Brad and I have really generous friends, so generous in fact, that a bunch of them clubbed together to buy the last remaining item on our wedding list - which was a super ace coffee machine. Unfortunately we only have a very small kitchen, so we needed to get a kitchen cabinet so we could have a reshuffle of our appliances until we buy a place of our own. Given we may not need it in our new house, I only wanted to get something reasonably priced, so it seemed a perfect situation to Argos it, as they say in their ads. Unfortunately, I must have left a marketing preferences checked by mistake, so I’ve been receiving email from Argos. This in itself, is a major user experience flaw, since it really should be opt-in.

Today, on receiving another email, thought it would be a good idea to unsubscribe. I scrolled to the end of the email, only to find almost a full screen of copy. I assume the legal team pushed for this to be included which is a shame. There is definitely a big opportunity for the “small print” to be done as a partnership between legal teams and UX / Marketing teams. No one reads that junk!

On finding the link to unsubscribe, I was taken to a form. The form was titled well but why put the “Please keep me on your email list” in the main focus column and have the actual unsubscribe options on the right? Yuck. If you want to give me options Argos, why not title the link “Modify Email Preferences” which gives me the option to unsubscribe and the option to prescribe which types of emails I’d like to receive in granular detail. Saying “email me less frequently” means nothing to me. You need to offer a little bit of granularity. Maybe I want the sale announcements, maybe I just want to know when you have a new catalogue… If there is any confusion, I’m probably just going to want to unsubscribe from everything.

That is of course, if the form actually works. On clicking submit, where did I go to? To an error page. Ironically with text that says We never send out unsolicited emails. You can unsubscribe at any time. Unless of course, the form doesn’t work that is. 

This rant was rather longer than I expected, to sum up the list of problems:

• Don’t make marketing options opt-out when I purchase something. These should always be opt-in. I’m buying something from you, don’t sneakily try to sign me up to emails in the process.
• Don’t forget about the small print. Make it easy and clear to read.
• If you really want to encourage people to stay signed up to emails, offer them a chance to Modify Email Preferences from each email and give them granular choices rather than an ambiguous option.
• Give people a link to unsubscribe and then let them do that. Don’t confuse them with other options in the hope they will give up and stay subscribed. 
• Finally, make sure unsubscribing works. I can think of a number of companies which never bother to unsubscribe you no matter how many times you request it.

I don’t think I could have put it better than what is already said below. Join the group and sign the petition if you haven’t already.

from rewire-state:

Do we live in a society that brings the might of the judicial system crashing down on those who use their talents to provide free public services in their own time, often filling market failures far better than the Government? It’s a question that is (finally) beginning to be asked in the media, parliament, and if all else fails, the courts.

Unfortunately it has taken two of the finest of these individuals to endure threatening legal action that threatens their livelihoods to bring this matter to the limelight. For years, however, entrepreneurial creators of the web have been posed with this dilemna with every good idea they’ve had. Some have continued with the hope of a shield of obscurity, others with the mantra “ask forgiveness, not permission”, others have caved in, not wanting to risk what Harry and Richard are going through now.

It is an issue that poses complicated, interesting and extensive questions for economists, lawyers and politicians. But these tangents shouldn’t distract from the fact that it is undeniably wrong to destroy a free services that significantly improves job hunting whilst we’re in a recession, helps local people engage in the development of their local area, assist elderly people pick up their pensions or one of the many ideas that haven’t been thought up in the few years of the internet’s existence.

I urge you to support Ernest Marples’ defence of their service that has the potential to help every person in this country and move Britain into the digital age.

It pains me to write such a scathing review of a company that aligns with my values. I hope that our experience is an isolated case rather than the norm but feel inclined to mention it after so much frustration.

We originally signed up to Good Energy about a month after moving into our flat. I’d heard about them through the One Hundred Months campaign. Despite being more expensive than a lot of the other companies, I liked the fact that they only use 100% renewable energy sources. I figure that paying a little bit more now, is better than paying a lot later to solve the issues that are associated with fossil fuel consumption.

I provided our meter reading, filled in all the forms and all was dandy for our switchover date of 8th October. I cancelled our monthly direct debit for EDF Energy even though we hadn’t actually received our final statement from them, although we had received our “Sorry to see you go” letter in September. I figured we could just pay the final amount directly. 

When I rang them to get the final bill sent out, they said they were still waiting on Good Energy to send through some details. I rang Good Energy and they assured me that they would pass them on. Eventually our final bill from EDF came out in December and we paid that promptly.

By the time January had come around, I was wondering why we hadn’t received a bill. We’d been with Good Energy for more than 3 months and I was beginning to wonder what was up. I was asked to provide a meter reading which I duly did and I was assured that I would get a bill sent out shortly. They said that there was an issue with our postcode in their supply database. They didn’t match up. They were trying to sort that out and assured me it would be sorted soon.  

A week or so passed and still no bill. I rang them again and they said that there was some sort of dispute on our account. They were trying to sort out a dispute over our initial meter readings and once that was done, we’d get a bill. I asked for a bill to be sent now, since I was concerned that as time went on, the bill was going to get larger and larger. Best to pay something now, then not at all. They said it would be sent out. More time passed and we still had no bill. I rang again, rather exasperated as they hadn’t seemed to solve either issue with our postcode or the dispute. They assured me it was almost sorted out.

Finally I asked Brad to ring them and a few days later, a bill finally arrived. The postcode issue was sorted out thankfully. When we received the bill, I realised the numbers looked odd. The readings in October were estimated when we had provided them. Turns out when I gave them a reading in January, I had written down an incorrect number. Our meter reading is hidden in a closet and flashes through the displays which makes it quite easy to make a mistake when taking a meter reading. I asked them to correct the bill and send it out to me. It never came so we paid what was owing.

May rolls around and yet again, we were still waiting for another bill. I ring Good Energy again to ask when we would receive a bill. They asked for yet another meter reading even though I’d provided them with a meter reading once every month, I have them noted down on our bill for March, April and May. I asked whether the dispute over our initial readings was sorted and they said it was but we’d never received anything from either EDF or Good Energy explaining it. I was told by someone previously that we may owe money to EDF but the person I spoke to on the phone said I’d need to ring them to find out for sure. What the hell am I supposed to say “Oh hai, we think we owe you moneys but we aren’t sure but our new electricity company says we might, kthxbai”.

The Good Energy customer service person said I’d receive a bill the following week, which we actually did unlike our previous experience. However, they had neglected to use the reading we provided in March, April or May, instead using an estimated reading for March. Then, within a day, we received a red Final Reminder notice saying that it had been 30 days since we had received our electricity bill and we had ignored “several reminders” and would be having our supply disconnected and a county court judgement unless we paid it immediately. OMG WTF?! I rang and left a message on their answering service to say how unhappy I was but never received a return call. Brad rang the following Tuesday and they explained that there had been a mix-up and a number of customers had received the notification. Thanks for the apology Good Energy!

The whole time during these shambles of a customer service, we have been inundated with numerous requests to pay by direct debit. If they aren’t capable of sending us out a bill when they are supposed to, how can we trust them with our bank details? I finally decided to put it onto direct debit a few days ago, since the bills are usually upwards of £200 and it’s easier for us to spread that over a few months than get the hefty bill whenever we manage to get a bill sent out. 

Brad and I are looking at switching to another green energy supplier but there aren’t many other companies that offer the 100% renewable tariff. I’d be interested to hear from other Good Energy customers if they have had similar problems or if you know of any companies that may be suitable to switch to.