UPDATE: It appears Lifenzyme is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives.
Lifenzyme is a virtual assistant company based in Bangalore, India. They got their start in 2008, and have been helping clients with remote tasks ever since.
The Lifenzyme.com website is a mess. I work with dozens of virtual assistant companies but this one is probably the hardest to navigate. Now I’m not saying that this site has the greatest design in the world, but I’m not the one selling web design and development services either.
All over you’ll find strange syntax and random capitalizations in the text. I hate to be the grammar police but this is your sales brochure to the world. I found the process-flow charts, service plans, and unfamiliar acronyms really confusing. The promo buttons on their site don’t make much sense. Four months of free service for existing customers? Why are you showing that to me?
Other red flags:
- Live Help was offline, even though they claim to run a shift during US business hours.
- At the time of this writing in 2012, the copyright date at the bottom of the homepage was 2009.
- At the time of this writing, their twitter account has tweeted only once in 12 months. Prior to that, nearly every tweet was 100% self-promotional.
- They charge people $35 to join their affiliate program. Hello? Affiliates promote your business for free, and only get paid you make a sale. Why create extra barriers to entry?
I would hesitate to sign-up for Lifenzyme based just on those issues. It makes it seem like they don’t understand the needs of their potential clients.
However, their pricing is competitive among Indian virtual assistant companies. Rates begin at $15 an hour and fall to $7 an hour for a full-time plan. You can sign-up for a “full-time” 150-hour a month plan for just $1000. I say “full-time” because normally full time is considered 160 hours a month. To add to the confusion, Lifenzyme also has a 120-hour “full-time” plan.
The granddaddy of all the Lifenzyme plans is their dual-dedicated-assistant plan, which comes with two virtual employees each working 7 hours a day. At a price is $2350 per month, it’s unclear why someone would opt for that instead of 2 150-hour plans for $2000.
Some of the larger plans allow for rollover time if you have a slow month, and any plan can be cancelled free of charge with 30-day notice.
Lifenzyme offers a 5-day free trial if you want to take their virtual assistant services for a test drive. Otherwise, you might consider My Tasker or 24/7 Virtual Assistant for well-rated outsourced help in India.
If you have worked with Lifenzyme, please share your experience (positive or negative) in the reviews below. Thank you!
I accidentally came across this review about my PA service in India whilst I have been using 40 hours a month consistently for the last one year and half. I am Mike Royston, a property investor in Birmingham, UK. I have been a the happiest guy using my PA, Dennis John for such a long time over a wide range of my needs related to my business websites, ads campaign, art work and other personal concierge tasks. I must say he has been quick, intelligent and proactive in handling my assignments. I never felt I just work with my PA alone but the experience has been that I am supported by a team of experts on various tasks I so far shot to them.
Well, I just do not want to rebut all your points in the review but certainly yes, if you say the service they provide is poor or below standard.
Maybe the previous site was a little messy with loads of content to navigate around to find what one needs to but the new site with secure web interface and tasks tracking platform is a sheer delight and advantage for anyone who really uses his PA on a day today basis.
I disagree when you say that they have two full time plans, yes for the fact, they do have but the advantage I think is you have got two options to choose from, either go with 6 hours a day or 8 hours a day on a full time basis. As far as my experience, allotted hours and proportionate usage of the hours in a month is very important to have optimal benefits of outsourcing. The multiple hourly options with price range is very much helpful to be on top of your expense as well.
Charging affiliate program is really bad if you think you need to refer your friends and get a bonus for that, I strongly feel. I did write to them about it and after a couple of months, it seems they have taken off the affiliate thing completely. I am not sure if they still offer any commission for the referral though.
It’s sure bet if you want to hire a real-time personal virtual assistant from Lifenzyme, I must endorse from my experience over a year and half now. I am very happy about the price cutting as well as the add on hours on my membership instead of 40 hours I used to be allotted. Its 45 hours now for just the same price I used to spend.
Thumps up for Lifenzyme if you are looking for personal as well as administrative back office works and thumps down for accounting and book keeping jobs!
I also look forward to some honest experiences of you if you have worked with any other firm and have done a great job!
Mike