Tis the season once again for buying gifts for the family. I’m a true-blue techie geek, so I now do most of my holiday season shopping on-line. Other than getting my brother a bottle of wine, I have no use for tromping around malls and stores in late November or December. In fact, I fully intended to do all of my shopping (other than the wine) by Internet this year. I had most of it done by mid-day yesterday, but I still had one site to hit today, a site that I had used before. I found two nice things that my mother might like, so I popped them into the virtual shopping bag and started the check-out procedure. But something got messed up; the total came to $0.00 and I was never asked for a credit card. Maybe I would have gotten the merchandise for free, had I pushed the “place order” button. But more likely, I would have gotten an e-mail in a few weeks saying that my order was canceled. Obviously that would happen on Christmas Eve.
So, I started over again. It seemed to go better this time around, so I punched in my credit card number. But I got a screen saying that my credit card didn’t work. Now this was odd, since I had just used my card on another site just an hour ago, and I was hardly near the spending limit. So I started again. But this time I got the zeros once more. Well, I figured that the server must be acting up because of high volumes; it was Sunday afternoon, after all.
I tried again last night around 10 PM, figuring that e-commerce traffic would be tapering off by then. But still no go. So I tried tonight as soon as I got home. Again, no good. I usually use Firefox; I try to avoid Internet Explorer. But just to see if browser incompatibility was the problem (I still occasionally run into a site that only works for IE, usually a government site), I fired up the great wonder of Microsoft. But that made things even worse; the site froze up after one item on IE.
So, I did something I haven’t done in quite a few years now. I dialed the 800 number and placed my order via a real, live human being. I got put on hold at first, and turned on the TV expecting a half hour wait. But no, after three minutes I was talking with a live person whose accent and speech patterns were like my own (no offense to the call centers in India, but when doing a cultural thing like ordering gifts, I still feel better talking to someone close to home). And despite a false start or two, the whole transaction went fairly well. It didn’t seem to take much time at all. And the woman taking my order was actually rather pleasant and cheerful, and left me with what seemed like a fairly sincere wish for a happy holiday. She didn’t just rush me off with the usual “we’re done, good bye, next call”. I had obviously forgotten that sometimes, dealing with a human being does add something to the equation, something that you can’t get on-line.
This morning, I read a fluff article from the AP business desk about how the retail industry is promoting the Monday after Thanksgiving (which is today) as “Cyber Monday”. Cyber Monday is supposed to be an on-line imitation of “Black Friday”, the post-Thanksgiving mall-hopping spectacle. Well, I’m glad that I went a bit retro this Cyber Monday, reverting back to the phone and the exchange of human voices. Even a techie freak like me can appreciate a nice holiday greeting from somebody out there in the American heartland. Not that I’m giving up on the e-commerce web sites, but you never know when a frustrating glitch turns out to be something like an angel — delivering a blessing in disguise.
Jim, Well, I’m not a techie–far from it (I guess I have even learned to leave comments….) But I have been ordering most of what I buy online for years now.
Lately, I’ve even found (thank God!) “Peapod”! Around here Peapod is an online grocery “store” so to say. I’ve ended up now buying all my groceries online–or most of them. They will deliver at the time you request–always a 2 hour window–and so far they’ve been on time. They have (believe it or not) much better produce than the stores have, bring your order to the house, the young man will put your order wherever you want it in the house; all I’m left to do is put the groceries away.
This online grocery system beats going to the grocery store where one has to 1) take things off the shelf and put them in the basket, 2) then put them on the counter, 3) then either pack them yourself or pay more to have the store pack them for you (which I always did), 4) then put them into the car 5) then bring them from the car into the house–all before I could put them away. So, now all the previous five do-this-do-that’s don’t have to be done by me any more; and I’m left with sitting at my computer, placing the order, and simply putting the groceries away. A beautiful system to my way of thinking.
So now there is little shopping I do. I even go to the drive-ups to pick up medications. Once in a while, I’ll actually go into the store to pick up a few things.
