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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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Broken: Pen ink color
A reader named Matt writes in:
I came accoss this pen today. One would think that it writes in blue ink. The cap is blue, the plastic by the point is blue, the plug at the end is blue, and even the logo of the business (in this case, a local bank) is also blue.
However, when I started writing with the pen, the color of the ink came out black. Having a pen with exterior blue indicators should not have black ink inside.
Broken: Hotel internet access code card
Aleigh Acerni writes in:
Recently, I stayed at a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, where I requested the hotel's high-speed internet access code. I was given this little card with the access code on it. Or so I thought...
You see, the access code is actually a 9-digit combination of letters and numbers, which wasn't explained to me at check-in. It turns out that those small upper-case letters on the left hand side of the card are the beginning of the code, and those letters need to be input along with the four numbers next to "your access code" but just by looking at this, would you have known that? Why didn't they just print "CHSHD4103" on the line next to "your access code"?
The worst part is, when I called the front desk for help accessing the internet, no one answered the phone. I had to try calling repeatedly for 15 minutes to get someone on the phone who could help me figure out how to decipher this card.
Broken: Amoeba records listening station
Aynne Valencia submits a picture from San Francisco:
This user interface fouls San Francisco.
Do you know what is playing?
Do you know how to forward to the next song?
Do you know what the heck is going on here?
Noooo..
Neither do I
Neither did any of the kids I polled at the listening station.
This is not an interface - it is an acid trip.
I am at Ameoba almost every Saturday and this is driving me mad!
I am almost to the point where I would volunteer to fix this mess.
Broken: To restaurant/toilets sign
Alan Clarke writes in:
I came across this sign while I was attending a software design methodology course at an IBM building in London.
After wondering several times why each time I tried to go to the toilets I ended up in the restaurant, I looked carefully at the sign.
As you can see, the sign system is of a modular design. One sign would work fine. Two clearly doesn't. With three or more, the system would probably start working again.
After I took the photo, I watched people make their decisions for a while. I saw that at least 70% turned the wrong way, even after having gone the wrong way once before.
Broken: Promotions Gateway web ad
Jeremy Coots points out:
I ran across this ad from Promotions Gateway offering 500 free music downloads (which of course is available only if I follow certain stipulations, as noted by the asterisk, although that is a different issue).
Anyway, if I did follow the requirements to receive the free music downloads, why would I need to have the music downloads shipped? The whole reason for downloads is that they take place online, there is no need to "ship" the downloads to a home address.
This seems just like a way for them to capture my mailing address so they can send me spam through snail mail.
Broken: NYT.com search
I like the New York Times site and know several of the people there - but I have to describe a pet peeve that has been nagging me for years: why, of all sites, can't the NYT's search engine perform a simple search?
I wanted to find the online version of the "top 50 conservative rock songs" that I saw mentioned in today's (print) Times, so I searched for "conservative".
Here's what the Times found: nothing.
So I remembered the mention of Pete Townshend in the article and searched on "Townshend" - bingo, there's the article - with "conservative" in the title. 
And here's the article itself, with conservative in the title.
My question: am I missing something obvious, or is the NYT search broken? I searched for "conservative" and it couldn't find an article in today's paper with the word "conservative" in the title. This has been a problem for years on NYT.com and I finally thought I'd point it out.
Update August 16, 2006: Also see Broken: New York Times search results, posted today.
Broken: Citibank online statements
Rod Kimball points out:
I signed up to get my statements online to reduce the amount of paper mail I get. This is the main reason for anybody to do this, right?
Now I get this notice every month IN THE MAIL!
Broken: Carl's Jr. hand-scooped shakes
Beth Olson writes:
"Hand scooped" ice cream shakes and malts?
I really hope Carl's Jr. has a strict employee hand-washing policy!
Broken: Unreadable text at Cooper-Hewitt
Further suggestion that many designers today work in a thick layer of smog... everything in the Cooper-Hewitt online calendar is light-gray on a white background.
Hey designers: the ink online is free - and contrast is not a bad thing! Once in awhile people do actually want to read your text. Up the contrast, please.
Broken: Door instructions
A reader submits a picture taken in Palermo, New York:
I biked across the country this summer and stayed in churches almost every night. One night I stayed in a church in Palermo, and I found a door with a plastic sign on it with the text "Keep Door Closed," but there was also a note posted on that same door with the text "Please keep this door open for ventilation."
However, the door was closed. Which sign would you have paid attention to?
Broken: Clothing fabric description
A reader submits a screenshot from a product page from Wintersilks:
So is this poncho 60% silk or 100% silk?
They should make the fabric description of this poncho clearer.
Broken: Mysterious error message
Matt Baume writes in:
As soon as I logged on to my computer today, it gave me an error message that said, "Driver components mis-match. Exit is the only option." There was only an OK button to press.
Not only is that unhelpful, (which components?), it's confusing -- am I supposed to manually exit, or is the program exiting by itself? Sure, exit is the only option, but am I or the computer supposed to exercise that option?
I looked at my taskbar and saw the red gear icon. I know I've seen it somewhere before, associated with a specific application. Now, which one was it? Oh yes:
A clue! The mystery is coming undone! Well, somewhat. Now I've deciphered that my Folding-at-Home screensaver is to blame somehow. But how? Is this a problem with a driver? More than one driver? In the registry? With my user profile? Do I need to reinstall Folding-at-Home, or nVidia software, or OpenGL software?
Gah! Exit is the only option.
Broken: Aquafresh toothpaste
Ed sends in a picture:
Here is another example of something that does need to be called an experience.
In this case, it would be more appropriate for the Aquafresh toothpaste tube to have the text "Whitening mint effect."
