On LIne Vendor Upgrades - How Often has this Happened to You

In an era when travel agents may soon share the fate of the passenger pigeon, I have one of the best.  For more than twenty years, she has been my partner in booking complex international trips and ensuring that I obtained reasonable rates, plus schedules that fit my needs.  Our partnership takes into account differences in airline quality, airport idiosyncrasies and the potential vicissitudes of weather.  I have recommended her to many friends and colleagues and continue to do so.  I always look forward to our conversations.  We are friends. 

In recent years our collaborations have been made easier by an online booking service.  My colleague would make a tentative reservation and I would be notified by email.  I would print it out.  We could discuss the booking, make changes if necessary and confirm the arrangements. A further email would follow with the updated details.  I would print out the ticket and be ready to go.

Last night, there was a change.  Not in the skill, efficiency and congeniality of my travel-agent colleague, but in the online system that had served us so well for many years. (Incidentally you will note that I am not using the names of the online providers because I have learned that many are now responding to online critics not with improved services but with lawsuits for defamation.)  Here was the scenario that consumed more than an hour of my evening.

(1) When opened the email on to view and print my bookings  – it informed me that there now was a new provider whose improved services were intended to achieve stress free travel.

(2) The message was accompanied by a log-in page, requesting my name and email, that was also larded with commercial messages, touting services for which I had no use.  When I logged in I was informed that a “confirmation” would be sent by email.

(3) Often, with such procedures, the confirming emails come quickly; in this case I waited… and waited…and waited.  I turned to other work, checking periodically. No email.

(4) Finally it occurred to me that the message might have been picked up by one of my spam filters.  Checking my spam files, I was able to find the message.  Opening the message I was able to access a second log in page.  This called for a username  email and password, which I duly recorded in my already voluminous files of usernames and passwords.

(5) I was then informed that in order to access my booking I would have to accede to “terms and conditions.”  These included the usual multi-pages of legalese though which, typically, I essentially “agreed” to absolve the provider from all accountability and responsibility. I actually took time to read them all however of course there was no recourse but to “accept.”   In a particularly noteworthy passage, I was required to “agree” to be bound by any future changes in the agreement that the provider would post on the website without notice.  Checking the site periodically to detect changes, reviewing the changes, and opting out of the “contract” if I did not agree would be my responsibility.

(6) Having agreed to this Kafkaesque “contract” I was directed to look for a confirming email that would provide my reservations.

(7) Several iterations later, I was able to detect the site where tie reservations were posted, again larded with commercial messages.  However it provided only the most minimal information regarding my bookings – no class of service, no terminal information, no seat information, no detailed code information, no charges.

(8) After further scrutiny, I noted that “print as PDF file” was an option.  I clicked the appropriate button and a PDF file appeared with the most of the information that before implementation of this no stress system, I had been able to retrieve with a single mouse click.

(9) However the no stress software of my new provider had not properly synched the screen image with the Adobe PDF software.  It would print out only a single image, not multiple pages in a single file.

(10) After experimentation, I discovered a work-around. If I displayed the two pages of the file separately, I could print them out as separate, single files.  At last I had a print-out of my bookings to review.

(11) More than an hour had elapsed as I negotiated a process that, in the past, had taken less that five minutes. Meditation was not enough to quel my mental turbulence.  I needed a glass of wine.  

(12) On Monday, I will have to encounter the system again, after my travel colleague and I discuss and confirm my plans. I know I must budget at least a full hour for each bout with this “no stress” software – and I await  the process with trepidation and loathing.

Outsourcing the submssion of recommendation letters: an IT innovation that I hate

Please understand that I favor the submission of recommendations on line. It saves time and, for faculty members working overseas (assuming they have reliable internet service) can simplify the submission process.

What I hate is the arrogance of the firms to which this process has been outsourced. Like many IT “customer service” organizations they have designed their process to mesh with their needs (and to some degree the needs of their clients). The opacity and complexity of one set of instructions was so impenetrable that after completing the process, I wrote to a senior administrator of the unit to whom I was submitting a recommendation. He was kind enough to respond and was candid: “the system is designed to meet the needs of the clients (i.e. the schools receiving recommendations) not those submitting them.”

The latest indignity, which I encountered in writing a recommendation this evening, was a lengthy “license agreement” type disclaimer, comprising several paragraphs of legalese. License agreements in general have completely perverted the concept of a contract as an agreement between two more or less equal consenting parties. This “agreement” informed me than unless I agreed to sign, my recommendation would not be considered. Given a commitment to support my students applications, what recourse did I have?

I still consider the task of writing recommendation letters to be one of the most rewarding obligations of faculty members. As an IT literate faculty member, who equips himself with the latest high-end MacBook Pro laptop, this newly automated process poses few – indeed no – terrors. It is only the user-unfriendliness of the online recommendation software packages, that would seem to reflect arrogance and insensitivity on the part of the firms that have created them, that I hate.

Financial and Information Techology Travails on a Friday Night

In these turbulent economic times, everyone is concerned about their investments. But my strategy has been conservative, with more half of retirement savings tucked away in a secure “Teachers Retirement” annuity. As financial markets plummeted, last week, resisted the temptation to check on my holdings. I would not succumb to panic. I would stick with my strategy.
On Friday night, last week however, I decided to take a quick look before leaving the office. I attempted to log into the TIAA/CREF on line site. The site rejected my password. It had always worked before. What was the problem? I tried again. No luck. I changed my password, following the instructions on the site carefully. Quickly a new password was sent to me by email. I changed it as directed, following the instructions on the site carefully. I tried to log on once again. No luck. I switched from my MacIntosh to my windows laptop and tried again. No luck. 45 Minutes had by now elapsed.

I contacted TIAA/CREF by telephone, using the instructions provided on the site and quickly reached a consultant. They would check on the problem and get back to me within seven to ten business days, she said. In the interim, I could request information about by account by telephone. 60 minutes had by now elapsed. I called the number provided for account information. Again, I quickly reached a consultant. After receiving identifying information, she said she would check my account. Soon, she came back on the line. Yes I did have an account with TIAA/CREF, she told me, however there were no funds in my account. This was disturbing news at the end of a week when major banking institutions had failed or been taken over by the government and global stock indices had experienced wile - mostly downward - gyrations. The consultant said she understood my concern and promised to wait while I checked my recently received TIAA/CREF quarterly report. It showed a very substantial balance.

Well... she said, we have been experiencing some problems with our system, but I can’t do anything more for you now. Why don’t you call back on monday morning, she suggested, cheerfully. About 75 minutes had by now elapsed.
The prospect of spending the weekend wondering whether my retirement savings had been a casualty of the financial crisis or some problem with TIAA/CREF’s system was not cheering. I decided to ‘escalate’ and called my TIAA/CREF ‘wealth management advisor on her mobile phone. Not surprisingly - by now it was after 7 PM on a Friday evening - there was no answer. I turned back to my computer and began drafting an email message to my Wealth Management Advisor and Customer Relationship Specialist explaining the evening’s circumstances and seeking their assistance.

I was about half way through my task when the telephone buzzed. My Wealth Management advisor was on the line. She had checked my account using a back-up system. I was still solvent. I was not the only one who had encountered problems. A unusually large number of TIAA/CREF clients, no doubt motivated by the turbulent financial circumstances had tried to log into the system. The system had responded by refusing log ins and with other malfunctions. Hundreds of emails had been received. TIAA/CREF technicians were working to resolve the problem. Nearly two hours had by now elapsed since I first sought information about my account, on line.

Since my own AU organization, the Center for Teaching Excellence, has IT responsibilities I often work with IT technical professionals and know something about their distinctive culture. When there is a system malfunction, their immediate concern is to get things working properly once again. Taking valuable time out to share information with customers not a natural priority. When an IT organization does immediately share ‘bad news’ I know that a manager has been unequivocal and unbending in his (or her) demands that this be done. Apparently TIIA/CREF’s IT organization has no such managers. (Happily, AU’s IT organization now has three of them).

After thanking my Wealth Management Advisor profusely for checking my account and calling me back, I offered a suggestion. When I system problem occurs, why not quickly post information and recommendations for customers on the TIAA/CREF log in page. This could significantly reduce system overload, email volume, phone call volume and client angst. ‘That sounds like a good idea,” she responded. “I’ll pass it along.”

After wishing her a good weekend and concluding the conversation, I turned to my computer and erased the email I had been drafting. More than two hours had elapsed. It was after 8 PM. I decided to call it a day.