I was having coffee with a friend recently and the subject of word processing software came up. My friend related how he was happily using WordStar. WordStar? I hadn’t thought about it in years, but it was the first computer program I ever used, way back in 1984. I was surprised to find that not only was it still around after 30 years, but that my friend warmly embraced it. This program actually requires users to type in commands to do such simple things as mark a word as bold or in italics. It does not have the “what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)” functionality that completely took over this space ages ago. Why had he not switched over to a more recent and easy to use program, especially given that many of these are now available for free on the Web? His answer made perfect sense to me: upgrading was so fraught with problems that it wasn’t worth the effort unless absolutely required. Or to put it more bluntly, upgrading really sucks.
I knew exactly where he was coming from. In a three-week period this summer I foolishly tried to upgrade my cell phone and Internet service as well as replace an outdated computer and a dead printer. Each of these efforts turned out to be much more difficult and unpleasant than they should have been; it all became a giant techno-nightmare. Let me share my cautionary tales with folks on both sides of this fence. If you’re on the consumer side, the message is beware! This is not an adventure you should enter into lightly. And if you’re working for a consumer-focused tech company, you need to step up your game to improve the end user’s overall experience.
Even though everyone’s into technology these days, I see problems at the core. You can’t read a business publication or troll the Web for five minutes without reading about hot new technologies, innovative consumer products, and cutting edge startups. Everybody and their mother are looking for the next killer app or great discovery within the Internet of Things. Not me. I’d be happy to simply have something that just, well, actually works as promised. Instead, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by problems that fail hard in three separate categories: hardware, software, and customer service. If enough people get frustrated by the widespread technology and consumer service problems of the kind I experienced, it’s eventually going to take a toll on all technology sellers. I can guarantee that these problems cut into our national productivity. Here’s what I’m talking about:
Computer Upgrade Woes: Mysterious Software Glitches
I recently decided, with great trepidation, to buy a new computer. The old one was reliable, but too slow; I saw the spinning beach ball so often on my seven-year old iMac that I thought I was living on the shore. You might think that the idea of upgrading to a screamingly fast new model had me salivating with joy. In fact, the decision filled me with dread. I’ve gone down this path before, and once again it was anything but smooth sailing. I ordered the new computer and it arrived in short order. I set it up and copied over all of my existing files and software programs. My new machine was blazing! Then I began the death march through each program to make sure that it was functioning properly under the new operating system. One by one I opened each program, and most ran just fine without missing a beat. A few required quick downloads that easily restored functionality. Microsoft Office needed to have the serial number restored, but then it launched flawlessly. I was almost done running through the programs and thinking that I had dodged a high-caliber techno-bullet when the problem struck.
I set up and maintain three websites using a popular program called Rapidweaver. Two of these worked just fine. However, the most important one, the one that tells people about my consulting practice and that I use to earn my living, crashed every time I tried to launch it. It uses the exact same program and the exact same theme as my other two websites, but for some reason, the demons in techno-hell marked only this one to torment me. The company that sold me the website software had no clue as to why it was malfunctioning, nor could they suggest either a fix or a workaround. Despite the fact that the crashes generated error reports every single time they happened, the company had nothing to offer up after viewing them. Replacing the program with a copy from my old machine had no effect. I begged the software people to examine the project file but they found no problems there. I pleaded with them to let me download another copy of the software from their site, but that didn’t help either. Due to the fact that I couldn’t even open my website project (so there was no way to update it), I wound up purchasing a new theme and recreated my website by copying and pasting all of the information on the 40-plus pages of my posted (but now inaccessible) website. Then I had to add back the links and graphics, reformat everything, upload it, and see how it looked. After several rounds of changes it finally was back to where I needed it to be. Trust me: this was a nightmare, and no one at Rapidweaver could explain why it had happened or how to fix it. The guy who designed my website theme (a separate company) was quite helpful, as were the people on message boards and those who host my site on the Internet, but the program itself was somehow fatally compromised.
Key Problem(s): Poor customer service; software failure
High-Speed Internet Service—Fixing a Non-Problem
As part of a cable TV upgrade I was able to double my Internet speed; this bonus was included as part of the package. The Comcast representative said that this would be easy to do, but my existing cable modem needed to be replaced with an upgraded model. The new modem arrived in a few days by mail and I installed it with only a few acrobatic maneuvers needed to locate the proper connecting cables under my desk. In looking over the new modem, however, I noticed it appeared to be identical to the one that I had just replaced. A call to Comcast confirmed my suspicions: it WAS the exact same modem. I hadn’t needed a replacement modem at all! I went to the UPS store to mail back the old modem, disappointed with the customer service advisor who had misadvised me. Sadly, about a week later the new modem failed, necessitating a trip to the Comcast store to replace my replacement modem.
Key Problem(s): Poor customer service; hardware failure
Printer Replacement—Defective Printer Heads Give Me a Headache
For the second time in two years my Canon All-In-One printer (and its successor) died, or, more accurately, the
