Cause and Effect
March 3, 2008
Some people had to reset the time on their computer. Some had to un-check the starting options (Remember me, Remember Password, and Auto Sign-In) and then do it manually. Others had to go and delete things from their registry, and some even had to repair Messenger and its Sign-In Assistant. Then you had people like me for some reason or another Microsoft decided to totally cut off from their whole service. I mean a total cut off. I couldn’t access their service, I’d get a 404 when I tried to access web messenger. Even their Live Messenger Support website was cut off from me, so I couldn’t even get professional help. It kept telling my my proxy settings were screwed up, when in reality I don’t even use a proxy at all.
I took it upon myself to try and uninstall/reinstall the product and I got half way there at least. I couldn’t reinstall the program, because in order to install it the installer has to download the contents from their server. Since I was cut off from their servers I couldn’t do anything. Thankfully I recently brought my old laptop out of commission, and Messenger worked just fine there. I finally got it working over a day later when my Microsoft-induced ban was lifted.
The point to this rant?
Don’t screw your customers.
I can understand that what they were doing could have been really super, duper important. I get that they had to cut a good section of people off from the service in order to fix whatever it was. Hell a server could have gone up in flames, and we wouldn’t know the different and that’s part of the problem. They didn’t say anything, but instead let a good section of people go without a means of common communication.
This is bad practice.
If you’re going to cut off a good section of people from something that many of them pretty much cannot live without, you need to say something. The only information I found on the subject was what Google told me when I was trying to fix my problem. All it told me was that there were a bunch of others in the same boat with no idea how to fix it.
I’m aware they have a spotless image to try and maintain (whoever they think they’re fooling I have no idea), but when you screw over that many people by not saying anything, you cause more damage to your image than if you just came clean. Sometimes being honest will cause you less grief in the end.
Had they returned a new error number or had a post somewhere on the Internet that said what the hell was going on, I wouldn’t have bothered writing this post.
Categories: Bad bad bad Design Microsoft
Tagged under: Bad bad bad, bad design, broken, Design, Live, Messenger, Microsoft