Amazon and Customer Service - Another UX Experience

Last Friday I decided we needed to change our Wireless SSID and Password - not a simple task. We have many Echo devices, a number of Echo connected plugs and a variety of lights. We have Smart TV's all with Amazon Fire TV 4K devices, 2 phones, and computers. Some things are very old by today's technology - we were an Alexa Beta purchaser. OH yes, there are wireless printers in the house.

It took 2 days to get most everything back up and running without help. I had issues with an Amazon Dash Wand and the original Echo TAP. At first I wrote Amazon and received a quick response for me to call at my leisure. I took Sunday off so this morning I called.

I made one call for the TAP and then a second call for the Amazon Dash Wand. Both calls were fantastic. Wait time was at a minimum, perhaps I called early in the day.

Now no one knows I have spent over 70 years playing with technology and 30 years with the latest "stuff" (learned that from Carl Sagan"). I do not "Grok" (Robert A. Heinlein) everything. I am still an "Egg", however, I am learning.

I was treated very courteously, pleasantly, and I really believe they were both smiling. First call was answered by a male, second call by a female. Both were great calls. Beyond all the niceties, they were knowledgeable and did not make you feel like you were a problem for them.

On and off the phone in under 15 minutes and feeling like I had to write something about this experience.

Now if only other tech giants would give out phone numbers. 

CS - Customer Service, Vs. UX - User Experience - and Life

Not to long ago I passed a sign on a McDonald's Restaurant that said they were hiring "Smiling Faces" and I had to drive around the block to take a picture of the sign. I visit McDonald's very often and lately there are not many "Smiling Faces".

Actually there are not many "Smiling Faces" anywhere I go where there is a employee - customer connection. 

This morning at McDonald's I was attended to by a robot impersonator. The individual did not smile, actually no expression. I was asked what I wanted, my response "Senior Coffee" (because I can) with a smile. Then with the same non-expression the attendant said "Cream or sugar", I said "No" and then I added "I would like a Hash Brown". As the conversation went on the same non-expression until I paid. She turned around, got my coffee, and said "This-is-your-coffee" - almost like a computer - and like I would not have known what it was.

Theory: McDonald's employees are being trained so that when they are replaced with robots we will not notice the difference. Warning: The Kiosks are only the beginning.

This is not happening at just McDonald's; but at Burger King, Starbucks, Panera Bread, department stores, and on, and on, and on.

At a Burger King we had an experience which was unbeatable. The manager was LOUD, loud enough to be offensive. She appeared to yell at everyone in the kitchen. My wife said "She is nasty" and my wife is not usually one to respond. The individual employees were pleasant but real quiet, almost a whisper. We did go to another Burger King and it was not the same.

I stopped going to Starbucks some time ago, and not because of the price. For years I held their Gold Card. The Barista training has changed, they do not have time to be pleasant, just get the order out the door. My first thought was time for pleasantness must reduce the ROI. 

PF Chang's, one of the places we used to love. We went in one day last summer and it was so hot, very hot inside. An employee said they had been there for a number of years and this was the way it is every summer - management won't, or can't fix the AC. I suspect "won't". This is also the same management that cut out all the little niceties that we liked at PF Chang's. They also cut the staff and I am sure it is in their quest to increase the ROI.

Perhaps is it ROI, however, attitude appears to becoming part of a national problem. I am finding very few pleasant people in most of any retail business - restaurants, stores - including the big ones. I get better treatment online. Yes I may have to deal with a chat environment but at least they say "Hello" and "How can I help your today?" It may be a script but it plays better on a screen than a script  used by an employee at a fast food chain, restaurant, or large department store. 

Kindness in our dealing with people is disappearing. Actually Kindness is only celebrated by Ellen DeGeneres. I do hear "Be Kind" in places but practice? Hmm…..

One could reflect on our current political stage as an example. We witness political actions in which demeaning people is the way to go. This occurs in BOTH political parties. Civility is a thing of the past. I suspect  showing courtesy, or respect for someone must be looked upon as making one weak. Sadly some take this as a mandate on how they should act to everyone.  You have to put down your rival - even in your own political party - and in your business Life. 

Sadly, some only Live by putting down someone else. I suspect it is their way of feeling better about themselves. 

The world may be watching, but sadly the kids are learning. I grew up on the Golden Rule, perhaps the perception is changing. 

Just WHO - or WHAT - Is Writing The Headlines Today

This is not the first time I have seen something like this. It really gives pause as to WHO (or WHAT) is writing the news.

From this mornings MSN News Page the following image was collected with the headline; "...guards warned to top surfing web".

Was this written by a human and is a typo? Or was this written by a bot - programmed to write copy as well as headlines? Are we getting REAL news? In the past, I believe editors would have been all over this before it got to print, but today we don't know if there is an editor. Hmm.. that editor could have been another bot.

The next question is; How do the guards 'TOP' surfing the web? By playing solitaire? 

A.I. Run Amok

Headline today from Bloomberg: "Motorola Claims Chines Rival Had a Double Agent Steal Its Trade Secrets". I had to look up Chines and from the first entry on search (Google) "The Free Dictionary" comes up (online at https://www.freedictionary.com). From The Free Dictionary I found the following definition:

chine

 (chīn)

n.

1.

a. The backbone or spine, especially of an animal.

b. A cut of meat containing part of the backbone.

2. A ridge or crest.

3. Nautical The line of intersection between the side and bottom of a flatbottom or V-bottom boat.

tr.v. chined, chin·ing, chines

To cut (a carcass, for example) through the spine, as when butchering.

I suspect they may have butchered the abbreviation of Chinese. Someone needs to update the Deep Learning of Bloomberg's A.I. proof reader.

Echo Auto – Alexa In My Car – And Our RV!

I finally received my invite to try Amazon’s Echo Auto – and it is very interesting. 

The easy part was connecting the Amazon Auto Echo to the car. Received it on Thursday and by Monday I was ready to teach a Mastery Class. 

Install note’s: 

• You will need a 12 Volt outlet (formally a cigarette lighter outlet) or a USB power connection in your car. 
• You must have the Alexa App on your phone for the initial installation of Echo Auto, then close the app. 
• I made the mistake of having both the Alexa app and my Amazon Music app opened as I ‘assumed’ they had to be – not so. It can cause confusion. 
• You do have to have your phone connected to the car’s Bluetooth (if you are in a car – more on this later) as this is how Echo Auto connects to the car speaker system
• You can connect using the Audio cable which comes with the device (3.5mm to 3.5mm). 

Once connected I was on a roll. First it was playing music, “Alexa shuffle ‘Playlist name’ from Amazon Music” and she answers just like she does in the house,

Installed in a 2013 Town & Country

“Playing ‘playlist’ from Walter’s Amazon Music Account”. 

OK got the music down how about reading from my Audible account? No problem here – at least at the beginning. I mentioned the title and she picked up where I last was listening. 

From here I made a phone call, sent a text message, and received a phone call – ALL HANDS FREE. This is the neat part, I did not have to touch any device to have all my requests completed. 

Initially patience is required (should have said this in the install notes). I am not good at dictation, I just talk. Alexa, not being my wife, does not interpret well my intentions (well my wife doesn’t always get this right either 😊). The music was easy, the phone calls and text messages require me to think in advance what I want to ask Alexa to do - and then don’t change my mind in the middle of a sentence, which I tend to do. 

My worse time came with Audible. I was trying to open books and go to a specific place. I get confused and pick the wrong chapter and then must change the chapter and at one point ask to go to the beginning of a chapter. Poor Alexa, she's a trooper. 

All in the learning or in the Alexa training of Me. 

I did ask for directions and Alexa did bring up Google maps on my Android OS phone and away we went. The Voice for directions kicked in but not until after we got started. I could handle that. 

I am really liking the Echo Auto and more because it is totally hand free. 

One note: I have other auto devices and once you start the car moving you cannot make physical changes, "Do Not Touch While Car Is In Motion". If I am the only one in the car this is not really a bad thing, however, my wife is often in the car with me and I still have to stop the car to make the change. With Echo Auto there is a option for “I am the Passenger” and then the other person can make changes while moving. Still, all the changes I had to make revolved around voice, and this is a good thing. 

If something doesn’t work as planned, “Alexa Stop”, wait a bit and try again. Eventually you will get trained. 

My RV Experience. 

One thing that is not talked about by Amazon is the potential for use in other places. Over the weekend I took the device into our RV (a 5th wheel trailer) and, via the phone, connected Echo Auto to the RV and the RV’s Bluetooth system. We have power in the RV so I used the USB connection. We now have great music in the RV as well as everything else that Alexa does at home; weather, radio, music, answer questions, alarms, reminders. Without a hub we cannot connect light bulbs, but I am working on that. 

Only 5 days in and I’m liking this product. Reminds me of an old line I heard somewhere, “Don’t leave home without it”. 

A history note with Alexa. We asked for our first invite to Amazon Echo in later 2014 and we received our first Amazon Echo device in January 2015 and it still is working well in the Kitchen. We are an Amazon Echo household (or Condo-hold). Alexa is in every room (except the bathroom’s) and in some rooms there are multiple devices. We have Show, Spot, and Dots, we have stereo Dots, and Fire Stick (2), as well as a Dash. They are connected to Stereo systems, pole lamps, end table lamps, and at Christmas the decorations and railroad train. In the RV I am using the original Tap as a speaker beyond the built in Bluetooth - for outside parties and such.

One Thought On Shipping Today

Recently I have had to ship some things; first to my son and then secondly to my wife, who was traveling for business. In both cases these were items that were small and the cost of shipping using any of the current services, and particularly Overnight, Next Day - this can be costly.

In the case of our son I was going on about the qualities of a new pen I had purchased (see note at the end of this post) and what I could do with it on my Android Phone. I use a swipe keyboard and I like to sketch a lot. I use Autodesk Sketchbook on my phone and my iPad Mini, this pen is wonderful. I am extolling the virtues of the pen when I realized that the product came with two pens in the box. I said I will ship you one - he does a lot of sketching and this could come in handy. When I went to ship one I discovered two things; 1) it was cheaper to purchase the pens at Amazon (where I had made the original purchase) and have Amazon ship it, and 2) he would get it quicker.

I did this and not only saved my time, and cost, of packaging as well as the cost of USPS (which would have been cheaper than UPS or FedEx, but would have still been costly - and he got two pens as well. Great deal all the way around.

In the second case, my wife forgot to take with her the cable to charge her Motorola phone. Of course it is a USB-A to USB-C, not currently the common cable. I did a little research on Amazon and discovered one for under $7.00 with same day delivery at under $6.00. Same Day delivery, not Overnight or 2 day, Same Day. I can't ship anything Same Day. Overnight, per USPS is $24.70 to start with - don’t even mention UPS or FedEx. I ordered that cable from the Cincinnati Area and it was at the hotel in Denver later the same day. Not only do I not have to package and ship, I did it better, while having my morning coffee, and for less cost.

With today's retail competition online this will be a big hurt on the smaller Mom & Pop stores. Perhaps there needs to be an alliance of these small stores that can work with each other to provide this same kind of service. Perhaps Gift Shops should have an association where they can work with each other, for a fee for a friend of course - perhaps split the markup. It could be that or lost the sale. 

NOTE: The pens I mentioned above were Mixoo 2-in-1 Precision Disc & Fiber Stylus with Replaceable Tips for Capacitive Touch Screen Devices (Black/Blue), really unique and a pleasure to use especially if you sketch on your phone. They are available on Amazon.

They also work as a mouse on my Surface Pro, however, they will not work as the drawing pen that sketches on the computer.

Grocery Shopping Brings Back Reading of "The Long Tail" - Or Why Major Retail Grocery Could Be Having a Problem.

Shopping on Saturday recalled the book by Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail" Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More”. 

We were in Kroger late Saturday morning and there were so many items we could not locate, some of which we would have to shop for somewhere else locally, however, other items we could get online and have by Monday. Some items were only available in Private Branding. 

What could we have purchased online

I understand Kroger (and others) are in a battle with online retailers like Amazon, Costco and Walmart, just to name those 3. Lettuce was nowhere in sight at Kroger and we would shop this at some other local retailer, but Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese? It can be purchased easily online, as can coffee, and many other products.

Once you can’t find something that should be in stock on a Saturday you start thinking this trip was not a happy one.

Now we do buy from Amazon and more recently from Costco. We have started to price research and coffee was one example. We have a Keurig and have discovered the San Francisco Bay Coffee Company and their products. We love their French Roast. Our first purchase came from a trip to Costco and when we returned we could not find exactly what we wanted. I tried Amazon Prime (2-day delivery) but their price was not right so I tried Costco online. Price at Costco was right and the delivery charge not bad on one case (if we purchased 3 cases the delivery would have been free), delivery was 2-days, we purchased one case. Second time at Costco we purchased other items , paper towels, toilet paper (things we would have normally purchased locally), got the order up to $75 and FREE shipping – oh and 2-day Delivery.

I mentioned “The Long Tail” because we can find those items online which the local Kroger (or wherever) can’t stock because the volume of sales is not there. Where the trouble starts for Kroger is when you begin to realize that it can be as much fun to shop online and not in those small aisles, where you can’t get through easily. I believe that each Kroger is stocked differently so something you cannot find at this Kroger could be in another Kroger. The computer analysis of shopping, to maximize profit, and the attempt to get consumers to buy what you have as well as your privately branded ‘stuff’.

From "The Long Tail" (I believe this makes for a good online strategy): "In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare." 

Let’s look at this scenario:  First: We, my wife and I, have been married for over 56 years, we are technically literate, and we sit at the table with our laptops, drinking coffee, laughing and talking (perhaps over breakfast), while shopping online. Pat says; “What was the price you found at Amazon? I have this price at Costco.” Then Pat says; “Why not try San Francisco Bay Coffee Company direct and see what they are selling it for?” Walter responds; “Actually the price is $1 greater but their FREE shipping is better because we do not have to buy as much.” And while we are there (online that is) my wife can make reservations for dinner tonight and text the others as to when and where. We get our second cup of coffee and then decide what we are going to do with the time.

Oh yes, we can also look at Facebook, catch up on the news, connect with the family – who live very far away. We are in touch with the world as it is today.

This is not something from a novel in the future – IT IS HAPPENING NOW! Oh, and we are not the only ones doing this, or living this life. 

Actually this was more fun

Once you start buying online, the major things, then you find the little things and 2-day

shipping is generally enough. Milk we can get at a convenience store like the 7-11, or the fuel stops that have now become more of a convenience store like Thornton’s, or Speedway. Granted they do not carry lettuce, but they do have milk and Pop (or soda depending on where you live). Hmmm…..Whole Foods carries lettuce.

Now the BIG question is; 

"Do we really need large grocery stores?" 

With online shopping would a store, the size of Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, be all that we need? Back to Mom & Pop grocery stores. My uncle owned one when I was a kid, a long time ago, and it would work today. It was a friendly place and fun to go to.

I love the Wayfair ad where the individual says “Free Shipping, that’s a game changer.” (or something like that).

Have a WONDERFUL WEEK.