Some people DON’T like these promotional SMSs

Kelvin Muza Avatar

SMS spam

I was really hoping my phone would buzz and display that famous message, “EcoCash: Transfer Confirmation. $$$ from…”. I really needed that money and then I heard my phone buzz. With much enthusiasm I pressed the middle button and to my distress again it was a promotional SMS from Econet.

I took a very little survey and asked eight of my friends regarding promotional SMSs. Two people said the messages are irritating and six expressed enhanced amounts of negative emotion. The verdict was the messages are irritating. OK, I admit eight is a very little number but that should count for something. Some people DON’T want to receive the promotional messages.

I understand that Econet, Telecel and Netone have to advertise ALL their features (that’s a big ALL), however the problem is people are not entirely happy about the TXT messages. Especially when one of them says nothing, like “Buddie has bundled up something just for you. Look out for this exciting offer. Coming soon

Vodafone has a Do Not Disturb (DND) feature which allows users to register and stop promotional messages from coming through. I feel the adoption of such a feature is necessary in Zimbabwe, by ALL service providers.

I don’t hate Econet, as a matter of fact I like them that why I have an Econet line. But yes sometimes I feel taken advantage of, harassed… emotionally.

Bulk SMSing is a good way to advertise your business by sending thousands or even millions of TXT messages to millions of subscribers. However looking from the other end of the line and we can’t help but say this is obtrusive and intrusive. An SMS should be informative but there are times when a promotional SMS carries information one would choose not to have his phone ring over.

Anyway these are my opinions. In the end, sometimes the messages are informative sometimes they are just plain irritating. Requirement, Our service providers should adopt Do not Disturb features on their services.

Tell us what you think about receiving these promotional massages from you network provider

8 comments

  1. Munhu

    You took it out of my mouth.

  2. tinm@n

    They are actually abusing the service and if people come together can petition and bring the issue to the foe. All it needs is a Facebook page and an online solicited petition. They are very annoying messages. As their service is not free, there’s almost no justification for annoying subscribers with those messages.

    I also absolutely hate hearing an advert play instead of a ring tone. I was confused a few times when I was in Zim recently, thinking somehow I got through some call centre or some companies number.

    There should be an opt out and nothing justifies a ring tone being replaced by some annoying jingle.

  3. lurker133

    If advertising messages would quietly divert to a spam folder and wait until I’m bored enough to review them I wouldn’t mind receiving. What I dislike is that I can’t filter such messages as they don’t come with a phone book type ID. I would prefer that the networks don’t send since that’s the case.

  4. dfnf@jnvfknfv.com

    remove ti especially econet coz almost everyday i receive one though i dont want it all. plus they shoud allow my to remove the oper mini branding since i used my own airtime to download it. telecel is better cz they give freebies a lot so no problem

  5. Joe Black

    I stopped receiving SMS from Econet, by complaining loudly and publicly. I made sure they knew in no uncertain terms that I didn’t want these SMSes. Use their twitter platform, it’s good for feedback. They even called me to tell me I was off the list.

    So there’s no point in complaining, unless you’re actually complaining to Econet themselves.

  6. Farai Sairai

    I remember responding to another article on this site about Christian messages being sent to subscribers. If I were a Moslem, that would offend me greatly to continuously receive Christian such messages on my personal phone as they do not go with my religion.

    Promo material is an on opt in service not opt out. Econet needs to understand that bombarding people with promo material they do not need is only going to irritate them. The phone is a personal device. In fact very intimate that is why people get emotional with their handsets if broken or lost. Taking advantage of their subscriber base to flood them with material irrelevant to them is not right.

    Bottom line, it is is just spam!! 🙁

    1. Doward JECHA

      You just deflated me. I was thinking that I could stop them if I studied my phone closely enough.

  7. pramod kumar

    correct answer.

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