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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Steve Dunn | July 12, 2010
Preach on, brother. I've had the same problem with the Blackberry keypad.