Full Disclosure, for four years I was that voice on the phone you got when your computer started smoking and you thought, "I gotta call Support!" I've been in the trenches and I comprehend what a difficult job it is. I also know that when companies make the decision to move call centers out of the US and into foreign countries, that sometimes, the quality of support received by the consumer is impacted.
Case in point. Shutterfly. I'm not sure that I'm emailing back and forth with someone in a foreign land, but the lack of understanding that I'm receiving leads me to believe that English is a second language for the many MANY folks I'm chatting with.
Shutterfly is a site where you can upload photos from your digital camera and create photo books and albums. It's pretty easy to use and the product you receive is very good quality. My DIL does an annual book of her favorite photos of the kids and gifts us with one each Christmas. As I was assembling my photo books, I realized that while I was living overseas, I didn't get the photo books. It was SO costly to ship everything over there, it was no great surprise.
When I mentioned to my DIL that I was missing the past two years, she immediately 'shared' the photobooks with me so I could order a copy of each. I was glad to do it!
Both books showed up on my projects page. I ordered the first book with no problem. When I tried to order the second book, there was no link to order it. I can see it. I can page through it from start to finish, but nowhere on the screen is there a place where a live link or order button will function.
So, I contacted support from the website's link.
It didn't seem really hard to me. But apparently it was.
Me - "I'm trying to give you money, and your site won't let me order this photo book."
Support - "Which project are you referring to?"
Me - "Here's the link to the exact project (I pasted in a long URL link)"
Support - "We can't see that you have an account, so I created one for you. Click this link to activate an account."
Me - "That's because my account is under an old email address I had years ago. I'm logged in as this user (gave them my logon). The project shows under My Projects as "shared"."
Support - "It appears that this project was created under the old (technical name here) stream. The only way you can order this project is for it to be converted to the new format. What is the name of the project?"
Me - "Here's the link to the project again (I pasted in a long URL link again)."
Support - "That project is not a new project."
Me - "Yes, I know. My DIL did it a couple of years ago and just shared it with me."
Support - "That project will have to be converted for you to be able to order it."
Me - "Yes, you said that. Will it be converted? I'd like to order the book. I'm trying to GIVE YOU MONEY here, it seems like you would want to enable that."
Support - "You'll have to give us the exact name of the project so we can have our technical group convert the project."
Me - "Here is the link again (I pased in a long URL for the third time). It's under "My Projects" as the latest and the link under it says "shared photo..." before the link cuts off the words."
Support - "In order to convert this project, we will need the name of the project."
and it went on and on. So far, I've sent them my login name three times. I've sent the exact link to the project four times. Today, I included a screen shot of the project page. I did not put a big red arrow pointing to the ONLY project on the page, but it was hard to hold that back.
I'm trying not to be upset, but it does beg a question... if it is so hard to order something off their website, how much money in revenue are they losing from people who won't continue the inane email thread with folks who don't speak good English?
I get that this problem is 'off script' for what they are used to handling, but any website that has an issue which keeps a consumer from placing an order and giving them money, needs to be escalated. At least, in my day, it did.
Shutterfly needs to up its game. There are way too many competitors out there. Next time, my DIL could use Mpix, Mixbook, LuLu, or Mypublisher. No company can afford to tick off the folks who pay the bills. Just sayin'.
-- Sandee Wagner
Case in point. Shutterfly. I'm not sure that I'm emailing back and forth with someone in a foreign land, but the lack of understanding that I'm receiving leads me to believe that English is a second language for the many MANY folks I'm chatting with.
Shutterfly is a site where you can upload photos from your digital camera and create photo books and albums. It's pretty easy to use and the product you receive is very good quality. My DIL does an annual book of her favorite photos of the kids and gifts us with one each Christmas. As I was assembling my photo books, I realized that while I was living overseas, I didn't get the photo books. It was SO costly to ship everything over there, it was no great surprise.
When I mentioned to my DIL that I was missing the past two years, she immediately 'shared' the photobooks with me so I could order a copy of each. I was glad to do it!
Both books showed up on my projects page. I ordered the first book with no problem. When I tried to order the second book, there was no link to order it. I can see it. I can page through it from start to finish, but nowhere on the screen is there a place where a live link or order button will function.
So, I contacted support from the website's link.
It didn't seem really hard to me. But apparently it was.
Me - "I'm trying to give you money, and your site won't let me order this photo book."
Support - "Which project are you referring to?"
Me - "Here's the link to the exact project (I pasted in a long URL link)"
Support - "We can't see that you have an account, so I created one for you. Click this link to activate an account."
Me - "That's because my account is under an old email address I had years ago. I'm logged in as this user (gave them my logon). The project shows under My Projects as "shared"."
Support - "It appears that this project was created under the old (technical name here) stream. The only way you can order this project is for it to be converted to the new format. What is the name of the project?"
Me - "Here's the link to the project again (I pasted in a long URL link again)."
Support - "That project is not a new project."
Me - "Yes, I know. My DIL did it a couple of years ago and just shared it with me."
Support - "That project will have to be converted for you to be able to order it."
Me - "Yes, you said that. Will it be converted? I'd like to order the book. I'm trying to GIVE YOU MONEY here, it seems like you would want to enable that."
Support - "You'll have to give us the exact name of the project so we can have our technical group convert the project."
Me - "Here is the link again (I pased in a long URL for the third time). It's under "My Projects" as the latest and the link under it says "shared photo..." before the link cuts off the words."
Support - "In order to convert this project, we will need the name of the project."
and it went on and on. So far, I've sent them my login name three times. I've sent the exact link to the project four times. Today, I included a screen shot of the project page. I did not put a big red arrow pointing to the ONLY project on the page, but it was hard to hold that back.
I'm trying not to be upset, but it does beg a question... if it is so hard to order something off their website, how much money in revenue are they losing from people who won't continue the inane email thread with folks who don't speak good English?
I get that this problem is 'off script' for what they are used to handling, but any website that has an issue which keeps a consumer from placing an order and giving them money, needs to be escalated. At least, in my day, it did.
Shutterfly needs to up its game. There are way too many competitors out there. Next time, my DIL could use Mpix, Mixbook, LuLu, or Mypublisher. No company can afford to tick off the folks who pay the bills. Just sayin'.
-- Sandee Wagner
3 comments:
For what it's worth... the original project under name in my account is called "2010 Christmas Book" - maybe that will help?
Kimmee,
I sent them the actual name again this morning after they exclaimed about not knowing my account name again. So totally stupid. I even sent them a link to this blog. Wonder if I'll EVER be able to order the book??
LOL, Sandee. It's amazing how hard some businesses make it to give them money. I was out of town one time and trying to pay our mortgage over the phone. I had everything but our account number -- full names, Social Security numbers, po box, street address, anwers to all the security questions -- and the woman kept telling me she couldn't accept the payment because I didn't know the name of the account representative. Gee, I hadn't talked to the rep in fifteen years!
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