Re:Plumber vs. programmer: a face-off over an online directory
by nym on Wednesday November 04, 2009 @07:25PM
(#922968)
My mistake, Google isn't doing this (I thought they did?). Facebook does for outbound links, for example http://www.datmansymbol.com/ is actually:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.datma...
The right approach would be to have the hivemind number say "Connecting you to <phone number>... one moment please", at least being more transparent about the process. I just think there is an ethical way to proxy numbers.
Incidentally, Hotels.com forces you to use their 800 number as well, although they have an established relationship. I often will google the hotel name to get the real number, since you know, I might have questions about the hotel that hotels.com can't actually answer.
This fool has wedged himself between the client and business and in the process has hijacked the business' phone number. When helphive goes out of business how many people will still try to contact their local plumber, get a no signal tone and assume the plumber is no longer in business?