Your “Only Once” Is My 3-6 Times
Written by Russ on January 5, 2009 – 11:46 amToday, David Armano posted a link to the newly updated ESPN.com website on Twitter for people to share some opinions and feedback.
I went to the site and saw that, still, ESPN thinks it’s an okay idea to play–with the volume ON–video on their home page. Like most people in the same time zone as David, I’m at work, so I left the site rather quickly.
I let David know my experience and that I felt ESPN clearly is not speaking to their users, while people around me are chuckling at me for the burst of non-work-related audio coming from my workstation.
David’s response was, “It only happens once–refresh.”
(For the record, I’ve now seen it twice on the same computer and I’m not about to try and find out again, thanks, ESPN.)
It only happens once.
Is that the truth anymore?
I think it’s a lie. A lie we tell ourselves and we instantly believe without letting it really surface.
And we’re forgetting about the fact that many people (still awaiting on a number about the average numbers of computers per household in 2008 from ChaCha, but…) have more than one computer in their experience–particularly those who, you know, actually go to websites.
I have a laptop for work (PC). I have a personal laptop (MacBook). I have a desktop (iMac). I have a home server (PC). I have a laptop for my wife (NetBook). And, finally, I have a laptop for my 5yo daughter (PC).
At any point in time, I could be using ANY ONE of those computers. And each “first time” I’ll have to go through whatever interstitial garbage you put up to thrill and wow me with.
For me, that’s 3-6 different times, and that’s if you “Only Once” actually works.
Look, I’m a realist. I’m pretty certain that my numbers are a bit larger than the average household, but many households certainly DO have more than one computer within the realm of their “experience”, and it is something to consider.
Especially when your “Only Once” is not working.
Posted in Rant, Uncategorized, User Experience | 4 Comments »
Do We Really Need Associations, Anyway? Do They Need Us?
Written by Russ on December 1, 2008 – 12:00 amWithin the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a lot of things happening around me that have made me wonder about the validity of professional associations of sorts, and if we really need them.
In general, I think the answer is “yes”, but mostly, I have to wonder if the add-on to that is “but for how long?”.
I’m not going to pretend that organizations like the IAI (full disclosure: I am on the Board of Directors) and IxDA haven’t helped me, personally, make many of the social and professional connections that I have today. But, that was before.
Before all this social network stuff sort of just asploded in our faces and made everything so intimate, public and NOW NOW NOW!!
I’m grateful for these organizations, actually, as long as they work.
So, to answer my questions, I’d say the answer on both parts is: YES
But the time is critical for them, I fear.
BUT… I think both need to evolve a little in order to find the right way to keep it all under the same roof. There’s no problem with people owning initiatives, and it’s awesome that people can, over the course of a holiday weekend (in the US, of course) crank out 110% awesome. The world wants things RIGHT NOW, and that makes waiting even more difficult than Tom Petty ever imagined. Organizations love to talk about and hate their red tape and people love to talk about and love/hate their organizations response times and excuses of the red tape.
It kind of stinks. But, it’s also a reality. There’s got to be a way to make things happen and get organizations and “their people” all engaged, enabled and empowered to “get stuff done” so they can meet in the middle. There’s got to be some sort of an open framework we can create where people start running as fast as they can and as fast as they want with great (or not great, half-cocked, hair-brained) ideas and make them work for both in a way where both reap the rewards.
I’ve watched as people have identified a number of reasons why events should be near them (and sadly, watched while even less than Pareto would be happy with identified themselves as those willing to take part in the preparation and organization of such things), griped and/or yelled and/or bullied about certain attitudes and approaches to different locations and even, I’m sad to say, as people have thrown up their arms and politely asked, urgently requested and all-out yelled and hollered their requests for assistance.
Unfortunately, I watched those requests get sent, and then watched forward motion get made without support.
In fact, over the course of a holiday weekend in the United States, I watched Steve Baty take his half-baked “UX Book Club” idea and start to bake the hell out of it with his peers–many he’s never met, and some he may never meet in his life. Will Evans and Andrew Boyd jumped-in to help, without any real call for support and they helped inject more excitement and energy into the project.
They organized.
They plotted.
They schemed.
(Admittedly, I got involved, thumb-tapped away on my iPhone as furiously as I possibly could and tried to keep up from the remote reaches of the inner-midwest USA)
They found new ideas from their existing ideas.
They created new ideas–blew them up to bigger than better than any one of them had dreamed-up before.
Mountains were made out of idea molehills, and frankly the whole world looked a helluva lot better from a “wow, that’d be really kick @$$” perspective.
They used the hell out of the back-channel to get people active, excited and to make sure they were missing as few opportunities as possible while engaging as many people who could help them.
They did this without the assistance of associations, organizations, fax machines, the USPS or DHL delivery service. The did this without worrying about whether or not the location was one that suited everyone.
They did this because they love what they do, they love being active and they have heart, soul and no real spare time to donate to their communities, but they figure they can give up an extra hour of sleep a night to make something worthwhile.
How come so few people want so much but can’t come up with the same type of inertia–if I tried to stop Steve right now, he’d plow through me like a Mack truck going over a puddle. This thing is happening!
And it’s awesome.
But “they” own it. That is, there is no owner beyond this collective of unorganized people who decided that their locations could read books once a month.
They DO need the support of organizations–organizations can help them with (perceived?) purchasing power, greater reach, and the potential for more opportunities and growth beyond these local book clubs.
I mean, if someone has the gusto to pick up a book and read once a month, maybe they also want to sit down once a month and watch a presentation on <something> or they want to grab a beer with others and talk about <something> or they want to schedule their own “camp” type of thing.
They DO need organizations. As Marc Andreesen says (courtesy of Christina Wodtke), “Organizations are GREAT distribution channels.” (okay, so Christina clarified this below, but I think it still stands)
Hell, they’re a great place for like-minded people to get together and change the world, rattle the status quo and shake the foundation of just about anything they set their minds to.
Organizations DO need them-these people are THEIR leaders of TODAY and TOMORROW.
One can do without the other, however. One can create the other, however.
One SHOULD inspire, engage and activate the other.
My point is that I think a lot of us get frustrated–I know I have, and I do–and we forget that these things all really do have connecting points and dependencies.
Most of us work in the User Experience space (if you’re reading this blog, at least I think you are)–you/we should all be connecting these boxes and we should all be wanting to solve these problems. We should be taking advantage of this “whatever-point-oh” web/world that we’re in and FIND NEW WAYS to be excited and energized and CREATE SOMETHING BETTER.
Because if we don’t, someone else will.
Will you?
I will.
In the upcoming weeks–nay, days, I will be sharing my initiatives for 2009 as a member of the Board of Directors of the Information Architecture Institute. None of these are impossible to achieve and all of them are valuable and will be worth your time if you choose to participate and/or lead these initiatives with me.
I can’t do it alone, and I want your help.
And you can make my ideas better. More awesome. More YOU. Oh. My. God. Think of how cool that is to see a seed turn into a tree right in front of your eyes and/or from the work of your own hands!
There are so many opportunities for us–from having fun to getting really dorky-technical.
It’s there. If someone hasn’t thought of it–and even if they have–pick up the idea torch and give it a try.
