Why oh why?

[susandennis]

Do merchants make you dig and dig and dig for the freakin' tracking number??????

Most of the folks I buy from send me a sweet little note saying my goodies have been shipped and here's the tracking number. Then Gmail goes one step further (if they folks didn't) and gives me a nice little link right to the tracking page.

But, once in a while I order from the clueless. I try not to but sometimes you don't know going in that they will be so thoughtless and mean. Their note that my goodies have been shipped includes a link to 'orders' where I have to log in. But that's not the end of it. I have to then go from the 'change your password' screen and hunt down something that will give me the tracking information. Finally, I find it in 'past orders' which is pretty well hidden. Once, there I have to click on my order number and from there I discover that the tracking number - not a link to the tracking page, mind you... oh no, I have to go find that myself.

Their email should say 'we have shipping your goodies... you can guess when you will see them or crawl over cut glass for the actual tracking number'.

ARUGH.

Comments

[howeird]

I remember back in the old days when we had to send a Pony Express rider out into the blizzard to gallop uphill to try to find the Wells Fargo wagon. Sometimes he would have to ride back (also uphill) to fetch a replacement wagon wheel.

[lilliane.livejournal.com]

I hate that, and fortunately the vendors who do that sort of thing are few and far between. Clearly, they know nothing of technology and have not hired the properly trained monkeys to integrate tracking into their email and/or web sites. Crazy.

What I also can't stand is vendors who use the USPS to send their merchandise. The USPS tracking is a joke, and because of fears of people tracking packages, they no longer show where the package is in it's route, now only showing you any information after it been received (other than "Yes, it's been sent").

[susandennis]

I think it depends on how yoru USPS pkgs are shipped. Sometimes I get pretty good tracking from them. But, sometimes, it's just like you describe. The trade off, for me anyway, is that USPS nearly always gets stuff to me faster than anyone else.

[kyrielle]

See, I dislike the USPS tracking...but I will still ask that packages sent to my house be sent USPS. Why? Because my local UPS folks are a bunch of ham-handed idiots, and the net result is that I have a standing request to pick up UPS packages at Will Call. Which means I have to go out of my way and I'd rather not (but I also don't ever want to get another thin package crammed under my front door mat where I can't see it because it "has to be hidden"!).

And Fedex home delivers via USPS, so I'm just as happy to have the whole trip there. I've never had a package go missing using the USPS, though their tracking bites. UPS can tell me exactly how much they've messed me up this time on their web site, but I find that less useful than timely, uncomplicated delivery of packages (to a secure box, no less, since we have a lock-box mail center in our neighborhood).

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

I don't always pay much attention to tracking anyway, so crappy tracking doesn't bug me much. I generally prefer USPS on things where there's a choice because it's cheaper usually in cases where there's a choice. It's often faster too, but less consistent.

[pisceandreamer.livejournal.com]

I can't think of any vendor off the top of my head that makes me go digging for the tracking info. I do remember the days of "well, it's shipped and that's all we can tell you" and that sucked. Damn happiest day of my catalogue shopping life was when UPS Ground started using tracking numbers.

[kyrielle]

I ordered from a company that sent me a notice that my things had shipped, no tracking number. They allowed me to optionally not create an account on their site so I didn't bother - I don't know if I'd have had tracking WITH an account but I surely do not without it! Ugh.