I'm a net geek. Like a ton of other HTF members, I'm in IT. It's tough, but it's still enjoyable. I love the internet-- so much, in fact, that I do most of my business online. If a company doesn't have a web presence, then they usually don't get my business. I no longer use the phone book, I don't own an atlas, and I can't remember the last time I ordered a statement from the bank.
So, I'm selling my house and the closing is this Friday. This morning, while on a conference call, I journeyed over to American Home Shield's website (well, one of them at least-- I've counted 7 interwoven domain references on one page alone) to order the home warranty for my buyer.
I used the "Order a Warranty" option, which unfortunately and unexpectedly took me to one of those generic "contact us" forms. I supplied my information and commented that I wanted the $379 option.
Apparently, they've gone through some massive Information Architecture and User Interface changes and have launched this new and improved website. To occupy my brain during the droning, er, I mean "conference call", I explored the American Home Shield Websites some more. Wow, this place is terrible:
--The navigation changes for every page.
--Menu items are randomly replaced from page to page.
--The navigation text is misleading and unintuitive.
--Popups galore which open new AHS domains.
--Consumer content is spread across 5 domains.
--The five consumer domains mostly serve the same purpose.
--All forms lead to this generic "contact us" form.
--No sitemap. *grrrrrr*
--Broken links.
--Orphan pages.
--References to "see contract details below" with no contract details located below.
This evening, I checked my email and found a reply from the contact form I filled out this morning. In the email, the Internet Sales Associate provided the usual intro to the product, etc. He gave me three options--
1. Call the 800-number
2. FAX the application form back
3. Email the application form back to him.
*Ding, Ding* We have a winner-- option 3 is for me!
Ok, so the email had 4 attachments. 2 were identical PDFs of terms and conditions. The other two attachments were .JPG scans of the actual print application form. Not only were the applications in a subpar print format, they were scanned in at a 45 degree angle!
I snickered at the thought of AHS taking its time in crafting a legible, crystal-clear .PDF of its beautifully worded liability limits and exclusions, and then sending out this other crap as the actual application. Did their Adobe license expire before they could create the application form?
And how exactly am I supposed to email back my completed application to him? I can't even read the blasted thing when I print it in its "normal" size-- you know, the standard 8.213 x 9.493 print size. I can't see anything other than a fuzzy AHS logo near the top and a few broken lines that are supposed to be rectangle, I guess.
So I go back to ahswarranty.com, thinking that maybe I visited the wrong part of the domain. The website is plastered with "Order online!" text which leads nowhere. I did find a link for "Direct to Consumer Sales" on ahssales.com which points to a local dev server's IP (for the curious, the addy is http://192.168.50.102:4002/newdev/se...s_consumer.jsp). And just a few minutes ago, I ran across some random form on ahscustomer.com which asks me for a credit card number before explaining what I'm ordering.
What gets me with this whole thing is that AHS is a reputable company. They're not scammers or fly-by-night psuedo-insurance companies. I'm just amazed how terrible this e-commerce solution is-- especially considering they encourage online ordering.
Ok, enough of that. I think this is my first HTF rant ever. Go me.
So, I'm selling my house and the closing is this Friday. This morning, while on a conference call, I journeyed over to American Home Shield's website (well, one of them at least-- I've counted 7 interwoven domain references on one page alone) to order the home warranty for my buyer.
I used the "Order a Warranty" option, which unfortunately and unexpectedly took me to one of those generic "contact us" forms. I supplied my information and commented that I wanted the $379 option.
Apparently, they've gone through some massive Information Architecture and User Interface changes and have launched this new and improved website. To occupy my brain during the droning, er, I mean "conference call", I explored the American Home Shield Websites some more. Wow, this place is terrible:
--The navigation changes for every page.
--Menu items are randomly replaced from page to page.
--The navigation text is misleading and unintuitive.
--Popups galore which open new AHS domains.
--Consumer content is spread across 5 domains.
--The five consumer domains mostly serve the same purpose.
--All forms lead to this generic "contact us" form.
--No sitemap. *grrrrrr*
--Broken links.
--Orphan pages.
--References to "see contract details below" with no contract details located below.
This evening, I checked my email and found a reply from the contact form I filled out this morning. In the email, the Internet Sales Associate provided the usual intro to the product, etc. He gave me three options--
1. Call the 800-number
2. FAX the application form back
3. Email the application form back to him.
*Ding, Ding* We have a winner-- option 3 is for me!
Ok, so the email had 4 attachments. 2 were identical PDFs of terms and conditions. The other two attachments were .JPG scans of the actual print application form. Not only were the applications in a subpar print format, they were scanned in at a 45 degree angle!
I snickered at the thought of AHS taking its time in crafting a legible, crystal-clear .PDF of its beautifully worded liability limits and exclusions, and then sending out this other crap as the actual application. Did their Adobe license expire before they could create the application form?
And how exactly am I supposed to email back my completed application to him? I can't even read the blasted thing when I print it in its "normal" size-- you know, the standard 8.213 x 9.493 print size. I can't see anything other than a fuzzy AHS logo near the top and a few broken lines that are supposed to be rectangle, I guess.
So I go back to ahswarranty.com, thinking that maybe I visited the wrong part of the domain. The website is plastered with "Order online!" text which leads nowhere. I did find a link for "Direct to Consumer Sales" on ahssales.com which points to a local dev server's IP (for the curious, the addy is http://192.168.50.102:4002/newdev/se...s_consumer.jsp). And just a few minutes ago, I ran across some random form on ahscustomer.com which asks me for a credit card number before explaining what I'm ordering.
What gets me with this whole thing is that AHS is a reputable company. They're not scammers or fly-by-night psuedo-insurance companies. I'm just amazed how terrible this e-commerce solution is-- especially considering they encourage online ordering.
Ok, enough of that. I think this is my first HTF rant ever. Go me.
