Ambient Analog

Hmmm, I just received a return call from Ambient Devices (see my post from January 10, 2007). Today is the 18th. So, it took them 8 days to respond to a tech support call for help. Granted, the guy I spoke with apologized for the delay. He explained that the Customer Service department is trying to work their way out of the Christmas Deluge. Ok, I can buy that. I mean, even the iTunes store crumbled under the weight of a gazillion tweens, teens and adults pigging-out on downloaded content at Christmas.

The sad part about all this is that my Ambient Stock Orb (configured for weather forecasting) seems to be working fine now. When I explained this to the customer service guy, who was very nice actually (a refreshing change from Gateway, about whom I will complain later), he told me that for about a month, they had to move offices. It seems that there was a fire of some sort in their building and they had only been back in their original building for about a week. The fire and the return seem to coincide neatly with the problems I had and their resolution.

I'll tell ya, it would have saved me a TON of grief had Ambient just posted a little update right on their login page explaining that they had a fire and that service may be unreliable for a little while. That would have been all I needed. I'm sure that the folks over at ambient411.com would have appreciated this cheap, grief-saving technique as well.

So, here's the lesson, and LISTEN UP AMBIENT DEVICES, you are positioned as an innovative technology service company. We tech-savvy users, the ones who actually buy and use your products, EXPECT to be kept up to date on things like this. We are PAYING for your service and believe that we are ENTITLED to know when that service isn't working, why it isn't working, and when it is expected to be fixed. Innovative tech firms need to utilize OTHER innovative technologies like the, now barely innovative, corporate consumer webpage.

Ambient makes really cool, clever products. But, take a lesson from MCI/WORLDCOM, cool and innovative products won't save your collective butts when your business is mismanaged or neglectful of its PAYING customers.

"Bring it on!" "Its already been brought-ed!"

--Iton