Friday Peeves: When a Drop Box Trumps Technology

I received a letter from a government authority last week. They were updating their records and wanted me to review my info and make any updates where necessary.

Here is where I had some issues. My "account" so to speak was created online, using their online platform. I updated it at the end of January 2010. Shouldn't your system show that I updated my info? Why are you sending me this letter?

Okay, so clearly I had no changes to the document they sent me. But they did not indicate whether I still had to send the form back. The letter states if you have changes, then send back updates, but what if you didn't? What happens then?

And more annoying than anything else is the fact that in this day and age, they want me to walk to their office and drop the form in a box in person. Now while I enjoy a good stroll,

1. I am very busy
2. Have you all been experiencing the same heat I have been experiencing? If I do decide I want to make this infernal walk, it would be at noon, on my lunchbreak, when the sun is dancing high in the sky! Are you serious?
3. The walk is not some leisurely stroll either. It's a good long trod!
4. And saving the best for last - what's wrong with email????

Okay, forgetting the fact that the records are all on their system somewhere because some people applied online, why can't we update the form, scan it and email it to a designated email account?

Or if we really try to be accomodating, why can't we FAX it to a designated number??? Why in 2010, must I walk all the way there, to not even be given face to face customer service, but to drop the form IN A BOX!???

Seriously???

Wow. It's sadder that this came from a Communications Department. If it came from a department that maybe does not know better I would not be so gobsmacked but c'mon, man. How is this good customer service?

And as we talk about technology and the lack of adapting to same, I think when a certain newspaper launched its new design earlier this week, a lot of people were unhappy with it. I had no real opinion on the design itself but I would have thought that with a new look, there would have been new additions. In its previous manifestation, the articles had an Email this Article link, and a Print This Article link. But no Share This Article link. So if I wanted to share a really great article with my Facebook friends for example, I would have to copy and paste the link myself. How is this progressive, and for a media house?? C'mon. So with the new design, I was baffled to see that there was still no social bookmarking links in an age of social media and mass sharing, mass retweeting etc. And to add insult to injury, the email and print options were casualties of the new design as well.

So this morning I go to see if anyone has been monitoring the socialmediasphere and gauging customer feedback, thus making some changes to the look and feel. Not only were there zero changes, but there was also this. I mean as if the grief was not enough. You do see what I am talking about though?

Have a great day, friends.