Soapbox

I was emailed about a service called WatchoverU.com, which acts as a reporting system, advising 3 nominated people of your failure to report in by a specified time. It costs 50p per event, and you can pay for credits in advance.

All well and good, but what a palaver! Why not just speak to/phone/text/email the friend of your choice and say "I am going to Glencoe, if I don't call back by 5pm on Tuesday, let the emergency services know"?

Or am I missing something?

Grendel, I agree.  Not so much a business plan as a shot in the dark.  They say:

You could of course notify your friends, family and colleagues in advance of your planned activities but this is likely to cause them to worry about you. Using the WatchOverU™ service avoids this situation and, provided you check-in as planned, your friends, family and colleagues are not involved.

But friends, family and colleagues (mine anyway) wouldn't worry about me, because rightly or wrongly they think I'm competent and responsible.  They might even value the trust I'd placed in them.    

Maybe the target market is people who go to Glencoe secretly, after telling friends, family and colleagues that they're attending a funeral in Swindon, painting their gran's bathroom, having an affair, or something. 

I'm not buying any shares in this venture.

Reinventing the wheel I'd say.

In the words of Theo Paphitis: I'm Out!

Nothing wrong with re-inventing the wheel, we do it all the time.  But it should result in a better wheel!

Steve D

We're always happy to get feedback, good or bad, but in response to the comments so far -

1. Making one short phone call to the WatchOverU service may be less 'palaver' than making three calls or sending three text messages/emails to your friends/family.
2. The WatchOverU service is real time and confirms your activity is recorded. Using SMS or email with no acknowledgement from the recipient is no guarantee that anyone has acknowledged your message or will raise the alarm if you don't check in.
3. If you don't check in, the WatchOverU alarm process is fully automatic so it doesn't rely on someone remembering what you asked them to do.
4. Accidents, and the unexpected, can happen to competent and responsible people and that's why Mountain Rescue, and other similar organisations, advise you to always leave details about what you are doing so that if you do not return as planned the alarm can be raised immediately.
5. The WatchOverU service is designed for business and consumer use and has many more features/functions available via the web site to manage and monitor groups of lone workers and other potentially vulnerable people.
6. And finally, this is not an investment pitch.

Hope that clarifies things.