Maltacom may issue supplement

Maltacom could consider issuing a supplement with the rectified incorrect entries if more errors in the 2004 telephone directory are reported, the company's CEO Stephen Muscat, said.

However, the percentage of errors was so minimal - 168 of 197,000 numbers since the new directory was circulated by the beginning of May - that the list would make up no more than a page of the 888 pages of the directory, Mr Muscat said.

The supplement, or addendum, would be in the form of a leaflet, sent in with a phone bill.

Letters in the press complaining about wrong entries in the new telephone directory called for the immediate issue of a supplement with corrections.

However, many of the 168 erroneous entries resulted from mistakes by customers, who ignored a form sent out in August 2003 asking them to confirm their contact details, Mr Muscat said. In the majority of cases, customers did not return the letter with their changes.

A media campaign had been launched to explain how to complete the forms, the deadline extended for the convenience of the customers, and about 30,000 letters were sent in.

Not all the forms received by Maltacom were correct and the company set up a six-strong team to call its customers, even after office hours, to check on their unclear entries in a lengthy data-cleansing process.

The directory was proofread three times and sample checks were carried out - telephone numbers were randomly selected and called to confirm details.

Nevertheless, each one of the 168 wrong entry complaints is being individually checked and verified. Being private information, despite letters in the press, they are being answered on a one-to-one basis, Mr Muscat said, adding that just because the complaints appeared in the paper, they were not necessarily justified. For example, he added, one individual complained that his details were not in the book when in fact they were.

To ensure that the entries are correct, Maltacom is carrying out an exercise whereby it is comparing data between the 2000 directory and this year's. It is taking three random entries from each page, seeing if there is a difference and, if so, finding out why.

From statistics, it appears that 90 per cent of about 1,000 entries are the same in both editions. The remaining 10 per cent are being investigated, Mr Muscat.

Unfortunately, an element of human error cannot be avoided but such mistakes have been immediately corrected on the directory enquiry service (1182), the white pages online and a subsequent edition of the CD-ROM, he said.

Apology letters and even tokens have been sent to those who complained that their names were omitted even if they were not right while other complaints have been cleared over the phone.

Maltacom was receiving about 30 complaints a day about the non-delivery of the new directory but the problem was that many subscribers thought that if they had three numbers they should receive three copies.

According to the Malta Communications Authority directive, one customer was entitled to one free copy, Mr Muscat clarified.

A number of the directories that were not received had been stolen and, in some instances, children had put them together and placed them in a corner, he said, insisting that door-to-door distribution is the norm, carried out everywhere overseas.

Maltacom was dealing with the issue and has given some directories to the local councils to distribute where necessary.

With regard to the postcodes, which the directory does not include and which gave rise to complaints, round about the last quarter of 2003 Maltacom was informed that the postcodes would be changing and so it did not want to take the risk of inserting incorrect ones.

"Anyway, looking up a number does not require a postcode but just a surname and an indication of where the person lives. The thing is the directory is often used as an address book," Mr Muscat said. The preparation of the 2004 directory dates back to 2002 when the MCA issued a consultation paper on directory services.

The new directory includes a first aid page, which has been reintroduced for the first time since 1987. "A customer had referred to the page in the directory to save the life of a member of his family and had asked to have it inserted again," Mr Muscat said. The real test of the directory lies in the fact that it is strong enough to be lifted from one page and not rip, he added.

Maltacom said the collection of old directories, which is being linked to a lottery, would be announced in the media within the next two weeks.

The old directories are being collected to be recycled.

Maltacom is also donating 150 directory CD-ROMs to the Foundation for IT Accessibility (FITA).

Any directory complaints can be made on Freephone 8007 2333, which is open 24/7.