TimeSvr.com is a virtual assistant company that was founded in 2008. The company is based in Pakistan, and was actually the service I used to hire my first full-time assistant.
As a customer, you can opt for dedicated assistance or task/team-based service. TimeSvr virtual assistants (they call them “aides”) are college-educated young professionals with proficient English language skills. Depending on your needs, your TimeSvr aide can work flexible hours, which is helpful given the 12 hour time difference between the US and their offices.
These virtual assistants really get into your business. They stay up to date with and research the market and competition. They read and follow reviews, engage users and potential customers through twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.
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The task-based assistants handle your basic administrative tasks like online research, travel planning and coordination, setting up appointments and that sort of thing. With this plan, you can send in your task requests, and the first available assistant will get to work on it and notify you when it is complete. You can use their online interface to submit tasks or use email, Skype, or another instant messaging service.
With a dedicated rep, you have a little more leeway into training and ongoing processes. TimeSvr explains that their aides can double up as customer support reps, conduct PR campaigns, set-up user testing experiments, and a variety of other projects small business owners can think up.
I had my dedicated TimeSvr assistant work on my Google AdWords campaigns, data entry projects in Excel, and research and write company blog posts.
TimeSvr Review
Plans and Pricing
TimeSvr offers two levels of service: TimeSvr Personal and TimeSvr Dedicated.
They’re best-known for their personal plan, which allows you to unload “unlimited” basic tasks for just $69/month. Basic tasks are typically defined as one-off projects, usually lasting 15 minutes or less, such as managing appointments, making phone calls, online research, and travel reservations.
With TimeSvr Dedicated, you can get a dedicated Business Support Agent who works 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for $700 a month. It works out to less than $9 an hour. The advantage of the Dedicated plan is you aren’t limited by “basic” tasks. You get to work one-on-one with your assistant and train them just as you would an in-house employee. They can work for hours or days on one project without interruption.
TimeSvr Dedicated is quite affordable for this level of service, plus you don’t have to worry about payroll processing, employment taxes, benefits, or even providing a workspace.
Even though TimeSvr is one of the smaller virtual assistant companies, both of their plans offers a great value.
TimeSvr Alternatives
The closest alternative to TimeSvr is Efficise, a new virtual assistant company in Pakistan actually founded by TimeSvr alumni. They’re offering 50 tasks a month for just $65.
Another entry is OkayRelax, with dedicated assistants out of the Philippines.
If you don’t think you’ll have enough tasks to justify an “unlimited” plan or the 50 tasks a month, you might consider smaller options from US-based firms like Fancy Hands or Red Butler.
If you have had experience with TimeSvr, positive or negative, please rate your experience below.
I tried their free trial and after it ended I wanted to upgrade to the business plan for $129 a month. I need more detail work and less of the cut and paste off google they had been doing with the free trial. I was told I would need to cancel my plan through pay-pal, create a new account and apply again and click some option that was never provided. I was looking to save time not create a bunch of unnecessary steps just to sign up. I kept asking for a link or some other way to sign up even a new account. I am still waiting to hear back from them.
Also they defiantly do not complete 4 tasks a day its more like 1.5.
-Really bad communication with their customers.
– tasks get ignored.
-amount of time spent on tasks vs price you’d be better off hiring a part time VA for $7 an hour.
– Poor quality mostly just google searches stuff and send you that.
I recently signed up for Timesvr.com and I am less than a week in and have had numerous issues with their dashboard (technical issues), customer service reps and quality of answers. I have been emailing the support@timesvr.com and Zoe (the customer service manager?) without any replies. Also some of my tasks are completely disregarded without follow up and these tasks also completely disappear from my dashboard–I keep a copy for my personal records (off their platform so I am able to see which ones have never been replied to). It’s becoming time consuming just to manage the tasks that are outstanding and waiting on responses back from Zoe/Support (which I am still waiting). I also use Fancy Hands which blows this service out of the water. I noticed many of the positive reviews here are from 2012 and no recent ones. Would be curious to hear other people’s (recent) experiences.
