Conference 7.286::digital

    
    	Sounds more like a clerical error on the part of the dialer, than
    	a logistics error on the part of the providing company.
    

    
    Right, I agree it's a clerical error. But do we care that it's
    happening ? I would think/hope that we do. How many of those
    calls could be lost sales ( I.E. Customer doesn't dial the number 
    a second or third time ) We can't solve people dialing the number
    wrong, but we could give them the number so they have less chance to
    transpose it. I know I appriciate it when I get the numerical number
    in an ad or web page aside of their marketing type number.

I agree that it's very helpful to add the numbers for the letters - it always
takes me a while to figure out the translation and it's easy to get it
wrong.

				Steve

    And if he's planning on changing his number, why not buy it also?
    
    Either send it to our operators or to a recorded message with both our
    correct number and his new number.
    
    Since he's a non-profit, there might be some way to structure this
    finantially so everybody wins.  If nothing else, we don't make an
    enemy.
    
    If nothing else, we could make a donation to cover his added costs and
    ensure his continued helpfulness towards out customers.
    
    Steveg

    Several years ago, the Digital-approved travel agency in Dallas changed
    its phone number to 991-1xxx.  Suddenly, there was a huge increase in
    accidential calls to the local emergency number, 911.  Why?  Because
    people were getting confused by all the 9's and 1's in the phone
    number and the need to dial '9' for an outside line and losing track of
    how many 9's they had dialed.  A short time later, the travel agency
    had a new non-991 phone number.
    
    Then there was our infamous sex-line advertising misprint.
    
    Bob

So people are dialing 1-800-DIGATAL?  Or are fat fingers involved?

Paul

    I agree that including the number-version of the phone
    number should always be done.  Not doing so unnecessarily irritates
    people who have to fish around on the phone keypad as they
    map from letters to digits, plus it causes problems like
    the ones in .0
    

    
    Re: .4
    
    Steve,
    
        It is sometimes done where a business buys numbers that are
    "similar" to their number for just that reason to avoid lost business
    and why the competition (especially if sleezy) will also try to get
    a number that is "similar" (off by 1 digit or so) to attempt to 
    siphon off competitiors business.
    
    I agree that if the business is "handing back their old 800#", we
    (Digital) should apply for it. But I doubt that we would do such a 
    thing... Rather we believe... "We are DIGITAL, the customer will
    make sure they contact us..."
    
    On a similar note, with the recent 800# replication (addition of the
    new 888 toll free exchange). I wonder if DIGITAL applied for the
    right to the same vanity number in the new exchange (the FCC allowed
    for a Replication to 888 for a period that just ended last week).
    I doubt it... If they didn't someone else can apply for it and 
    either use it to leverage some sales...etc...
    
    You not only have to work Hard, but smart...
    
        Pat

    
    ....but back to .0
    
    	.... so WHO/WHAT does he call to get action for the 2 ideas
    suggested so far:
    	     1) post the numerical number next to 1-800-digital
    	        -- reasonable and doesn't requiring hiring any
    	           rocket scientists,
    	     2) buy the other 800#, and linked it to ours. 
    	        Sounds sensible to me.
    
    I hope there is some one who could take this request upstairs
    someplace QUICK. 
    
    To some of us, this issue may appear trivial, but the real problem
    is losing those "silent" customers/prospects. It ceases to be amusing 
    (both sides) fast when the wrong number kept on being used.
    
                    

    Actually about a year ago we made a big ad/splash and advertized what
    we thought was 1-800-DIGITAL.  The folks were nice enough to help the
    folks who have trouble translating and published what they thought was
    the translation of DIGITAL to numbers on the phone keypad.
    
    Unfortunately, they were off by a number.
    
    The 800-number translation was actually a phone sex service!
    
    Corporate advertising got quite a few calls about it.  My one 
    customer asked me "just how hot are your servers..."?
    

    Surely this "one-number-off" syndrome cuts both ways.  Don't we Digital 
    suffer just as much from picking up the tab on mis-dialled 1-800 calls
    destined for other companies?
    
    To ensure that a single digit dialling error was covered, you'd need 
    to have seventy 1-800 numbers mapped to your real number.  These don't
    come for free.
    
    OK, it's tough when a small non-profit organization's infoline is 
    swamped by mistakes made dialling a giant telemarketing number but 
    despite my personal sympathy for the Mule Deer Foundation, it does not 
    seem like a smart business proposal for Digital to purchase 
    "one-digit-off" telephone numbers.
    
    Parallel printing of numbers as well as the mnemonics is of course a
    simple suggestion with little or no cost and with added benefits in an
    international mnemonic-free marketplace.
    
