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I just want to give you my money!Posted by: Michael Port
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I started by reviewing their website. I wasn't convinced (but that wasn't their fault) so I decided to sign up for a free "basic" account to test drive the system. The product looked good but I really couldn't tell without having access to the "professional" version, which is $9.99 per month. I was willing to spend 10 bucks to see if it would serve my needs.
To put this story in context, I should mention that I like to make decisions quickly--and act quickly on those decisions.
I clicked the Buy Now button. Here's the message I received:
Bummer.
I figured it was a momentary glitch so I tried a few more times over the next 30 minutes. (Did I mention that I like to get things done right away?) No dice. Same message.
So, I called them. I should mention that it took me about 6 clicks to find their number. Now, maybe I'm one olive short of a martini, but 6 clicks? That's too much work to find a phone number to call to buy something.
Click #1: It wasn't on their Support page.
Click #2:It wasn't on their Feedback page.
Click #3:It wasn't on their FAQ page.
Click #4:It wasn't on their Help Files page.
Click #5:It wasn't on their Get It Now page.
Click #6: Yippee! I finally found a link to it, not the actual number, mind you, but a link to the number on their Get It Now page. And it wasn't even a toll-free number. But I did find the number so I called...
...and left a message for their Sales Department. Didn't hear back. Again, bummer.
But this product was recommended by my friend Andrea Lee who knows her stuff so I thought I'd stick it out because maybe the product really is great.
So I submitted a ticket through their help desk. Here's the response I received.
Dear Michael Port,
Thank you for your recent feedback:
I called the sales department this morning b/c I wanted to purchase the system and was getting an error message from the "Buy Now" link. I have not received a call back yet. Just trying to buy your product :) Hope to hear from someone soon.
Respectfully,
Michael Port
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Comments
Posted by Dave Ganulin on 2007-11-21
Michael,
You might want to try www.hyperoffice.com. We use it. Cheaper than Web Ex Office and quite reasonably priced. Good customer service as well.
Michael,
You might want to try www.hyperoffice.com. We use it. Cheaper than Web Ex Office and quite reasonably priced. Good customer service as well.
Posted by Brian on 2007-11-21
Michael,
You couldn't be more dead on. I've worked in IT since the early 90s and I'm continually amazed at how many bad, bad, bad websites I still bump into. Just today I went to my local pro football team's website (www.buccaneers.com) to do a quick check on their schedule. Since their homepage is cluttered with all sorts of links I scanned the page top to bottom, side to side, back and forth and of all the links showing, no schedule! By chance a mouse over the Team/Stats link revealed yet another menu (along with a very annoying audio clip which repeats every time the cursor passes over the link) where low and behold, the schedule! Now except for the latest score/recap one would think that the schedule would have to be in the top 5 items one would seek on the site. Yet they managed to put 50 PLUS visible links on the homepage but yet the schedule was still buried another layer deep! Sadly the majority of sites on the Internet are perfect examples of poor customer service and awful design. Their designed by geeks, nerds and graphic designers who just don't have a clue about good customer service or good website design. And as you discovered they could care less about sales. The reason the phone number is so often buried is - they don't want you to call! Even though I've been in the business for years, contacting a vendor for support is the ultimate exercise in time wasting frustration. Fortunately I rarely have to but I feel nothing but pity for the average customer who does.
Michael,
You couldn't be more dead on. I've worked in IT since the early 90s and I'm continually amazed at how many bad, bad, bad websites I still bump into. Just today I went to my local pro football team's website (www.buccaneers.com) to do a quick check on their schedule. Since their homepage is cluttered with all sorts of links I scanned the page top to bottom, side to side, back and forth and of all the links showing, no schedule! By chance a mouse over the Team/Stats link revealed yet another menu (along with a very annoying audio clip which repeats every time the cursor passes over the link) where low and behold, the schedule! Now except for the latest score/recap one would think that the schedule would have to be in the top 5 items one would seek on the site. Yet they managed to put 50 PLUS visible links on the homepage but yet the schedule was still buried another layer deep! Sadly the majority of sites on the Internet are perfect examples of poor customer service and awful design. Their designed by geeks, nerds and graphic designers who just don't have a clue about good customer service or good website design. And as you discovered they could care less about sales. The reason the phone number is so often buried is - they don't want you to call! Even though I've been in the business for years, contacting a vendor for support is the ultimate exercise in time wasting frustration. Fortunately I rarely have to but I feel nothing but pity for the average customer who does.
Posted by Mark Berry on 2007-11-21
Congrats on moving newsletter-to-blog!!! I like the new format.
It looks like this all happened about a week ago. So did you ever start using them? The front page was pretty bad so I didn't even read it.
