Sunday, January 17, 2016

how to order something online

1. Go to the manufacturer's website, find the item you want, and put it in the cart. That's the easy part.

2. Since you don't expect to be a regular customer, try to find a way to check out as a guest. Fail to find one.

3. Since you have in fact ordered from this company before, check your saved password file for a login there. Don't find one.

4. Sigh. Fill out the form to register for a new account. Note that when you type in a username (the same one you use everywhere) a popup informs you that it's available.

4a. Sigh again at the restrictions for a password, which eliminate any combination you can remember.

5. However, when you click to save the registration, receive a notice that the username (which is unlikely to be anyone but you) is taken.

6. Go back to the beginning and click the "Forgot password?" button.

7. Wait five minutes. About this time, begin to wish that it were still possible to just drive to the store and buy this product.

8. Receive an e-mail with an obscenely convoluted temp password.

9. Log in using this.

9a. Don't bother to change the password.

9b. Confirm that it's gone into your saved passwords file this time.

10. Reorder from scratch, since it works that way.

11. Get to the checkout screen, and find that, while the item you want costs $9, shipping costs $7.

11a. Realize that, to make this an economical purchase, you'd better find something else they sell that you want.

11b. Realize further that you've used up all the time you'd allocated for what should have been a 3-step procedure, you have errands to do, and you'll have to come back later.

No comments:

Post a Comment