Ver Estotsenberg
Okayy... I think no one's going to get to heaven.
Can Smart do better than this?
Lately I realized I got myself into one of those sham schemes practiced by cellular phone companies. It all started with an unassuming SMS I received after I loaded my account with P50 credit.
I received SMS from 299 gateway on August 12, 2011 referring to my P50 load last August 2, 2011:
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 12-Aug-2011 12:34:28PM
It looked pretty harmless to me so I forwarded the said message to 299 as what was only being asked then I immediately received this message (I truncated the message. It came as single SMS):
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 12-Aug-2011 12:38:22PM
Okay it asked me to register which still looked pretty harmless as it asked only for name and address (it's really normal that promo organizers ask bit of contact information plus also it also has my mobile number already). And so I sent my details in the required format.
Then, I received three part SMS confirming my registration which again is common protocol for promotions after registration.
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 12-Aug-2011 11:17:05PM, 1/3; 12-Aug-2011 11:17:04PM, 2/3; 12-Aug-2011 11:17:03PM, 3/3
Notice the "U'll get FREE CBRT for 5 days." Up to now I still can't figure out what CBRT means. I did nothing upon receipt of these three part SMS.
I reloaded my account with P60 on August 13, 2011 and received confirmation from SMARTLoad with reference number 370863510117. The confirmation SMS stated "U have 60 entries to win P600K! Just 4ward msg wREF # to 299. P1.50/txt DTI5639."
I forwarded the confirmation SMS with Ref# to 299 right after and expectedly, I received another confirmation SMS:
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 13-Aug-2011 04:44:26PM, 1/2; 13-Aug-2011 06:00:57PM, blank 1; 13-Aug-2011 06:42:55PM, blank 2
Yes you're seeing it right. The message is supposed to be two parts as indicated but all I got was one with 1/2 and two other empty SMS from 299.
About two hours later on the same day I received these SMS from 299:
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 13-Aug-2011 08:17:50PM
Then immediately followed by two more but this time coming from 2728 gateway:
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 13-Aug-2011 08:17:51PM
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 13-Aug-2011 08:18:04PM
The next day I received an SMS from 299 which appears to be the second part of the August 13 confirmation...
About three hours later I received two SMS from SMART:
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 14-Aug-2011 08:38:29AM, 1/2; 14-Aug-2011 08:38:29AM, 2/2
On August 20th I loaded my account P115 and received confirmation from SMARTLoad with reference number 440468907555. The confirmation SMS stated "U have 115 entries to win P600K! Just 4ward msg wREF # to 299. P1.50/txt DTI5639." I did forward without hesitation.
I forwarded the Ref# to 299 on the same day right immediately. The sent message time stamp was 11:37:04AM.
Now here's the real ticker (and what really pissed me off).I received this SMS from 2728 about 30 minutes later after I forwarded my ref# to 299 (I truncated the message. It came as single SMS):
SMS Date/Time Stamp: 20-Aug-2011 12:10:52PM
I hurriedly sent CHECK to 2728 and interestingly, up until this posting, I still hear nothing from any of the gateways which sent me the promotional SMS.
I never did agree on something that would allow Smart to bill me P15 for a CBRT (seems like it's for ringtone subscription). I never subscribed for a ringtone or for any promotions. All I did was just register and forward my reference numbers for a chance of winning P600,000.
Have I listened to the ringtone? Used it? No and I have no idea what it is, where it is and how it sounds like on my Nokia 1616 handset.
Now I'm waiting. Sending CHECK to 2728 should be enough for Smart to act and cancel this unwanted ringtone subscription. They may even have to refund me P15. I feel not compelled to act further unless Smart does nothing to resolve this.
To Smart Communications, if you're smart enough, treat your subscribers decently and fairly please.
Posted
by Ver Estotsenberg
All boards head for Baler come October 29-31, 2011
Image source.
Not sure if this is an official poster but it looks great.
All boards head for Baler, Aurora on October 29-30, 2011 for the Aloha Boardsports and Travel Factor Surf and Music Fest 2011.
I definitely will be there. Can't miss this.
Team riders from Aloha Boardsports Luke Landrigan, Okoy Rojo, Jeff Dela Torre, Saddam Faraon, Nikki Dela Paz, Buji Libarnes and Mike Oida will be there giving out surfing 101.
Click here for event details.
Posted
by Ver Estotsenberg
Some surprise in the mail!
Surprise came in the mail today. Taj from wejetset.com sent me this package. Man, you are so cool!
Honestly, I didn't expect this at all. I thought the dude was playing prank. But yeah this is way cool. I just stuck one on my planner.Thank you Taj and more jetsetting! Best of luck to wejetset!
wejetset is a modern travel store.
twitter: @wejetset
Posted
by Ver Estotsenberg
Another first in Posterous
This is my first Posterous post.
I'm thinking of starting my own photo blog.
Posted
by Ver Estotsenberg
