service and complexity

Twice in the past two weeks, Mari and I have tried and failed to engage the services of different companies. We failed in both cases because the services were delivered in such a fantastically complicated manner that the sales staff can not close the deal. In both cases, the staff had to wade through fantastically complicated sets of options and conditions. They had to consult with third parties. They had to check with electronic data sources. The had to seek clarification of this and that.

One of the services was the scheduling of what should have been a simple round-trip vacation to Hawaii. The other was a new Internet service that would allow us to have a home phone. Neither of these things should be beyond the ability of the sales staff. But in both cases we walked out after the staff told us they couldn't help us because they couldn't sort it out! In both cases we sat there for an hour with a squirming child answering questions and wondering what was going on.

This is no way to run a business. I vow that in any business(es) I create, it will be different. I'll never expose my internal processes to the clients if those processes dissuade those clients.