There are big things to be accomplished in 2009, and there are all types of leaders needed–in organizations and in the world at large. Organizations always need more leaders and volunteers and will present you with opportunities you’d never dreamt of. If an organization cannot or will not support you, challenge them–better yet, challenge yourself–and start building something great, and present it to them.
Don’t just BE the change you want to see…
CREATE the change you want to see.
Posted in Community, IAI, Information Architecture, Rant, Rave, Resumes, Social Networking, UXD Book, User Experience | 4 Comments »
My Apple 3G iPhone Experience: I’m Pretty Surprised, Pretty Disturbed, and Ultimately Failed
Written by Russ on July 22, 2008 – 11:38 amThere has been a lot of discussion around the 3G iPhone, and I’ve been leery. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to shift away from my comfort zone with my Blackberry, but I figured it was probably time for a change and time to go through the awkwardness of shifting experiences.
Always learning and all of that.
Obtaining the 3G iPhone wasn’t really that difficult. Wait in line, pay the premium, activate the phone, go home and tinker all day get back to work.
All-in-all, it was pretty painless, pretty fun and my inner geek was giddy as a school girl.
Then, strange things started happening.
The Troubles Begin
Sometime in the first evening of 3G iPhone ownership, things started getting wonky. Things felt different, and applications started acting up. It was frustrating and I was frustrated, but I was willing to suck up some of the blame to my unabashed downloading and installing of nearly every single application I could get my hand on.
I did a full restore of my phone.
A couple of hours later, things were back to awesome. I went to bed.
I woke up, all set to get back to geek, and something strange was afoot.
There was no email in my Inbox. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Look, I’m not going to pretend I’m uber-popular, but, dammit, I get a lot of email. Something is generally broken when I do not.
I fiddled. I adjusted. I tried things out. I nearly cried. And yes, I even checked the 30-something emails on my laptop before I broke down and called AT&T, knowing this was going to be the equivalent of standing in line for the new roller coaster at Disney. I was screwed, and I knew it, but I wanted this to work.
I talked to my first rep who transferred me to Apple Support faster than you could say “a…”.
30 minutes later, after the 20 minute AT&T queue, I got a rep. I explained the problem (“Not getting email”). I repeated my vital information a few more times and explained my problem again. I was told the network is slow, all new people signing up, etc. Just be patient, Russ.
That sort of seemed like a cop out, so I explained that my wife’s 1st Gen iPhone, right there in my hands, was getting email and we were both existing subscribers. The rep didn’t get it or didn’t care–I’m not sure.
I explained that I felt the person did not understand my question and asked to please be transferred to a supervisor.
<click>
I spent over an hour on the phone to get hung up on, and I was even being a pretty nice guy.
My ear was sweating from the phone and I was parched, but by gosh I got right back on the pony and started the process allllll over again, with a few extra more “punch in your phone numbers” and “what’s your addresses” thrown in for good measure.
As if I was talking to a twin, I got…the same problem all over again.
I explained that I felt the person did not understand my question and asked to please be transferred to a supervisor.
<click>
At least it was only about 30 minutes of my time this time around. Oh, and I had hit the “Take a survey” button before the call, failed the person miserably and asked for a follow-up call, knowing I’d never get one, of course.
Not to be outdone by the hanger-uppers, I called again.
Miraculously, I found a person who could help me–and did!
I went to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
A nice, full reset of the phone and within a minute or so, all my email started swirling down to my phone in 3G & wifi goodness.
Of course, I still hadn’t been able to get MobileMe to work, no one would answer the email requests I sent in… I did finally get a response and was asked to reply to that email with information which bounced, as luck would have it. About a week later, I got the MobileMe issue fixed because a rep was kind enough to help me out via the chat help.
Just the Beginning
I was surprised when the same issue happened again a few hours later, but I was armed with the knowledge of how to heal myself, so I did that.
A few hours later I did it again. And again. And again.
Early the following week, I made an appointment for the Genius Bar on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and make a lunch trek to the store.
The only real difficulty I had was that I have an AT&T-purchased phone, so they had to give me a “white box” model, made specifically for these exchanges (hmmm…), instead of a pretty Apple black box.
I’m not that much of a prima donna, so I let it slide, happy to get my iPhone back.
Except that the “Genius” took my screen protector off and got it a little dirty, applied it crooked, etc. They should have just issued me a new pack and let me do it myself, but if I pay $15 for a replacement… eh, phone is back and I’m happy.
On my train commute home from Chicago, a rep from AT&T called me to follow-up from my poor experience that I had.
<insert needle scratching across record sound>
Really.
She was kind and she informed me that if I felt I was having problems getting the people to understand my question and get it answered that I should feel free to ask for a supervisor.
I let her know I had done that.
She instantly issued a $25 credit to my account and told me she had the history of my calls in front of her. I let her know the last person was quite helpful so, you know, please don’t make him eat paste while the others were being forced to eat it.
All Good Now?
I certainly thought so. Until later that evening, when my email stopped coming to my phone again and just hung while I was trying to poll the various accounts.
I called the support, again. This time, however, I went directly through Apple.
I spoke to a man by the name of:
Chris M.
He’s an iPhone Support Specialist, and I’ll spare you all his information, unless of course, you need some help and then you can send me a note with your email and I’ll share it. Chris was a patient, thorough person and worked with me through a lot of long waits–upwards of an hour as he made me fully restore my phone, just in case the previous restore had captured something nasty that brought the same problem back to haunt me.
Everything seemed fine. Chris gave me all of his information in case the problem came up again, and we both agreed that this certainly was odd to have the same thing happen again, and certainly it should not be the phone.
I guess that must have meant that it was me, because it happened again the very next day.
I emailed Chris in the evening and he called me at home to help with the issue. That was pretty cool.
We checked out a few more things, I popped off the screen, unscrewed some hinges and took out the battery and stuff…
Just kidding.
Then he made me an appointment for Saturday at the Genius Bar in Oak Brook, Illinois for 1:50pm to exchange the phone a second time. This wasn’t great news, but it was better than a “not perfect” phone.
From Not-So-Great to Right-in-the-Crapper
I grabbed my 4 year old daughter and headed off to the mall. I figured we could share a little daddy-daughter fun at the outdoor mall with the big Disney and Land of Nod stores. Sometimes, it’s great to be a dad.
This day was not one of them.
We arrived a little late thanks to an accident on the tollway–and thanks to being a little late.
I explained this to the older woman at the Genius Bar as she frowned and checked me in–I think.
I think, because she just stopped and walked away from us while an older guy was being kind of bark-y to people and was moving around us. A younger girl popped up at the computer and asked me what I wanted.
Excuse me?
I asked her where the other woman went–she was helping us and didn’t say anything, just typed away on the keyboard and said nothing. Could she please go get her so we could find out what was going on?
“I’m replacing her, she’s on break. Why are you here?”
What? I just gave her some information. I’m here for a replacement phone with an appointment made for me by a Product Specialist ™. Please go get her so we can find out what’s going on.
“I’m here now. What do you want?”
Inject your own tone; it was busy, I was holding hands with the apple of my eye and getting frustrated. I told her I was there for a replacement.
[blank stare]
Older guy is still walking around barking. My daughter is tensing up.
Me: “Could someone please help me? Excuse me? Could someone talk to me?”
[blank stare]
Me, to barking guy: “Excuse me sir, can you help me? Hello?”
