Five New Codes and a Complaint
Since mid-January, we have added five more short codes to the directory. Should I apologize again for not making the updates that I promised I would. Remember...I said that I had texted HELP to the codes that have been in the directory for a long time and several codes don't return a reply message in response to 'help' anymore or the short code use or owner has changed.
Well....I don't feel like apologizing. In fact, I want to bring up something else. I created the Who Is Directory to help people find short code owners because there is a lack of transparency in the common short code business. I get 4 or 5 complaints every week from consumers who complain to me that they were spammed with standard rate or premium rate messages. I don't know if they opted in or not, but that's actually not the point. The point is the level of customer service is extremely poor and consumers are being shuttled between carriers' customer service and short code providers' customer service. And many think that I can help them get a refund or stop messages coming to their phones. If they give me an email address to reply, I try and help them, but many don't, so I hear the complaint directed at me and I can't even respond to tell them it's not me. As an industry, what can we do to make this whole process transparent and avoid lawsuits and regulation?
Well....I don't feel like apologizing. In fact, I want to bring up something else. I created the Who Is Directory to help people find short code owners because there is a lack of transparency in the common short code business. I get 4 or 5 complaints every week from consumers who complain to me that they were spammed with standard rate or premium rate messages. I don't know if they opted in or not, but that's actually not the point. The point is the level of customer service is extremely poor and consumers are being shuttled between carriers' customer service and short code providers' customer service. And many think that I can help them get a refund or stop messages coming to their phones. If they give me an email address to reply, I try and help them, but many don't, so I hear the complaint directed at me and I can't even respond to tell them it's not me. As an industry, what can we do to make this whole process transparent and avoid lawsuits and regulation?
posted by www.longnumbers.com at
7:58 PM
2 Comments:
Just imagine if you were the alledged vendor that purportedly sent the unsolicited messages to these people. Think how many MORE complaints they get. Fact of the matter is that most people call their carriers first and then complaints get reverberated down the chain.
I am sure that the carriers and the vendors catch most of the complaints, and only the misdirected complain to me. That's understandable and I always try and help with information and direction. My issue is that industry as a whole is not transparent. If it was, I wouldn't have created a Who Is site, it would have been provided by www.usshortcodes.com.
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