Noora was looking for individualized real-time assistance, we don’t have that – we operate on the unlimited task model for a low flat monthly fee ($69). Each task has to be 7-15 mins not more and gets answered in 24 hours (approx). Longer projects can’t be divided into smaller tasks. Doing that (i) delays work (ii) creates confusion and (iii) work quality goes down. We attended to other queries by Noora promptly (there weren’t any technical malfunctions, just a change in account status by user).
Shir
TimeSvr
I was convinced of one thing before I even finished reading Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek: I needed a virtual assistant. 4-Hour Workweek was a paradigm shift in many ways for me, not the least of which was that I not only could I improve my day-to-day productivity, but that I dramatically needed to. An online, virtual assistant is what Ferriss promotes as one way to do that.
I genuinely didn’t have any idea where I’d start with a virtual assistant. I knew there were tasks I could outsource to someone else, but nothing specific came to mind.
So, I tried itemizing a list of things I’d done over the prior few days and scanned it looking for which, if any, of those tasks could be delegated. For most it seemed like it’d take longer to explain what needed to be done than it would to just do them myself. But I was determined to heed Ferriss’ advice and give it a try.
I looked into dozens of options over the course of a few days (ironically, one task I wish I already had a virtual assistant to tackle). Since I wasn’t exactly sure how often I would use a virtual assistant, I was looking to balance a reasonable upfront investment with the capability to handle more advanced tasks, like research for writing. My research led me to TimeSvr, a virtual assistant company based in Singapore. TimeSvr has a Personal plan with no contract for $69 per month with unlimited “simple” personal tasks, which they define as taking 15 minutes or less.
TimeSvr also had the flexibility to take on more tasks, or even increase to their Dedicated plan, offering a dedicated assistant to you or your team.
I’ve sent a myriad of tasks to TimeSvr over the past couple months and in almost every circumstance they have exceeded expectations. Basic tasks like setting reservations and making changes to reservations are like clockwork at TimeSvr; they respond quickly and get those tasks done accurately.
I wanted to test how reliable TimeSvr would be on different tasks, though, and asked them to provide a list of publications and magazines in a specific industry related to a book I’m writing. The next morning I had dozens of resources to explore waiting for me in my inbox. Score.
I needed a list of reliable medical sources for a blog post I was writing at Logic Fitness Network on at-home hormone testing kits. I wanted to know what doctors thought about blood spot testing and saliva testing versus serum testing. Again, TimeSvr delivered with a lengthy list of credible testing reviews and resources.
More research was needed on my part to read what they sent and take it a few steps further, but I had an enormous head start and sense of direction developed while I slept.
I have asked TimeSvr to proofread posts and other writings and here they are exceptional. I was admittedly a little cautious about this because I anticipated a language barrier. There was no such barrier and frankly, I was a little embarrassed that I’d missed a couple things they caught. My English teacher would’ve been proud, of them, not me.
The best experience was a task I created, and then deleted. I had recently purchased Microsoft Office for Windows with my employer discount. Several weeks later I ditched my Windows laptop and went back to Apple, but lost that version of Office when I returned the Windows computer. The employer discount only allows the purchase of one version per year and I initially wanted TimeSvr to try to negotiate letting me get a second copy for my new Mac. Then I started to contemplate how much of a hassle it is to get Microsoft on the phone, particularly for a specific product, and a specific discount at that, and then explain the situation. So, I deleted the task and was just prepared to buy a new copy of Office. I got an email from TimeSvr the next morning confirming that I wanted to delete the task. I confirmed, adding that I just thought it’d be too much of a hassle. TimeSvr then asked if I would mind letting them try anyway, since they had the information. Avi from TimeSvr provided details of the conversation with Microsoft, and while Microsoft wasn’t willing to bend the rules for us, TimeSvr won me over with the initiative in trying as hard as they did on a task I thought was a lost cause.