[ignoring]
Me, louder: “Excuse me, Mr. Brick Wall, Anyone, can you please help me? What’s going on here?”
Barking guy, who, by the way, looks like this (only less blurry):
He yelled at me. He really, seriously yelled at me.
He yelled, “CAN’T YOU SEE WE’RE BUSY?!” and summarily ignored me with the replacement person standing in front of me.
My daughter asked me, in a pretty dainty, nervous voice, “Daddy, why did that man yell at you?”
Good question.
I wasn’t exactly sure why I was getting ignored and yelled at, but I pulled my daughter out of the throng of people and the rage of a bitter, old, orange-wearing man to calm things down. I’m sure he was happy I disappeared, but I walked back up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked at me I pressed that good ol’ camera button and snapped his picture and let him know he was about to be “Internet Famous” and then twitpic’d that thing out to the few followers I have.
The reaction from Twiterati was one of surprise and shock.
The reaction of the guy sounded something like “mucking berk” but it was busy and I’m not real sure why he was talking gibberish anyway.
Down But Not Out
We left, but I wasn’t about to be finished. My iPhone was still less than perfect.
I called our pals at Apple. It is, after all, in the iPhone’s contact list by default.
This was not about to be easy, however. I got through to someone who was a little surprised, if not offended, by the story. He connected me to an iPhone Product Specialist. Sort of. It took about 30 minutes, so I shopped with my daughter (kitty alarm clock, tambourine, wind-up bird in a cage, sweater vest and a work shirt) with the ear piece in. She was not a fan, but we had fun.
I spoke to a Product Specialist. He basically told me he’d “see what he could do”, which really kind of floored me at this point.
He called the manager of the store (Jamie, for what it’s worth) and called me back. They could do an exchange for me, but it would have to be white.
I allowed myself a chuckle, thought of a couple of friends with their white phones, decided I could turn this into a “Stormtrooper” type of thing and my inner geek would be satiated.
Return to Ignorance
I went back to the store.
Mr. Grumpy was there, but I informed him I was there for Jamie. He was looking smug–or maybe I was just defensive and PO’d and had a tired kid on my hands–and told me Jamie had stepped out. I let him know I had an appointment, made by a Product Specialist a few moments ago and his face sort of shifted a bit.
Jamie was tracking down my phone.
The place was still crowded–like they were giving away gold and gas cards. The old grumpy guy kept circling us and I asked to have him stay away from us. Little kids don’t like yellers, after all. We got bumped into a small area by the door to the stockroom.
Time doesn’t pass too quickly in this situation.
One guy, with a white goatee (and this is for the sake of Apple & Oak Brook Apple Store) saw that my daughter was doing very well. She was tired, but hanging out, being patient and far more level-headed than, say, any Apple Store employee to date.
He called her princess. +1
He disappeared into the stock room and came back with a bright yellow t-shirt, although too big, it was a gift for a kid. +2
He was very nice and she thanked him. He was high-five worthy in a -10 sort of universe.
You rocked, sir, and you were kind and empathetic. It’s as if you actually understood customer service and you were surrounded by monkeys from a CareerBuilder ad.
Jamie did pop up a couple of times, let me know he was looking. He asked if I had my receipt of purchase–which I did. Oddly enough, I had explained to the Product Specialist that I had my receipt–but that it was from an AT&T store purchase, since I had already gone through the issue at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store.
Oddly enough, this AT&T receipt meant that Jamie, the Store Manager ™ was unable to swap my phone. “It’s a part number thing, you understand. I wouldn’t even be able to swap the SIMs–it wouldn’t let me and the phone would be no good to you.”
Kind of like the one in my hand. Except it works, but the data would cut out from time to time. Which would be no big deal if I wasn’t an uber-geek who relies on data more than voice, of course.
Of course.
Jamie let me know that he wouldn’t be getting another shipment of phones in the next day (Sunday), but probably “early next week…”
He was, after all, really sorry.
Really?
Then why didn’t anyone apologize to me, to my daughter for being yelled at? Why didn’t anyone understand the impact of that? Why didn’t anyone apologize for dropping the ball, being rude and not communicating as they should?
Where Failure Meets EPIC FAILURE
Clearly, I was not happy.
I had just went through some hell–from a product perspective all the way down to having an uncomfortable talk with my daughter about “how people really talk to each other”.
I explained to Jamie that really, none of this seemed enough.
He explained that it was entirely out of his hands.
Entirely?
Really?
I started to leave. We needed to get out of there before I said a lot of things that aren’t meant for the blogosphere, yet alone truck drivers (and I can say that; my father was a truck driver and that brings cursing to a whole new level, folks).
“Russ…”
I stopped. Perhaps this guy was worth the trouble. He wasn’t actually unkind; he was pretty genuine and tried to be thorough and I think he wanted to help. Heck, I’m sure he was exhausted and had had it up to here with damn people like me.
“Yes?”
“What do you want me to do?”
Yes, he said that.
He may as well have spit in my face.
My opinion is that when you invoke such a phrase you’re quitting.
What do I want you to do? Give me a free iMac. I’ve been eyeballing a refurbished one to purchase through the Employee Purchase Program, but after 12+ hours of my time wasted throughout this process, I’d call that about break-even. Plus, I’d be replacing a Vista PC, so +1 Apple, right?
I didn’t say that.
I knew the answer. “You know I can’t do that, sir.”
Do I? Then why did you ask what I wanted you to do.
Instead, Jamie, you should have given me some options. You should have bent over backwards a little bit.
You should have prevented this blog from being written by doing something as simple as a discount card, an option to <do something else>, some music, some ProCare, something.
Yes, you should have.
Shame on you for NOT even thinking of it, but instead asking me what I would like for you to do.
You, Jamie, failed. I’m sorry, but that’s an F-.
Sidebar: I worked for a video store while in college. My district manager always told me that 1 complaint card would sting worse than taking a $100 loss on the day. Think about that. That’s 1 phone call versus 30-40 video rentals back at the time.
That’s the way customer service works. You don’t take advantage of the uber-geeks who want your product. We do have our limits. And we don’t deserve to be treated poorly in any situation. We are your fans, your advertisers, we are the goofy people who stand in long lines outside of you stores that generate free media coverage for you.
The Follow-Up?
I sent an email to my buddy Chris M. at Apple over the weekend and let him know I was pretty unhappy. I let him know that I thought he’d done right by me and I’d share that with people, but that I had really been met with a poor reception and pretty terrible follow-up from the Apple store.
It’s Tuesday now and he hasn’t followed-up. I sent him an email today letting him know that I was disappointed not to have received a response from him.
Now, I’m back to square zero, with a phone “mostly works”.
How do you think I feel?
Tags: Apple
Posted in Rant, User Experience | 12 Comments »
AT&T and Getting an iPhone – Worth It? Possible? Fair? Suck?
Written by Russ on July 1, 2008 – 4:50 pmFor quite awhile, I’ve not really cared about the iPhone. I have a Blackberry and it’s held its own. My wife has an iPhone I got her last year and I like it. I miss my camera. I miss some of the features and IM-like text messages call out to me.
I decided that I want an iPhone, and recent events (next post, I promise!) have afforded me the luxury of purchasing one on July 11th, when the 3G iPhone is launched.
But today, I spoke to AT&T to see how the landscape would play out for me, given the scenario with our family plan with them.
