Probably not news to many people, especially those that stop by this site periodically, but I’m really getting tired of the jamokes at Yahoo.com.
It began several years ago when they sent me an email indicating they had charged my credit card for a domain name renewal. I was under the impression that I had transferred all domains away from Yahoo as a registrar, but apparently one was overlooked. The email didn’t indicate the name of the domain name so I called them to get the details. Before providing service, the person answering the phone needed to assure that I was who I claimed so he asked me several questions. I successfully answered all the name, address, mother’s maiden name, city of birth and pet name questions. But then the guy asks, “And your date of birth, Mr. Tryon?” Well, I have this one memorized so I answered confidentially, “October 25, 1964. It was a Sunday.” But alas, that is not the date Yahoo.com has in their system and the customer service rep responds with, “I’m sorry, but that isn’t right.” Huh? How can this be? The customer service rep goes on to explain that I have incorrectly answered their most critical security question, leaving him completely unable to help me. He won’t tell me what date they have on file as my birthday, he won’t tell me the name of the domain that was expiring, and no matter how much I protested their ignorance about my birthday, he insisted that I must be a scammer trying to infiltrate the system. Even offering to fax or mail a copy of my birth certificate would not settle this confusion.
Hence, specific outcomes of that interaction with Yahoo.com included:
- Lots of sarcasm (mostly by me);
- The domain name expired (I still don’t know which domain it was);
- The credit card charge was reversed;
- The idiot (customer service rep) hung up on me;
- My date of birth still remains inaccurate in their system.
So we have learned that Yahoo.com has no issue making adjustments to a credit card bill even if you don’t successfully demonstrate that it is your own credit card, but highly confidential and guarded information like your date of birth is not something that can be spoken out loud, particularly over an unsecured phone line.
But that isn’t why today I (again) think Yahoo.com sucks. I told you that first part to tell you this next part.
I’ve been a very satisfied customer of Flickr.com for quite some time. That service is absolutely incredible. Using it as a stand-alone web service is just amazing and they have also provided keys to developers to allow the Flickr service to be tied into other products. That has allowed me to connect my Flickr.com-hosted images into this web site, avoiding multiple copies of images all over the Internet. I can quickly insert images in posts without any extra effort. Combine that with the ability to use their social networking tools to connect with others and you end up with one of the most stellar services currently on-line.
But then they were purchased by Yahoo.com.
I’ve been trying not to let that bother me. But when logging into Flickr.com a few days ago, I was asked to bind my Yahoo.com ID to my Flickr.com ID. I panicked! After all the time and effort I’ve put into using Flickr.com, how could I possibly tie that to a Yahoo.com ID that is based on incorrect, unchangeable information, controlled by customer service reps who aren’t? This is not good. The page described all of the advantages this would offer me, although I don’t remember any of them. All my brain could see in that moment was a vision of the future where years of pictures of family, friends, and wonderful places suddenly disappeared because of some stupid billing problem followed by a prolonged phone conversation with a Yahoo.com customer service rep who was telling me I was completely out of luck because I did not know my own date of birth! Call me crazy, but I just don’t trust the bastards.
But then it got worse.
I’ve also been a very satisfied customer of del.icio.us as a method to manage all my bookmarks. You may have noticed how I have recently integrated this into my blog so that I can share those links with each of you. And it has also allowed me to add things like the tag-cloud appearing on the left side of this page, giving you an idea of the types of information appearing in my collection of links. To make this more functional, I spent some time yesterday cleaning up all the tags associated with these links. I was deep into that process when suddenly an error page was displayed indicating that I was doing something that was considered malicious and that access to my account was temporarily suspended. However, I was invited to take the matter up with the helpful folks at Yahoo.com customer service. Yes, del.icio.us is also a Yahoo.com property and also under their quality control and supervision.
So now my sizable collection of links is unavailable to me because my attempt to improve upon them was interpreted as malicious activity by the rocket science department at Yahoo.com. Well, you can bet I complained. Moments later I received an email from Yahoo.com. They said:
Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
We’re sorry you’ve had difficulty accessing Yahoo!. The error you
received is typically caused by unusual activity from either your
computer or your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to Yahoo!. While this
type of problem is usually temporary, if you continue to experience this
error, we recommend that you try the following suggestions:
So their systems shut you down when you are using them as they were designed. That is an interesting approach, but perhaps they are trying to keep their customer service reps employed. They suggested:
1) Contact your ISP and let them know you are experiencing connectivity
problems with Yahoo!. You may have difficulty accessing Yahoo! if we
detect unusual network traffic coming from your ISP. Only your ISP will
be able to address and resolve this abnormal activity.
Yeah, even though the error page came from Yahoo.com, it is the fault of my ISP! Yeah, sure.
2) Check that you are not using any third party software program or
application to access Yahoo! services. Please keep in mind that these
types of programs are not supported by Yahoo! and may violate our Terms
of Service, and therefore may contribute to your receiving this error.
Apparently, typing really fast and being proficient with a mouse cause you to be mistaken for a computer application. Yeah, sure.
3) If you have not scanned your computer for spyware and viruses, please
do so now. Some spyware programs and computer viruses will run separate
programs on your computer for a variety of purposes, sometimes slowing
your computer down in the process, and even preventing you from
accessing certain Internet sites such as Yahoo!
Ahhhh, yeah, sure. And then this oldie, but goodie:
4) You may want to try accessing Yahoo! through a different computer or
through a different Internet connection.
Perhaps I should check to see if my computer is plugged in too. Yeah, sure.
And finally, if all those attempts to point blame outside the walls of Yahoo weren’t enough to convince me, their helpful customer service message concludes with this little gem:
We hope this is resolved for you soon so that you may continue to use
Yahoo!.
They hope it is resolved for me soon? By whom? My ISP? My antivirus software? My computer manufacturer? What the hell is the matter with these people? It was their error message, it was their solution that choked, it was their “Sorry but you’re screwed” web page message, and I’m supposed to believe that they are sitting there in YahooWorld with their collective fingers crossed hoping that this is resolved for me soon?
Yahoo.com sucks.
Serveral hours later, without any individualized response to my messages to their customer service group, my del.icio.us service started working again. Thankfully, the folks over at Google.com continue to have their game on. You can bet I’ll be quick to review whatever photo and link archiving and sharing solutions they decide to offer. I’d encourage you to do the same.
sjt
