RSS feedR U a footy fanatic? Get the latest scores sent 2 yr mobile free from vodafone for 4 weeks. Reply 2 this TXT b4 25/03/05 with NRL AFL or Rugby. Call 1509 4 info
So let’s just get this straight. Ten abuses of the English language must be close to a record: R U; 2 yr; shortening of “mobile phone” to “mobile”; no comma after “mobile”; no capitalised Vodafone; 2; b4; missing comma after NRL; 4; and no full stop after “info”. Not to mention the unsolicited SMS, and use of the term “TXT”. My reply:
I hate football. Stop sending me this marketing bullshit.
Vodafone’s response:
You’ve pulled a hamstring so you’re retiring frm footy TXT alerts. U will no longer receive footy updates.For sports results see the Vodafone menu on yr mobile
The English language just isn’t want it used to be, thanks to corporations like Vodafone. For starters they’ve already identified that I’m not a “footy fanatic”, so why continue using the “footy” analogy? Isn’t that just going to annoy me even more? Moving on, we have the “frm” misspelling; the “U”; the missing space after the second full stop; and the “yr”. Inconsistently they now have Vodafone capitalised, but consistently are still missing a closing full stop. My reply, in an equally creative use of the English language:
Fuck off you idiots.
Vodafone’s response:
Whoops, that was a wrong code. Please reply 2 this TXT with either NRL, AFL or Rugby. U can only choose one. Call 1509 for more information.
Right, so having already proven that an unintelligible reply from me means that I’m not interested, why have they considered my second unintelligible reply an invalid code instead of a “no”? Plus we’ve continued with the abuse of English with “2” and “U”, although this time inconsistently they’ve included the comma after “NRL” and have finally put a poor little full stop at the end.
I have no problem with inconsistency, so long as it is a genuine mistake or typo. After all, we’re all human. But when it goes beyond that, you need to seriously question whether this is the kind of person you need in a marketing department, dealing directly with customers.
Vodafone continues to reinforce the now Internet wide opinion that they do not understand their customers, do not understand quality (see my branded phone post), do not understand that markets are conversations, and continue to patronise the very people who keep them in business (see my ring tone conspiracy post), their customers. Get on the clue train.