    /Chris.

    We should also be aware that callers from overseas 1. probably don't have
    letters on their phone and 2. can't call an 800 number.

Getting back to the base note and who to contact who might care, try Doug 
Towle in AKO.  Doug is leading a Task Force dealing with Digital's glut of 800 
numbers.  This activity is part of a larger SBU sponsored project to improve 
the "quality" of our 800 services.

/mj

    Re: .12
    
    Our overseas ads don't use the 800-DIGITAL number.
    
    			Steve

    Re .11:
    
    > Don't we Digital  suffer just as much from picking up the tab on
    > mis-dialled 1-800 calls destined for other companies?
    
    Of course not.  If 5% of the million calls to Digital are misdialed to
    the Mule Deer Foundation and 5% of their thousand calls are misdialed
    to Digital, we will get 50 wrong calls while they get 50,000.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    
Public key fingerprint:  8e ad 63 61 ba 0c 26 86  32 0a 7d 28 db e7 6f 75
To find PGP, read note 2688.4 in Humane::IBMPC_Shareware.

    Re .12: Some countries do have a gateway (for the price of an
    international call) to 1-800 numbers in the US. 

I think everyone is ignoring Paul's note:

> So people are dialing 1-800-DIGATAL?  Or are fat fingers involved?

  People probably *AREN'T* "fat-fingering" the "2" instead of the "4".
  They probably can't spell our name.

  Of course, this tends to lead towards my favorite rat-hole and
  I wouldn't want to press anyone's hot-buttons. :-)

                                   Atlant

    
    	Atlant, does your favorite rat-hole include anything similar to
    	"we have stupid customers, too, and wouldn't want to leave them
    	out in the cold by expecting them to know how to spell our name."?
    

    I live in Bolton, Mass.  My telephone number is sort of similar
    (but one wouldn't think *that* similar) to the number for the 
    International Golf Club, also in Bolton.
    Every summer we get a bunch of calls for the International.
    It's nothing to do with not being able to transcribe a mnemonic
    to numbers; there is no mnemonic in this case. People just get 
    the number sequence mixed up.  

> Atlant, does your favorite rat-hole include anything similar to
> "we have stupid customers, too, and wouldn't want to leave them
> out in the cold by expecting them to know how to spell our name."?
    
  I was thinking of a different rathole (which I'm sure is on deck),
  but you're right! We only want the "smart money", right? :-) Let
  the stupid folks call HP and IBM.

                                   Atlant

>> Atlant, does your favorite rat-hole include anything similar to
>> "we have stupid customers, too, and wouldn't want to leave them
>> out in the cold by expecting them to know how to spell our name."?
>    
>  I was thinking of a different rathole (which I'm sure is on deck),

As in 1-800-CALL-DEC?  Naaa -- wouldn't want anything so easy to remember!

				SQ

    
    	I was thinking more along the lines of 1-800-WERE-DEC
    
    	There's humor in there if you care to find it.  8^)
    

Someone who dials 344-2825 when they intend to dial 344-4825 probably was
looking at the numbers and not being careful, rather than at DIGITAL.

After all, if they were looking at DIGITAL, they would already have pressed
it "I" and "G" keys and need to press the "I" again.

Or maybe the "DIGATAL" explanation really is the right one.

/john

    re .14
    
    Specific ads may not use 1-800-Digital but tons of other Digital
    literature does, tech books, sales literature, US magazines sent
    overseas etc.
    

>    Unfortunately, they were off by a number.
>    
>    The 800-number translation was actually a phone sex service!

The last four digits given in that ad were 3825 instead of 4825.
Do the translation.

And we've blocked that number from the large PBXs in the GMA, so you'll
have to wait until you are at home to try it.

Misdialing was part of the reason ATT dropped its 1-800-operator campaign
and switched to 1-800-callatt.  MCI got 1-800-operater & the bad spellers.
A friend who works at ATT tells me they collect and use the misdialing
information to play these tricks itself, but that someone at MCI just
guessed right on this one & boy were they bummed.

MCI having 800-OPERATER is urban legend.

/john

>> The last four digits given in that ad were 3825 instead of 4825.
>> Do the translation.
    
    D U A L
    
    No wonder everyone got confused, they were dual numbers.
    
    Chris

    The World Wide Web version of this is that the folks at:
    http://www.altavista.com/  (*not* our Search Engine, but another
    company doing web stuff) have apparently gotten enough hits meant
    for http:/www.altavista.digital.com/ that they've included a link
    to our altavista Search Engine !!!
    
    

Strangely enough, they route the link through their own intermediate page that
also has a "Download free demo of MediaWrangler" link on it.

Burns