197 employees out in layoffs at SunRocket

A local customer service center for SunRocket, a Vienna, Va.-based Internet phone service company, has laid off 197 employees today, Alice Simpson of the Missouri Career Center confirmed.

She said the news came around 1 p.m. and that between 30 to 35 former Bell Industries employees had stopped by the center. Simpson said she got a chance to talk to the management and learned about the layoff.

Bell Industries and SunRocket last August partnered to reopen the former MCI center on Primrose Street.

Bell Industries hired the employees for SunRocket, which offered Internet-based phone services. The initial number was 150, but the companies said they expected to increase the number to 500.

Online discussions indicate that Sherwood Partners, LLC, out of Palo Alto, Calif., would be handling billing and refund issues. Its spokesman, Martin Pichinson, said he could not talk now but information should be available in a couple of hours.

Messages have been left with a Bell Industries spokesman.

No one at SunRocket is answering calls, while the company's customer service number answers: "We’re no longer taking customer service or sales calls. Goodbye."

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