Scott's Pet Peeve #8446
by Scott Hardie on July 12, 2010
Not all mobile phones mix a qwerty keypad with their main numerical keypad, but I have an old Blackberry that does. That makes me especially frustrated by companies that only provide a letter-based phone number without showing a numerical alternative (800-LIKE-THIS). I just went to cancel Nutrisystem, and of course they require you to call a counselor rather than just cancel online, and the only number they give is 888-459-THIN. I actually started double-tapping the H before I realized it wasn't going to work. In retrospect, I could have searched online or maybe even brought something up on the screen to map letters to numbers, but instead I searched through a pile of old junk to find a landline phone that I haven't used in five years. After sitting through two commercials and two live sales pitches to continue the program, I finally managed to cancel.
Seven Replies to Scott's Pet Peeve #8446
Erik Bates | July 12, 2010
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Steve Dunn | July 12, 2010
Hmmm, that doesn't seem to work on mine. I don't think my Blackberry is that old, either. I think it is this model: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrytour/
An additional problem is that there ARE letters associated with the number keys... but they're not the letters traditionally associated with telephone keypads. 123 = WER. 456 = SDF. 789 = ZXC.
Tony Peters | July 12, 2010
I only have a Motorola F3 which is likely the most un-tech cellphone
Scott Hardie | July 13, 2010
I would like a more un-tech cellphone. I guess it's nice to be able to get online every once in a while when I'm stuck at an airport or something, but the connection is so slow that I rarely bother. (This site's Dashboard auto-refreshes before it has finished downloading the page, so it never finishes.) I really don't use my phone for anything but calls and a few text messages, and I would like a phone that just handled those functions well and skipped the bells and whistles. I know the Jitterbug is marketed to senior citizens, but it holds a certain appeal. I guess this should make me feel old.
Jackie Mason | July 14, 2010
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Lori Lancaster | July 16, 2010
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Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Mayhem
Last night I saw Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson. This morning I discovered that Walgreens sells a pretty good neck brace for $11.99. Aaron Shurtleff bought my Mayhem Festival ticket in May as a gift, and I'm grateful to have another generous friend. Go »A Friend Received This Fortune in His Fortune Cookie
"Wow! A secret message from your teeth." Go »Pass Me the Green, I Need Some Trees with My Tennessee
Kelly and I just took a short vacation to Gatlinburg: Two days there, with two full days of driving to make it happen. We've been itching to get out of the house during this awful pandemic (and to use Kelly's PTO before it expires), but with options limited for places to go safely, we realized that we could rent a cabin with family and just go hiking and birdwatching and grilling, avoiding crowds in favor of natural spaces. Kelly's immediate family from Illinois drove over to join us. Go »Going Green
This thing might turn out to be as short-lived as my other two attempts at a personal blog, but damn it if I haven't craved having such an outlet for the better part of a year now. It seems like a week doesn't go by that I don't have some little adventure to turn into an anecdote or a frustration to rant about. My idle thoughts are as pointless as anybody else's, I realize, but that's what the Internet is for (besides porn). Go »More Hypocrisy
Well, now that I've written at length on TC about how I consider online videos an unpleasant medium, this is the perfect time to share some! This year's Lazy Sunday might be this SNL bit with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samburg. NSFW. Go »
Steve Dunn | July 12, 2010
Preach on, brother. I've had the same problem with the Blackberry keypad.