Looks like this time around Pesky Calls & SMS issues will finally come to an end – However, there is a flip side to this. Customers may end up loosing some very genuine and important SMS notifications and calls as well.
Since last couple of days, I have received notifications from more than 3 vendors including Flipkart & Snapdeal asking me to deactivate my Do-Not-Disturb preferences giving reasons that they may not be able to send even genuine Order Confirmations / Shipment or Delivery SMS notifications!
Following is the email which I got from Flipkart some time back:
Dear Customer,
Due to the new TRAI regulations, we will not be able to send you Order Confirmation / Shipment / Delivery SMS notifications, starting 27th September 2011 (tomorrow).
What will not change?
We will continue to send you email notifications, so you need not worry about not receiving SMS alerts. However, since a lot of the courier and shipment related communication happens via SMS, it is advisable that you subscribe to partial DND (explained below).
What will change?
You will receive SMS alerts only between 9AM – 9PM. SMS alerts for any transactions conducted post 9PM will be sent out the next day.
What you need to do?
If you wish to continue to receive Order Confirmation / Shipment / Delivery SMS notifications for your transactions on Flipkart.com, please do ONE of the following:
- Send "START 5" to 1909 to activate partial-DND, allowing you to receive SMS alerts from all ‘Consumer Goods’ companies
- Send "STOP" to 1909 to de-register from DND
Please feel free to call us on 1800 102 3547 (24X7, Monday-Sunday) for any clarification.
Regards,
Team Flipkart
I must admit that Flipkart did a good job of explaining things – however, from other vendors like Snapdeal – I got a single line SMS saying:
Dear User, 27th Sept. onwards, you wont receive any Snapdeal SMS as you are registered on DND. Send STOP to 1909 to de-register & continue receiving deal alerts.
The worry I really have here is – It may so happen that I may miss out on some genuine and important SMS notifications from, lets say, My Bank or my Stock / Mutual Fund companies who send me notifications for buying & selling – As much as I want to get myself freed from pesky marketing SMSes, I don’t want to loose out on genuine important notifications.
Looking at the mails above, I am starting to have doubts !
What DND actually needed is case by case or number by number filtering mechanism. I know that may be very difficult to implement, however this is a genuine problem and needs to be taken care of!
Whats your take on this?