2degrees text annoyances

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2degrees text annoyances

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#116518 1-May-2013 15:09

Is it just me that gets three pointless (IMHO) SMS messages every month from 2degrees about my account?

One is to say that my minutes have renewed, another that they have emailed the bill and the last that they have received payment ok. None of this is a surprise to me, frankly, as I am on a pay monthly contract.

I get these despite switching off the text alerts via their web control panel. Support just told me some messages can be switched off (even more!?!) but they have to send these as its a "legal requirement". Frankly that sounds like bull. Anyone care to comment?

1 | 2

1916 posts

Uber Geek

#809565 1-May-2013 15:12

At least you get your texts

mxpress

376 posts

Ultimate Geek

#809580 1-May-2013 15:20

Telecom send me similar and frankly, I'm pleased to get them as it means there are no payment issues.

mxpress

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#809594 1-May-2013 15:24

Hi nickb99,

Unfortunately you can’t opt out of all notifications. It’s a legal requirement that we send you notifications about anything to do with payment or billing.

For information on stopping alerts such as low balance notifications and out of mobile broadband zone notifications, please visit our Account Notifications page which lists the various text codes to stop and start the alerts.

Cheers
^LW

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#809596 1-May-2013 15:24

Well, I think three - the same every month - is at least two too many. One to say "You paid - we renewed the account" would suffice.

The default could be NOT to send one if everything is ok but to do so if payment late. That would make sense.

To me, a pointless message is almost as bad as a missing one. It wastes my time, three times a month.

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#809598 1-May-2013 15:26

It’s a legal requirement that we send you notifications about anything to do with payment or billing.

Would email not meet that requirement? One email bill a month is quite acceptable.

And what requirement is it exactly?

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#809617 1-May-2013 15:49

nickb99: Well, I think three - the same every month - is at least two too many. One to say "You paid - we renewed the account" would suffice.

The default could be NOT to send one if everything is ok but to do so if payment late. That would make sense.

To me, a pointless message is almost as bad as a missing one. It wastes my time, three times a month.

You will receive one notification to confirm payment has been received, and another to confirm your allocations have renewed as these are more than often on different dates.

nickb99:
It’s a legal requirement that we send you notifications about anything to do with payment or billing.

Would email not meet that requirement? One email bill a month is quite acceptable.

And what requirement is it exactly?

I'm just waiting for a response on the exact requirements and will update as soon as I have it.

Cheers,
^LW

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#809637 1-May-2013 16:14

Hi nickb99,

I have just received a response that in actual fact the account notifications are not a legal requirement and as such this has now been removed from our website. I want to apologise for the incorrect information which was given before and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I have also spoken to our technical team who have advised that the way our systems currently operate that they are unable to stop account / payment notifications on an individual basis. This could of course change in the future.

Again I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to you by receiving these notifications and for the incorrect information you were given initially.

Cheers,
^LW

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

scottjpalmer

5973 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#809645 1-May-2013 16:25

2DegreesCare: Hi nickb99,

I have just received a response that in actual fact the account notifications are not a legal requirement and as such this has now been removed from our website. I want to apologise for the incorrect information which was given before and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I have also spoken to our technical team who have advised that the way our systems currently operate that they are unable to stop account / payment notifications on an individual basis. This could of course change in the future.

Again I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to you by receiving these notifications and for the incorrect information you were given initially.

Cheers,
^LW

I would love to be able to turn them off as well, FYI.

Selectable notifications like Facebook does for example would be great. A series of tick boxes/radio buttons for each notification and whether you want none, email or SMS.

Shall we start a petition? :-)

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#809664 1-May-2013 16:35

"our technical team who have advised that the way our systems currently operate that they are unable to stop account / payment notifications on an individual basis". In less words = http://youtu.be/WOdjCb4LwQY

I do appreciate the fast responses LW. Good marks for 2D for that at least :)

I hope you get a chance to push this issue up the chain. Why send out thousands of texts that you don't need to...the technical system is there to serve the needs of customers, not to dictate to them.

>> in actual fact the account notifications are not a legal requirement

Used to get a lot of this in the UK too. Every other request for information was met by "Can't tell you, Data Protection Act". *Everything* was DPA. In most cases, of course, the act had absolutely no relevance to the question. It was just was the call centre drone thought it was better to say that than the honest answer, which was "I don't know".

alasta

6706 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#809763 1-May-2013 19:52

This drives me crazy too. I already know if my bill has been emailed - I don't need my bloody phone playing god save the queen to tell me so!

I really appreciate 2degrees looking into this and getting some clarification on the feasibility of allowing these messages to be disabled. Hopefully a solution will be available before too long.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#809992 2-May-2013 09:43

As a workaround for some people you could set up a personalised message alert tone (in Android speak) for the number these messages come from. I assume iphone has a similar ability.

You would still get the messages but you wouldn't hear anything when they arrived.

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#810007 2-May-2013 10:03

That is a nice idea. Instead of my Monty Python mp3 that says "You have a message Sah!" I could get my phone to say - "Just another pointless text from 2Degrees" ;)

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#810024 2-May-2013 10:19

nickb99: That is a nice idea. Instead of my Monty Python mp3 that says "You have a message Sah!" I could get my phone to say - "Just another pointless text from 2Degrees" ;)

LOL. Yes you could but then you would continue to be woken up in the middle of the night.

I have a recording of the fire alarm at my apartment telling me at 3am that the alarm has gone off in another part of the building and I can leave if I want. You are welcome to use that, I can assure you it is pretty annoying.

nickb99

128 posts

Master Geek

#810027 2-May-2013 10:22

Perhaps the phone could whisper it...

richms

28187 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#810348 2-May-2013 17:20

Be glad you can get texts for things like that. Other networks cant manage it and will only make a voice call to the number on the account when a card payment fails to go thru. Can I get a SMS? no, Can I get you to call a number I actually use for voice calls instead of my smart phone which is always on silent? Also no.

Seems that the more a company sells communications services, the worse their own use of those services is.

Richard rich.ms

1 | 2