I am interested in a cheap online scheduling system that allows clients to book different kinds of services. For example, a weekly coaching call is different than an in-person meeting or a speaking engagement or a request to interview me. I also need to limit my customers to only booking certain time slots, so I need some control over what they see is free.
Do you know an online scheduling website that allows that kind of self-booking for my clients?
Congrats on moving newsletter-to-blog!!! I like the new format.
It looks like this all happened about a week ago. So did you ever start using them? The front page was pretty bad so I didn't even read it.
I am interested in a cheap online scheduling system that allows clients to book different kinds of services. For example, a weekly coaching call is different than an in-person meeting or a speaking engagement or a request to interview me. I also need to limit my customers to only booking certain time slots, so I need some control over what they see is free.
Do you know an online scheduling website that allows that kind of self-booking for my clients?
Posted by Michael Port on 2007-11-21
Yes, Mark, we use www.appointmentquest.com. It allows our clients schedule their sessions with their Book Yourself Solid coach. It works well.
Michael
Yes, Mark, we use www.appointmentquest.com. It allows our clients schedule their sessions with their Book Yourself Solid coach. It works well.
Michael
Posted by Tom on 2007-11-21
Hi Michael:
As a Trumba employee, I’m really sorry to hear about your experience last week. I agree there is no excuse for making it hard for customers to give us money. In the interest of sharing some context, we were in the middle of a significant upgrade to our payment system this past week and while we continued to provide interruption-free access to all of our users’ accounts, we did have a short period where we were unable to process some payments.
In hindsight, we should have taken your credit card info via phone, upgraded your account to Pro, and billed you when the commerce system came back online. We also should have acknowledged receipt of your voicemail when we subsequently emailed you updating you on the ETA of the payment system fix.
The good news is that the update was tested and deployed this week. Moreover, in response to the growth in our business, we are preparing to roll out a toll free sales number staffed with a full time inside sales staff, expanded email and telephone technical and billing support, and a variety of new payment options and formats. We’re on track to roll those out in the next couple of months.
Thanks for your candid feedback Michael; we take this stuff very seriously and I hope we’ll have an opportunity to make it up to you in the future. I’ll be personally calling you today to see if there’s anything I can do to help.
Tom Leung
Trumba Sales and Business Development
Hi Michael:
As a Trumba employee, I’m really sorry to hear about your experience last week. I agree there is no excuse for making it hard for customers to give us money. In the interest of sharing some context, we were in the middle of a significant upgrade to our payment system this past week and while we continued to provide interruption-free access to all of our users’ accounts, we did have a short period where we were unable to process some payments.
In hindsight, we should have taken your credit card info via phone, upgraded your account to Pro, and billed you when the commerce system came back online. We also should have acknowledged receipt of your voicemail when we subsequently emailed you updating you on the ETA of the payment system fix.
The good news is that the update was tested and deployed this week. Moreover, in response to the growth in our business, we are preparing to roll out a toll free sales number staffed with a full time inside sales staff, expanded email and telephone technical and billing support, and a variety of new payment options and formats. We’re on track to roll those out in the next couple of months.
Thanks for your candid feedback Michael; we take this stuff very seriously and I hope we’ll have an opportunity to make it up to you in the future. I’ll be personally calling you today to see if there’s anything I can do to help.
Tom Leung
Trumba Sales and Business Development
Posted by Havi on 2007-11-21
Ah, the power of the public complaint. Thanks for sharing your experience and for framing so clearly the way we want to be treated by the companies we interact with. Not to mention the way we want to treat our clients and colleagues.
It's amazing how many people don't seem to want to actually have customers, and not just the big companies either. I had two experiences recently that made me rethink customer service interaction.
I contacted a woman last week who makes yoga bolsters. I left two phone messages explaining that I teach Habits Training workshops in California and internationally and that I wanted to purchase bolsters for my studio and private clients. In both messages I left 3 forms of contact information. No response.
The same thing happened last month in Berlin with a massage therapist who had been recommended by a friend.
This experience made me wonder two things:
1. perhaps people are unconsciously disinclined to be successful and are sabotaging themselves by not letting in new business.
2. if it is also a good reminder for me to make a conscious, organized effort to make sure that I am easy to reach and eager and committed to helping people who need me. I think so!
Ah, the power of the public complaint. Thanks for sharing your experience and for framing so clearly the way we want to be treated by the companies we interact with. Not to mention the way we want to treat our clients and colleagues.
It's amazing how many people don't seem to want to actually have customers, and not just the big companies either. I had two experiences recently that made me rethink customer service interaction.
I contacted a woman last week who makes yoga bolsters. I left two phone messages explaining that I teach Habits Training workshops in California and internationally and that I wanted to purchase bolsters for my studio and private clients. In both messages I left 3 forms of contact information. No response.
