Why Should I Buy Your Product?
Recently I was researching projectors and found a nice Acer I thought would do the trick. I need one because I am probably starting up a tech group in a city I am moving to and, well, you know. I saw something interesting in its specifications:
Compatibility: PC Only.
Curious. A PC ONLY projector? Who would be fucking stupid enough to do that? Mac people LOVE to show their stuff, I I love to look at it. So I opened the PDF manual that was for about 10 projectors including this one, and inside it said this projector was compatible with Mac OS’s.
Hmmm. OK. My first instinct is to email them the question, but since most companies don’t like you to talk to them and send nasty emails back like “did you check the FAQ?” — I checked their forums, their support information, their manuals, and their FAQ first. BTW – those emails back confirm my suspicion that most support staff knows nothing (in the case of HP, they literally know nothing at all).
My HP Story: When I purchased my current notebook, I asked two questions: 1) does the extended battery stick out of the machine and 2) can I use the VGA and HDMI outputs at the same time. Their support staff was wrong on both counts. They made up for it by telling me to check their FAQ’s, which had no information at all, just opportunities to buy different colored mouse pads. (note that I like my HP OK enough, but, I wouldn’t trust them to feed a stuffed animal for a weekend.)
OK so I’ve checked everything. Nothing, Nada. Not even an entry for this model that has been out since Spring 2012, and its Spring 2013. Now time to email them. Cringe. I look for the email-us link. I look. I look and look and look.
From the large toppy mountain I looked for a help link.
Cause I needed somes helps to make sure the product d’nt stink.
I clicked all anchors, the help-yous, and shines
But there was no way to email this questions o’ mine.
You CANNOT be serious . . . . no way.
How many times has that happened to you? You can’t find the “contact us” link. I couldn’t. I wasted 20 minutes looking, and now 20 more here, writing my experience — one we’ve all had. IBM has usually been the laragest transgressor of this, and I get it. People want to mail questions that have already been answered and it costs money to hire the support staff. People want to talk to humans and it costs money to hire support staff. I get it.
Worse — are those “CHAT” boxes. You know, those effin lightboxes they sometimes pop up to ask you the first time you’ve hit their site, on their home page, if you like their entire site and if you need help. I have to hunt all over for one; it would show up out of the corner of my eye on one page, flicker up and away on another. Finally I find it’s home page and I click it — message: “Chat is available 5am to 2 pm CST”. WTF, it’s 7:30 am CST. Annoying.
I mean, people want. People want.
What happens if you are a company who doesn’t give people what they want?