Broken: Grocery aisle sign
Jason Kottke points out:
The problem is that the store has alphabetized the categories, when a better grouping (like by type) would have made it easier to scan. Right now it looks like gadgets are for good eatin'!
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A project to make businesses more aware of their customer experience, and how to fix it. By Mark Hurst. |
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November 2005
Broken: Citibank account creation
David H. at 37signals asks, "Exactly how hard is everyday banking? If account creation is such a rocket surgery job perhaps they need to hire some rocket surgeons for it."
Broken: Amazon's thank-you list
Felix Salmon points out:
If you set up a wedding registry with Amazon, they helpfully have a "thank-you list" view.
Amazon says, "This list can be used as a reference when sending your thank-you notes after the wedding."
However, if you happen to be given something which is no longer for sale, it drops the item off the list, and is replaced with a useless statement saying, "This product is no longer available."
Of course you don't care whether it's available or not, you only care what it IS, so that you can send your thank-you note, but Amazon won't tell you that.
Broken: Nexxtech travel mug with thermal control
Stacy Ashton writes:
The concept behind the thermal control is excellent - who likes cold coffee?
The main problem, though, is the design of the sipping hole. It's set further back from the lip of the mug than in regular coffee travel mugs, which is particularly problematic when the liquid is kept hot. Instead of just being able to pour the coffee in your mouth, the coffee, BY DESIGN, burns your top lip. Every time.
This makes it pretty much unusable.
Broken: Password reset on Sprint PCS site
Jeff Winkler observes:
SprintPCS.com requires your password to be between 6 and 8 characters.
This maximum length limit is difficult to abide by, and hard to remember with so many other restrictions.
If you violate a rule, the error incorrectly complains that the passwords don't match. Call me stupid/hurried, but it took about 6 tries to figure out that the problem was password length.
Miniumum length is a good idea, but why a maximum?
Broken: Old Navy sandal sticker
Richie points out:
This is part of a small sticker that came on a pair of Old Navy flip-flop style sandals:
UPPER: OTHER MATERIALS
LINING AND SOCK: OTHER MATERIALS
OUTER SOLE: OTHER MATERIALS
Apparently Old Navy doesn't want us knowing what materials they use in their sandals, or maybe they don't even know themselves. I don't know what the 'lining and sock' part refers to since these sandals are pretty basic - a strap and the sole.
Obviously Old Navy has some work to do on their sticker design.
Broken: Food label ingredient listing
Ben Phillips writes:
This is a general complaint to almost all food manufacturing companies:
When I am reading the nutrition facts for a product, I am often stumped by a mysterious "Natural Flavors" or "Artificial Flavors" listing to go along with the rest of the real ingredients like "Sugar," "Flour," "Tomatoes," etc.
What if I had an allergy and thought a product might have one of my allergens in it but it only said "Natural flavor" or "Artificial flavor." What should I do?
[P.S. To our American readers - Happy Thanksgiving from This Is Broken! -mh]
Broken: Walmart website search engine
Joseph Mori writes in:
While trying to find a raincoat for my wife I decided to give Walmart a try.
Instead of wading through the thousands of items they have, I figured a search could narrow down my selection.
I asked for a "long raincoat" under apparel but check out what the search found.
Broken: Bad gadgets
Link: Ten to Avoid--the Worst Products of 2005 - Yahoo! News.
Including the "worst product of the year":
Samsung Digimax V700: ...We hope this terrible digital camera is an aberration, not a sign of things to come. With slow performance, lousy auto-exposure, and some shutter lag, this 7.1-megapixel camera never should have been released. Compact cameras from Canon, Sony and Nikon are far better—even if they do cost a bit more.
There's a better camera recommendation in the Uncle Mark 2006 Gift Guide.
(Thanks, 'Burgh Pete!)
Broken: Parking garage ticket dispenser
Atif Chaudhry writes:
Here in Ithaca, NY they just opened a brand new parking garage to encourage people to visit and shop in the downtown area.
I don't know what is more broken about this ticket dispenser; the graphic on the green square button showing a hand pushing a round button, the fact that people can't figure out to push the square button to get their ticket, or the half baked solution which was to write directions on masking tape attached to the dispenser.
Broken: New AT&T logo
Link: New AT&T Logo Is Variation on Old Globe - Yahoo! News.