The Scenario
Me: Blackberry 8830
My wife: iPhone 4gb
Me: Upgraded phone in September 2007
My wife: Has never upgraded through AT&T since we started with them
Me: Not available for reduced-cost hardware upgrade
My wife: Reduced-cost hardware upgrade AVAILABLE!
The Logic
In my mind, it does not matter who is the owner of which phone, on which line. All that matters is that we have the option to purchase a new phone at a reduced cost and that we pledge 2 more years of our ever-increasing-costs mobile service plan.
To be fair, I realize that this could kind of seem like skirting the system. I don’t see it that way, but when you get down do it, I don’t write the rules.
I just wish the rules were better, overall, so we could not feel like we’re going to get royally screwed out of $200.00 to get a 3G iPhone on July 11th.
I should, from where I stand, be able to purchase the iPhone as the hardware upgrade for my wife. Then, I should be able to pass it along right over to my line and apply the services to it that I see fit.
Right?
Why should AT&T care who has which iPhone and on which line? THEY’RE BOTH UNDER THE SAME CONTRACT FAMILY PLAN!
Sorry, that’s just so crazy that I felt like shouting at the interwebs.
The Real Deal
As my curiosity became more and more piqued, I took the deep dive and called AT&T’s nearly worthless Customer Support.
Oh, like it’s a secret. Find any mobile carrier that has a glowing reputation.
After my second call (see, I told you), I learned a few things:
1) If I buy an iPhone at the reduced hardware cost, it has to go to the line assigned (my wife’s line)
2) If I simply swap out the SIM card–well, I don’t know exactly. What I gather is that I cannot do this and that there will be some form of hell to pay in the form of some sort of weird pro-rating of costs or they’ll take my baby or something evil.
3) Customer Support really knows less than most of us who truly give a crap about this stuff, and they certainly have no motivation to make us happy. In the least.
So, What Can I (We–I’m Not the Only One Feeling a Bit Ripped-Off Here) Do?
Good question.
The answer is this: I don’t know.
However, I have some questions of my own about all of this–and I need your help.
If the iPhones use SIM cards, why the heck does it matter which phone I upgrade? That is, I should be able to do a hardware upgrade on my wife’s iPhone and then just swap out the SIM cards, call AT&T and pick the services I want.
Right?
Any reason this won’t work?
What is the worst they can do? Upcharge me another $200?
I do not know, but any speculation outside of what I’ve written and what AT&T has told me would be appreciated.
I’d prefer it if AT&T doesn’t Rogers us.
Posted in Rant | 7 Comments »
It’s Time For Forever Web: Forever Learning, Changing, Learning, Improving
Written by Russ on June 20, 2008 – 1:18 pmSub-title: Beta is BS and Users Deserve Better
“Always in Beta” is one of those latest phrases that does a really good job of getting under my skin. Beta implies to me that something is purposefully not yet complete and that there are going to be some mistakes.
Some companies, like Adobe, do a really good job of utilizing a beta release program to snuff out issues that real users find and that are not in a “control” group of their selection.
That is a good thing.
However, launching a website and slapping a “beta” label on it often seems like an excuse to put garbage on the web very rapidly (in order to prove a business model, have a prototype, start to engage users, show to VCs, etc.). A “live” beta online often seems to be a mash-up of incomplete thoughts or a good reason to shrug shoulders and let issues fall off like water on a duck. Live beta mistakes are often paid for, in spades, by the users.
That is a bad thing.
We need to rid ourselves of excuses, take ownership and admit to users that, while we are relentlessly pursuing wickedly-awesome user experiences, we can make mistakes. Users need to know this and in return, they should realize that all mistakes made in the pursuit of a good user experience will ultimately lead to a correction of the mistakes down the road.
That, however, is not a beta, nor an excuse. It’s an honest, persistent state of being.
If You Build It Poorly, They Will Leave
We’ve all heard it before. There is a really good chance that many of us have said it before: If the user experience is bad, users will leave.
We’ve said that users who cannot find something are users who believe “it” does not exist.
We’ve said that we have to engage our users. We have to test our designs. We have to get to know our users to find out what makes them tick. We have to be committed to our users.
We have to do all of those things—OR ELSE.
Frankly, we say a lot of stuff and we stomp around with our “clients just don’t get it” hats on and the attitudes that all of this stuff is always right.
Maybe—just maybe—we’re not entirely right.
In fact, I think we are missing the mark more than just a little.
Crazy Talk? I Don’t Think So.
First, there are somethings we need to acknowledge and, in some cases, come to terms with.
We, as User Experience Practitioners, are NOT entirely right with all of the things that we say, all of the claims that we make and all of the preaching that we do. Even so, there is some good news…
Clients are starting to get it. It has been a slow coming, but more and more, we have jobs that are in demand. We have clients who want to make “things” better and more usable. We have clients and companies that think that an “Information Architect” or a “User Experience <something>” or a variation of those titles is something that is essential to their core process and that they need to hire those types in order to start things moving in the right direction.
Sure, often times they think we’re the cure, but much like launching a website without any sort of promotional efforts, we cannot simply happen in a vacuum, right?
Right.
There is a shift. Conference attendance appears to be up. Conferences appear to be happening every week and weekend in cities across the globe.
The tide is turning.
Value—or perceived value—is beginning to be majorly associated to User Experience Practitioners.
We are in demand.
And a lot of us are arrogant.
And a lot of us think that whatever we think is right.
Which is even more arrogant.
The User is ALWAYS Right
Nope.
Neither is your UXD Team
I am so sorry to tell you this, but the user is not always right. Of course, I’m also not naïve enough to actually think that I’m the first to put this copy. I’m not making an effort to be controversial—there is no controversy about it. It’s a fact—and even though we strive to provide users with what (we think) they want, they often do not even know what they need. For more case studies on this, well, look around the space you are currently occupying. Nearly everything in that space around you has an 800 number associated with it to a call center that deals with all kinds of customer requests (thank you, Mark Dronen). There are a lot of calls received to those call centers from people who need some assistance or support—and a lot of calls are also receive from people who have misused the product (let’s leave intention out of this for the moment).
Users often are the culprits of innovation as the mis-use something that was intended for another purpose. In the case of Flickr, companies may adapt. In the case of someone trying to use a hammer as a weapon, well, it’s not supposed to be a weapon. So, you know, the user is not always right.
Obviously, however, neither are clients.
Neither are you
Neither am I.
Can you swallow that? You’d better. At the core of all of this is something that we, as User Experience Practitioners, live in every minute of our professional lives:
The User Experience Never Ends
We all agree on that, right? We’ve all had someone ask us this in an interview as they’re trying to be clever and weed out the (ahem) fakers amongst us. If you have not experienced this, well, maybe hiring companies are finally figuring it out that we can all guess the correct answer to the question by now.
So, if the User Experience never ends, then we need to come to grips with the notion that the design process never ends, right?
Right.
It also means that we are forever striving to meet any number of objectives that are allegedly for our users and also happen to meet business goals and/or objectives, make stakeholders happy and make the people who sign the checks continue to sign those checks.
It means that, while we serve many masters and we must ALWAYS remain ever-diligent to our user goals/needs/objectives (and, ahem, that’s our one true master, right? Right.) and we do our best to accurately interpret them—nay, sell them—to our clients to deliver what is often perceived as a lesser evil, or that which is least wrong. Right?
