virtual doorman

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/realestate/23cov.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=virtual%20doorman%20&st=cse

Same as cyber services.

I thin virtual doormen as described in the nyt article serve a very useful purpose. In this thread
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/11318-doorman-vs-no-doorman
people talked about advantages of doormen being safety and convenience for deliveries.
For me getting deliveries when I am not home is a big deal so a cyber doorman fits this need while being a whole lot cheaper than staff in your building/.

Doormen are bloody expensive and for a small building they result in very high common charges so if I owned in a smaller building I would prefer the cyber variety.

For the record I live in the human variety and don't give a crap about what the doormen know plus I enjoy talking with them.

Each particular service provider will be a little different in what they offer, but yes, these are essentially the same. It is a step up from an unattended lobby without any security, but not close to a substitute for actual lobby attendant in terms of contribution to value of an apartment.

thank you both for your answers. Divvie, i read the string and the article and now better understand the concept and appreciate your time and effort in educating us. we live in a doorman building now so certainly understand the pluses.

The term "Virtual Doorman" refers to a specific product offered by our company Virtual Service. It is a trademarked name for the remote doorman service that we provide. There are other competitors in the tri-state area who also provide similar services, but if a listing shows "Virtual Doorman" you should check to make sure that the property does indeed have our system and is not an error in marketing. If you have any questions about whether a building has a system from our company, feel free to call our office at 212-400-6000. If you provide the building address, any of our staff members can check our database to see if the building is one that we service.

Our Virtual Doorman service allows guests to receive packages when they are not home as well as grant access to visitors and staff members such as out of town relatives, dog walkers, or cleaning people. Our operators can speak with the visitor as well as see them via a live video feed that connects the building to our command center. If the guest is determined to have access to the building, then our operators at the command center will remotely unlock the door and monitor them inside the building via the other cameras. When your guest or delivery arrives, you will receive an email from the operators that details any specific information such as who the delivery was from, how many packages you received, etc. Tenants are able to manage their accounts via the interactive web portal. This site allows residents to manage their guest list, review their delivery logs, contact building management, and change their contact information and account settings.

The cost is significantly cheaper than employing a full time doorman at the building. The monthly service fee depends on the number of units in the building. Typically this charge is rolled into the building common charges and divided based on the amount of building shares per unit.

I hope that information helps explain exactly what the service we offer entails. If you would like more information, you can check out our website at www.virtualdoorman.com for more information.

Sincerely,
Christian Decker
Project Engineer
Virtual Service
www.virtualservice.net
212-400-6000

kcdecker, nobody in the real world cares about trademarked names, and if that makes you feel injured clean your wound with a kleenex and put a band-aid on it. BTW, spam is another one everyone uses freely -- but clearly not as freely as you do.

All else, I'd much rather have a virtual doorman than either an unattended lobby or an actual doorman (TM).

The downsides to doormen (TM) are considerable, and have been discussed on a couple of threads here already. In a nutshell, they're the world's greatest facilitators of gossip, and they attract the lonely, unhappily-married man from 18G, who spends three hours each evening torturing the doorman with sports talk ... and torturing you in the process.

So go with the virtual doorman if you have half a chance.

alan hart you are dead wrong. everybody in the real world cares about trademarked names - particularly those who have 'defined' the experience of their product. Have no idea why you are so mean and sarcastically insulting to Christian Decker.....

I, for one, got a heap of helpful information from KCDecker's comments.

KCDecker - thank you

princess, you do realize that this thread has been dead for almost two years, right? So I think if you were going to say something it might have been better back then...or maybe you were trying to think of a comeback and only came up with one now, sort of like George on that episode of Seinfeld where he comes up with "The jerk store" comment after the fact. Either way, I am glad you got the info you needed.

Our building management recently decided to replace our onsite super with this system. They bought into the 'Bronze' package which is advertised as accepting packages etc. The service only accepts deliveries from an extremely limited number of services(US mail, Fed-ex, UPS, Fresh Direct and ONE drycleaner). The virtual doorman website is poorly constructed and seems like it was built by a high school student with terrible layout, dead links, paid ads for unrelated services etc. The video service seems to be included in our package but it is only supported on IE and so far does not seem to function at all. Overall this is a terrible substitute for a real person and likely a waste of our buildings money.