We Apologize for The Inconvenience
I have to apologize for my disappearing act over the past month. A while back, I decided it was time to change hosting companies, and that relatively simple decision spun out of control and turned into a complete redesign and rewrite of the site. I finally decided to dedicate all of my blogging time to the redesign, or it would never get done. The good news is that the new site is finally launched, and I'm ready to get back to writing.Originally, the main purpose of the redesign was to focus a little more on my company and consulting practice and add a "Services" page. As I evaluated the site, though, I started to feel like it wasn't reflecting my usability principles as well as I'd like, so I really tried to focus the redesign on simplifying the look and feel. At this point, after staring at it for weeks, I can no longer form a coherent opinion, but I hope you like the new look.
In this past month, I had another experience which partly inspired the title of the post. My wife and I bought a new garbage disposal from a major retailer, only to find, when we finally got around to having it installed, that it was someone's else used disposal (and not just lightly used). Since scheduling the installation had taken us 2 months, the store wouldn't take it back (even though the return policy was 90 days), and pretty clearly implied they thought I was trying to pull one over on them. They also said their hands were tied, and corporate wouldn't let them. Of course, I called corporate, and they claimed that their hands were tied and that they couldn't tell store managers what to do.
Finally, I got corporate to refund the money, but I was still upset. It wasn't just a matter of the time and money, but that no one had ever really accepted responsibility. I see this problem endemic in customer service today; everyone passes the buck or builds structures to protect themselves from responsibility. The downside is that many companies, on advice of their lawyers and PR executives, have all but lost touch with their consumers. Sometimes, we need to just own up and say "I'm sorry".
David Mihm
· Tuesday, May 27Pete, I am so sorry to hear of your garbage disposal difficulties. I think you should have listed the company's (or companies', not sure how many were involved) name to give them some bad PR. The web can be a great equalizer in terms of customer service experiences! :)
Dr. Pete
· Wednesday, May 28@MikeTek: Thanks, although I think the "trouble" was a bit self-created. I turned a molehill into a mountain with the redesign.
@David: Truthfully, the threat of dragging the retailer's and manufacturer's names through the mud online was probably just as effective as actually doing it. I think it's just unfortunate that, even online, companies are more concerned with the appearance of doing things well than actually doing them well.
MikeTek
· Tuesday, May 27Good to hear from you, Pete. Sounds like you've been up to your ears lately. Getting that mouse to pose with those flowers must have taken several hours in and of itself.
I think the new design looks great.
Sad to say I think you're right about the trend of corporate customer service. I'm bewildered on a regular basis with how detached customer service reps are.
In any case, I hope the trouble is behind you - and that we can look forward to more posts from here on out.