Right.
As long as we’re being honest here, let’s remember that we’re very much steeped in the world of throw-away work (or “tries”) and iterations (“near misses”) that get us to an eventual sign-off (“conditional” or “x level” of “approval”) in order to get us to the point where prototypes (more “tries”) can lead to revisions (“post-approval enhancements”) prior to ever getting beyond development (“serious commitment”) and going live (“really serious approval”) where real users will give us real feedback that we will (should) turn into enhancements and improvements (“deviations from our best guesses and influenced decisions”) which can lead to another new project (“try, try again”).
Whew.
So What?
Now that’s the big question that should always be asked—and answered. No one should be surprised this heading is here as long as I am the author.
Everything we do when it comes to user research and user testing is done from a sampling. We do this to make best assumptions as to what behaviors are and what feedback is that can drive our projects/products to being the best that they can do for the largest possible audience.
So, we have to admit and be willing to accept a few things:
Some of those users are wrong. We need to either convert them, provide them with something that is useful to them or we simply need to find the right way to get rid of them. Sometimes users are not right for whatever it is that we are doing, and that’s okay.
We have to be willing to lose some users. We have to accept that we cannot be all things to all users and any change will bring about a risk in losing users. Because of this, we have to set an expectation to users that we are working very hard for them; we are evangelizing a never-ending user experience on their behalf and, by gosh, sometimes we have to get it wrong to get it right.
We have to get companies to admit that, along the way, there may be some mis-steps and there may be some mistakes and there may be some things that tested well but fail upon delivery. We have to get companies to talk about the fact that they are actively striving themselves to try and meet the moving target of user needs and that sometimes something goes a little wrong.
We have to talk about it. Our community needs to be able to educate our clients that this will happen.
We have to get clients to talk about it. Clients have to not only admit all of this to themselves, but to their users, as well. And no, they cannot call it BETA. Or my head will explode.
And we have to get customers to understand that one mis-step—maybe even two, or three or “x” mis-step isn’t a deal breaker. It is not enough to leave a company, a brand, a product for.
In fact, an acknowledged mis-step is all the more reason to stay with a company, a brand, a product.
Why?
Because, in my humblest of opinions, any company that is willing to make mistakes—and claim those mistakes as their own—in order to make “something” better for its users, is a company that a user should want to be connected to.
Really.
Keep Doing What You’re Doing. And More.
So, dear User Experience community, keep up the good work of educating your clients and evangelizing the never-ending UX Lifecycle. You’re doing a great job and I’m right there beside you in the thick of it all everyday.
(Really—I am!)
Do not forget, however, to educate your users. Help them understand that improvements and enhancements (or modifications, adjustments, tweaks, etc.) are being done their behalf.
Help them understand that we, and our clients, are learning from them and that every engagement they have with our clients is an engagement that we are all learning from—for them.
We may will make mistakes
We may make a left at Albequerque when we should have taken a right.
We may really, really make some wrong decisions on their behalf.
But it’s on their behalf, and that is important—because if we weren’t willing to make mistakes on their behalf, we would not be willing to learn from them so that we can better serve them.
We are constantly in flux, Some places claim to be “always in beta”. That’s lame—the intention may be to put out the message as I have been describing, but it’s also an excuse to never deliver a complete thought to users, and that is not what this is about.
Users are not stupid
Live Beta is the lie that is used to “go live” with mistakes and incomplete thoughts. It is an excuse to let someone else, sometimes users, write the requirements. It is a scapegoat that ensures that no one has to fully take the blame for an idea gone wrong. It’s “beta”, after all.
(There is a caveat here—some companies, like Adobe, Microsoft and others engage in live beta product releases that are successful and that are close to completion. They get a pass for certain cases.)
And to clarify: Beta releases are for a select group or for a select period of time–or both. Mini-releases and updates are just that: mini-releases and updates. They do not constitute a beta, they constitute making improvements, enhancements and updates. They fix something broken. The beta should be over by then, so let’s just stop the lie.
Forever Web is the truth we use to let users know that we have though through all that we’ve learned and we’ve navigated the numerous corporate political battlefields to put forth the best that we can deliver. Forever Web let’s our users know that we are willing to make the mistakes on their behalf to move closer and closer to providing the best experience.
Oh, and that we’re going to keep doing it as long as we’re around.
Posted in Rant, Usability, User Experience, User Experience Design | 4 Comments »
User Experience Design for Brands on the Web – So What?
Written by Russ on May 22, 2008 – 11:41 amWhile the world is off bandwagoning on blog posts about Twitter and how much of an influence/frustration it is, I wanted to get back to the root of some things. I’ve been troubled a lot lately by just how bad it seems that web (online) experiences for brands are failing the consumers. The amount of money wasted on ignorance, well, I just don’t know.
As every good marketer should know–from Marketing 101–it is very important that you maintain a brand, or an extension of it. This means that you want people to not only use your product or service, but that you want them to see a benefit from it, and ultimately continue to use it in the future.
I think we should all agree that websites are an extension of any brand. Right?
Right.
Good. Now with that in mind, how do you maintain a website? (Let me make this clear right now: you don’t hire a webmaster and have him or her make updates for you or fix/update code or whatever. That’s not the right answer in this context.)
Since we know how to maintain a brand, then maintaining a website-the extension of our brand–the we know that we want to keep people coming back to it, keep them using it, attached to it, etc. Don’t forget me when I’m gone… (Thank you, Glass Tiger)
This seems pretty basic to me, and I’m a pretty basic guy. I’d expect that a range of people, from a VP of Marketing all the way down to First Year Marketing/Business Student, should be able to grasp it as well, right?
Right.
So, again, a website should be an extension of a brand, and we should constantly maintain the extension–just like we maintain the brand itself.
Now we’re all on the same page.
This means that your website–heck, even your entire online experience, should be one that keeps people coming back. Maybe that means you have a game. Maybe it means you offer some form community. Maybe it means that you constantly add new, relevant content. Maybe it means that you sponsor promotions. Maybe it means that you offer coupons. Maybe it means something wildly different than that. You get to decide, unless you’re so motivated to get ahold of me and invest in my time to help you with brainstorming and ideation, but I’m not trying to sell you on anything other than the wake-up call here.
Don’t limit yourself to your website; maybe it means you have a Facebook AND MySpace presence, and maybe, like Kids in the Hall and Psych, you offer interesting updates to your captive audience–and as an added bonus, the audience has the ability to interact with each other. These are both decent examples of brands that keep people in the loop and make them feel like they get a benefit for claiming that they are “fans”. The USA Network website does a great job of keeping the content fun and light to support Psych and other shows, which in essence are brands, as well.
By All Means, Don’t Take My Word for It. Do Some Research of Your Own.
But, I Did Some Research.
Once upon a time, within the past few months of my life, I gave a survey to about 60 or so people in regards to beverage websites that I asked them to view. It was a very simple survey (in exchange for answers, I offered consumers their pick from a grab bag of about $30 in CVS-purchased chocolates and candies–and yes, I had more than enough volunteers), with each person focusing on one of the 5 websites and then answering 10 questions. The first nine focused on rating things from 1-5 (for easy math), the last question asking whether or not the consumer would ever return to the website. Number ten was open-ended, and I asked for open comments, preferably focused upon what would prompt the consumer to return to the site.