Broken: Laser pointer case
Alex Pavloff writes in:
This is a combo laser pointer/powerpoint controller, so you can stand up, do your presentation, go forward and back remotely (via RF), as well as use the laser pointer.
It was a freebie, and is pretty cheap.
However, the case is poorly constructed. There is fabric that holds the device in place. When the pointer is placed in the case with the clip up, the fabric fits snugly over the laser button, resulting in the laser staying on until the battery goes dead.
Good thing I had 2 of these, otherwise, the controller would have been dead by the time I arrived at my next presentation.
Broken: Information for visitors to the Senedd
Chris M. Jackson submits pictures from Wales, UK:
Visitors to the Senedd, the new £67m home of the National Assembly for Wales, may wish to pay attention to this notice. In Welsh and English, it explains the visiting hours, and some rules and conditions, such as not being allowed to bring large bags or food and drink onto the premises.
However, one tiny oversight makes this entirely broken.
These notices are only visible from the inside.
Broken: Webroot unsubscribe
A reader named Grant points out:
Mysteriously, I have appeared on the mailing list of Webroot, which is a company that makes anti-spyware software.
In an attempt to remove myself from their list, I clicked on the "Remove Yourself From This Mailing List" link at the bottom of one of their mesages. This led me to the page in the picture with the text below:
ErrorOur unsubscribe service is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please check back again later or contact our customer service department at 1-800-772-9383 to unsubscribe.
Broken: Road status sign
Steve Horne submits a picture taken in Pelham, Alabama:
This has to be one of the most poorly thought-out signs I have seen. When is this road going to be closed? One week from when? Which three days of the week?
This sign definitely doesn't serve as a very useful warning.
Broken: Fortune cookie message
Abraham Martinez writes in:
Every time they serve eggrolls at my school, they give out a fortune cookie to go along with it. I found this "special" message in my fortune cookie.
I thought that all of the messages in fortune cookies were supposed to be about your future or just an interesting thought.
When I checked my friend's messages from the fortune cookies, I found that 6 out of 11 received the same message I did!
Broken: ATM options
Andrew Skegg from Australia writes:
I went to the nearest ATM to withdraw some cash. I only needed $20 for lunch, so that's what I selected.
The machine then showed the message seen below, "Sorry, unable to issue $20. Please enter multiples of $50."
Why give the $20 option or mulitiples of $20 when the option is unavailable?
If the machine knows it is out of $20 notes, then the options that are unavailable should not be shown to the user.
Broken: Inspirational poster
Jonathan Langer sends this picture seen on the wall at his high school.
He writes: "Inspirational posters are commonly placed on school walls. However, this one seems oddly out of place. The message may be true, but it's definitely not inspirational."
Broken: Scrapbook store sign
Aaron Vincent submits a picture taken in Littleton, Colorado:
It's unfortunate that the "S" on this Scrapbook store sign had to be the unlit letter.
Broken: Windows "auto-restart"
A college professor writes in:
I was printing out a long Powerpoint file when the “Auto-restart” window came up...without the ability to delay the restart!
It ended up with a sprint to the finish line – thankfully, the print job finished before the restart.
Broken: Police car
David Hintze submits a picture taken on the freeway in California:
I saw this during a trip in California. Thought it was pretty funny to see a police car "out of service," since you don't see that too often.
Broken: Signing up for Zip.ca
Joe Clark writes in:
I tried to sign up for the Netflix-like online DVD rental service zip.ca. I gave up after their JavaScript-heavy form demanded that I retype all my credit-card information three more times. Why? Because apparently I had made a single mistake in one of the fields, which caused the entire page to reload and all of my correct fields to be erased. I make one mistake and it forces me to re-enter everything.
I must fill out all mandatory fields over and over again, even the fields I got right the first three times.
How’s that for E-commerce?
It gets better: The Live Help chat-mode option requires Java, which their system thinks Firefox doesn’t have. (Did they build this thing just for IE6?) You could also find a lot of things wrong with their forms, semantics, overuse of pictures of text, and difficult accessibility.
I phoned their “customer service” line and insisted that the “customer service representative” send an E-mail to the developers to get their forms fixed. (They had no method at all to assign a ticket to a tech-support complaint. She was initially just going to make a “note” in my “account” that would sit there unread until Armageddon.)
She offered to sign me up over the phone twice. Sorry, but no go: This is an online DVD rental service, and if an expert can’t sign up for your service, he won’t be signing up at all.
Broken: Balcony on house
Abraham Martinez writes:
The only way to get to the small balcony on the right side of the house is to squeeze through the small window.
Broken: Canon battery charger warning label
Alex B points out:
Here's a closeup of the safety warnings on my new camera's battery charger. You would think that the manufacturer would try to use clear and unambigous language here, but I have no idea what an "ITE" is.
The definition of "ITE" doesn't appear anywhere on the battery itself. I guess I could see if it's in the instruction manual, but that would defeat the purpose of putting the warning on the label!
Broken: American Express website error message
I tried to create an account online with American Express and the site said:
We're SorryThe system is unavailable at this time. Please bookmark and visit this site later, or call customer service at 1 800- AXP 1234, for further assistance.
Is this the best American Express can do? How about "We're upgrading servers and will be done on x date," or "fill out this form and we'll get back to you as soon as we can"?
Broken: Hancock Tower sign
Todd Jennings submits a picture taken during a trip to Chicago:
This was taken on the ground floor of the 1,150-foot-high Hancock Tower. I was looking for the observatory, and found this less-than-helpful sign apparently trying to convince me that the observatory I was looking for was in the basement.
Broken: Flavored water
Kevin Kwon submits a picture of a flavored water machine:
A little hard to read, since my camera phone can't focus well, but the button says "Press for Butter Flavor."
Anyone want some butter flavored water?