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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: CitiMortgage website
A reader writes in:
I just signed up to access my CitiMortgage account online. When I log in, the very first page shows a list of payment options - so I click on CitiMortgage E-Billing. Guess what comes up: "This service is no longer available." Why direct customers to an option that doesn't even exist? Broken!
Update Sept 3: CitiMortgage has fixed the error by removing the E-Billing option altogether from the site.
Broken: Coffee shop sign
I saw this sign near Astor Place in Manhattan.
For ten bucks ("$10.0", as the sign says), this cup of coffee must really be as "extraordinary" as promised. Not to mention shade-grown, organic, and all the rest.
Note to coffee shops - before you get a sign professionally printed, get the decimal point in the right place!
By the way, if you like coffee, try these Manhattan coffee shops. (Also San Francisco coffee shops, Boston coffee shops, even Seattle coffee shops...)
Broken: Microsoft Word "New..." command
Dave Collins writes from London:
In Microsoft Word, clicking the New... command does not give me a new document. It opens a dialog box containing a list of items (the first being existing documents - not new ones).
This gives me a mental double-take every single time, followed by a growl, followed by closing it, and then clicking the little blank document icon because that will get me what I asked for.
Why a whole dialog box just to give me a new doc? Because Word is not just for documents anymore - No! I might want a new webpage or email message. Word inserts these extra steps for the 99.9% of my tasks, in order to make the 0.1% (well, 0%) easier. Bloatware at its finest.
Broken: Unnecessary lawsuit over glass door
Speaking of "transparent glass" being too transparent (see our June 29 post), a reader pointed us to this post on Overlawyered.com:
The Colorado Civil Justice League, in its May 21 newsletter, reports: "The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that a Broomfield family has sued a motel for keeping a sliding glass door too clean. The family is suing the owners of the Hobby Horse Motor Lodge after their then-8-year-old son ran through a sliding glass door at the motel because 'the glass was so transparent and clean that (he) erroneously, but understandably, assumed that the door had remained open,' according to the lawsuit."
Broken: Golf course dress code sign
Laurel Bowman writes:
Signs like this can be seen at municipal golf courses all over the country.
But usually never at the fourth hole.
This sign resides at the tee box of the fourth hole of the lovely Cape Anne Golf Course in Essex, MA, USA.
(No word as to whether they'll be providing changing rooms or complimentary collared shirts for duffers who have made it through half the course tanked, yet undetected.)
Broken: Adobe password retrieval
Sara Worrell-Berg writes:
While trying to register my new Adobe software online, I needed a reminder of my password since I previously had registered other software on the site. Clicking on "password assistance" got me to this screen:
Password Assistance: Please enter your Login and password and click Login.
I could proceed no further. I never retrieved my password, but it did give me a good laugh.
Broken: New York subway turnstiles
Note: Alex Yourke sent an abbreviated version of the post below to the New York Times - it was published as a letter to the editor yesterday. Nice work, Alex!
Alex Yourke writes:
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority made a huge mistake when they installed the MetroCard turnstiles a few years ago, a mistake that adds to congestion, confusion and annoyance in the subway and should have been obvious during testing (and could probably still be corrected without huge expenditures):
The "beep" sound when your MetroCard slides through properly, unlocking the turnstile, is EXACTLY THE SAME TONE as the "beep" sound when it does not.
This requires every user to peer at the lit "Entry" arrow to determine if the card reader was able to read the card. If the arrow is colored red, the user needs to squint at the dimly-lit LED display below to determine why - insufficient funds on the card, or more often, "swipe card again at same turnstile". Cards often have to be swiped several times before the arrow shows green and the turnstile unlocks. Either way, the beep sound is the same!
It doesn't take a usability expert to see how this adds to congestion during rush hour. New Yorkers are focused on getting to their train, but the system unnecessarily forces them to consult this turnstile panel every time. Impatient male riders (like myself) who assume the card was properly read are likely to experience the particular displeasure of colliding with a locked turnstile bar.
Wouldn't it make more sense if there was a DIFFERENT BEEP in different cases? One beep if the card reading was successful; a different beep if it failed. Either way, you could just sail right through the turnstile without backing up and looking at the panel to make sure the Entry arrow is green.
Broken: Yahoo Weather - Philadelphia
Michael Sippey writes in this blog post:
I mistyped a query in Yahoo Weather this morning, feeding it "philadelphia, a" instead of "philadelphia, pa" ... it told me there was no match found. But the sponsor matches worked just fine -- correctly figuring out that I was looking for Philly and offering up hotel deals and home listings.
Broken: Bike lane death trap
Jim Kunstler writes in his April 2004 Eyesore of the Month:
Note all the design intelligence that went into this urban bike trail in Santa Monica, California. The striping delivers you to a bicycle death trap at the intersection with a three-way change in surface. Take your pick: cement, loose gravel in a ditch, or sewer grid.
