DISQUS

Matt Jones · 4 months ago

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.

technokitten · 4 months ago

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.

Kip Hakes · 4 months ago

*Points Up* What she said.. :)

Mike42 · 4 months ago

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 - 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.

edit: right, I'm off to try Vox Sciences. I suspect they might melt, but this has to be the best possible leg-up they could possibly get.

/m

Alex Kinch · 4 months ago

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 about 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.

njar · 4 months ago

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

Kirk "Grumpy" Bateman · 4 months ago

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.

Jonathan · 4 months ago

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?

Ewan · 4 months ago

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

Jeremiah Anway · 4 months ago

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. :-\

acurrie · 4 months ago

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 · 4 months ago

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 · 4 months ago

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??

njar · 4 months ago

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

former user · 4 months ago

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.

Rax Lakhani · 4 months ago

I'm with Helen on this...

Blindman · 4 months ago

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 · 4 months ago

@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?

Ewan · 4 months ago

Do you think that's what it will take?

Ewan · 4 months ago

Do you think that's what it will take?