September 1, 2008

It never ceases to amaze me how consumers are treated by tech companies after they’ve made a purchase of goods and services. It also raises the issue of 3rd party extended warranties, which, in my opinion, are not worth the paper they’re printed on, let alone the price you pay for the alleged peace of mind.

Take, for example, Adam Turners recent house move, when he also decided to change telephone provider from Optus to Telstra. Having had his phone cut off before the scheduled date, Adam spent a cumulative 5 hours on the telephone to both providers, the old and the new, trying to get his phone reconnected. The annoying thing about any scenario where more than one company is involved, is the apportion of blame on the other provider.

As a consumer, this can result in frustration beyond the realms of rational human behavior. We’ve all been there at one or many points in our lives, but why does it have to be like this? Surely technology companies have the skill and technology at their fingertips to accurately diagnose faults in the system, or maybe the un accountability of faceless, first name only telemarketers is all that customers in today’s cut an thrust competitive digital market place deserve.

What’s more frustrating, is that today’s tech consumers do have an understanding of how computers and telecommunications networks function, but that all accounts for naught, as I’d bet Bill Gates or Steve Jobs would be treated as morons if they rang an Australian help desk.

And then there’s the added bonus of extended warranties, one of the first up-sell opportunities offered to consumers by gung-ho commission based sales people. Extended manufacturers warranties, that is, a warranty offered by the manufacturer, is probably worth considering, but you’ve got to have rocks in your head if you choose a 3rd party warranty. These are the types offered by credit card companies and large white goods sellers.

While watching a colleague in the office jump through fiery circus hoops with one hand tied behind his back and singing a well know Dennis Leary song is somewhat amusing, I can certainly sense his pain and frustration being treated like an amoeba. Trust me, he knows his stuff, but the situation has only been compounded by the equipment in question going faulty within the manufacturers warranty, but not being returned for now four months, and you guessed it, it’s now out of manufacturers warranty.

With the price of tech goods and services falling, along with smaller profit margins for a lot of major companies, something has to give, and the rule of thumb is - the cheaper the service is in the market place, the lousier the support for that product will be.

A quick test of a telco’s or ISP’s respect for the consumer is to make a call during business hours to the companies sales department and support line. If you’re speaking to a human in similar amount of time, then things a looking pretty good. On the other hand if the call answering time is noticeably different, then beware.

While we have the ACCC to look after the consumers back pocket and minimize deceptive and misleading sales practices, there’s nothing to help us in the world of support and after sales service except the odd government statute, and a raft of legal practitioners looking to send their kids through very expensive private education.

No-one said the price of progress would do your head in.

Also on This Weeks Show

• Seven refused digital multi-channel reprieve
  
• Internode triples ADSL reach of exchange
  
• Adobe rolls out online photo editing tool
  
• Pystar hits back in Apple Clone Case and
  
• Users can bypass iPhone security
  

Our presenters blog! Why not check 'em out... Andrew McColm's Blog - McBlog Dr Ron's Blog - The Surgery Adam Turner's Blog - Seeking Nerdvana Lidija Davis's Blog - Blogwell

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Google launch their own
web browser: Chrome!

Search engine juggernaut Google has launched their version of a web browser. 'Chrome' was released to the world today (2/9) in Sundar Pichai blog.

Google says:
On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Word first surfaced of Google's plans in a Web comic book introducing Google Chrome, the search giant's long-rumoured open source browser project. While the illustrations, created by cartoonist Scott McCloud, were not announced by Google, they do contain the quotes and likenesses of 19 Google developers.

Click here for a list of features in the Google's Chrome browser.

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