Dubai: Gulf News readers reacted strongly against the new SMS quiz introduced by telecom service provider etisalat.
Readers wrote in to gulfnews.com sharing their experiences when they received the text messages from the company.
Hussain Raj, a Dubai-based reader, wrote online: “I got the initial message of winning Dh25,000 if I replied, with Dh5 per message. As soon as I went for it, I got another message saying that now I have to answer a quiz to get in the draw and it will cost [me] another Dh5. Etisalat should have made that clear in their first message. I stopped right away.”
Sample questions from etisalat's latest SMS quiz
However, other readers were not as lucky, with many spending a lot of money answering the questions.
Paul Michael, a Dubai-based reader, said that his difficult financial situation played a huge role in him spending more than Dh180 and gathering over 41,900 points replying to the questions, in the hope of winning the daily prize of Dh25,000 or the monthly prize of Dh250,000.
He wrote: “I received the text message and … participated many times. With the website’s name and [the fact that] it is from etisalat, who wouldn’t fall for that? The authorities or whoever is responsible must take action on this matter and prevent this from happening again.”
Another reader who identified himself as Jamal from Abu Dhabi questioned the validity of the quiz in his website comment: “Etisalat is a telecom company with a mandate of providing telecom services. It is already posting huge profits along with its competitor Du. Why are both of these telecom service providers starting such schemes? Is it TRA [Telecommunications Regulatory Authority] approved?”
SMS quiz
Etisalat's latest promotion claims they have a chance of winning Dh25,000 in cash.
"Lucky" potential candidates receive an initial text message from etisalat's 1000 shortcode number, asking them to text "win" back to the number. Customers are then sent basic general knowledge questions and pay Dh5 for each answer they send to be entered into a cash-prize draw.
After customers get the first general knowledge question, a continuous stream of questions is sent, encouraging users to spend more money entering the draw.
On the etisalat promotion website www.sendandwin.ae the scheme is described as an "SMS-based Mobile Content Download Service where you can send an SMS in order to download mobile content (i.e. wallpapers). In addition you get a chance to win high value prizes through a Trivia Game" — this, however, is not explained in the SMS sent to customers.
Despite repeated attempts by Gulf News, etisalat was not available for comment on Sunday, but said they would issue a statement on Monday.
With each SMS one "virtual credit" is obtained to be used on the promotion website, plus 10 (or more) points to participate in the trivia game; extra points are given for completing challenges.
With input from Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter
Have you received this message? Did you reply to it? How much have you spent on it? Do you know anyone who has won?
