jules.ca

telecom, technology and the occasional floobergeist

I’ve got an abundance of bits and pieces of canadian telecom and internet experience, and I am thrilled to be in a place in time when all is changing, technology is developing, and the status quo is being disrupted. 

Floobergeist is a word that is beginning to defy definition.  The more I roll that smooth pebble around, the more it becomes to mean. Floobergeist started out as the magic dust that turns dreams into ideas.  And then it began to encompass the zing that happens when you have conversations about those ideas. And now, it’s the whole evolution from dream to conversation, with each step improving the later and the former along the way.

Everyone aspires to good conversations. They can lead you to adventures you’ve never imagined, and to people you can twig with.

Let’s have a good conversation…

welcome.

Online Shopping: Some Merchants Just Don't get It

It’s been one of those years, time gets away from you, weather drags you down, and all of a sudden it’s the middle of December and you’ve got to shop on line, and swallow the expedite charges.

I L-O-V-E shopping on line. I can browse for hours. The warm fuzzy feeling of clicking the shopping cart. It’s a little slice of heaven.

E-commerce and online shopping isn’t new, it’s not even novel. It *should* be table steaks for any bricks and mortar shop. For EVERY bricks and mortar shop. Why is it then, that there are so many screw-ups when it comes to online shopping.

  1. I’ve ordered things and never received an email confirmation.
  2. I’ve ordered things only to find out (via PayPal) that the order has been canceled (with no reason given).
  3. I’ve emailed on-line shops to find out the status of something, only to be ignored for weeks on end.
  4. I’ve been sent to confirmation pages that end up displaying a web server error (not a 404) that made me think the order was lost. [it wasn’t and now I’ve got too many ShamWOWs]

I’m still struggling with a boot company in the US, trying to find out if my order was accepted, lost or cancelled. Paypal isn’t any help any more, since the payment has been accepted, rejected and now on hold.
Cripes folks. This isn’t rocket science any more. E-commerce has matured, why haven’t the e-tailers kept to a minimum of service for on-line shoppers?