In the spirit of balance, the primary drawbacks are what I would expect from any virtual assistant. There is a time difference and tasks that require immediate action are probably still best done on your own, with the Personal plan at least.
On occasion more explanation may be necessary than you originally provided, but experience over several weeks has ironed out communications and I’ve improved at anticipating questions that may arise. Tim Ferriss offers what I think is essential advice: eliminate before your delegate. An unlimited plan for personal tasks doesn’t do anyone any good if the tasks are mundane and irrelevant.
Overall, my experience with TimeSvr has been exceptional. As time goes on I find more ways to utilize TimeSvr, including helping provide background for a vacation to San Diego in a few weeks and deciding which elliptical to buy within my budget.
In fact, they proofread this review for me. And they have yet to disappoint.
Ray Lachappell
http://www.logicfitnessnetwork.com
http://www.raylachappell.com
I have been with TimeSvr for two years now. The service is great. They manage my website and my email accounts. Their original content writers are really good. Thank you guys!!
I tried using TimeSvr and did not feel that I received the value that was promised on their website and what was paid for.
I compared TimeSvr against two other services: My Tasker and Efficise. I asked all three to provide some information on optometrists covered by my plan and comparing those with Yelp reviews. My Tasker and Efficise provided detailed information that matched up with my own findings. TimeSvr however took 3 times as long to respond and then provided results that were half near me and half in California (I live in TN.) I received similar results with my second request. I asked for those to be reworked, and after waiting over 10 hours decided to cancel my account that I had paid for on the same day.
Yes, I am out the money – but it didn’t really matter since I couldn’t trust the results or the timeliness for when I had something more time sensitive.
Both MyTasker and Efficise are both excellent and will be my go-to companies.
I used them for Mostly research, a few reservations. Most of the time, their English was alright, but a few times, not as much. One time I had them call retail stores around me to see if they has any open box beats by dre headphones, and they though the brand was open box.
I used TimeSvr a couple of years ago after reading Timothy Ferriss’ book, then canceled my service, and recently re-started using them again. Unlike some people on other posts, I had no trouble canceling service… well, other than a minor time delay which cost me a little bit.
I have written a good, long review here: http://misheel.net/timesvr-review/
Terry was informed that he input a *promo code* that voided our one day free trial in exchange for a 15% discount on the service. He then asked for projects (which were for a different plan) to be done on the (cheaper) basic task plan.
Our standard response in this situation is to interpret the task as a basic one, and do it while informing the user to seek a different plan. We also offer to convert those (discounted price) basic tasks into Dedicated projects (it’s basically a plan switch). Terry wanted his money back and he misinformed us about the coupon code.
This was un-usual so we asked him to refer the matter to PayPal – when PayPal ruled in our favour, he *then* wrote back asking for service credit.
Making us sound evil or diabolical is unfair and untrue. We have thousands of happy users.
I had a very disappointing experience with TimeSVR. I signed up for the “free” trial period hoping to test their personal service. Quickly it became clear that the tasks I requested were to complex and Zoe from customer service suggested that I switch over to the dedicated service. I decided this was not what I wanted and canceled my “free” trial before it expired. To my surprise I found out that TimeSVR had already billed me in full for my account (they billed me on the first day of my trial). I reached out to Zoe who agreed that this was not what was supposed to happen and suggested that I raise the issue with Paypay. I followed Zoe’s instruction and logged a dispute with Paypal but I was saddened to find that TimeSVR refused to respond the dispute leaving me to fight through a drawn out process with Paypal. When i reached back out to Zoe requesting that they at least honor my payment and allow me to use the service for a month I was greeted with silence. I have since reached out to them a number of times but have yet to receive any kind of response what-so-ever.
In the end it seems that they are scamming users with their offer of a “free” trial. I would encourage anyone considering hiring a virtual assistant to steer far away from TimeSVR.
I have been using Timesvr for over a year and am very pleased. They help me get more things done and are easy to work with. They have a great task tracking system via email and web as well as phone etc. They are very cordial and provide great follow up and attention when I need it.
