Samba Mobile Closing Down

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max_beerbohm wrote: »

With rival 'play and pay' systems like Nectar Adpoints you have to click on prompts to show you are still watching.

<rant>I stopped watching ads on Nectar Adpoints because I actually watch the ads (better than what's on TV really), and I miss the tiny "are you still watching" messages. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to have the ad stopped just when it gets interesting, only to start over and get stopped again because I forgot to stop watching the ad and keep a lookout for those annoying things instead? They have interesting ads on Nectar Adpoints too, so can they keep their stupid points and let me watch the ads?</rant>

marvin

buglawton wrote: »

Really? Vodafone pulled the plug on this one - and disconnected exising users - many months ago, without taking the effort to inform the actual customers.
So is your SIM still working?

After long conversation with Vodafone and being lied to, have the proof will be complaining, it seems they finally pulled the plug at the end of December last year on this deal.

Thank you for the heads up on it I will now try to get my remaining credit back from them.

BTW they say they let everyone know via a text message to the account that the sim was attached to, which is no good if your dongle is not attached to the computer very often as the message will have timed out and not been received. I shall be complaining about this too.

Well sim will go in the bin I will ask them to close the account and I will never darken their door again.

kar999

marvin wrote: »

It would seem it now connects but does not send or receive data.

I think its safe to to say it's been expired and any credit you had is lost. You could try fighting Vodafone Customer service for compensation. Google the vodafone forum for the unexpiring credit thread.

Edit. Just seen your post above. That'll teach me to post after midnight!

epm-84

Earthworm wrote: »

The reason this business model seems to fail is because the target audience doesn't buy the extra add-ons. Why take a free service (or almost free) to then pay more? They also don't make money from the dongle I am assuming they are bought separately.

If you look at their Facebook page and the statement on their website now you'll see this is incorrect as many people (including myself) have purchased additional credit.

I think it's actually the additional credit that Samba lost out on. For ad credits the value of the credit per ad is lower than on Nectar Adpoints - for additional credit it's the same price as when purchased directly from 3 mobile.

Although, now Samba have to refund the unused cash credits but can retain revenues from ad views without making a payout to the people who watched them.

Paul_Varjak

So, both Samba and Ovivo have closed down within weeks of one another. The business model did not seem viable. Were data costs really rising as claimed? Or did the advertisers pull the plug because people simply played adverts without ever buying anything?

I noticed some of the more recent adverts were not even intended to attract sales, but merely information from the Government (including EU)

It was all too easy to start an advert, walk away then come back to click the button and get your 3.5MB credit. Samba should have made their customers click that button immediately the advert ended. That way they could be reasonably certain the advert had actually been watched.

Whatever the reason for the failure, we will probably not see similar business offerings in the future, which is a shame. It certainly helped me stay connected when my broadband connection failed after my house was flooded, with never expiring credit.

Sad to see it go, I am now with GiffGaff.

epm-84

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

It was all too easy to start an advert, walk away then come back to click the button and get your 3.5MB credit. Samba should have made their customers click that button immediately the advert ended. That way they could be reasonably certain the advert had actually been watched

Samba did have a feature installed so if you didn't click the play button quickly enough after the ad loaded then you weren't credited at the end of the ad. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of people experiencing a slow connection were wrongly penalised.

epm-84

Looking at the free company report available for Samba Communications Limited. Mr D.A. Cherrill who was one of two people who originally set up the company resigned on 17/02/2014. Maybe that was the start of the demise?

They are also part owned by Digicel Group - based in the Carribbean and Strident Ventures Limited - based in Gibraltar. The total Shareholder Equity is £155,029. The business is still active i.e. it's not been placed in to administration or dissolved.

kar999

They are probably part of some intricate web of offshore companies which noone can quite get to the bottom of and paying just £315k tax on £12m turnover..

Sorry No.. I'm getting them mixed up with Tony Blair's Company Windrush Ventures.

Torialou78

samba been reading our minds but had an email off them suggesting https://mobi-data.co.uk/freesim/sambamobile.php?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

hope that works lol wil try again if not

kar999

Their over usage charges look dangerously expensive at 2.5p/Mb

What happens if I go over my package allocation?

If you go over your package allocation we will charge you an amount per megabyte (MB) of use in accordance with our Price Table.
We strongly suggest that you keep track of how much you use and upgrade your package if you think that you are going to use more that your package allows, even if only during one month.

.... and they have your payment card details on a recurring continuous payment basis.

When joining MobiData you will be asked to agree to recurring charges from a credit/debit card.

For just over half the price I've just picked up 4 x Three 1GB 30 day sims from Currys for £2.99 each. At least I know where I stand when the data runs out.