Average Jane Prefers To Type At You

Now that smartphones are taking over the world, I keep hoping that the "phone" part will be gently phased out so that I no longer have to communicate with people verbally.

There are so many other options! You can text me, email me, DM me through Twitter, @ me through Twitter, message me on Facebook. I have all that stuff on my phone and computer all day long so I'll definitely see it right away, unless it's after 9:00 p.m. when I'm a Viking.

This leads me to today's scenario in which I was forced to make a phone call despite my strong desire to use a web form instead.

The car dealership where I always get service on the Insight used to have a very simple online form for requesting a service appointment. You told it what kind of car you had, when you wanted to bring it in, what you wanted done, who you were and what your phone number was. The end.

I went to schedule an oil change today and discovered that they had "upgraded" their form. Now, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm a web-savvy individual. However, this new form was incredibly user-unfriendly. Apparently someone in the sales department had decided that they weren't collecting enough information from people, so it started with creating an account and went downhill from there.

Once I'd finished creating my account, I tried to navigate the process of actually setting up an appointment, but it was the least intuitive user interface I'd ever encountered. I ended up accidentally scheduling my appointment on the wrong day and by the time I figured out how to cancel, I was Done. With. That. Form.

So I picked up the phone and called to make my appointment. Yes, the company managed to take someone who had efficiently scheduled all her appointments online for an entire decade and get her to call and talk to someone instead. Way to raise those overhead costs!

Obviously my dream of a telephone-free world is still in the distant future. But I'll be ready when the time comes.

Comments

[Laurie Kingston]

i am so with you on this.

[Faith]

Dit.to.

I've been dealing with a dude all week who apparently prefers talking on the phone. I not only strongly dislike talking on the phone (I actually scowl at it when it rings!), but in most cases having to do with work, I prefer email for the written communication I can refer back to when necessary.

So I emailed him that. I said I'd prefer he contact me in writing so I'd have it to refer back to.

Dude still called me. I finally HAD to answer so we could get what we needed to do done. And he acted like he'd never even seen my email. ::sigh:: SUCH a pain!