Home
News
Chat
Markets
Screener
Portfolio
Latest
Watchlists 
Recently, I wanted to find the phone number of a company to get some plumbing supplies. Since I was at work and I had a physical directory, I knew it would be best to find the number before I went on the road for lunch, because with my smartphone freezing (the way it has been for the last couple months), I knew trying to look it up online while I was on the road would have been a hassle.
Then it dawned on me, that I do recall some ongoing promotion about texting to get a number from the yellow pages. Not being afraid to try new things (and with the assurance that it was free), I typed the name of the company I was looking for and sent the text to the number as required. Here is what happened next – a review of my experience with this service.
My First Experience
This is the series of messages sent between my phone and the text 4-yellow number (493-5569). Below I show what I sent and the response received.
ME: Jamaica plumbing supplies
Text 4-Yellow (493-5569):
Txt number for info
1.Jamaica Plumbing Suppl
2.Tropical Pool Supplies
3.Atlantic Hardware & Pl
4.Manpower And Maintenan
5.Bent’s Plumbing Servic
Txt N for Next
ME: 1
Text 4-Yellow (493-5569):
Jamaica Plumbing Supplies Limited
56 Molynes Rd Kingston 10 Jamaica
876-901-5394
Or: 876-937-3116
Fax: 876-757-3882
Wow I thought! This is quick, efficient and free – everything I would have dreamed of. I do not see it getting better than this. Immediately I was sold on the service. This all took place in seconds by the way, because as soon as you send the text message, the response is on its way. Beat that smart phone.
Based on my first impressions, I am recommending it fully to everyone, and of course not just anyone with a smart phone…. I mean everyone! Go ahead and try it. I think this is a great service (as I’ve said before), because
- It’s quick,
- It’s easy,
- It’s for every phone, and
- It’s free
And even if there was a cost attached to the service, I think people would still be using it (of course not as much). But I think it was a good idea to keep it free.
The Other Part Of The Story
Next morning, on my way to work, being proud of what I discovered, I decided to show off on my wife. I told her I could find the number of any place she wanted. This was while we were driving, so what I was about to demonstrate to her had to work. Give me the name of a place I said. Ok, Ok, I have an idea… and I typed ‘Kingston Public Hospital’. Here’s how that turned out.
ME: Kingston Public Hospital
Text 4-Yellow (493-5569):
Txt number for info
1.St Joseph’s Hospital
2.Andrews Memorial Hospi
3.MoBay Hope Medical Cen
4.Royale Medical Clinic
5.University Of Technolo
Txt N for Next Pa
Ok so no KPH as I thought. Hmm. Interesting. Ok maybe it’s on the next page. So I continued.
ME: N
Text 4-Yellow (493-5569):
Txt number for info
6.Jamaica Library Servic
7.Headline Entertainment
8.Chang Stephen F Dr
9.Hospitals
10.Courts
Txt N for Next Page
Wow, this is getting even more interesting. I cannot get the number for Kingston Public Hospital. Hmm. Not only that, it starts to give me a lot of non-hospital places. Jamaica Library Service? Huh?
Anyways, I decided to text 9 to see what hospitals it would bring up.
ME: 9
Text 4-Yellow (493-5569):
Hospitals
16 1/2 Windward Rd Kingston 2 Jamaica
876-928-1380
876-928-1381
876-928-1382
876-928-1383
876-928-1384
876-928-1385
876-928-1386
Txt M for More
Ooooook then.
Final Thoughts
Go ahead and try it. Despite that KPH experience (which I’m sure they’ll fix), it has been good so far. I did check for another number after that and it worked fine. While I do expect the service to work as advertised (because it will definitely annoy people if it doesn’t), I can understand the issues with just rolling it out, and with trying to understand what a user will text in.
This is a good product and a big time saver. Good job.
UPDATE 19/06/2014: A little after this article was published I noticed that text messages were not going through and no response was being received, even up to June 19, 2014. It seems the service is down. I encountered someone in a yellow pages promotional t-shirt at the Pegasus Hotel recently who advised that they have taken the service down – however I have not seen anything in the media to that effect.
