Forum Discussion
[Announcement] BIG NEWS: You can now text shortcodes! 🎉
"Unfortunately, if you want to text premium rate short-codes, you'll need to switch to another service provider" is not really the right answer. Smarty have promised Short Codes for long enough now, surely it's time to implement this feature. Three are offering similar tariffs at the moment and include this feature. As you do sit on Three, is difficult to understand why it isn't implemented. Maybe time for an alternative after all.
Completely agree.
I am a very happy Smarty customer, but they have been promising short codes to come now for well over a year. The promise was on the official site FAQs and has now "mysteriously disappeared". I work on London Underground, and the BTP short code number, 61016, is NOT premium, it's an essential service that is advertised widely on EVERY station and in the "See it say it sort it" message on ALL the rail services in the UK. It is the best way of getting any message to the BTP, for example if a sexual assault has occured, it is a way to discreetly report it, without having to speak and get upset, especially if you're still in the presence of the person who's doing it. I have witnessed many occasions when BTP respond very quickly to these messages, directly to the phone number they're sent from, or turning up at the station before the customer has even arrived there.
Yet this service cannot be used by Smarty customers.
Similarly, British Gas and other utilities have FREE short codes to enable you to report gas and water leaks. Or submit meter readings.
It's simply wrong to not have these services available. In the event of BTP this is an essential service that cannot be used.
Get with the program Smarty and fulfill your promise. I personally don't care about the premium TV voting numbers and competition lines, but at the very least you should give access to potentially life saving numbers that are free or very cheap to acces. Like:- https://www.btp.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/images/british-transport-police/pdfs/how-to-text-61016.pdf
Joined smarty two weeks ago (4 sims for the family) Will be going elsewhere when my month is up, it is utterly obsurb your can't txt short code sms (even free ones and for vital services etc)
Storm123 If short code text service is an important feature for you then you are certainly right in leaving to find a network that supports it.
As I have written before, if the accountants at Smarty lose enough business, theoretically there will come a point where any cost of allowing short code sms will be worth it.
6 months on from this post and still Smarty continue to promise “we’re looking at this.” In the meantime I’ve been unable to reply to doctors messages about flu jabs and other important issues, and spent hours in the phone to them instead. Been unable to respond to unsubscribe to marketing messages from British Gas, using the simple STOP message.
Frankly, this is piss poor. I think maybe we should protest by starting a thousand new threads asking for it, instead of all replying on one thread. Then the strength of feeling will be clear for existing and new members considering joining Smarty just from looking at the forum.
I have contacted BTP to ask why they charge for 61016 but they have not replied. Sadly 61016 is flawed because even if short codes work on a carrier's package, if you pay a fixed fee per month and don't have credit for out of package calls and texts you can't message 61016. It would help if they at least published a regular mobile number that could be used instead.
PaulBurl_304739 I think you make a very good point here.
I must admit that I have never thought of short code texts for that kind of usage, but it does appear to be essential. Why not raise this as a formal complaint with Smarty so that it can be progressed up the 'food chain'?
