Jul
16
Is there value in www.855numbers .com?
ByThe www.855numbers.com Website has changed substantially. This may be due to criticism of the industry that the site made it appear that there was a direct tie between the site and the many companies listed, but the fact still remains, Mr. Quimby has not answered how he is verifying that the 855 requests he is getting have not been requested some other way. I know he doesn’t have access to the numbers our clients have requested, nor is there any advantage to our clients to pay him for an “advance registration.”
What are your thoughts on the Website? Does it seem that this is a reasonable way to make money?
This all turns on the assumption that the customer believes (and/or will read carefully enough to understand) that they are ‘requesting’ a toll-free number (as opposed to ‘reserving’ one) and that they truly understand the difference. That seems like a pretty large assumption to make.
The ‘service’, as I see it, is that Mr. Quimby will make a best-effort to convince the customer’s carrier to grab these TFN’s on the customers’ behalf when the code opens. The obvious problem becomes what happens if someone else grabs a TFN that a customer had requested (or, worse, Mr. Quimby’s systems get compromised such that someone else deliberately grabs all these numbers that they know someone else is ‘interested’ in, then squats on them).
So, does the customer get their money back if the number is not successfully reserved for them after the code opens? The fine print on the check out screen says:
“The $8.55 fee is only for collecting and bringing your request or requests to the phone company of your choice.”
So, seems to me, you’re out the $8.55 whether or not you get the number you asked for. Seems like a lot of money to shell out for something you could do yourself for free just by contacting your carrier and/or Resporg and discussing it with them. Perhaps Mr. Quimby should simply post an informational page urging customers to contact their carriers or Resporgs and work with them, along with information about when the code is opening, etc. *That* would be a service to consumers.
To be fair, the site does say, right up front:
“IMPORTANT NOTE: These are requests, not guaranteed reservations. Only one request will be accepted for each number at each phone company, on a first come first served basis. We cannot guarantee that by our accepting your request here, you will get that number. Submitting a request here does not preclude contacting any company directly. Because of our experience in this industry, our service promises to coordinate these requests with each phone company and inform you of their specific request processes, as soon as they become available”
Bottom line, I think there’s way too much wiggle room for consumer confusion (even with the notes, most people just simply won’t/don’t read everything on a given web page) …
On the other side of it, I imagine the sheer volume of billing disputes something like this will generate will make it turn out to be a non-worthwhile (and potentially reputation-harming) activity. I’d certainly steer clear of anything like this with my own business.