The weak part is the language and cultural differences which sometimes cloud tasks and results. I find the simpler the task the better it gets done. To get more complicated tasks done correctly I am using clearer instructions and if I still do not get what I want, I ask them again and they do it over, do it better or have another VA do it.
Overall, I highly recommend TimeSvr and have thought about upgrading plans to a dedicated VA.
I have been using Timesvr for a variety of tasks that have lingered on my to-do list, including internet research, finding a handyman for certain tasks, and assistance with planning a trip. I have paid for the dedicated virtual assistant hours, rather than the subscription for basic tasks.
When I do get a response to my task, it has all but once been according to my specifications, met my needs, within the expected time frame, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the English.
However, you can submit a task and hear nothing back for ages. My current task has been sitting in the queue for a full week with no response, even after I sent a message mid-week using the “feedback” button, that this task had been outstanding for a very long time. This is a task that should take about an hour and a half, and I’m supposed to have a dedicated assistant. I would not recommend this service for any time sensitive tasks.
Although I’ve never managed a four hour work week a la Tim Ferriss, I thought about a VA service for a while. I should have done it years ago! Timesvr has actually changed my life over the last 2 weeks that I’ve been using it. That sounds like hyperbole but it’s true.
I use the personal service that is perfect for me. I wondered if I would have the tasks for them but I certainly do: online research, calls, conversion of files, checking client accounts, finding out contact info etc. I am hooked! Very reasonably priced, it paid for itself probably the first couple of days. Fast, responsive – what more can you ask? If you haven’t st least tried it, do yourself a favor and at least take the trial. You’ll be very glad you did.
TimeSvr works! For just $69 per month, they perform everyday tasks that used to “steal” away my days, such as researching products, flights, hotels and cars as well as organizing my calendar and email. They have even saved me money as all their assistants do a great job of finding the best pricing based on my parameters 🙂
@Mike
While we appreciate Mike’s comment to raise an important matter regarding billing with VA companies we’d like to state that TimeSvr.com does not endorse or conduct dishonest billing practices. Over the past three years, since our service went live, we’ve had thousands of subscribers and hundreds of cancellations go through without any problems. It just so happened the Mike could not complete his own un-subscription – it’s very easy to do via the dashboard (a few clicks gets the job done – no other person has had that problem).
The reason our tasks responses are prompt is because our system is designed so that we take care of the tasks a client sends our way but the information and payment control is with the client. The onus of cancelation _is_ with the client. Our dashboard is like a virtual bot which processes task instructions based on the information accessible to us.
Another fact that Mike forgot to mention is that this matter was brought to the notice of PayPal (a neutral arbitrator) who ruled in TimeSvr’s favour.
TimeSvr does the job it’s paid to do.
Timesvr is very dishonest in their billing. it is virtually impossible to cancel the service. I tried to cancel for three months consecutively via the online dashboard. While every request for a task was responded to quickly, my request to cancel went unanswered. They continued to bill me for three months until I called them. I was assured on the phone that my service was canceled. Shortly there after, I was billed again. Only after I was billed for a fourth month, did I receive a letter saying that my subscription was set to be cancelled. I immediately emailed Timesvr. This is an excerpt from Timesvr’s email response:
“We don’t facilitate cancellations via phone (or IM), cancelation is at the onus of the client who can do so at anytime through their dashboard. ”
Before calling, I had attempted to cancel my service three times via the dashboard. As Timesvr’s policy states that they do not issue refunds, I can’t help but feel that they are using recurring billing and ignoring cancellations to rip customers off. My advice: DO NOT USE TIMESVR.
My full time VA is very good. The accent could improve but the speed and care with which my work is taken care of is wonderful. There have been a few hiccups, but I am lucky to have been paired up with my assistant.
I must say, I do feel a little guilty at assigning work, they should introduce a way of tipping the aide.
In the beginning I found delegating work out and then keeping track of the results difficult. But then my assistant suggested daily morning calls to set the days agenda. This was a game changer. Effective communication is the key.
