[Insert another 'SpinVox bashing' post here]

By on July 30, 2009 in News

If you’re still a SpinVox fan — still — say hi below, stand up and be counted.

Otherwise stay silent and be counted as a former fan.

About Ewan

Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
View all posts by Ewan →

  • http://en-gb.facebook.com/matt.rhys.jones Matt Jones

    I'm straight in on this one. Until I see rock solid proof of all of these claims I will remain a happy paying user.

  • http://www.technokitten.com technokitten

    I love the service. I've loved it since 2003 when they first opened for business. I can't imagine ever using voicemail again. If Spinvox disappears, I think I'd just switch voicemail off.

    However I'm not so sure about the management. And the way they've handled this one. I'm disappointed in them. So the jury's still out on that one for me. They've got a lot of fires to fight at the moment so I'm willing to give them some time to work it out. Then I'll make a judgement call.

    In the meantime, Keep Calm and Carry On.

  • http://www.alexkinch.com Alex Kinch

    Now then. Bearing in mind that, apart from us mobile illuminati, SpinVox don't exactly have a huge UK customer base as they don't have (afaik) an operator deal in this part of the world, the interesting feedback will be from customers of SpinVox/operator co-branded solutions around the world. Think Vodafone Spain, Telstra in Australia, etc.

    Oh, and then there's the operators themselves. I've spoken to two very senior people in two operators since this broke, and the same answer came back. “We were thinking at using SpinVox, but after this story broke there's no chance we want our brand – which we've spent millions developing and protecting – to be associated with a company/story like this”.

    Shame really. I used to be a fan, but I feel like I've been lead up the garden path with precisely how good the technology was.

    On a related note, here's an interesting stat. Whilst I've moved away from SpinVox and am currently trying out Vox Sciences, since the SpinVox story broke the amount of people leaving me voicemails of any sort has dropped by over 50%. I just get lots of missed calls now. Now either it's Vox Sciences being crap, or people are warey of leaving their personal details with what they (probably incorrectly) think is a sweat shop.

    I think it's the latter.

  • Kirk "Grumpy" Bateman

    Definately still a supporter, still thinking how I can fit SV into my secret application idea. To be honest I don't really care how it is transcribed if it works well enough. Ok a bit of clarity would be nice, but I agree that a lot of information is company secrets as such.

  • http://www.atmasphere.net/wp Jonathan

    I'm getting ready to stop reading / following with all the bullshit mudslinging you are doing lately. Are you a gossip rag or a news site?

  • http://twitter.com/pseudofinn Jeremiah Anway

    Count me in, sir. I'm a former/currrent/future fan that has had quite enough of the whole thing every time I open up my reader or glance at twitter. The simple fact for me is that SpinVox is great. It works, I honestly don't care how it works, just that it works. I guess I must not be following the story close enough, because it sounds like the tech community has banded together with their proverbial pitchforks, is out for the blood of SpinVox… and I just don't get it. :-

  • http://andrewcurrie.ca acurrie

    I suppose this might be an issue if I had sensitive/private information going to voicemail but honestly, the only person voice calling me these days is my mother ;-)

  • johnhunsley

    OH yeah I love it, I love the fact they told me at the World GSM show that it was 100% automated, I love the fact it is done by millions of under paid poor folk in far off lands, I love the way they pulled the wool over investors eyes and stole £200 million, nice work if you can get it!

    Hey, I got a talking dog! Thats right, a fu@#ing genuine dog that speaks plain English…go ahead ask it any question, it'll give you an answer in plain old English!

    What? you want to see it…………………Err sorry cant actually show you the talking dog but you can speak to it down the phone line……… that good enough for you? ……. that'll be £200 million please

  • AJ

    Its a very British take on mobile tech, no?? Quite funny when I think about it.

    I'm off to start a search engine. Just finalising the algorithms err, third world call centres (that will never get paid).

    Need £200m in funding. Western Union, anyone??

