I visited the Poppy Appeal website today. I read this:

This year, the Legion is offering you a different way to give to the Poppy Appeal! By texting the word POPPY to 85099, you can download one of three Poppy images to your mobile phone in return for a donation of £1.50

Each download (two of which are animated) feature the Poppy icon with the words ‘Remember’ and the time and date of the Two Minute Silence on 11th November

By downloading the Poppy you will also receive a text reminder on the day before 11th November to remind you to pause for the Two Minute Silence.

Seemed like a good idea, and perhaps a talking point which is never a bad thing when our ex-servicemen are concerned.

So I plugged the number into my mobile phone, typed POPPY, and waited for a reply with a confirmation of payment.

I’ve never ordered any ringtones or such like for my phone before, so I don’t know what usually happens. What I expected was a reply message with the image attached. What I received was a message saying ‘Poppy download’.

I’m reasonably quick witted and so I noticed the ‘Goto’ menu command. I clicked it. This sent me to the download page on the mobile version of the Internet. I’ve never used this mobile-internet before, and I have no idea if it costs money.

I’m presented with 3 pictures. I select one and click the ‘go’ button. That sends me to a blank screen.

Great.

I press backup and try selecting the next one. Same blank screen.

Backup again, but unfortunately 3rd time is not a charm either.

Then I spot the text hidden at the bottom of the screen and realise I may have paid 3 times. Either that or not at all. How do I know?

I decide to call it quits, and then I receive a succession of 3 messages all saying ‘to download later please visit’ and then a long web address. Umm. What do I do? Do I go to it on my computer or on the phone? I try the phone, it seems sensible. I arrive at that blank screen again.

Damn.

Has that cost me another £1.50?

One last try, I copy the web address into my computer browser.

Aha.

No wait, it’s telling me the address isn’t correct.

I double check and realise I’ve missed a ‘c’. I add it.

Blank page.

ARGH!

I don’t really care about the image and reminders, but I would like to know if I’ve donated or not. Are these ordering systems not tested properly — preferably by people who don’t know what they are doing?

I’m thinking the answer is no.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 22:14 UTC and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.