Trend Micro's Ordering System: Scam or Sham?

[(Pete Cresswell)]

Just stepped through it to order PC-Cillin.

This is the second time in about a year that I've encounterd an ordering system
that failed to provide a just-before-committing-the-purchase order summary.

You get so far, and *bang* your credit card suddenly gets dinged - no chance to
review the order before pulling the trigger.

Coincidentally, the other system (Music Match) did the same thing that Trend
Micro's did: it appended unsolicited extras to the order. In the case of
Trend Micro, I explicitly changed the quantity of the unsolicited item to zero
before proceeding.

I've got to wonder: is this kind of thing just poor design/judgement, or is it a
concious move to test walk the line between scam and legitimate business?

I'm having trouble imagining somebody in a position to spec, design, and/or
approve an ordering system that just accidentaly forgot about a last-minute
order summary before the user commits the order.

Any opinions?

 

[Carolyn Marenger]

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 19:44:03 -0400, (Pete Cresswell) wrote:

I've got to wonder: is this kind of thing just poor design/judgement, or
is it a concious move to test walk the line between scam and legitimate
business?

I'm having trouble imagining somebody in a position to spec, design,
and/or approve an ordering system that just accidentaly forgot about a
last-minute order summary before the user commits the order.

Any opinions?

It seems to me that Canadian, if not North American, society is going the
way of the buck. Making quality seems to be much less important than
making money. If a company can make something to last 6 months, then sell
another one, they do that rather than make the original product to last a
year. Inkjet printers are about the worst offender, with many warranties
dropping to the three month range. Same goes with appliances, furniture,
and about everything else.

I bought a new stove last year, and after much research, found out that
it and similar models have a life expectancy of about 10 8 years.
Parts for the one it replaced, were starting to get expensive due it it
being over 35 years old. The new one, is a top of the line standard model
- not one of the ultra fancy show ovens. The old one was a bargain
basement model when it was purchased.

The trend of designing things to break down, so that you can sell another,
is one of the negatives of capitalism. It is also part of why I believe
that your issue with Trend Micro's ordering system, is probably planned
and not just poor designing.

Carolyn