What am I thinking?

In serious need of an upgrade….major user experience fail!

Mobile phone operator voice mail services!  Absolutely a hangover from a previous telephonic era and just doesn’t fit with modern mobile device usage.

So you and your phone are reunited after a brief separation and you see a missed call notice:

Pressing call history – you see it’s from Joe Bloggs at 10:13am;

Just as you are about to call Joe back, an SMS arrives telling you that you missed a call from Joe Bloggs at 10:13 am and there is a voicemail recording for you to pickup. 

Pressing highlighted service number, you dutifully dial your voicemail service to hear an automated message tell you that you have a new message from 123456789 (Joe’s number) at 10:13am – press one to listen to it!

Pressing #1>

“Hi, it’s Joe – call me back?”

Throw phone in disgust or press #5 to delete message!

Then delete the call log, then delete the SMS.

Familiar story eh?  Epic failure in user experience.  Today’s phones always recognize the number, or it is withheld – so why do we need a txt to tell us same information if the phone received the call?  I can understand if the phone was off, or out of signal then sending an SMS would be good service – so why cant the operator software know that?  

Similarly, why is the default voicemail software setup to tell you the same information you already know about the left message?  And why is it so slooooow at reading out 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9… etc Apart from a ploy to keep you on the phone longer to generate more revenue, it’s just irritating.  Why we cant disable the settings I do not know!

Finally, and this is probably the worst part – why do people bother to leave messages that say, “hi it’s me, call me back”?   FFS I already have three separate smart phone services telling me it was you and I’ve just burned 10 mins so now I don’t have time to call you!!  Next time just send me an SMS instead!!

Come-on telco’s!!  Please sort this archaic solution out.. It’s really poor and we’re all paying you for it…. 

Buy local?

Ok, so living on an island means that shopping isnt exactly full of
choice and lacks the options that our brethren on the mainland enjoy but
considering our lack of choice for a moment you would think that our
shops would be bustling, busy little goldmines.  However they arent,
there are many closed, closing or just plain empty of stock.  Sure there
is a recession and we’re in dark economic times but I still can not
fathom why our local shops arent doing more to keep themselves afloat.
The internet brings us cheap, easy, accessible shopping and I, just like
a lot of people, do almost all my shopping online.  But I still wander
down our main street on a Saturday to browse and perhaps buy something
that the internet doesnt lend itself to providing - yet I find the whole
experience wholly unfulfilling.

Times are hard, and our MHK responsible for the Department of Trade and
Industry frequently urges us via the local press and media “to buy
local!”.  Seriously? I would love to, I would like nothing more to buy
locally and support the local economy and protect our bricks n mortar
stores - but they arent even willing to meet us halfway.  Sure they cant
compete on price, the web wins every time, but that’s not why we shop in
stores, we do that for tactile shopping and we will pay that extra for
immediacy and customer service benefits.  Do the shop managers not
realise that??  Instead of bemoaning the consumer trending towards
Internet shopping, they should be capitalising on the differentiators -
the human contact - do they not realise that employing sullen, sulky and
down right unhelpful staff that they are pushing people away from the
stores?

Our main street is no different to many High Streets up and down the UK,
we have all the brand stores - albeit smaller outlets - and we have
local shops that are owned, run by local people.  Those are the worse
ones!! We all have our horror stories of poor customer service in those
shops, but what I’m seeing now is downright arrogance.   Well, I for one
say good luck to you all, and if you survive the downturn I’ll be most
surprised but rest assured you seen my last £ until you change.

I would urge our DTI minister and the local commerce groups to stop
moaning and trying to lure people in by message only, take some action,
learn from what’s going on, treat the customer better, and get the
basics right - smile & be polite for goodness sake!

So my challenge to the “buy local” ideal is: improve the service and I
will.