Frextr

Briefly: Choosing Frextr as our text message service provider was a costly mistake. We had a «bait and switch» type of experience whether intentional on their part or not. Our monthly flat rate changed to a flat rate plus per text charge when our text client list was large and well established which meant significant cost increases. Because Frextr does not allow you to transfer your text list to another text provider, you are «forced» to stay with their service and pay their rates or lose all your text clients. We experienced increased rates with short notice and account cancellation (twice) with no notice.
Details: We were a client in good standing for 6 months and dealt exclusively with owner Heather M. When setting up the account, a flat monthly rate was of primary importance which Heather assured was Frextr policy. When our text list reached approximately 1100 we received an email announcing a price increase and as a «high volume client» a per text charge now applied to us. At our current text usage it more than doubled our monthly cost. With a planned holiday promotion requiring multiple texts, our increased costs were projected to go well beyond that. After a simple email asking about the portability of our text clients, Heather cancelled our account with a «good bye and good luck building your new list» type of email response. Our text client list, which we had been carefully building for 6 months, was gone. We didn’t realize that, unlike other text service providers, Frextr acts as the «owner» of your list. You must do (and pay) as they say or lose your list and be forced to start from the beginning with another carrier. At this time we had no intention of leaving Frextr – we had just wanted to know our options. After discussing this with Heather, we agreed to continue at a flat rate for a few more months and if our text client list continued to grow we would renegotiate the cost. With our holiday promotion underway we soon found our marketing efforts hindered by Frextr’s three message per week limit and were concerned about future costs associated with our growing client list. We found another text service provider which better met our needs. We planned to continue with Frextr until our clients transitioned to the new service. After sending the first text referring our clients to the new service Heather cancelled our account without notice. We had paid for service through the end of the month, and expected to get that service, but that was not the case. Our mistake was viewing Frextr as a text message «service provider», not the «owner» of our customer client base. Frextrs’ abrupt deletion of our account caused us to lose clients. There are many choices for text services providers and many options that deserve consideration. Our new text service provider allows us to transfer our clients and does not cancel services if our account is current. As an added bonus we now have a 160 character text limit instead of Frextrs 140 limit, which is a definite advantage.