I am working on my taxes and wanted to find the Minnesota state forms online. The main page had a link for business taxes but not individual taxes. I sent a message to the help desk and received a response within two hours.
I had a problem with some commercial software about ten days ago. I received an acknowledgment within two hours, but I have yet to receive anything further. Sometimes I receive a good response from companies; sometimes I receive inadequate responses; and sometimes I receive no response. Ditto government offices.
Efficiency does not depend on the form of the organization; it depends on the leadership of the organization.
See also "Excessive Corporate Inefficiency".
Showing posts with label web sites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web sites. Show all posts
Thursday, March 05, 2015
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Good service still exists
If I rant about all the screw-ups in corporate America, I should also praise good service when I encounter it.
I have a blog in mind on how Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. One of the taketh aways was how PDF files download from websites. I tried downloading my statement from Ameritrade with Safari. I could get a window with the statement, but I could find no way to save it as a file. I gave up and used Firefox and had my statement downloaded in seconds. I sent feedback Ameritrade and received and answer in a day. One now has to hold down a key while clicking on the link to a downloadable file. Let's see, I wonder how quickly I would have been able to unbury a similar answer in Apple's forums.
I have some bizarre clues for my passwords, and sometimes I can't figure out what I meant. When I tried to get my US Funds statement I couldn't figure out my password. This particular site doesn't give you many chances to try again. Even when asked the security question, I couldn't answer it correctly, probably because I used a different variation on the spelling of the answer. Poof! Please call a representative.
I did that and I did have a wait with some Mozart. But when I got a representative he asked how the weather was here and mentioned that his daughter had visited Two Harbors recently. He quickly gave me a temp password and I gave it another go. Then I couldn't change it because I couldn't find anyplace to do so. Another call but with no wait time and with the same representative. He pointed out the pull-down menu that linked to password maintenance (it was kind of obscured by a poorly-chosen color overlay).
Both of these incidents are cases where effectiveness is more important than efficiency. Should these representatives' performance be measured by how many customers they serve a day (efficiency) or by how courteously they give satisfactory solutions (effectiveness)? I'll take effectiveness any day, even if I have to wait for it.
I have a blog in mind on how Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. One of the taketh aways was how PDF files download from websites. I tried downloading my statement from Ameritrade with Safari. I could get a window with the statement, but I could find no way to save it as a file. I gave up and used Firefox and had my statement downloaded in seconds. I sent feedback Ameritrade and received and answer in a day. One now has to hold down a key while clicking on the link to a downloadable file. Let's see, I wonder how quickly I would have been able to unbury a similar answer in Apple's forums.
I have some bizarre clues for my passwords, and sometimes I can't figure out what I meant. When I tried to get my US Funds statement I couldn't figure out my password. This particular site doesn't give you many chances to try again. Even when asked the security question, I couldn't answer it correctly, probably because I used a different variation on the spelling of the answer. Poof! Please call a representative.
I did that and I did have a wait with some Mozart. But when I got a representative he asked how the weather was here and mentioned that his daughter had visited Two Harbors recently. He quickly gave me a temp password and I gave it another go. Then I couldn't change it because I couldn't find anyplace to do so. Another call but with no wait time and with the same representative. He pointed out the pull-down menu that linked to password maintenance (it was kind of obscured by a poorly-chosen color overlay).
Both of these incidents are cases where effectiveness is more important than efficiency. Should these representatives' performance be measured by how many customers they serve a day (efficiency) or by how courteously they give satisfactory solutions (effectiveness)? I'll take effectiveness any day, even if I have to wait for it.
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