The company said the new logo was designed to look three-dimensional, "representing the expanding breadth and depth of services that the new AT&T family of companies provides to customers." Lowercase type was chosen for "at&t" in the logo "because it projects a more welcoming and accessible image," the company said.
Not necessarily broken, but I always wonder whether all the money that goes into re-branding a huge company is worth it (as opposed to, say, improving the basic service level for customers... why does my cell phone's connection frequently die in the middle of Manhattan, for example?).
I'm also not sure I like the all-lowercase logo, since if every huge soulless corporation does that, then what does it really represent?
Broken: MS Word Spelling and Grammar checker
Andy Fan points out:
This is a screenshot of the Spelling and Grammar checker in Microsoft Word.
I was just checking my spelling when this correction popped up.
Broken: Salon blog rankings page
Sumana Harihareswara comments:
You'd think that to read a blog on the Salon blog rankings page that you would click on the red underlined linked name of the blog. But no! That link takes you to the blog's referrer rankings.
To read the blog itself, you have to click on the globe next to the number of hits.
Even though I've read this page many times, I still find myself clicking the wrong link when I try to get to a blog from the Salon blog rankings page.
Broken: Laminate flooring package
Greg points this out, from a package of laminate flooring:
Open packs and let acclimate for 48 hours before opening!What do they mean?
Broken: Ticketmaster.com inventory
Two talking frogs point out that Ticketmaster's inventory system isn't what it could be...
Broken: Shower signs
Simon courage points out:
I saw this sign in a shower at a waterskiing lake in Devon (UK).
This is obviously broken. First of all, how did the person fitting the shower not realize?
Wouldn't it be better to put the effort into fixing the thing instead of making a couple of signs?
Broken: Google AdWords error response
This Google AdWords form is both dumb and condescending.
First, it doesn't know what to do with the dots in my phone number - it can't figure out what 212.736.2075 means, so it brings back an error message.
Second, it tries to educate me that "U.S. phone numbers are like NNN NNN-NNNN"... after living in the US for over 30 years, I don't need a Web form to educate me on that point.
Google should fix its field check!
Broken: Infected Sony music CDs
Sony recent sold millions of CDs infected with a "root kit", essentially a computer virus that quietly installs itself on the customer's computer to monitor any copying or sharing they do. It also opens a number of dangerous security holes, leaving all of the customer's PC at risk. Sony did this intentionally, was slow to admit it, and is finding it hard to say "sorry."
Link: Boing Boing: Sony anti-customer technology roundup and time-line.
Also see the New York Times article on the matter and the latest on Boing Boing here and here.
Broken: High-end hotels' control (panels)
Speaking of the hotel room control panel a couple of days ago, the NYT reports excitedly that the Mandarin Oriental offers something similar.
Link: Technology Lets High-End Hotels Anticipate Guests' Whims.
Other than the confusing-looking interface in the picture, and the privacy issues around the hotel tracking guests' music and TV-watching "trails", it sounds like a fantastic idea! (Not really.)
Broken: Moving walkway
James Thrasher writes:
I'm still not sure what the Albuquerque airport had in mind with this moving walkway.
Perhaps next time I fly home my questions will be answered....
Broken: Overly aggressive sales clerks
Link: The Seattle Times: When customer service makes customers nervous, it might be time to back off.
Underhill explains that long ago Woolworths had a policy that required salesclerks to greet customers within five seconds of crossing the threshold of the store.
"It was a huge blunder. Everybody was clustered at the front of the store ready to pounce on the customer," he says. "And we know that at cosmetic counters, if a customer is greeted within the first minute it drives them away."
(Thanks, Scott Kilborn)
Broken: Nokia charger
Alison Y. points out:
This is a Nokia charger with non-rigid prongs. This is fine in a regular wall socket, but on a horizontal power strip, the charger falls out and needs to be artificially propped up by a phone book or another item. This is broken!
I also love the warranty sticker, which voids itself if the sticker is removed.
Broken: Hotel room control panel
Andreas Constantinou points out:
This control panel in Chengde, China is a typical case of an over-engineered user experience that is really broken. It's a central control panel for a hotel room typical of high-end hotels in China, probably considered a must-have luxury.
There are several reasons why this is broken:
- If you try to turn on the TV using the remote control it doesn't work. My first thought is that the TV is broken. After careful inspection, you have to turn on the TV through this control panel, then zap through then channels.
