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July 30, 2009
Note to Cell Phone industry: Never piss off a Pogue! :-)
Our favorite cartoon character David Pogue has been a thorn in the cell phone carrier's side lately, and now he has called upon the consumer masses to take a swing and complain about one of their particularly blatant (and annoying) money-grabs: the mandatory 15-second voicemail instructions. That's right, the annoying 15 seconds of instructions that everyone gets when they are about to leave a message, or even checking your own! Pogue puts it best...
These messages are outrageous for two reasons. First, they waste your time. Good heavens: it's 2009. WE KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THE BEEP.
Do we really need to be told to hang up when we're finished!? Would anyone, ever, want to "send a numeric page?" Who still carries a pager, for heaven's sake? Or what about "leave a callback number?" We can SEE the callback number right on our phones!
Second, we're PAYING for these messages. These little 15-second waits add up-bigtime. If Verizon's 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That's your money. And your time: three hours of your time a year, just sitting there listening to the same message over and over again every year.
Pogue has told each of the four major carriers that they'll be hearing from consumers, and they were kind enough to let him know where to direct your rage...
* Verizon: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/FJncH.
* AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: [email protected].
* Sprint: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
* T-Mobile: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u.
Kudos! Next up, getting those text message charges down!
Posted by Snaggy at July 30, 2009 04:59 PM