Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!adobe!heaven!heaven.woodside.ca.us
From: glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Order Management (was Re: 2.0 Docs)
Message-ID: <509@heaven.woodside.ca.us>
Date: 24 May 91 03:10:28 GMT
References: <91140.010717DWN2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Sender: glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us
Lines: 38

DWN2@psuvm.psu.edu writes

>Thanks to everyone who wrote, let's hope the rest of us get our docs real soon

Hope, indeed.

L.L. Bean, the mail order giant, has an automated order-tracking system
that mails you a postcard both to confirm your order and to let you know
if there has been any delay or a backorder condition, and they give you
the opportunity to change or cancel your order.  Not only that, they
assure you (by postcard) that your credit card has not yet been charged,
or your check cashed, nor will it be until the item is in stock and
shipped to you.  The system is fast, courteous, and truly wonderful.
Even if you only ordered a $29 union suit, they respect you as a
customer and they take care of you.

NeXT has a totally automated factory, but it seems to me that they forgot
to automate their customer information system.  In fact, I think they
forgot to implement it in the first place.

Not only does NeXT not communicate with you about your order, delays, and
back orders, they never confirm your order in the first place, and you
have to wield a large wooden object to learn anything at all about what
happened to your money.  You can actually learn more by calling your bank
and confirming that they indeed cashed your check three days after it was
delivered.  It is a disgrace for an order to be pending for more than two
weeks, let alone two years, without some kind of tracking information from
the vendor.

Is my order still in your computer?  Do you still have a record of the fact
that you cashed my check?  Did you ship it to the wrong address?  Can I
learn the order tracking number?  I've moved, and I need it shipped to
a new address, can you help me?  Hello?  Hello?

--
 Glenn Reid				RightBrain Software
 glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us		NeXT/PostScript developers
 ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn		415-326-2974 (NeXTfax 326-2977)