TfTD

My TfTD is that a lot of things that we label as user-friendly ought to be labeled as, “user-unfriendly”.

Last month, I spent 3 days speaking with virtual technical support along with  telephone recordings trying to get the cable service in my house unscrambled.  They could fix it in 15 minutes by picking up the phone. Instead, they made it hard to get through to a real person.  Then they have the nerve to call that kind of service, “user-friendly”.  But it gets worst.

To add insult to injury, the recording said, “Your call is very important to us”.  Excuse me! I pick important calls up on the first ring.  Along with millions of Americans, I ignore robocalls because they are not important to me. It could be that I we are not important to these unfriendly companies, but our money is.

Companies who ignore our calls and make it hard for us to get them after we buy their products, are not user-friendly companies.  I also believe that the service company who finally understands and practices being user-friendly, will likely become very popular based on their business friendly reputation alone.

“User-friendly”, is more than a label.  It is a practice.  I was once, a card-carrying member of an african-american organization but I dropped them for the same reason. After a distasteful incident, I sought their support.  I dropped them when I did not get them.  I tore up my card and threw it in the trash. Representatives who subsequently solicit my support discover that they are wasting their time talking to me.

Also, during my odyssey with the cable company, my wife asked me to help her get her debit card straightened out. I did it, but I did not do it that day.  I was exhausted from dealing with so-called user-friendly fixes that are actually, unfriendly, and I am sure that I am not the only one who is fed up.