This is a Gouge Free Zone!
Other vanity number resporgs are offering to get 855 numbers. They are charging between $500 and $5,000 (for the same thing we charge $8 or $49). To be fair I hear the company charging $5,000 (CustomTollFree) has lowered their price to $2,995. It’s not easy to tell though, because they obviously don’t want to put a price right up front. I don’t blame them. If I was gouging people like that I wouldn’t talk about the price very much either. I’d probably just make up lots of reasons why they were so much better at getting numbers.
I guess some people may just assume that if they’re charging that much more they must be doing a better job at it. The truth is, that they just have a very different business model. I’m sure they’re getting at least a few customer requests, but vanity number brokers aren’t worried about customer requests anyway. Vanity number resporgs don’t need customer requests to go after anything they think would be valuable. They just suck up as many numbers as fast as they can.
I run my business very differently. I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to gouge customers even if the demand is so high that they think they can get away with it. I run my business differently and simply charge a small fee based on the time and effort required for it. We’re charging a whole $8.55 to submit your request to your regular phone company and then we’re going to charge the same $49 we always charge if we can get it for you too (minus of course the $8.55 you already paid). There’s simply no justification for charging more, other than a few people may be willing to pay it. If you’re desperate, and willing to pay thousands of dollars, you can find someone to take your money. I prefer to charge an honest price even if the demand goes up and everyone else thinks its smarter to gouge! That’s why I say this is a Gouge Free Zone.
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Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
August 29, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Custom Toll Free’s price is actually $500 down and $2000 if they are able to get it for you. They are making excuses that they offer a “Premium” service. OK, right. But isn’t that what anyone gouging the customer would say?? I mean they’re not going to admit that they’re gouging customers. They’re just going to come up with excuses why they charge 10 times as much or more for it. So the fact that they have an excuse doesn’t mean it’s not gouging. Gouging by definition is charging more because of excessive or increased demand.
If you think you’re going to get 10 times as much chance to get the number just because you pay 10 times as much, look up the definition of GULLIBLE while you’re at it. The difference is whether you put the customer first or your profit first.
The only thing worse than gouging is requesting a number because of a customer’s request and then instead of giving it to the customer he requested it for he’s auctioning the 855 number off to the highest bidder (that didn’t necessarily put in a request for it)! I know that sounds preposterous, but that’s exactly what Loren Stocker at Vanity International is doing! In my opinion, that’s squarely against the FCC regulations, again no matter what excuse Loren wants to make. He can write all kinds of completely made up stuff about me he wants, but if there was ever an example of a broker trying to bend the rules, he’s clearly it. I guess that’s why he hates me so much, because I’m not marking up my prices or auctioning off numbers like that.
Bill Quimby