- All the buttons are the same color, have a similar shape and are organised in a flat hierarchy. There is no sense of a contextual grouping. Are the channel/volume buttons for the TV, the music, or the world time?
Broken: Comcast customer service
In the Washington Post yesterday, a review of last August's story of Comcast's customer service: Demonizing the Customer.
(Thanks, Rick Robinson!)
Broken: (Not broken) Office
Robert Atkins writes:
Not necessarily "broken", but customers can walk by the office and see this mess.
The owner of the desk would ordinarily be looking for another job... but she is the owner.
Broken: 'www' abbreviation
Karma Kanic forwards a comment he spotted on craigslist:
The abbreviation 'www' is used as shorthand for 'world wide web'. 'www' has nine syllables. 'world wide web' has three.
Broken: Floor signs at the Getty parking structure
Dan Phiffer points out:
These are two photos taken on the same level at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
The first photo is taken from within the stairwell. The second photo is taken where you park your car. No post-processing here.
Either they ran out of blue paint, or whoever took care of buying the signage was color blind.
Broken: Weakest link
Several readers have pointed out this interesting photo... this shows what happens when a security measure is broken.
Broken: Fire escape signs
Peter Edmondson writes:
This is what happened when a friend of mine asked the contractor to put up some fire escape signs in their office in Bristol City Council.
Broken: (Just for fun) Water park shark
Cheri Lee writes:
This is a photo-op prop at a local water park. Someone's gone and ripped all of his teeth out!
Who wants to have their photo taken with their head in the Jaws of a toothless great white?
Broken: Subway shop sign
David Doolittle points out:
A sign in Worcester, MA has a combination Subway sandwich shop and tombstone store.
Hmmm... are they trying to tell you that you shouldn't be caught dead eating there?
Either that, or their food is "stone cold!"
And don't miss the Subway slogan: "Revive your day!" Too bad they didn't hang that a bit closer to the Rock of Ages sign..
Broken: Washingto Nationals beanie bear
Nathaniel Kennedy writes:
The new baseball team in Washington DC is called the Nationals... So check out this bear toy in their gift shop.
Where is the "n" in Washington?
This is broken!
Broken: Commandments for tech manufacturers
Two notable points from David Pogue's New York Times article "10 Ways to Please Us, the Customers", which elaborates on how companies can easily improve on things from product design to how manuals are written:
V. Thou shalt not participate in rebate rip-offs. We admit it: we, the people, are cheapskates. You know and we know that we ruthlessly compare prices. We'll buy the cheaper gizmo almost every time.
But what do you do? You exploit our love of saving money by offering your delicious electronics for crazy-low prices - "after rebate."
So we buy your thing, cut out the barcode, fill out the form and staple the original store receipt. We handwrite the rebate center's address on the envelope, mail it away and wait.
And a few weeks later, you know what we get? A stress headache.
We've already sent away our only copy of the documentation and you didn't provide a phone number, so we're just stuck. You've got our money and you know there's nothing we can do about it.
But in this particular religion, there's a special circle of hell reserved for rebate cheats.
VIII. Thou shalt not prevent "zeroing out" of thy phone-mail maze. When we do finally get you on the phone, we can tolerate a voice-mail system that routes our calls. But when we get frustrated or lost in the labyrinth - "Press 2 for sales, press 3 for service. ..." - we should be allowed to press the zero key to escape and talk to a live human being.
If you have designed a phone system to ignore desperate zero presses, then you're showing your fear. And we, the customers who pay for your whole operation, may wonder why you're trying to hide from us.
Broken: Disney product disclaimer
Andrew Tonkin points out:
Not all that broken, but certainly ironic and unfortunate. Actually, from a customer communications point of view, it is pretty broken.
On this listing for a Disney gift item, two pieces of a legal copy of wildly different urgency wound up getting smooshed together:
WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm. Sorry, no gift boxing available.
Not only do you get cancer, but it doesn't even come in a box. Alas.
Broken: (Just for fun) Wonderments
Alan O writes:
Nothing really broken (severely, anyway), just things to make you go, "hmmmm..."
Why is it that when you give someone "a penny for their thoughts," they give you their "two cents worth?"
What does it mean when you see an "end speed limit" sign? Can you go as fast as you want?
Why does "speed zone ahead" mean you're going to have to slow down?