The Usability Halo
So, here’s what happened. I was given a gift card for Barnes and Noble. Although there is a Barnes and Noble near me, I decided to go online to shop. I figured it was going to be easier plus it thought that there would be a bigger selection. This all makes sense, right?
OK, so next I went shopping. I quickly realized that the search engine on Barnes and Noble wasn’t as good as Amazon’s. In fact, I felt like I was shopping offline and that I was being assaulting with advertisements. I’m sure that I actually was being hit with ads, but that was my experience. (Perception is more important than reality with UX. Perception is reality.)
I got over the usability issues and decided to suck it up. “I’m just going to shop and use this gift card!” So, I kept going, looking for ways to best spend my free money.
I eventually found a book that I wanted. I looked at the price and the material about the book. No problem. But then I thought, “I want to get books on CD, since I like to listen to books in my car.” On that page, I started looking for the link to other formats for the book. After spending at least 20 seconds — probably more — I got frustrated and gave up. I moved up to the top of the page and decided to use the search engine. Not surprisingly, this was miserable and time consuming.
(Keep in mind I’m an advanced user. I kind of “get” how search engines work and what kinds of words and phrases normally work. I can’t imagine The Grandmother Scenario.)
I did end up finding the page for the CD version of the book that I wanted. Now, to save money I decided to go with a “used” book seller. In this case, I went with A1Books, which had decent ratings by users. The price was right and it seemed like a good idea.
Wrong move.
I did the same thing with another book. I did a search found what I wanted. Muddled through the Barnes and Noble user interface and search engine. All in all, the experience was very poor and this alone convinced me to stick with Amazon.
Things went downhill from here…
Soon after I ordered, Barnes and Noble sent me an email. It was fine. No real complaints but it didn’t “feel” as friendly and useful as Amazon’s emails.
I should have received my two new CD books but I haven’t. One seller hasn’t sent anything at all. No emails at all. The other seller (A1Books) completely screwed up. They ran out of the book — In other words, they sold me a copy of a book they didn’t have in stock. Here’s what they sent to me…
“Your order for XXXXX placed on 03-Aug-2008 has been delayed. We ran out of stock for this item and are getting it again from our vendor.”
Yes, I got that note today (13-Aug-2008). So, 10 days after saying they were processing the order they tell me they don’t have the book that they said they had. This feels like a fraud. I’m not saying it is a fraud but it feels that way. That’s what matters. I also don’t have the book.
To make matters worse, there is no effective way to cancel the order and get the money back. I no longer have the gift card. I spent it so I threw it away. Also, they don’t have an easy to use interface for requesting refunds. Yes, I *can* ask, but where will the money go without having my card?
But wait, here’s another thing. Since they are a 3rd party, I feel (there’s that word again) that it will be a nightmare to deal with Barnes and Noble about this. Is the hassle worth the $20 I’ll get back?
A1Books will never get my business again. Not a chance. And, because I bought the book through Barnes and Noble, I hold them accountable for my experience. There’s a halo of a bad experience around them now. It’s not literally their fault — I know that — But, I’m simply not going to bother with them when Amazon AND Amazon’s 3rd party players have been fantastic.
I’ll simply wait and see if A1Books can “find” another copy of the book for me. They said they are doing just that. They let me down but they also have me over a barrel. I’m going to suck it up and just wait. Maybe it’ll show up, right along with the OTHER book I ordered.
I’ll never buy from A1Books again. I’ll never buy from Barnes and Noble again, unless I get another gift card. In that case, I’ll hope in my car, drive to the store, and physically pick up a book there.
I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to pass this story along to others.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:18 am
I’m curious about your comment, “(Keep in mind I’m an advanced user. I kind of “get” how search engines work and what kinds of words and phrases normally work. I can’t imagine The Grandmother Scenario.)” What terms did you use for your search?
I checked out B&N’s website after reading your article and did my own test of trying to find the audiobook versions of several books I could think of off the top of my head. I had no problem finding results (if you search for the book’s title, usually the audiobook version is the 2nd or 3rd hit in the search results).
I can’t comment on the rest of your experience (I didn’t buy anything), but sometimes I wonder if advanced users overcomplicate actions like websearches by using advanced knowledge.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Totally agree with you on the usability halo. I can’t help but feel that part of your experience boils down to bad luck, though. There’s no guarantee that a third-party vendor will ever be as reliable or credible as the trusted main source–that can happen just as easily on Amazon.
I once ordered a book via Amazon third party only to have my phone ring 20 minutes after sending. It was the third-party store owner, begging me to cancel my order via Amazon, because it kills their profit margin, and place the order direct on the phone, since we were already talking, and would that be OK? Surely Amazon had no idea their partner was subverting the process.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Does anyone proofread your articles? I suggest you have someone do so. When you have 3 or more errors in sentence structure, you lose credibility as a blogger.
You don’t have to publish this comment.