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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: Melt Gelato online employee application
Alex Madjar points out:
This a screenshot of an online application for a job at Melt Gelato.
I found it very odd that they would even want people who don't even know their own age to apply for a job with them.
Broken: Post office hours sign
Sarah Beckley writes:
This US Post Office sign informing you that they will be closed on the upcoming holidays in May and June is broken.
It is trying to be an ad for the new Star Wars stamps AND a holiday hours notice, but it fails at both.
The sign is posted on the front door of the post office branch, but the text is not large enough to read at a glance.
Broken: Duke Energy of North Carolina terms and conditions window
Howie Jacobson points out:
Signing up for online bill pay and e-services with Duke Energy of North Carolina requires agreeing to the attached terms and conditions.
The visible text comprises about one third of each line, requiring horizontal scrolling about every seven lines of text - I wonder what they're sneaking into the fine print!
Broken: AED Box at Oxford station
Ian Chard submits a picture taken at Oxford station in the UK:
This Automated External Defibrillator (AED), a device used in an emergency if someone has a cardiac event, has been missing for over a year.
There's another one across the footbridge, but if someone's having a heart attack the last thing you want to be doing is spending 2 minutes running back and forth to an AED box that actually contains an AED!
Broken: Whois.net basic domain guidelines
Shwetank Sheel points out:
I was doing a search for some domain records on Whois.Net, and I entered the domain incorrectly.
The error message gives guidelines for a correct domain name, which includes " etc etc etc."
Broken: (Just for Fun) Valero gas station sign
A reader named Jon writes in:
While driving through Colorado, this Valero gas station sign caught my eye.
Apparently this gas station would like to its visitors to barter pizza for unleaded gas.
Who knows? Maybe using a different monetary unit makes it look cheaper.
Broken: Tandoori chicken recipe
Marc Spooner writes in:
From an Indian cookbook I bought, which contains a recipe for Tandoori chicken: Step 2 of the recipe tells us to mix the sauce, place it on the chicken, preheat the oven, refrigerate the chicken the refrigerator for 12 hours, then place the chicken into the oven that has been preheated all this time.
I can only assume that either the author's oven requires a lot more time to warm up than mine or the author did not inadequately proof-read his work.
Broken: Chicago Transit Authority customer assistant panel
Jay Born submits a picture taken in Chicago, Illinois:
This customer assistant panel has no working button. (Spotted on the Chicago Transit Authority subway transfer tunnel between the red and blue lines.) What does this say about how much the Chicago Transit Authority cares about their customers?
Broken: Logo design for power awareness
Wes Goodhoofd writes in:
The picture I have attached has the words "Flick Off" and is sanctioned by the provincial government here in Ontario, Canada for awareness to climate change.
Their idea is to make people "flick off" their lights and other electronics when not in use, and while the idea is excellent, the execution is broken.
They have purposely used a font that makes the phrase appear as the F word. The worst part of this is that this logo appears on numerous campaign items, like buttons and bumper stickers that are given out to everyone from elementary school students to adults.
The logo for this campaign is broken and can be found at flickoff.org.
Broken: "Employee of the Month" initiative
Todd Everett submits a picture taken at a hotel in Michigan:
I took this picture of chairs that were being stored on the reserved parking space for the "employee of the month" while I was staying at a hotel.
(My friend manages the hotel so I won't provide the name of the hotel to protect his privacy).
Broken: Bread name
Matt Harvey writes:
I spotted this bread sign at a Brookshire's Grocery Store (a chain in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas).
Since the bread is named "Vienna," wouldn't that make the bread Austrian instead of French?
Broken: A&B Sound website
Barret Newman writes in:
On the A&B Sound site it advertises that "Free Shipping starts now" and then right below that text it reads “Beta Version: All items are for display only temporarily. Shopping cart feature is coming soon."
So what items do "Free Shipping" currently apply for?
Broken: "Energy awareness" signs at JC Penney
Therese Noren writes in:
I work as a retail merchandiser and have access to off-stage areas of the stores while I am working.
