“Business, Personal Finance, Technology, Employment news for Austin and Central Texas | Statesman.com - Austin American-Statesman” plus 1 more |
| Posted: 01 Sep 2010 09:01 AM PDT Home > The Ticker > Archives > 2010 > September > 01 > Entry The state comptroller's office will hold a second appliance rebate program to divvy out $10 million in funds that remain unclaimed, despite overwhelming interest earlier this year when thousands of Texans flooded a website and phone bank. Meanwhile, the Minnesota company hired to run the $23 million program for energy-efficient appliances will be paid only a fraction of its original contract, after state officials said it bungled the chaotic Apr. 7 rollout. Helgeson Enterprises Inc., a rebate fulfillment company, will receive $250,000 of the $876,000 contract, said Allen Spelce, a comptroller's office spokesman. "It was pretty obvious that they dropped the ball on April 7," he said. When the rebate program launched, thousands could not get through to phone banks or a website set up to handle requests. Nearly 78 percent of calls were dropped. Prior to Texas, Helgeson had similar problems running appliance rebate programs in Minnesota and Iowa, where high demand crashed websites and jammed phones. A Helgeson spokesman did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday. Comptroller's officials have said they tried to take steps in an effort to head off a repeat in Texas. Before the launch, Helgeson assured state officials that the website could handle 25,000 people at one time — and sent load test results to prove it, Spelce said. Excess users would be redirected to an additional website, which would tell them to try again in a few minutes. But when the program launched, Helgeson's servers were quickly overwhelmed. Many of those Internet users then tried to call a phone bank, which in turn was also swamped. The website was taken down and brought back online later in the day, but it was still only able to handle about 15,000 people, Spelce said. After the problems, the comptrollers office went to Helgeson and negotiated the lower payout. "They were agreeable to our demands," Spelce said. The long wait times and dropped calls led to frustrated Texans and angry lawmakers, some of whom derided the program's launch as "pathetic" and a "screw-up." In the end, about 28,500 people got reservations for energy-efficient appliances and another 27,500 were on a waiting list. Of that total, about 70 percent of people on the reservation list actually sent in applications along with 30 percent of the wait list, Spelce said. After those rebates were paid, there was about $10 million left over, he said. The second rebate program — which will be a mail-in program — will take place in December or possibly January, he said. A vendor has not yet been selected. More information on the new program will be available in the future at http://texaspowerfulsmart.org. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| WomenVenture Career and Personal Finance Class Calendar for September 12 - 18, 2010 - Examiner Posted: 03 Sep 2010 11:37 AM PDT Tuesday, September 14 • Career & Employment Transition Group for Women 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM at WomenVenture, Free. Walk-in group for women to set goals, brainstorm ideas, and gain networking contacts. Thursday, September 16 • Women Can Do It: non-traditional careers 5 PM – 6 PM at WomenVenture, Free. Training for low-income women seeking work in fields that offer high wages with an opportunity for advancement: construction, engineering, information technology (IT), and energy process. • WomenVenture Career Clinics 12 PM – 1 PM at WomenVenture, $25. Explore new careers and develop skills to be more effective at work and life. September's featured career: Green Careers for Women over 45. • Personal Pitch 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM at WomenVenture, $40 (#1 in a series of 5 classes). Learn how to impart a memorable message by creating your own personal "one-minute commercial." For further information and to register, visit womenventure.org or call 651-646-3808. WomenVenture is located at 2324 University Avenue West, Suite 120, St. Paul, MN 55114. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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