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The
Register: Online gripe forum tackles mobile spam
By John Leyden Posted: 18/08/2003 at 15:20 GMT
If you've being ticked off by poor service or peeved
by annoying mobile spam messages, help is at hand.
Grumbletext
provides a forum to publicise UK mobile phone scams. It's a Vmyths
for the mobile generation, with more interactivity built in.
So next time you receive an annoying mobile spam messages that tells you
that you have won something and that you should phone a premium rate
phone number to claim your prize, you can search Grumbletext to check
its provenance, before shelling out good money on call charges for
virtually worthless discount vouchers.
The site relies on people sending information in, so the more people
that are aware of it the better.
You can submit your grumbles by texting
(07810 83 83 83 - normal rate), an online form or via email (to grumblepost@grumbletext.co.uk).
Grumbletext plans to charge 25p per message to send SMS messages to the
site but is yet to introduce this charge.
LiveWebs Ltd, the firm behind Grumbletext, says it will publish these
gripes on its website "within minutes" (we hope they apply
some fact checking), forward these reports to the companies concerned
and "get as much publicity as we can in the media". Messages
on the site have already shamed
a number of companies into action.
Grumbletext, which began in February and branched into mobile spam
complaints in June, is targeted at serving the needs of British
consumers.
The site is designed as a forum to "grumble about UK companies when
they've got you seething with poor customer service, flaky pledges,
intrusive marketing, aggressive selling, general thoughtlessness and
carelessness". Big companies behaving arrogantly are the chief
target of Grumbletext but its not averse to going after either public
figures or politicians.
Banks, airlines and BT are amongst the most grumbled about organisations
on Grumbletext.
The site, which is attractive and well designed, aims to make it easier
for people to complain - rather than suffering in silence. Instead of
sending a complaint directly to a company, Grumbletext wants to create a
forum to build a collective voice of complaint that some companies will
be more likely to act on.
"We want to shame companies into making 'top-down' changes to their
service and processes which benefit their customers," LiveWebs
explains, in the Grumbletext FAQ.
Grumbletext recognises that individual complaints have a role and point
to Web resources
on putting gripes to companies directly. It also recognises the role of
regulators, like the Independent Committee for the Supervision of
Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS),
in fighting premium rate spam scams. �
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