"James Harris" wrote in message
...
On 01/11/2015 14:16, James Harris wrote:
I was looking to get a B&Q Trade account set up (for which I meet the
requirements) but the quid pro quo is that they want ways to 'inform me
of special offers' etc.

I don't mind them having my email address but I don't want to give them
my mobile number. Unfortunately they apparently insist on a mobile
number that they can send SMS text advertising to.

Anyone else had this issue with B&Q Trade accounts and, if it wasn't
acceptable to you either, what did you do to get round it?

For the above: I looked around for a web service that would allow me to
receive and send SMS text messages online. That should work as long as I
could get a dedicated, i.e. private, mobile phone number.

Most sites I found were for bulk SMS sending services. Yuck.

Some sites have free shared numbers where everyone can read what's sent to
the number. Not quite what I need.

Others seem to have private numbers that can be rented on a monthly basis.
That would do for me. The best-looking one I found was

http://www.secretme.net

but I cannot find out anything useful about the site so I don't know how
legitimate it is.

Anyone know about that site or know of another online service that would
allow private SMS communication?

Walk into any Asda and pick up a free SIM card, put it into your phone and
it will have 25p credit, this is enough for a few calls and texts.

Give this number to B&Q, wait until they verify it, they'll probably ring it
or text you when you open the account.

Throw the sim card in the bin.

Profit.