The results were not astonishing. They were a little lower than I expected, and given some of the feedback, probably could have been lower still. I found that, out of the 5 different beverage websites listed, less than 10% of the consumers would have a reason to return and visit. In the open comments, the general responses were things like:
“You did not list a 0 as an option.” (This is true, I only listed 1-5)
“Maybe if there was a coupon.”
“This site sucked.”
“I don’t get [the site].”
You can take away what you want from this, but you should know that the websites tested were for some major, leading brands who spend some major bucks promoting their products.
Think about that.
Let’s recap for a moment: Less than 10% of the consumers surveyed would return to these brand websites.
Ummmmm…. Ouch.
A bunch of someones, somewheres, should be pretty embarassed.
If You Build It… They Will Come That’s Just the First Step
Some (a lot of) companies are spending A LOT of money on website design and development. Some companies are charging A LOT of money on website design and development. Almost ALL of them either are not talking or are not listening–or they think they don’t have the time and/or budget to create “something” the right way.
Fine. Here’s a solution: Tell these companies to save the money–better yet, tell them to pool the money and prioritize their brands so that one of the brands can have the right experience now. Next time there is a budget surplus, wash, rinse, repeat.
Until something is done that is different than the throwaway junk “experiences” that people barely visit and rarely visit more than once, things will continue to fail. Do NOT continue to invest in more failure–the consumers deserve better than this, and sooner or later, the competition will figure this out before the brands you’re working with do and then it may be too late.
All of these companies NEED to better understand what their consumers want. If that is the almighty coupon, then by gosh, give the consumers coupons (and make them ridiculously easy to find) as a reward for coming to the site. Start to build up some traffic, find out what consumers really want and find a way to provide it to them. It may be a community, in which case you can provide additional information and interactions to consumers and give them a voice. Cultivate and grow those voices into brand advocates and evangelists who can eventually help guide the brand toward its next product decision.
This is not hard math.
I’m just some guy in Chicago who thinks he knows a thing or two about User Experience. I think that “user experience never ends” means that I can’t just think about the website I’m working on today, but that I need to consider all the touchpoints along the way. I want your consumers to come back to the website, because I want you to be successful because my success is in part based upon that. Success makes us all happy. Then, umbrella drink time! (You’re buying)
Oh, and I also want you to build the right experience because it is a helluva a lot more fun for me to work on–that money thing should be an investment and should be able to be figured out. I mean, really, does one more commercial during America’s Top Model really have THAT much of an impact on whether or not you sell another can of <insert beverage here>?
But, if you want a basic website with a sitemap that I can put together on a single 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, I’ll build that, too. My heart probably won’t be in it (but I’ll still do you a solid and give you quality output, of course) because I’m guessing it is going to be a crappy, potentially dead-ended experience and no one will come back and visit. These kind of sites don’t even make for good conversation in an interview.
That sort of thing castrates us. It makes us think “I could have been working in Insurance doing complex systems and never have to sweat all this social networking online viral blogging stuff that is so damn sexy” (not that Insurance isn’t the bees knees, mind you).
These poor experiences, the less-than-exciting websites lead me to inform you that if, as companies with brands and as the firms that do work for them, you don’t start getting it together, User Experience professionals may start becoming more difficult to find. For you, at least.
Again, Don’t Take My Word for It..
David Armano blogged:
We can actually create models of engagement that are sustainable over time. This is where the opportunities lie and we have to get serious about it…
There’s nothing there to loosely interpret. Big brands and advertising agencies and “interactive” shops and so on and so forth, you need to listen up. You need to wake up. This needs to be the extra shot in your latte.
User Experience Designers, Information Architects, Interaction Designers or whatever else you think we are and so title us, well, we want to do the right thing. We want to do the best thing for your consumers.
Partly because WE ARE YOUR CONSUMERS and we don’t like things that suck. We want to build loyalty, we want to see the bar raised and we’ve probably got some fan-F’ing-tastic ideas that you should be listening to.
Oh, and partly because we yearn to innovate and affect positive influence and change.
So What?
I’ve been trying to get people to ask and answer that question for years. No, it’s not my question, but ever since one of my favorite professors, Dr. Arthur Doederlein at Northern Illinois University, required students to not only right papers that answered specific questions, but also required us to prove our points, our rationales and establish what made our thinking valid by answering the “So What?”, I’ve used this.
It’s so simple, it’s silly.
When you create something–anything–for any audience, ask yourself “So what?”
Got that?
“I just made this marketing website for my brand. So what?”
If the answer is something like, “So my customers can have a place to get information and share their experiences with us so we can continue to evolve the brand to meet their needs”, you might be on the right track.
If not, you might be on the path of epic failure.
Posted in Rant, User Experience, User Experience Design | 1 Comment »
Microsoft & Xbox Live: When Customer Service Goes Drastically Wrong
Written by Russ on March 14, 2008 – 10:43 amAlternately titled: How Microsoft is Stealing $50 from Me. You Could Be Next.
Here’s the simple breakdown of the story:
October 20: Xbox Live emails me, account will auto-renew next month
November 20: Xbox Live emails me, account renewal a success!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card for 12+1 months has been successfully applied!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, again confirming prepaid card successfully applied!
March 3: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card being canceled tomorrow!
So, in internet-speak, I said, “WTF!?”
The story seems pretty clear, but after some grueling time on the phone with Microsoft, first in India and then in the United States, Microsoft has made it pretty clear to me that I’ve done something wrong, I’m borderline a criminal and they absolutely WILL NOT be giving me a credit for a prepaid card, nor will they refund it, supply a code for re-use, etc.
The longer, more detailed story, as it has been explained to me, via “Jason” and “Christine” at Microsoft, in regards to Case Reference #1061488919
The details in all of this are still murky to me–Microsoft apparently has a policy, but I’m not sure how they see it as either logical, customer-friendly or even helpful.
At the time of authoring this, I see it as stealing from me.
When I first signed-up for my Xbox Live account, I apparently used a credit card that was eventually replaced due to some fraudulent usage. Since I want to remain upfront and honest about this–as I have since the beginning with Microsoft (even when I was irate after asking 6 different times to please speak to someone else)–I was unsure which card I had used, but in the event that it was the card in question, I wanted to cover my bases.
Almost a month before my account was set to expire–or rather, drop back down to “Silver” Status, my pals at Microsoft sent me this:
From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Automatic Renewal Notification for Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Sun, October 21, 2007 1:11 am
To: russDear Russell,
Your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership is scheduled to be automatically renewed on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:
Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Please confirm that your account and payment information is up to date.
To update your credit card information:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Memberships.
4. Select the membership you want to update.
For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.
The Xbox Live team.
Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 12
Cool! Thanks, Microsoft. I’m glad we’re friends and you reminded me about this. I wonder what card I used…
See, I thought for certain that a declined card from Microsoft would have an email generated saying “Russ, your card is bad, click here to fix this and we’ll be friends again.” But that didn’t happen. Instead, what happened was this:
In fact, Microsoft was kind enough to confirm that this was groovy, too, and that we’re still BFFs:
From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of renewal of Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Tue, November 20, 2007 12:51 am
To: russDear Russell,
This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership. This renewal goes into effect on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:
Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.
The Xbox Live team.
Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 24
Okay, so my immediate thoughts are this: Awesome! I must have used some other credit card instead! Cool!
Reality: According to Microsoft, a successful renewal is not the same as the SETTLING of the account.
Customer Reality: Uhhhh, what’s the difference? Why would you give me a receipt of “success” when I’ve not paid for something? They don’t give me a receipt at the grocery store until I actually pay for my groceries and the cash, check or credit card is deemed to be “good” tender.
However, I soldiered on, probably playing some Halo 3 in my spare time. My Xbox Live 12+1 Month PrePaid card arrived from Amazon (thank you, Amazon Prime!). I went ahead and applied the card to my account–knowing me, I’d misplace it within the next year, anyway.
From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russDear Russell,
This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:
Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.The Xbox Live team.
Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42
Why, you’re welcome, Microsoft! Thanks for acknowledging that. Wait–what’s this? Oh, thank you for acknowledging it TWICE:
From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russDear Russell,
This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:
Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.The Xbox Live team.
Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42
And this, folks, was apparently my biggest, most evil and malicious mistake. THIS is where Microsoft decided that it is appropriate to steal from me, you, and any other customer in the world.
See, when I applied this prepaid card–which, by the way, could have been a nice gift from a parent, a nerd-supporting spouse, a nerdy boss, whatever–I did what is called “stacking” by Microsoft.
I’m still not sure how this is wrong. But apparently, when you “stack” AND you have an invalid credit card on file that they continue to attempt to charge, this is where you begin to earn your criminal status.
Allegedly, Microsoft sent me 2 follow-up emails to let me know that my card had been declined. I do not have those, but I have every email I’ve received that isn’t SPAM since 1997. Including all 5 emails referring to my Xbox Live account.
Microsoft has proof that those emails were sent–none that they were received mind you–and if I did not receive them, that’s an issue with my server and none of their concern. They do not, will not, pick up the phone to call you.
No, instead they send you an email that says this:
From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of cancellation of Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Thu, March 13, 2008 7:37 pm
To: russDear Russell,
This mail is confirmation that your subscription to Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card. has been cancelled on Friday, March 14, 2008.
If you have questions about this cancellation, or if you want to reactivate your subscription, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.
The Xbox Live team.
Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 22
I received this on March 13th. I immediately picked up the phone and called my buddies at Microsoft. We’re BFFs, after all, and I wanted to know what I could have done to upset my pals. We should be able to hang out until December 2009, man!
After asking 6 different times to speak to someone else because the CSR from India was only repeating herself from a script and causing me phone rage, I finally spoke to “Jason” the supervisor who made a lot of wild claims.
He actually asked me if I read the Terms of Service. That’s the equivalent of “I’m not going to help you, you have the fine print to contend with”. Customer Service 101, I suppose.
Even so, as of November 2007, I had 25 months that I was paying for. If the credit card was declined, the appropriate response would be to simply subtract 12 of those months–the prepaid card was just that PRE PAID. PAID IN ADVANCE.
Microsoft: Your account is in billing violation and is in collections with Microsoft. If you would have called in before it was sent to them, we could have helped you. We WILL NOT be refunding, replacing or anything else to compensate for the prepaid card we’ve just canceled. We won’t even subtract the months you’ve used it. We would have, however, waived the $15 in fees and reinstate your account, at which point in time you can pay for service how you like or you can provide a new credit card.
Me: Okay, I’d like to fix the situations. We were tight before. Good friends, even. Look, how about I go ahead and give you a new credit card and I pay for a whole year–and we’ll just call the time that you’ve suspended my account as a wash since I’ve been busy with work, school, blogging about NotchUp, having a new baby, playing that new Mario game on the Wii and everything else. We’ll be buds again, we can hang out and I’ll let you play drums in Rock Band.
Oh, and just give me back that 12+1 month card, because, after all, it was PRE PAID.
Microsoft: Nope. We’re not friends. You’re a criminal. You were sent to collections and we canceled your PRE PAID card that you STACKED (gasp!) on your account that had a bad credit card on it. You, sir, do not get to keep your 12+1 months. It is gone. The code was “consumed” and we added it to your account. We’re canceling it.
Me: Wait, what?
Okay, so that’s poking a little fun at a situation that has gotten tense and terse. Microsoft will not budge.
The Resolution?
For starters, I’m blogging about this. I’m contacting the local “Fixer” people at the Big City Newspaper (Chicago Sun Times) to see if they can help. Google will be my friend and raise this up the flag pole.
What Do I Want to Happen?
I only want what is fair, and that’s all I’ve asked for since the beginning. I didn’t start out being the ticked-off, phone-rage guy who wanted free service for life and all the cheat codes for every game and whatnot.
I want my PRE PAID card back–I PRE PAID for service that was taken away from me by a billing snafu–not anything that was behavioral or deceptive, but a pretty simple–and easy to rectify–mistake.
This should be no problem. I should, at the very least, have the remaining balance of my PRE PAID card available to me–I should NOT be canceled. That’s simply unfair, and it is the equivalent of stealing.
Microsoft, make this right. I promise I’ll be BFFs again and I promise I’ll tell everyone that you did.
Posted in Rant, User Experience | 8 Comments »
NotchUp Vs. GrandCentral: Design By, Uh, Someone Else’s Design?
Written by Russ on January 30, 2008 – 12:08 amI don’t like NotchUp’s Terms of Service–I think I’ve made that clear. I don’t think I’m malicious about this, but I do think it is important that people be made aware of what they’re getting into.
Now, however, I’m beginning to truly dislike NotchUp, in general.
Since writing my post “NotchUp Privacy Down“, I’ve been Googling through the web to find out what people are thinking out in the rest of the world.
In my cyber-adventures, as it were, I’ve seen a lot of mentions about how NotchUp and GrandCentral seem to share the same graphical design.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
GrandCentral:
NotchUp:
I checked out GrandCentral.com’s History section, and they started their company in 2005. I’d say that gives them the benefit of the doubt. Granted, they may have purchased the site from a template company and NotchUp may have done the same, but it seems unlikely.
I’m sure this is beyond my capabilities to prove anything, but I’ll let the screen shots do the talking. I can tell you that when I did a comparison of the sites on 2 different layers in Photoshop, they were same width from the left and right borders–which very much appear to be the exact same drop shadow border. The backgrounds in their content areas appear to be pretty similar as well.
Sure, site rip-offs happen all the time. Hey, we couldn’t stop Vanilla Ice from working Queen’s “Under Pressure” into “Ice Ice Baby”, we’re certainly not going to stop people from
Ponder away.
To me, it just tells more of the story that is NotchUp. The level of trust that I have for them is far less than it was, well, when I received the invitation from a trusted friend.
————————
Sadly, it seems most people are more interested in the “How can I make money” aspect instead of the “Totally free isn’t just about cash” perspective that I seem to take. Christian Crumlish was cool enough to mention a posting that I sent out to the Information Architecture Institute’s mailing list–to the point that he even apologized to folks that he’d sent invites to.
People are starting to notice, and I think that’s a good thing. Hey, as long as I’m spending a moment talking about things, it was pretty cool that the NotchUp question on LinkedIn actually had a link to the posting I wrote–even before I had a chance to point it out.
I’m hopeful that people will slow down, take a deep breath and make wise decisions about their personal information.
