Buying stuff on line can be quite a time saver and quite often a cost saver. It is simple. Naturally that is assuming that your computer is working correctly along with your wi-fi and the moon is properly placed in the sky. However, there is a dark side to the whole deal. That is, shortly after the product arrives you receive the “please rate your purchase” request. It usually comes before you have even had a chance to use the product. My recommendation is that you do not open the email until you are ready. If you do, you will find a request from the seller that is drenched in tears and implying that if you do not respond the CEO, his family and all the employees will be thrown out on the streets without a job – especially if the rating is not good.
It is my belief that this places an undue strain on the purchaser. The purchaser may feel that it is one of the worst things that he/she has purchased in the last ten years. But how can any kind soul avoid the issue that if he/she comments negatively that there will be children crying because they have no milk? Perhaps, even worse they will have to give up their cell phones! It can be a very difficult situation that no one should have to face after a purchase. For example The Blonde in the house ordered a long cord with telephone jacks on each end. The reason being that the modem was some distance from the jack, and the poor company tech who was installing our necessities in our new home did not have any that long.
We ordered one that came in two days. That was followed the next day by a mournful (it should not have been opened) email asking us to rate the cord from 1 to 5 stars. It would be appreciated if someone would tell us how you give a cord any kind of a rating. This is particularly true as when we plugged it in nothing happened. There wasn’t any dial tone at all! Thus we had to resort again to plugging the master phone into the back of the modem. That gives us a dial tone, but The Blonde does not want that phone next to my computer where the modem is located. The master phone is the one that has the answering light that blinks merrily away when someone has called while you were gone. She is of the belief that the huge cable company that supplies us with our phone connection should be the one to solve the problem and let her have the phone where she wants it.
Eventually, the huge cable company may just do that. While this effort works, it is a time consuming way to hopefully a satisfactory end. At the same time the purveyor of telephone cords who sent the email is sitting in his decrepit office waiting with bated breath for us to rate his cord. It is possible that he may just need one more five star rating, and he will be able to get a corner plush office. Even better he will be able to get his three-year-old daughter the cell phone she has been wanting (she does need to call grandma). Thus, the dilemma exists as how to rate the cord. The Blonde decided that she would answer forcefully, but found that a rating had already been sent by a party unknown.
I have it on good authority that the unknown party had decided to let The Blonde talk to the tech from the huge cable company instead, and let the poor guy in the decrepit office buy his daughter the cell phone. The Blonde will understand as she is a grandma, too!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com