number from the
incoming call is matched against our database and once recognized "screen
pop" occurs. The screen pop passes both the call and the file directly
on to a collector monitor and head set simultaneously, completely bypassing
the reception phase.
Change is critical in order for companies to survive, grow and prosper,
although change is not easy for clients or the employees of that company.
By consolidating Jackson and Adrian staff into Ann Arbor, we can now leverage
the technology of predictive dialing and incoming screen pops, where we
could not previously.
I would like to thank both, you our clients and our hard working staff
who have sacrificed during the transition. Change is good, but like the
song says, It Don't Come Easy.
Bob Barden
President
COLLECTION SKILLS SEMINAR
No one likes to go and sit in a seminar for half a day where the speaker
has a monotone voice and it is all you can do to keep your eyelids open.
Well no fear of that at our Collection Skills seminar! Our General Manager,
Tom Oldani, is our speaker and he keeps your attention from beginning
to end. He makes learning not only interesting but fun. We are looking
at a possible March date for our next presentation so please call me 800-710-4821
and let us know if you would be interested in attending. (P.S. He also
keeps his squirt gun full of water in case you should even think about
maybe possibly dozing off!!!!)
Debbie Hundersmarck
Client Consultant
"The cost of freedom is always high, but the Americans have always
paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender,
or submission."
- - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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