Pick-pocketing corporations
2009-07-09 09:14
Certain radio stations have a traffic warning service in which they broadcast information provided by listeners on SMS. Every time I hear the request going out for any traffic information, I'm surprised by the fact that the station has the cheek to charge an inflated rate for the SMS to be sent to them.
The people sending the message have clearly already encountered the traffic problem, so the traffic alert is of no particular use to them. The radio station is ostensibly providing a service for its listeners, so, if anything, it should be paying the SMS senders for this useful information.
Instead, as is becoming the norm these days, the consumer is expected to fork out a small amount for the benefit of the big corporation. And because it's a small amount, no one is expected to mind - but why should the corporation be making what amounts to loads of money from everyone's SMSes?
Technology has allowed small amounts of money to vanish in interactions between companies and consumers like the change from a drinks order between friends. The way in which the money is extracted from the consumer ranges from polite to downright audacious.
I don't particularly mind, when buying movie tickets at Ster-Kinekor, being presented with the option to donate R2.50 to a charity for blind people. After all, I can refuse, I can increase or decrease the amount I'd like to donate, and in reality, it's the equivalent of the loose change that I might misplace for months in the bottom of my handbag.
In the case of the traffic report, it's not great public relations on the part of the radio station, but since I'm not forced to participate for my own benefit, I don't mind if other people want to pay to perform a public service.
Competitions are another way in which small amounts of money are pilfered from our pockets. Again, it's my choice to participate if I want to, and ten years ago, I was paying the cost of a postage stamp to Win a Holiday, New Kitchen or Spa Treatment, courtesy of my favourite magazine.
These days, I'm expected to pay three or four times the cost of a normal SMS to enter a competition. And that's on a good day. A recent competition by MTN asked subscribers to pay a ludicrous R7.50 per SMS to enter their 15th Anniversary competition.
Now, to me, this is just greedy. To win the competition, it was necessary to spend a fortune in SMSes, answering questions. MTN eventually stopped the competition in the face of various accusations of unfairness.
I feel that somewhere, companies have lost sight of the fact that competitions are supposed to be marketing activities. Sure, marketing is ultimately about growing revenue, but this is generally done through creating positive feelings about the company, rather than fleecing the public for all it's worth.
Another bugbear in my rant against the small charges that companies inflict on their customers is the email fax deal. Small companies arrange the convenience of having faxes sent to their computers without the need for an actual fax machine. This is all well and good for them, but their customers who have to send a fax through to these 086 and 087 fax numbers have to pay a fee of more than double a normal fax.
Now, usually when a fax is sent in this day and age, it's because it's necessary to extract a signature from the sender. The sender generally has no choice, and if she wants the next step in her insurance claim, electric fence installation or whatever to take place, she has to send the fax - or drop off the original documentation at some office somewhere. Having to pay more than double the cost of a normal fax for the convenience of the recipient leaves a bitter taste in her - and I do mean my - mouth.
- Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. She has had to do an insurance claim and get her electric fence repaired this week.
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