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Opinion! And what's more it's freely given, you're not being charged a cent!

  • former user

    I used SpinVox for over a year for my voicemail and I loved the service. Of the 50 or so message I received, I only had to actually listen to a couple. I'd be willing to pay for it, if it were available in my part of the U.S.

    As a user, I don't mind the privacy problems, so much.

    What I don't like is the thought of not knowing how the call centre workers are being treated. I won't buy Nike shoes if the company was still as secretive as SpinVox about the work conditions of the workers who serve my needs.

  • http://www.kcjhdesign.co.uk Kip Hakes

    *Points Up* What she said.. :)

  • njar

    Do they have a deal with Telstra? Or was this hypothetical? I'm on Telstra and am none the wiser..

  • njar

    What and your iPhone wasn't made in a sweat shop?!

  • Mike42

    Well said Helen. I couldn't face going back to checking VM. I_just_couldn't. It would be like going back to dialup. Or a rotary dial phone.

    I'll give them a month to pony up the goods, but after that I just could not in all good conscience support a service that is a) very useful to me but b) [apparently] runs sweatshops and can't talk to me straight. The danger of engaging the way SV has is that when you let people down, it disappoints and angers much more than if you hadn't engaged in the first place.

    James is a great guy, as I'm sure most of the SV team are. And no-one wants to be in an industry that exploits people. This said, the laptop I'm typing this on, the clothes I'm wearing, the diesel in my car and the beads my kids are playing with are probably, at some stage, tainted by exploitation of people with no other choice but to take the coin.

    If I take my money and give it to – er, bugger, no-one else does this sort of thing, OK – the local pub, then what of the call centre staff? Will they go on to a much better job? Or is the only alternative a Primark/Wal-Mart/Mattel hell-hole? What does that do to my self-justification? Am I being a bit too middle-class-hand-wringing-noddy here? Who do I/we think we are?

    Gaa. I'm confused. FFS, SV management, pull finger and turn this train-wreck around. Or put it back on the rails. Whatever. Don't just sit there like a bunch of stunned mullets while your very useful business goes down the tubes for want of good comms.

    /m

  • http://twitter.com/raxlakhani Rax Lakhani

    I'm with Helen on this…

  • Blindman

    SpinVox is a great product run by some talented people. Their finances are their problem (and their investors). Their bad PR is a pity but not terminal. Every second company employs cheap call-centers in Asia these days. Move onto something more interesting. I am sick of reading the endless SpinVox bashing.

  • pms

    @blindman, it is no about bad PR. it is about the fundamental claim that the company has breakthrough speech automation technology and received $200 million in VC money for it.

    Milo is going to visit the HQ, but is that Marlow or Cambridge? The big question is what % of messages are fully automated without human operators. How do you answer that with a visit to HQ? At HQ you can see how many people are busy working on ASR technology, but how does that help answer the big question? Wouldn't it be better to do what Nike does and let people visit the factories to see what the workers do and how they are treated?

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Do you think that's what it will take?

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Do you think that's what it will take?

  • Alex
  • http://twitter.com/raxlakhani Rax Lakhani

    I'm with Helen on this…

  • Blindman

    SpinVox is a great product run by some talented people. Their finances are their problem (and their investors). Their bad PR is a pity but not terminal. Every second company employs cheap call-centers in Asia these days. Move onto something more interesting. I am sick of reading the endless SpinVox bashing.

  • pms

    @blindman, it is no about bad PR. it is about the fundamental claim that the company has breakthrough speech automation technology and received $200 million in VC money for it.

    Milo is going to visit the HQ, but is that Marlow or Cambridge? The big question is what % of messages are fully automated without human operators. How do you answer that with a visit to HQ? At HQ you can see how many people are busy working on ASR technology, but how does that help answer the big question? Wouldn't it be better to do what Nike does and let people visit the factories to see what the workers do and how they are treated?

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Do you think that's what it will take?

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Do you think that's what it will take?

Switch to our mobile site