On a recent visit to JC Penney in the Twin Cities Metro Area in Minnesota, I noticed these signs are hanging all over the store's off-stage areas.
The one I took a picture of shows a sign posted on a light switch that reads "Wall Switch Here."
[I'm guessing that] these signs are being posted to help bring awareness to saving energy. If so, the signs would be more effective if they actually said something like "Please turn off when not in use"!
Broken: Toastmaster product notice
Sarah Kline Morgan writes:
This warning was stuffed into the box of my Toastmaster toaster - model #T2010CTW.
The warning reads:
WARNING!!
To interrupt toasting,
turn toast color control
to off/cancel.
Do not push the toast
lever manually.
Internal mechanism will be
irreparably damaged.
What kind of toaster is "irreparably damaged" by using the LEVER to remove the toast?
Broken: Airline passengers stuck on the runway
From the NYTimes, Stuck on the Runway, Thinking Rebellious Thoughts:
After about five hours, a flight attendant announced that “an American executive” had ordered pizzas to be delivered from the airport. Five boxes arrived.
Flight attendants, who, according to one passenger, had been “missing in action most of the time,” cut the slices into tiny pieces — 70 in all. Flight attendants said that only those who “really needed it” should take one, a passenger said.
Broken: Holiday Inn eHost page
Doreen Sawani writes:
While staying at the Santa Monica Holiday Inn recently I had a chance to use its wireless internet connection, including the "proprietary electronic guest concierge system" aka eHost.
Not familiar with the area, I tried pulling up a map. However, when I clicked on "Map of the Hotel" the page showed a picture of a parrot instead of a map.
Clicking the "enlarge" button simply displayed a full size version of the same parrot graphic.
The eHost system is fairly new, so it's quite possible the parrot graphic was being used as a placeholder until the correct map is available.
I consider this broken because even a placeholder image should be relevant -- such as a graphic with the text "No map available." I like parrots as much as the next person -- but they're not very helpful when trying to find a restaurant.
Broken: Crunch Bar package instructions
Rob Kesselman points out:
I bought this Crunch Bar a few days ago and was wondering why Nestle would boast, "New! Break into 4 Pieces."
That seemed odd enough, but when I opened the package, the chocolate is divided into a 3 x 6 grid.
This allows you to break it into 18 equal squares, not four.
Interestingly enough, 18 isn't even divisible by 4, which led me to wonder again, why would the package so prominently insist that you break it into four pieces?
Broken: Setra bus vent pictogram
A reader writes in:
My employer runs a coach bus manufactured by Setra for associates who need to commute between company sites. The overhead panels in the bus include the vents depicted below.
The pictograms for "open" and "closed" are the least intuitive I've ever seen.
Anybody have any guesses whether "rectangle" or "oval" means open?
Broken: Time 100 poll
Michael Woolman writes:
The Time 100 poll shows various people, and instructs the user to "rate their influence on a scale from 1 to 100."
If I want a candidate to place well, do I rate them as "1," to say "this is the number one person?"
or do I rate them as "100," and assume the people ranked with the highest scores rank highest on the list?
Since there are no further instructions on the page, I wonder how many people have voted in the opposite way from what they intended.
Broken: Max's restaurant sign
Scott Souchock submits a picture of a restaurant sign taken in Seattle, Washington:
I stumbled across this sign for a restaurant called Max's at the Ramada Inn the other day.
It is interesting how on the sign, an "All Day Breakfast" is served from "7am to 1:30 pm."
I wonder what they consider the other 17 1/2 hours to be?
Broken: Cheerios "instant" coupon
Sarah Greenfield writes:
Here is a picture of a Cheerios coupon that came on the front of a box of Cheerios claiming to save you $1.00 "now."
Not only could you not get the coupon off the box without taking half the box with it, but it was almost impossible to get enough of the box off the coupon to reveal the UPC code that the cashier needs to scan to process the coupon.
To top it all off, the coupon back was sticky, so if you tried to put it with your other coupons you'd end up with a worse problem. If you tried to peel the sticky part off, the text of the coupon came off with the sticky part, making the coupon worthless.