@Hunter Coates
It’s true that our English is “ok”, and I did step into help Mr. Coates. But the rest isn’t. I would like to say this:
1. I stepped into help Mr. Coates because he was being held in a correctional facility during the holiday season. We terminated the relationship due to gross violations of our Terms of Service, adequate and repeated notices were given in this regard.
2. No unfair payments were made or received by TimeSvr. Had this been the case a claim through PayPal could’ve been filed up to two months after the payments were made. PayPal is a neutral payment processor and arbitrator. A claim wasn’t filed because we were never in breach of our contracts or commitments.
3. TimeSvr does not execute any work deemed illegal on behalf of clients or otherwise.
4. TimeSvr’s focus remains facilitating our clients with the best of our abilities. We take our work and professionalism very seriously.
Osama Sehgol
Co-founder,
TimeSvr.com
Time Svr stole $2400.00 from me after the owner, “Osama”, “fired” me as a client because his assistants “couldn’t handle” the workload and he himself took it over. He himself was a fairly good assistant but has no desire to be one and when he realized he was my assistant and the work ahead, he terminated the relationship. I had a fairly good assistant but he was an overt pot smoker and that took it’s toll the more money he made. After six months they weren’t taking the job seriously at all and i would have to “have talks” with them. They did turn me on to some other firms for legal work (Biz and Legis) who turned out to be superlative and priceless but they themselves washed. The “$69” basic task idea doesn’t deliver, the interface is not even present to enter one’s tasks half the time and then you may get a responce or you won’t. The workers are largely from pakistan and the phillipines. The english was ok. At one point I needed two assistants one for the week days and one for nights and weekends. I was “fired” for having my assistant – that I paid $800 for in advance – actually work on the weekends as agreed. I guess the owner wasn’t clear on that agreement (but he sure accepted my money. That was December 2010. He terminated the agreement on January second but continued to bill my credit card for BOTH workers into January and February. Additionally – the workers took the liberty of “paying” for with the company card services to individuals here in the states who would call them up and say they were “authorized” to get a hotel or a flight. So they misused and abused the finances in that regard as well. Furthermore they linked me a web “engineer” who “engineered” a website that never saw the light of day at the tune of $3000.00. They have some shimmering marketing and word of mouth but I would steer away.
TimeSvr saves me a ton of time. It’s a critical part of my time management strategy, and has streamlined several areas of our business operations.
I was happy to spread the word about TimeSvr in my book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose:
TimeSvr (timesvr.com) has an excellent and cost-efficient outsourcing platform. For $69 a month, they will complete an unlimited number of basic tasks (those that can be done in less than 15 minutes) and up to 8 hours of more time intensive tasks such as extensive research, writing, or transcribing.
I used a virtual employee from TimeSvr.com for six or seven months, and was very happy with the results. In a lot of ways, the TimeSvr service helped me get my life back. I would work crazy hours just to keep up, and with their help I was able to scale back considerably.
I signed up for the dedicated plan. My VA helped me out with copywriting tasks and day-to-day website maintenance. His English skills weren’t quite to the level of a native speaker, but they are still very good and didn’t cause any problems. Also, the speed of his work was slower than I can do it, but improved over time. And I should note I’ve been doing these tasks for over 5 years so it would make sense that I’m faster. For most of my projects, whether the task is done in 4 hours or 6 hours, it really doesn’t make a difference — and if that small gap means not having to do it myself, I’m all for it!
I found my TimeSvr virtual assistant and his counterparts to be competent, hard-working, college-educated professionals. It seems sad they’re working for so little money, but in their part of the world, it is a good wage.
For me, the hardest part was giving up control. I’d always been a one-man show, and it was very difficult to admit I needed help and to finally get up the courage to do something about it. I was concerned about giving someone else the login information to my accounts, as well as my business “secrets.” But I was able to set up additional user accounts with limited access and haven’t had any issues with data security.