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June 28, 2007

Tired of Qtel SMS Advertising

Posted by xtian001@gmail.com at 06:59 AM

Ever get tired of receiving those Advertising SMS messages on your phone from Qtel? Apparently,  a lot have been complaining and so QTEL gives us a way to unsubscribe from those nasty SMS ads:

Several comments were recently received pertaining to SMS messages regarding products, services and commercial advertising by Qtel customers. “Watani Al Habib Sabah Al Kair” program hosted Mr. Mustafa Jameel Al Qatami, Public and Community Relations Manager, Qtel, to respond to the queries. 

Mr Al Qatami said: The SMS messages sent by commercial entities informing of their promotions and discounts are dispatched based on the personal data provided to them by customers; and company name is displayed in the upper portion of the message. In order to avoid receiving these type of SMS messages, you could pursue the following steps:

  • Not to provide your mobile number to businesses, in order to avoid receiving SMS promotional messages.
  • If the messages have been already received, then you can contact the business house directly to request omitting your name from the list, or contact Qtel Customer Service unit on 111 to stop such messages from being sent.
  • If customers wish to stop receiving all types of messages, then they can simply dispatch an SMS message to 2600 while indicating the word UNSub in the message.

Secondly, companies that are furnished with the GSM short code service to sell tones, logos and backgrounds and other downloads through the utilization of Qtel’s switchboard, it must be noted that Qtel furnishes only the required short codes to authorized merchants and it does not supply any customers’ numbers.  This protocol is commonly used in the telecom industry.     

However, since we have received several concerns regarding these authorized companies, Qtel has initiated an overall assessment to capture and penalize companies who have violated the set regulations.

With regard to the International SMS messages, they are received in a cluster manner. Companies pursue such a method by programming known switch country codes as 55/65/65/66 into their computers with a special program to access file containing mobile numbers, where the latter is keyed in a random fashion. Therefore, Qtel has no control over this. However, Qtel engineers are striving to resolve this issue through the use of advanced technologies.

Qtel is also pleased to announce the development of a web page exclusively for its customers which provides telephone numbers and web page addresses to make relevant complaints.

You reach us at www.qtel.com.qa, press “contact us” link written in English. Our complaint email address is customer.service@qtel.com.qa

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June 27, 2007

Im Back!

Posted by xtian001@gmail.com at 08:55 AM
I’m back! Our plane landed at about 9:10 PM and I was able to get out of the airport at about 9:45 where Sandro was waiting for me. The flight from the Philippines to Doha was uneventful. Although checking–in was quite a hassle as I found out that I had an excess of 6 kilos in my baggage. I was allowed 20kg as printed from my e-ticket plus 7 kg more for hand carry and another 15kg for having a Silver membership at Qatar Airways. That gave me 42kg but was still over by 6kg. So I had to go out and have Mavis take 6 kilos off my luggage. Apparently, she placed several bottled medicines/vitamins for Xiane in my suitcase. They were supposed to be able to get a pass to get inside the airport but that failed. Anyway, I got back for the weigh-in and got permission to check-in. They also gave me an invitation to the NorthWest Lounge which I didn’t use. By the way, I was the only one going as Mavis and Xiane are staying for another month.

After passing Immigration, I proceeded to the Diner’s Club Lounge which was on the 4th floor of the airport. I ate some pasta, got some drinks and soup. You get “free” access to the lounge if you are a Diner’s Club credit card holder. I mean free because you don’t have to pay to use the service but you have to pay for the renewal of your card (SR500) every year. It is, however, very convenient for us as you get to eat before your flight if you’re hungry, check the internet (US$4 per hour), and even take a shower. I was waiting for them to inform me when boarding for Qatar Airways get open but as I looked at my watch, I saw that it was already past 3:30 PM. My flight was to leave at 4:40 PM so I hurriedly got down the elevator and went to the boarding gate to see that they were already calling for certain seat numbers. I was to be seated near to the front (18A) so I was among the last to be called.

Anyway, I was able to watch “The Shooter” which starred Mark Wahlberg. It was good enough. I also tried watching “Zodiac” but got bored after the first 10 minutes. I just slept and ate and slept and ate. Oh, the food was ok, better than previous flights.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to update this blog often and add some vacation photos to the gallery too. Till then!

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June 09, 2007

Xiane's Birthday Invitation

Posted by mavisrueda@gmail.com at 09:59 AM
Xiane's Birthday Invitation

This is the cover of Xiane's Birthday invitation. The Belle dress was bought in Hong Kong Disneyland as a present from her Lolo and Mamita. She would be wearing this on her birthday party as the party is themed. All kids invited were requested to show up with their costumes. We're expecting and confirmed 190 guests with 133 adults and 57 kids. We've been busy preparing for the party and hopefully, everything would be ok come June 16 (Saturday).

Follow this link to see the main invite...



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