I’ll leave you with a final thought:
How would you feel if LinkedIn suddenly changed their Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy to match that of NotchUp?
Posted in Rant | 4 Comments »
NotchUp, Privacy Down
Written by Russ on January 27, 2008 – 11:03 amLately, I’ve seen a few discussions in regards to various forms of social/business networking, etc. I’ve also received a few invites to join NotchUp, which appears to be the new kid on the block, and I started to enter into their process since I was invited to the “Beta” by a couple of known and trusted colleagues.
In part of checking them out, I do what I always do whenever I see checkbox that says that I agree to someone’s terms of use–I read their terms of use.
From the start, NotchUp’s terms of use doesn’t read like the other places I trust. In fact, it reads like something familiar. It reads like something from a company I worked for many years ago that tried to sign people up for a job site only to in turn sell their information to companies. I’m sure you’ve seen several of these, some of them are akin to College Scholarships “just for signing up for free magazine subscriptions”.
Since my spider-sense was tingling, I knew I needed to read on–so I did:
9. NotchUp reserves the right to offer third party services and products to You based on the preferences that You identify in your registration and at any time thereafter; such offers may be made by NotchUp or by third parties.
That’s right: NotchUp can sell your information to third parties.
Full disclosure here: I did not get through the rest of their registration because, frankly, I don’t like to agree to Terms of Use before I get to see just what my privacy settings can be. They do offer up such a tab in their settings, but it is disabled and not viewable.
10. Without limiting any of the other disclaimers of warranty set forth in these Terms, NotchUp does not provide or make any representation as to the quality or nature of any of the third party products or services purchased through NotchUp.com or any other NotchUp Site, or any other representation, warranty or guaranty. Any such undertaking, representation, warranty or guaranty would be furnished solely by the provider of such third party products or services, under the terms agreed to by the provider.
This basically says that once you’re on someone else’s email list (after they’ve sold your information), they no longer take any ownership of how it is used. Think about that one. It can translate loosely to this:
Once we sell your information, it’s out of our hands. If you change your privacy settings with us, we’ll follow that setting, but if someone we’ve sold your list to sells that list or does not allow you to remove yourself from it, etc. etc. we’re not responsible. There would be a lot of hurdles to overcome to find out just where in the heck your name has ended up.
Not only that:
18. You understand and acknowledge that you have no ownership rights in your NotchUp account (“NotchUp Account”), and that if you cancel your NotchUp Account, all your account information from NotchUp, including resumes, profiles, cover letters, network contacts, saved jobs, questionnaires and email mailing lists, will be marked as deleted in NotchUp’s databases and will be removed from any public area of the NotchUp Sites. Information may continue to be available for some period of time because of delays in propagating such deletion through NotchUp’s web servers. In addition, third parties may retain cached copies of your Information.
“Marked as deleted” – got that? Not removed, but flagged as deleted and no longer publicly displayed. They’ll still have it, still own it. Those third parties may retained “cached copies” of your information–which means that they’ve got a snapshot view from a specific purchase point and they may continue to use the list from a specific date or merge it with a new list, etc.
19. Your email and other data that you submit as part of the resume will be made available to our recruiters and employers. NotchUp.com doesn’t have any control over how that data would be used. If you don’t want any such data to be displayed your only remedy is not to post any resume.
At least this is pretty black and white. But, of course, since the purpose of NotchUp is to connect employers and candidates, it sure seems pretty useless to have a profile without a resume, right? At least the listed this right up top and not 2/3s of the way down on their Terms of Use page.
Oh. Wait.
I should also mention that the only way you can find out about their privacy policy and terms of use is currently, at the time of this writing, by attempting to sign-up and following the link.
They do a fine job of telling you how safe and secure their site is. You have to read between the lines to understand just how little they’re actually offering you. My gut feeling was that they want you to feel that your information is secure and you can control how the other users of the site can view you–which is great. But what about the people who buy lists from them?
There is the potential to give up a lot of your rights to your resume and personal information, in my opinion. I’m posting this as caution to folks here—this site feels like a bandwagon with a “generate a mailing list” approach to it. I’ve worked for those companies in the past and the end result seems to be me feeling as if I need to create a new email account and trying desperately to remove my personal information from, well, just about everywhere.
Maybe it sounds a bit overly-concerned, and I’ll accept that. I’ll also say that I’ve been the victim of identity theft more than once in the past and it’s not fun having to deal with it. Since NotchUp takes ownership of your information and sells it to who knows who, you really are just exposing yourself without any real means of controlling how that works. And NotchUp isn’t on the hook for anything.
LinkedIn, for what it’s worth, takes its approach this way:
• We will never rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes
• We will never share your contact information with another user, without your consent.
• Any sensitive information that you provide will be secured with all industry standard protocols and technology
That’s pretty nice of them, and I think that’s what we’d all prefer.
Interestingly enough, NotchUp allows you to “instantaneously import your LinkedIn profile into NotchUp to use as your NotchUp profile.” That means that all that privacy protection you get at LinkedIn could be gone within moments. In essence, they’re taking advantage of our lack-of-desire to fill out yet another profile form, using technology to ease that pain, and then potentially reaping the rowards of selling that data.
Likewise, Facebook says this (and we all know they’ve faced some scrutiny):
Facebook follows two core principles:
1. You should have control over your personal information.
Facebook helps you share information with your friends and people around you. You choose what information you put in your profile, including contact and personal information, pictures, interests and groups you join. And you control the users with whom you share that information through the privacy settings on the My Privacy page.
2. You should have access to the information others want to share.
There is an increasing amount of information available out there, and you may want to know what relates to you, your friends, and people around you. We want to help you easily get that information.
It’s easy to jump on the proverbial bandwagon when it comes to social networking—or even professional networking. We all have a couple of things about any site or application that we wish were improved–even the ones we’ve worked on the design for. It makes it easy for a company to come out with an updated approach to something we already find some benefit in using. Unfortunately, it’s just as easy for these companies to throw out a privacy policy that is easy to ignored—and then your privacy could be as well.
I urge you all to proceed with caution and I urge you to take the time to read—very carefully—the terms and conditions, privacy policies, histories and about us sections of any websites you consider joining. NotchUp’s next-to-last statement kind of summarizes what’s happening on their site:
The only winners in all of this are job boards and headhunters.
That’s right, they summarize by saying the above, but the truth is in what they do NOT tell you:
They’ve created a new winner if enough people sign up: NotchUp.
Posted in Rant, Social Networking | 10 Comments »
Falling Down
Written by Russ on January 15, 2008 – 11:15 pmThere is not much on this earth that will make you realize just how little you know about the elevator that you stand in everyday than a very large, obnoxious noise followed by an abrupt jerking motion. I was the bottom of the shaft when this happened to me yesterday and I loosely recall erratically looking all over the elevator for the “stop falling” or “emergency brake” button. Once the elevator came to rest and the door opened, I moved toward an area that I thought would be safe (inside the elevator) still and looked cautiously around the car before catching my breath and stepping out.
I wonder, would anyone really recall that they should put their air mask on themselves first prior to helping the elderly or small children on an airplane in a disaster mode? Would you know where your flotation device is?
Does life require more quizzes, or have we settled on the success and failure rates in our world? Or now, more than ever, do we really need to focus on making everyday objects more usable?
Posted in Rant, User Experience | No Comments »