Broken: Retrieving password on Sony careers site
A reader points out:
Everything about the Sony Careers site, "Powered by Taleo," is difficult to navigate, and represents the company poorly to prospective employees.
If you forget your password for logging into your prospective employee profile, you're really in trouble. Clicking "Forgot your password?" gets you to a screen, which says "Call our customer support hotline at ." Sony forgot to input the customer support hotline phone number!
I wonder how many good people have lost interest in working for Sony because it's so difficult to even apply for a job.
Broken: Toilet paper sign
Nick C. submits a picture taken at a gas station bathroom in Arizona:
I stopped at a gas station somewhere in Arizona. I went into the bathroom and saw this sign in the stall which read:
"*No*
Toilet Papers inside the Toilet please!
*Thank you!*"
I found the sign to have very interesting grammar, particularly the use of asterisks.
Broken: Security website name
Kevin Flanigan points out:
This company's name is "Prevent Security" and their web address is www.preventsecurity.com.
I would think that "Ensure Security" or any company name similar to that would be more appropriate to their mission - or are they really trying to *prevent* security?
Broken: Mainstays Caulk Remover packaging
Scott Purcell points out:
I bought this product at a Wal-Mart in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a caulk remover, which is funny enough on it's own, but adding to the hilarity is the carefully translated French text on the packaging which reads:
- Removes any type of caulk or sealant
- Pateneted design provides comfort grip and precision blades
- This would be the French version
- This would be the French version
of the above bullets
Despite the erroneous text on the packaging, the product worked pretty well and my wife was pleased at
how easily it removed my old caulk.
Maybe Mainstays concentrated so much on perfecting the product design of the caulk remover that they didn't have much time left to proofread the package design!
Broken: "Too Tall" Chocolate Easter Bunny package
Andrew Sims writes:
Last Easter I came across a very broken packaging design for a chocolate Easter Bunny. I received this bunny as a gift, and the packaging describes it as "Too Tall," and has a basketball theme to go along with the height gag.
The bunny weighs 6 oz (hollow), and is about 7.5" tall, a rather average stature for a chocolate bunny, if you ask me. However, the package is designed so that the ears of the chocolate bunny poke out about 2" above the top of the box.
There is even a speech bubble for the bunny proclaiming, "Oops! I'm too tall for this box!" This is despite the fact that the box is 9" tall, and the bunny is standing on a tall paper platform in the bottom of the box.
In actuality, the chocolate bunny would fit rather comfortably within the confines of the box, so there really is no need for the chocolate bunny's ears to be sticking out.
Not only is this an ineffective gimmick and false advertising, but this packaging also makes it very difficult to remove the bunny from the box since one must slip the ears out of a form-fitting hole in the top flap - a task not easily accomplished without tearing the box or breaking the ears.
Broken: Hair dryer instructions
Mallory O' Connor submits a picture taken in a gym in Vancouver, Canada:
This sign appears at the gym I attend – the YWCA in beautiful Vancouver. It alternately makes me weep with laughter that we need such a sign in the women’s (or anyone’s) change room.
I felt a little weird taking this photo on the sly with my phone, but probably nowhere near as silly as the designer who had to be briefed on the assignment to create this happy-hairdrying-hair-on-head-only icon!
Broken: "Quality" electronic device
Chris Ward writes:
A few weeks ago, my boss gave these electronic devices out to everyone at work that are supposed to combine a world clock, a calendar, a calculator and an alarm. This device is supposed to inspire quality in the workplace.
This is what this "Quality" device looks like after two weeks of sitting on my desk. None of the buttons work and you can't change what's displayed in any way, or turn it off, for that matter - quality indeed!
Broken: (we need more entries)
There is no This Is Broken entry today because we are almost out of entries.
Take a picture of something broken and e-mail it to us at broken@goodexperience.com.
This is a reader-generated site, so in order to keep up daily posts, we need your help!
P.S. You'll have a better chance of being posted if you send photos of places and products. This is because we already get LOTS of screenshots of bad websites, error messages, etc. (Feel free to send those, too, but know that they have a lower chance of being posted because of we've seen a lot of those already.)