1. Mangled Packaging And The Helpdesk From Hell

One of the really cool perks of managing MobilityGuru is the feedback I get from you. Most of it is constructive criticism, some is nasty, some is really nasty and some is really, really nasty. Whatever the tone of reader feedback, some of it is just plain funny. Here's some reader feedback related to two of my "Who Designed This Crap?" columns, the ones about tech support and product packaging.

From A Reader In England On Product Packaging

"The best part for me about packaging is that you have to mangle and destroy the packaging to get at the product. But then what happens if you need to return it because it was faulty or missing something? Make sure you have everything that was included! What a nightmare."

From Ben On Tech Support

"I did some work for a company in the aerospace engineering field. None of us were every happy with the help desk, which we came to call 'the unhelp desk'. I left for school after 3 months and my position was 'terminated' which means my computer and phone were taken back and reissued to someone else.

Fast Forward 3 Months.

I came back to work. To find my phone number, I searched for my name in the phone system. I saw that my name was still linked my old number. So I walked over to where I used to sit and my phone was still there. Alright, no big deal, I thought. I borrowed my co-worker's phone and called the help desk and explained what had happen and that the phone needed to be moved to my new desk. I also asked that they put a note in the ticket request for the people to not call my new number.

Two weeks later, I still didn't have a phone. So I borrowed the co-workers phone again, called in and started talking to the tech dude. As he's skimming the ticket, I hear him start laughing. I asked what is so funny and he tells me there are two notes on the ticket and it went something like this...

Ticket Request: Move phone to new desk.

Note 1: Do not call phone as customer does not sit near the phone. Send email instead.

Note 2: Does not answer phone. Assuming problem is resolved.

All I ask is a little common sense and possibly that the techs READ the request?"

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