(Jim Kunstler, by the way, spoke at the Gel conference in 2003 - see the recap page for a transcript of his talk. This year's Gel conference was on on April 30 in New York City ('04 recap); next year's Gel is April 28-29, 2005.)
Broken: Two-sided printing
Dave Collins writes:
From Microsoft Word, all I want to do is print my doc on both sides of the page. So - what's "Duplex"?? Do I need to take a course in publishing to do this?
Update: Several readers have pointed out that the fault lies with the printer driver, not Microsoft Word.
Broken: Coffee or sugar packet
Is it just me, or shouldn't a sugar packet actually mention sugar somewhere? This packet only said "New England Coffee." I understand that the sugar is intended for coffee, but it's still not coffee.
After all, you don't see ketchup packaged as "Heinz Hamburger", or mayonnaise packaged as "Hellman's Tuna Fish Salad."
There's a long tradition of products being labeled what they are, not what they're used for. Why stop now?
Broken: Internet Explorer address problem
Joshua Dunn writes:
Microsoft Internet Explorer has problems with redundancy. We can't find THIS web address - radio.yahoo.com - so would you like to look at THIS web address instead: radio.yahoo.com.
J. Zelinske points out a similar problem - searching for "www.google.com" yields the message:
We can't find "www.google.com"
...
Go to MSN Search to see complete results for "www.google.com".
...
Did you intend to go to one of these similar Web addresses?
www.google.com
www.gogle.com
www.gooogle.com
Broken: Ferry terminal sign
Chris St. Pierre writes:
I took this picture walking into the terminal to the passenger port in Stockholm, Sweden. I was trying to go to Tallinn, Estonia, and I paused there for more than a few minutes trying to figure out which way to go. (Tallinn is listed in both directions.) I eventually guessed right, and was right.
Broken: Garage door warning label
Ebtinger writes:
This garage door manufactured by "Overhead door Indiana" is lifted by two springs that pull on a cable. The cable is attached to the lower wheel. Unscrewing this wheel will release the calbe like a whip, and bring you to the ER to get stitches, as I just experienced the hard way, because the warning label that tells you where the cable is attached is hidden BEHIND the wheel attachment! Of course, between the time you undo the srew and the time the cable is released, you have about 0.3 milliseconds to read the label....
Broken: Theater popcorn warning
Erik and Amy Kenerup write:
This warning sign is on a food warmer at Loews Cineplex in Cleveland:
Intended for use with non-potentially hazardous foods only.
Wouldn't a "potentially hazardous" quality prevent something from being food? For example - nacho chips and bleach; glass-shard-coated popcorn; pretzel bites and cyanide.
Broken: United advertisement
A reader writes in:
Sitting in an airport with a heavy carry-on bag, I was heartened by this friendly, happy marketing ad from United: "Our skies have no limit."
Then I stepped back and looked at the entire piece that the ad is attached to [see second graphic]. Limitless skies? Er, not so much.
Broken: Balance ball
Matthew Baldwin bought a large "balance ball" for sitting calmly with his new baby. Unfortunately, while they sat on the ball, it exploded and flung both of them several feet away. Instead of buying this balance ball, read this amusing post.
-Mark Hurst
P.S. It's unfortunate that Matthew blames Taiwan, which makes zillions of high-quality products (I think most PC brands, including Apple, outsource their manufacturing there). Otherwise, a good post.
Broken: Dell laptop plug
Eric Tiggeler writes from Amsterdam:
Now and then I like to plug my Dell 5150 laptop into mains power. The power socket is, ofcourse, at the back of the computer. Bending over the laptop, the user has to decide where to plug in the power chord. There are two options: a square hole on the right side, and a round one on the left side. The power supply plug is a round one, so the obvious choice is... the wrong choice. Do not attempt to fit the round plug into the round hole: it turns out to be the TV adapter socket. The (round) power socket is, strangely enough, hidden in a square moulding in the laptop case. Every time I plug in my laptop, I find myself trying to plug a round peg in a square hole.
Easy as Dell? Not really ...
Broken: California DMV online
Paul Schreiber writes:
It costs $4 *extra* to renew my license plate online. It should be cheaper, since they're not paying someone to open the envelope, process the check, amortize the risk of bad checks, etc.
Broken: Happy 4th...
This Is Broken takes a break today for the American holiday of Independence Day.
Back tomorrow...
Broken: PC CD trays
Dominique Huet writes that CD drives are now standard on every PC, and they all have the same broken feature: the open/close button is below the tray. So when the tray is open, you have to reach under the tray to close it. This would only make sense if most people sat below their computers. Why not just put the button above the tray? On my Macintosh, the open/close button is on the keyboard...
Broken: Verizon online phone book
Charles Wasilewski points out that after searching Verizon's Yellow Pages for a business, you get the business's address. But you have to click on "phone" in order to view the phone number. How hard would it be to display the phone number along with the business address?