TxtNation -- con artists, or small-time amateurs?

tomhr · **TxtNation -- con artists, or small-time amateurs? -** 06-09-2008, 07:47 AM

Friday morning, I tried to add ten bucks to my MP3Sparks account, using CMPass, TxtNation, and Paypal. Things went kablooey.

In another thread, HaMuse gave the toll-free 866 number for TxtNation. So I called them about an hour ago (Sunday night, late at night USA time). What I expected to hear was either:

a) "Nobody is here. Please call back during normal business hours: Monday..."

b) "Your call is important to us ...blah, blah ... monitored for quality-assurance purposes ... blah-blah ... will be with you shortly."

Instead, a perky female voice informed me that "all our representatives are busy helping other customers, so please go to our website or leave a callback number."

Meaning: Leave us a message, and we'll get back with you eventually. Maybe.

Well, only because I have been coming here to AOM3 for a while am I even slightly hopeful that this mess will eventually be straightened out. If I were a newbie, I'd be convinced the "Txtnation" was just a bunch of con artists, or else was just Jonathan Rowsell operating out of his basement.

As it is, I changed my Paypal password.

Question: Since Friday, has anyone tried paying through TxtNation by using an honest-to-god credit card instead of Paypal? How did that work out?

chris7 · **Txtnation Update -** 06-09-2008, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomhr

Friday morning, I tried to add ten bucks to my MP3Sparks account, using CMPass, TxtNation, and Paypal. Things went kablooey.

In another thread, HaMuse gave the toll-free 866 number for TxtNation. So I called them about an hour ago (Sunday night, late at night USA time). What I expected to hear was either:

a) "Nobody is here. Please call back during normal business hours: Monday..."

b) "Your call is important to us ...blah, blah ... monitored for quality-assurance purposes ... blah-blah ... will be with you shortly."

Instead, a perky female voice informed me that "all our representatives are busy helping other customers, so please go to our website or leave a callback number."

Meaning: Leave us a message, and we'll get back with you eventually. Maybe.

Well, only because I have been coming here to AOM3 for a while am I even slightly hopeful that this mess will eventually be straightened out. If I were a newbie, I'd be convinced the "Txtnation" was just a bunch of con artists, or else was just Jonathan Rowsell operating out of his basement.

As it is, I changed my Paypal password.

Question: Since Friday, has anyone tried paying through TxtNation by using an honest-to-god credit card instead of Paypal? How did that work out?

Dear Tom,

Have some patience and I am sure things will get sorted with txtnation.

The reason I say that is I have been in contact with Jon Rowsell who is a Director of txtnation, he has sorted out my problem and issued me with a new Password after problems last Friday. I have just added to my sparks account some 15 minutes ago, all worked perfect.

He has also promised me he will join this forum so people like yourself will be able to get in touch with him. He has been reading this forum anyway for a while.

Anyone else having problems, give it some time to see what happens with these promises, but so far, my dealings with txtnation in general and Mr Jon Rowsell in particular have been good.

Starcat · 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris7

Dear Tom,

Have some patience and I am sure things will get sorted with txtnation.

The reason I say that is I have been in contact with Jon Rowsell who is a Director of txtnation, he has sorted out my problem and issued me with a new Password after problems last Friday. I have just added to my sparks account some 15 minutes ago, all worked perfect.

He has also promised me he will join this forum so people like yourself will be able to get in touch with him. He has been reading this forum anyway for a while.

Anyone else having problems, give it some time to see what happens with these promises, but so far, my dealings with txtnation in general and Mr Jon Rowsell in particular have been good.

Just had to back up Chris and agree with him.
As I had previously posted, I had the same problem with not being able to use the password I was given last Friday.
This morning received an e-mail from Txtnation issuing me a new password, which I was able to use to top up my Sparks balance with no trouble.
So, thumbs up and well done to Txtnation for sorting out these issues

tomhr · 03:42 PM

When things went kablooey on Friday, I got this message from CMPASS: "Your password has expired. Please get a new password."

(Translation: "It's not our fault.")

Just now I went to TxtNation's web site. I got this message:

Quote:

Dear User:

Unfortunately, we cannot assist you with your problem. The username and password are both controlled by the web site to which you bought access. txtNation supply the billing platform itself, rather than the user access software.

You will have to get in touch with the webmaster or customer care line of the web site you visited for more information about resolving this issue.

Please accept my apologies for not being in a position to offer further help.

(Translation: "It's not our fault, it's CMPASS's fault.")

The RIAA is chortling -- without having to do a thing, or spend a dime, MP3SPARKS is losing customers.

condo · 06-09-2008, 03:51 PM

Following Chris7's comment above I searched for Jon Roswell. I found

j.rowsell@txtnation.com

I sent him a polite note to the effect that

1. my password wasnt working
2. all emails to support@txtnation.com got returned

12 hours later I got an email back from him, apologising for the glitch and explaining that support@txtnation.com wasnt working because of the thru'put of spam or summat like that -- and a new password to try.

It all went through smoothly -- altho the first two times the system said I'd entered the wrong Turing code, which I'm sure I didnt as I checked it carefully -- upper / lower case etc. -- before continuing. After that it worked and I got the numbers and subseuqently codes etc from CMpass.

So, Jon Roswell exists, and I'd say theyre not con artists ...

c

Damo · 06-09-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by condo

Following Chris7's comment above I searched for Jon Roswell. I found

j.rowsell@txtnation.com

I sent him a polite note to the effect that

1. my password wasnt working
2. all emails to support@txtnation.com got returned

12 hours later I got an email back from him, apologising for the glitch and explaining that support@txtnation.com wasnt working because of the thru'put of spam or summat like that -- and a new password to try.

It all went through smoothly -- altho the first two times the system said I'd entered the wrong Turing code, which I'm sure I didnt as I checked it carefully -- upper / lower case etc. -- before continuing. After that it worked and I got the numbers and subseuqently codes etc from CMpass.

So, Jon Roswell exists, and I'd say theyre not con artists ...

c

I would think that the RIAA are not above a little cyber disruption in the same way that the sea is not above the sky

tomhr · 06-09-2008, 06:45 PM

Condo, I took the email addy you gave out here and emailed Jonathan Rowsell. An hour later or so, he emailed me back with a new password. It worked, and $11.10 was credited to my MP3SPARKS balance. "Secure from Red Alert."

But I had to come here, and read your post, to get the crucial info. All those other schlubs who tried to do the CMPASS-TXTNATION-PAYPAL trick last Friday, they're still SOL.

Solaris, maybe you can add to one of the stickies, "If you have trouble with TxtNation, email j.rowsell@txtnation.com"?

ashlgara · 06-09-2008, 07:54 PM

I've also emailed Mr. Roswell and will post with an update as soon as I hear back from him

edit: for bad grammer

tomhr · 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashlgara

I've also emailed Mr. Roswell and will post with an update as soon as I hear back from him.

Note that his name is Rowsell (rhymes with "cowbell") when you're typing-in his email address. If you type "Roswell," it either won't get delivered, or aliens will read it.

solaris · **Mr. Rowsell -** 06-09-2008, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomhr

Condo, I took the email addy you gave out here and emailed Jonathan Rowsell. An hour later or so, he emailed me back with a new password. It worked, and $11.10 was credited to my MP3SPARKS balance. "Secure from Red Alert."

But I had to come here, and read your post, to get the crucial info. All those other schlubs who tried to do the CMPASS-TXTNATION-PAYPAL trick last Friday, they're still SOL.

Solaris, maybe you can add to one of the stickies, "If you have trouble with TxtNation, email j.rowsell@txtnation.com"?

Thanks, Tom, I'll do so