Scoot stung by data backlog

LONDON - Scoot.com, the online directory service, is facing problems in inputting the details of business it has signed up. It has admitted it is in danger of losing customers.

Scoot has a large directory of businesses in the UK, accessible by the phone or the internet.

Last summer it acquired Loot, a free-ad newspaper and website, and also began an advertising campaign. This led to a large increase in subscribers, but the combination of this and a new internal IT system has created a backlog.

At the start of the year the company set up a new database system for its order entries. This has been plagued by constant crashes, delaying the inputting of new customers and the correction of mistakes in their details. The system was developed in-house.

Scoot said the new IT system was experiencing teething problems, but these were "not particularly significant or out of the ordinary" and were not to blame for the backlog.

But one worker said: "The system goes offline every 10 or 20 minutes. It takes about one hour to fill in one application form. But we're told we're supposed to do 35 contracts a day." Scoot denied this was or is the case.

Scoot said the backlog would be cleared within a month, but admitted it had been going on since the summer. It is believed some customers have had to wait around eight months to be listed on the site.

Businesses pay an annual fee of £200 to be listed on Scoot, plus referral charges each time an internet user sends an e-mail from the website or hears a company's details over the telephone.

One unhappy customer is Domino's Pizza. At the start of the year most of its Scoot details had been wiped off, and despite being an important customer the initital problems had still to be rectified. A spokesperson for the pizza company said it had had a discount on the bill.

John Molyneux, head of Scoot's UK operations, said: "I would hope we won't lose customers. Anyone that has had to wait hasn't had to pay anything."

Scoot has suffered a 90 per cent drop in its share price over the past year to the current 32.5p, valuing it at £242m. Its last quarter's results showed a pre-tax loss of £57m, with around £120m cash in the bank.

It is the constant subject of bid rumours, with suitors including French media company Vivendi, which owns a 22 per cent stake, and the Meridian consortium backed by Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li.

Scoot bought Loot in June last year for £190m, and could have gained over 70,000 extra potential subscribers from the company. Its most recent results reported a total of 30,000 subscribers.