As to having trouble with your credit card: I’ve found that occasionally a website will “balk” at some point in the ordering process. I say it’s not you; it’s them. Wait a while, I’ve found; and the site will work right again. I don’t know what the problem is–but I do know it’s not you; it’s them.
I have found lately that there are times when I simply cannot even sign online. Well, I have this cheap internet provider. I did once try to convert to a DSL system–but ran into an interminable mess with the provider at the time and ended up sticking with what I have. Better the devil one knows than the devil one doesn’t know. Besides, I also know that DSL, at least in my area, can mysteriously “go out” or “be down” and require a visit by a technician to the home. It seems that whatever system one has, it will never really be working right all the time.
But I wonder if some of the problem with not being able to get online in this last week has been that SO MANY people have discovered “CYBER MONDAY” that the servers (or whatever) are just too busy. I’ve found, wait until some odd time–early in the a.m. or late in the p.m. Lot less people using the system–or maybe it has to do with business use.
Regardless. I think that even better than “sliced bread” has been online shopping, and I’ve been using it for years now.
But I also can understand and totally appreciate the luxury of actually talking to a person one can understand. Occasionally, I prefer to order from one or two places by phone. I agree, it is a luxury to talk to a pleasant person who graciously takes one’s order, and then it’s done in a short time.
I say you may learn to completely appreciate shopping online.
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — November 29, 2007 @ 9:07 am
Jim, Well, I’m not a techie–far from it (I guess I have even learned to leave comments….) But I have been ordering most of what I buy online for years now.
Lately, I’ve even found (thank God!) “Peapod”! Around here Peapod is an online grocery “store” so to say. I’ve ended up now buying all my groceries online–or most of them. They will deliver at the time you request–always a 2 hour window–and so far they’ve been on time. They have (believe it or not) much better produce than the stores have, bring your order to the house, the young man will put your order wherever you want it in the house; all I’m left to do is put the groceries away.
This online grocery system beats going to the grocery store where one has to 1) take things off the shelf and put them in the basket, 2) then put them on the counter, 3) then either pack them yourself or pay more to have the store pack them for you (which I always did), 4) then put them into the car 5) then bring them from the car into the house–all before I could put them away. So, now all the previous five do-this-do-that’s don’t have to be done by me any more; and I’m left with sitting at my computer, placing the order, and simply putting the groceries away. A beautiful system to my way of thinking.
So now there is little shopping I do. I even go to the drive-ups to pick up medications. Once in a while, I’ll actually go into the store to pick up a few things.
As to having trouble with your credit card: I’ve found that occasionally a website will “balk” at some point in the ordering process. I say it’s not you; it’s them. Wait a while, I’ve found; and the site will work right again. I don’t know what the problem is–but I do know it’s not you; it’s them.
I have found lately that there are times when I simply cannot even sign online. Well, I have this cheap internet provider. I did once try to convert to a DSL system–but ran into an interminable mess with the provider at the time and ended up sticking with what I have. Better the devil one knows than the devil one doesn’t know. Besides, I also know that DSL, at least in my area, can mysteriously “go out” or “be down” and require a visit by a technician to the home. It seems that whatever system one has, it will never really be working right all the time.
But I wonder if some of the problem with not being able to get online in this last week has been that SO MANY people have discovered “CYBER MONDAY” that the servers (or whatever) are just too busy. I’ve found, wait until some odd time–early in the a.m. or late in the p.m. Lot less people using the system–or maybe it has to do with business use.
Regardless. I think that even better than “sliced bread” has been online shopping, and I’ve been using it for years now.
But I also can understand and totally appreciate the luxury of actually talking to a person one can understand. Occasionally, I prefer to order from one or two places by phone. I agree, it is a luxury to talk to a pleasant person who graciously takes one’s order, and then it’s done in a short time.
I say you may learn to completely appreciate shopping online.
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — November 29, 2007 @ 9:07 am