Can you dial 1-800-PROGRESSIVE if you’re in an accident and need to talk to your insurance company? What about KTA to reach a dispatcher on the Kansas Turnpike if you break down or HP to report reckless drivers on Kansas highways? Or any phone number that contains letters or words to help you remember them?
Sure you can.
But only if you don’t have a Blackberry or other phone that uses a QWERTY keyboard rather than a telephone number pad.
This issue is a big problem for Blackberry owners and sometimes is more than a simple inconvenience. Some companies don’t make it easy to find the actual numbers. Expedia, an online travel booking site, lists 1-800-EXPEDIA as the way to reach the company. Even on the Web site, a customer would have a hard time finding the actual number, something that can be more than a little frustrating if a customer needs to reach the company quickly.
It’s time that corporations catch up with the times. Blackberry users cannot dial a company’s number up unless it indeed contains numbers, they have a great memory of the letters and numbers on a traditional phone or have stored the number in their address book. Many people don’t have the numbers on the keypad memorized.
Yes, letters in phone numbers makes the phone number easy to remember. It was a great idea until the dawn of smart phones. But it’s not user friendly and could end up costing a business a valuable customer.
The letter-only phone numbers were great marketing gimmicks back in the day, but it’s time corporations wised up and did away with them or at least posted what the numbers behind the letters are. There are more than 12 million Blackberry users worldwide, and that number isn’t likely to decrease anytime soon.
That’s a lot of people who are struggling to figure out which letter represents what number.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Hmm. Never thought of that since I don't own a crackberry myself. Very interesting point.
April 13, 2010 at 3:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
apps make this a moot point
April 13, 2010 at 5:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oh4theluvof (anonymous) says...
Seriously??? This is something to worry about? I also find the dumbing down of our society troublesome, but in a very different way than this piece outlines. How hard is it to figure out which letters go with which numbers? I'm guessing it's about the same difficulty level as actually memorizing phone numbers or looking them up in a phone book.
I suppose I'm outdated since I can do all those things AND I don't own a cell phone, much less a "smart" phone that isn't so very smart and actually makes its owner dumber.
Sad, sad, sad!
April 13, 2010 at 6:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
If not for yin, yang would have nothing to compare itself to.
April 13, 2010 at 8:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
hum,
An iteresting anal ogy.
April 13, 2010 at 9:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
I guess it's all about balance, huh?
April 14, 2010 at 7:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yev_kassem (anonymous) says...
1-800-776-4737-7483
That is 1-800 PROGRESSIVE...
Can you remember that if you are in an accident?
April 14, 2010 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mslater (Matt Slater) says...
Yes Brandy, Blackberrys ARE outdated. You are correct :P
April 14, 2010 at 6:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tmegredy (anonymous) says...
I know this is an old story, but on my Blackberry (a Curve) when I have to type letters (i.e. PROGRESSIVE), it converts to numbers as soon as I hit connect.
June 21, 2010 at 7:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tmegredy (anonymous) says...
Sorry...I hold down the alt key, type the letters and it converts to numbers as soon as i hit connect.
June 21, 2010 at 7:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oh4theluvof (anonymous) says...
I still don't understand why people don't have this memorized: 2= ABC, 3=DEF, 4=GHI, etc.
June 21, 2010 at 10:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StrongCityCitizen (anonymous) says...
I lost interest in this letter when I realized the author was in fact from outer space.
June 21, 2010 at 11:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
And to think back in the day smoke signals were used for long distance and toll free calls.
June 23, 2010 at 5:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Where I come from we have the coconut wireless. Just drum out your message on the side of a coconut tree with a big stick.
June 23, 2010 at 8:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
You've got two coconuts and you're bangin' em together!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzcLQR...
Patsy
June 24, 2010 at 10:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )