I have worked on the internet for a very long time. I remember the birth of Google. I remember when Flash intros were all the rage. I even remember page view counters and GeoCities. I have built my own websites, including e-commerce sites. I write multiple programming languages and scripts. I have won awards for my work on some of the biggest and best brands around the world in my career and I just had what has to be the worst e-commerce experience of my life – Costco.ca
And frankly, I am still dumbfounded by how bad it was. I went and purchased a large 65″ TV online. I went through the process of signing in and made my selection easily enough. I went through the checkout process which informed me the TV would be available for delivery in 3 days, on the 15th. I was like, perfect. I already have another delivery coming then so I will wait. I even received an order confirmation email.
Later I received this email. Which so far, is on par with what I would expect. First is the confirmation of the order with the expected shipping date, and then a notification that the product is on it’s way along with the ability to track it. Every e-commerce platform in the world has mastered these basics of setting expectations, right?
It never arrived.
So I click on “Track My Package” and it asks me to confirm my address, and then select a date for delivery. I’m like, “Gee that can’t be right, it says it has already been shipped and I don’t want them sending two TVs.” So I call the help line, which like most help lines is designed to be unhelpful. After listening to all the menus I start mashing “0” knowing if I hit it enough times it will connect me with a real person.
The service representative informs me that I need to select a delivery date. I explain how is that possible when it told me during checkout when it would be delivered, says on the confirmation email and then told me the product was shipped. If I needed to select a delivery date, why was that not part of the checkout process. I appreciate this guy is not a usability expert or even probably that familiar with e-commerce strategy so I simply tell him to cancel the order and I will buy from somewhere else.
I write to Costco, explaining in detail the issue with their checkout process to which I receive this message.
Now I don’t know what kind of training your company has that allows staff to refer to customers as “Karen” but I think it is pretty shitty.
Update: I just got this email. Whoever is in charge of their website should be fired. Honestly, what a shit-show.