The same thing happened last month in Berlin with a massage therapist who had been recommended by a friend.
This experience made me wonder two things:
1. perhaps people are unconsciously disinclined to be successful and are sabotaging themselves by not letting in new business.
2. if it is also a good reminder for me to make a conscious, organized effort to make sure that I am easy to reach and eager and committed to helping people who need me. I think so!
Posted by Michael Port on 2007-11-21
As you can see, I received and very warm, thoughtful and conscientious comment from Tom, one of the senior folks at Trumba. I received a personal phone call from him as well. Sounds like a very nice guy.
He's going to get me set up with the product and I'll report back to you on how it goes.
No one is perfect... certainly not me. I've fumbled the ball more times than I can count. But when we respond the way Tom did we usually get a chance to pick it back up and run for the goal line. (Please excuse the cliché metaphor.)
As you can see, I received and very warm, thoughtful and conscientious comment from Tom, one of the senior folks at Trumba. I received a personal phone call from him as well. Sounds like a very nice guy.
He's going to get me set up with the product and I'll report back to you on how it goes.
No one is perfect... certainly not me. I've fumbled the ball more times than I can count. But when we respond the way Tom did we usually get a chance to pick it back up and run for the goal line. (Please excuse the cliché metaphor.)
Posted by ruf on 2007-11-21
Maybe Trumba's inability to take your money was a blessing in disguise.
Trumba has raised it's annual subscription fee from $40 to $100 . Thats a 150% fee increase in just their first year in business. Few people I know are willing to spend that kind of money every year for a calendar. Besides the high cost, Trumba has no proven track record. They could vanish just a quickly as they appeared. I think Trumba will find it impossible to compete with Google and Yahoo's free calendar. The real question is, how many times does Trumba intend to raise its fees?
Maybe Trumba's inability to take your money was a blessing in disguise.
Trumba has raised it's annual subscription fee from $40 to $100 . Thats a 150% fee increase in just their first year in business. Few people I know are willing to spend that kind of money every year for a calendar. Besides the high cost, Trumba has no proven track record. They could vanish just a quickly as they appeared. I think Trumba will find it impossible to compete with Google and Yahoo's free calendar. The real question is, how many times does Trumba intend to raise its fees?
Posted by Mike on 2007-11-21
Trumba has just announced they will be going to $99.95 per month effective January of 2007. I am working with a school calendar and cannot afford this increase. Their only response online is that we need to find a different solution.
I think this really stinks...especially since this is 10 times the currently monthly price of $9.95. Who is going to pay $100 a month for a calendar???
Trumba has just announced they will be going to $99.95 per month effective January of 2007. I am working with a school calendar and cannot afford this increase. Their only response online is that we need to find a different solution.
I think this really stinks...especially since this is 10 times the currently monthly price of $9.95. Who is going to pay $100 a month for a calendar???
Posted by Greg on 2007-11-21
Check out all the negative feedback about trumba's latest biz decision on their blog - http://blog.trumba.com - and in their forum within the support section of www.trumba.com.
Why they won't entertain the idea of offering "Trumba Lite" at $5 -$10 per month for their current personal user, small biz and nonprofit customers is a complete mystery. They'll tell you that they're making the huge gesture of a transition year of 9.95 per month til 08, but then you're going to pay $100 a month after that! Why would anyone take advantage of that by putting time and energy into an app that won't be affordable in the near future.
Trumba lists 3,500+ public users on their website (bottom of homepage) who are mostly churches, personal users and nonprofit orgs. At $4.95 per month, thats a $210K+ return for a version that wouldn't require further development.
Giving back is not high on the list of priorities for this group and it appears that blatant greed drives the marketing plan. They didn't want to take the money due to a glitch on their website, and now they really don't want to take the money due to an inconceivable marketing plan!
Check out all the negative feedback about trumba's latest biz decision on their blog - http://blog.trumba.com - and in their forum within the support section of www.trumba.com.
Why they won't entertain the idea of offering "Trumba Lite" at $5 -$10 per month for their current personal user, small biz and nonprofit customers is a complete mystery. They'll tell you that they're making the huge gesture of a transition year of 9.95 per month til 08, but then you're going to pay $100 a month after that! Why would anyone take advantage of that by putting time and energy into an app that won't be affordable in the near future.
Trumba lists 3,500+ public users on their website (bottom of homepage) who are mostly churches, personal users and nonprofit orgs. At $4.95 per month, thats a $210K+ return for a version that wouldn't require further development.
Giving back is not high on the list of priorities for this group and it appears that blatant greed drives the marketing plan. They didn't want to take the money due to a glitch on their website, and now they really don't want to take the money due to an inconceivable marketing plan!
