|
The Gripelog Hall of Shame
|
|
By Ed Foster, Section Columns
Posted on Thu May 08, 2003 at 11:31:48 AM PDT
|
 |
|
This week in my inaugural GripeLog column I introduce the GripeLog Hall of Shame – a list of the vendors that readers complain about most frequently and most vociferously. To see who made the list, and what the most common complaints about them are, read the full story.
|
Thursday, May 8, 2003
By Ed Foster
THE HALL OF SHAME
It's a bit ironic, but also really rather fortunate, that I begin this
column just a few months after my tenth anniversary of writing the Gripe
Line column for InfoWorld. I say that because the many responses I had
from readers to my anniversary column offered a great deal of
enlightenment on just what my readers really value in my musings. So I
have much better guidance as to where we should head now than I would
otherwise have had.
First and foremost, I learned my readers believe fervently in the power of
the negative. Leave it to someone else to say nice things about vendors,
they said, just give us the unadulterated gripes. “To me the most
important service you offer is warning potential customers of pitfalls,
traps, inconsistencies, unfairness and just plain wrongs,” said one
reader. “It's an important service and, if possible, I'd prefer that you
maintain this focus.”
Many readers suggested ways I might expand the information I provide. “The
column gives one point on a curve but doesn't allow one to see what has
gone before or the trend in which things are going,” one reader commented.
“The ability to find follow-up information is also limited. A web area
with frequent updates would provide a far better picture on far more
companies, products, services, etc. Your column serves to keep us notified
of current ‘hot spots’ but we also need the history and trends to make
fully informed decisions.”
Well, fortunately, we now have the opportunity to do just that. The
Gripe Line was always something of a blunt instrument, but the weblog
format gives the GripeLog considerably more flexibility. It will take time
to develop all the things I’d like to do, but one thing I can do right
away is provide a baseline summary of the most griped-about vendors.
So without further ado, this week I inaugurate the GripeLog Hall of
Shame – a list of the vendors that readers complain about most
frequently and most vociferously. Tempting though it was to call it a
“Bottom Ten” list, I’ve decided not to have a fixed number of companies in
the Hall of Shame. To get on the list and stay on it, the vendor has to
generate a consistent stream of gripes. Right now I see eight vendors who
meet that criteria, but that number will go up or down as needed. The
comments briefly describe the most common gripes about each vendor, and
the number in parentheses is where the company would have placed had I
done this list about six months ago. In order of bad to worst, readers
complain loudest about these vendors:
#8. (5) Network Associates (McAfee)
Early obsolescence of anti-virus engines; forced support charges,
software download problems
#7. (9) Oracle
Expensive but spotty support; hidden charges; indifferent and even
arrogant sales staff
#6. (6) Symantec (Norton)
Virus updates costs; crippled product versions, unrestrained selling of
Norton products by spammers
#5. (4) HP (HP/Compaq computers, printers)
Bad OS recovery system; parts problems; printer driver updates
#4. (7) Dell
Notebook computer problems and poor support; website sales bugs
#3. (3) Microsoft
Security bugs, subjugation of volume licensing customers, overreaching
EULA terms
#2. (1) VeriSign (Network Solutions)
Tricky tactics denying domain transfers, technical incompetence,
squatting on expired domains
#1. (2) Intuit
Lack of free support, QuickBooks tax service fees, TurboTax product
activation
One obvious surprise is who didn’t make the list: Gateway. Six months ago
I would have had them in eighth place, but I’ve heard very little about
them recently. It will be interesting to see if Gateway can stay off the
list if and when the PC sales pick up. The general sales doldrums hasn’t
kept Dell from rapidly sinking to the lower depths, however. If one
company deserves to be marked “with a bullet” – or maybe in this case
“with a heavy stone” – right now it would be Dell.
The GripeLog Hall of Shame will now be a fixture on my website, and I will
update it as needed. Historically I wouldn’t expect there to be an awful
lot of change from month to month, so I might update it only quarterly.
But if reader input warrants it, I’ll update it more often.
It’s important to understand that the Hall of Shame is not just based on a
straight tabulation of votes. Think of it as a pain index – the severity
of the problems being reported is as important a factor as the sheer
number of people complaining. And I’m still going to have to weigh the
vendor’s customer base, the types of markets it’s in, and the historic
patterns of gripes I’ve seen.
What that means is this isn’t going to be an unpopularity contest. (I
think we all know who’d “win” that anyway). My weblog engine would make it
easy to turn this into a poll where you click on the vendor you don’t
like, but that’s not the idea. I still need to know the specifics of why
you think a certain vendor deserves to be on the list. In other words, you
still need to gripe. You can use the “gripe” web form on my site or email
me at gripe@gripe2ed.com Let’s get started. |
|
