Cable Forum - View Single Post - Fed up playing guessing game, what's Virgins telephone support numbers?

mikeym · 16-09-2011, 18:55

Uhhh...hu.... And did you already know where to find it, where to look? I would guess so. It is not easy to find. It is not self explanatory. From a interface or design point of view it is terrible. Go to almost any contact us page on the internet and it will have prominent contact details there on the first page, because most companies want to be contacted. Only someone who does not want to be contacted does not put their contact details clearly on the FIRST page in the "contact us" section.

You are right. It's possible in 4 clicks, but the whole structure is off putting and confusing. First of the "contact us" page is not a contact us page but an automated technical support page so it is immediately misleading. The first thing I did when encountering it was check that I had in fact clicked on the correct link. So then there are 5 options of type of contact (I notice you didn't count hovering over one of these to select it as a "click" or step). Even this is off putting as most people just want to talk to someone and unless there's a very good reason to do so don't want to be answering automatic questions. So if there are separate contact details for each of these types of contact then I could understand having a distinction, but even then the contact details should be visible underneath them. Instead you now have to answer another question about the type of service you have. Then more questions about the type of question you have (why does that matter to contacting you?) and then a list of fast answers. The flow of the page clearly indicates that you should be clicking on one of these, but none of them will take you to the contact details. Instead you have to break from the natural flow of the page and click on the big red "Next" button that's finally appeared at the bottom of the page.

Studies repeatedly show that people do not respond well to too much choice, I would suggest that 320 choices to pick from will put a lot of people off. Having a button called "next" at the bottom of the screen that actually is for contact details will stop even more people. Having an automated telephone system that will ask you 20 questions that the support person will just have to ask you again will also put many more people off. Having a call centre in India who often only have the language skills to repeat the questions answered in the previous steps will also put people off. Eventually if you can persuade a particularly fluent member off staff they may put you through to a call centre where they may be able to answer your question.

Is it just me or is there a pattern?

16-09-2011, 18:55	#13
mikeym Inactive Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Fed up playing guessing game, what's Virgins telephone support numbers? Uhhh...hu.... And did you already know where to find it, where to look? I would guess so. It is not easy to find. It is not self explanatory. From a interface or design point of view it is terrible. Go to almost any contact us page on the internet and it will have prominent contact details there on the first page, because most companies want to be contacted. Only someone who does not want to be contacted does not put their contact details clearly on the FIRST page in the "contact us" section. You are right. It's possible in 4 clicks, but the whole structure is off putting and confusing. First of the "contact us" page is not a contact us page but an automated technical support page so it is immediately misleading. The first thing I did when encountering it was check that I had in fact clicked on the correct link. So then there are 5 options of type of contact (I notice you didn't count hovering over one of these to select it as a "click" or step). Even this is off putting as most people just want to talk to someone and unless there's a very good reason to do so don't want to be answering automatic questions. So if there are separate contact details for each of these types of contact then I could understand having a distinction, but even then the contact details should be visible underneath them. Instead you now have to answer another question about the type of service you have. Then more questions about the type of question you have (why does that matter to contacting you?) and then a list of fast answers. The flow of the page clearly indicates that you should be clicking on one of these, but none of them will take you to the contact details. Instead you have to break from the natural flow of the page and click on the big red "Next" button that's finally appeared at the bottom of the page. Studies repeatedly show that people do not respond well to too much choice, I would suggest that 320 choices to pick from will put a lot of people off. Having a button called "next" at the bottom of the screen that actually is for contact details will stop even more people. Having an automated telephone system that will ask you 20 questions that the support person will just have to ask you again will also put many more people off. Having a call centre in India who often only have the language skills to repeat the questions answered in the previous steps will also put people off. Eventually if you can persuade a particularly fluent member off staff they may put you through to a call centre where they may be able to answer your question. Is it just me or is there a pattern?