Sometimes I yearn for a simple life.
A life uncomplicated by the unnecessary pressures of being a consumer in a consumerist society.
I've known problems in my life. Those times when you just don't know how you're going to pay the next bill. Those times when you stand quivering with fear as it seems to take for ever for the plastic card to be authorised - or rejected and confiscated. And you know that these circumstances are of your own making.
I've known periods of self-denial. Snortle. Sometimes I've gone almost whole days without giving in to consumerist desires. I have gone through entire weeks, maybe almost complete months when I have scrutinised every buying decision. I've even had periods where I have rejected every buying decision except 'absolutely essential'.
What annoys me is the three things I have been currently having problems with are all unnecessary. I would not have had these problems ten years ago.
The first has been resolved. I renewed my anti-virus software and now have some all singing all dancing product called Norton 360. It has far too many whistles and bells, and doesn't exactly come cheap. but c'est la vie.
I downloaded it about six weeks ago but couldn't activate it. It simply wouldn't accept my product key. To cut a long story short, my second 'free trial' period expired today, and I was nearly in tears trying to work out what the problem was. Eventually, somewhere in the bowels of their site, I found an option to LiveChat. It turns out that I was trying to 'renew' a new product. Well, bugger me! Here I am thinking that by entering the product key that came with the confirmation that I had bought the product, I would be able to use the product I had bought. The solution involved allowing Symantec's support contractors to take remote control of my machine. I did not feel entirely comfortable with that, but, as they advised, I watched what was going on and it all seemed above board. I'm okay when IT support do that at work, even though it freaks me out. But, anyway, my virus, firewall, spyware, phishing, blah-de-blah protection is bang up to date. And so simple, in the end...
In March I paid out money to renew my MyBlogLog Pro, and they persist on keeping me on the free service. Every week I send an email and most of the time, they do nothing.
I did receive an excruciating twee condescending email from MyBlogLog, now part of Yahoo
Thank you for working with us so we may resolve the issue you are experiencing with MyBlogLog. We have forwarded the information you have supplied to us to our topnotch engineering department for further review and investigation. If it's possible to fix this problem, rest assured they'll do it, or at least find a clever work around. (They pride themselves as master troubleshooters.)We apologize for the inconveniences and appreciate your patience and willingness to work with us while we work to resolve your issue.
This was a response to my response to them where I detailed the problem and stated in a businesslike manner "I am paying for a service I am not receiving, please rectify this immediately."
So, because they wanted to treat me as a halfwit, I got a bit angry and replied:
Please don't patronise me. I do not want your clever engineers to do a clever work around. What I suggest you do is:a) verify that I have indeed paid for your service via Paypal (details attached) - you might want to consult with your accounts department, it is part of their job description to verify accounts receivable.
b) write that on a piece of paper and pass it to your very clever engineering department
c) flick the switch that changes 'free account' to 'pro account'. Oh, and please restore access to the statistics I have paid for since March 2005.
Since when all has been quiet. My god, I even suggest a solution and they're too drugged up to provide it. Morons. More seriously, exactly what part of customer service includes talking to customers as if they are zombies/infant-school children/half-wits.
Two months ago I ordered a new case and wireless remote control for my camera, from Canon. A month later they wrote to confirm that it had 'shipped'. Since when, nothing. I have tried sending them a message via their webshite - order number, nature of query, blah-de-blah. I click send, and the page refreshes, but it doesn't actually tell you if you have actually sent off an email. and you get no auto-reply in your inbox confirming they have received it. The only other way to contact them is by phone, to Ireland, and at only at 3 o'clock on a Wednesday morning if that Wednesday happens to be the 31st of the month (or some such nonsense).
I may not be the most canny business woman, but I reckon there is only one way to stay in business - deliver the product which the customer is willing to pay for. There is an additional way of making money - that is, taking money under false pretences. That is illegal and immoral. Right now, I think it's the business models of Yahoo! and Canon, who are currently filed under 'Lying thieving gits'
