Rant about bad product design

[Rose Karuna]

So the lid on my Cuisine Art coffee maker broke. I purchased a stainless steel carafe but damn if I didn't drop the lid. I wanted to purchase a replacement. So I go to their website. It's not like they just have a list of coffee makers and replacement parts.

Noooooo, the first thing they want to know (besides your name, phone number, address and the name of your first born) are the model and serial number (which are "conveniently on the bottom of the coffee maker).

I growled a bit, but emptied all the water out of the pot, turned the damn thing upside down, only to discover that they had put the model and serial numbers in raised black letters on a black background in the smallest font they could possibly use. I had to get white paint (fortunately I had some), paint it on the raised letters and then take a picture with my iPhone so I could magnify it. How stupid is that?

So I put all that information into their form on the website and ask what replacement part I should buy and then a day later, I get an email from them. In the email, they want the model and serial number of the unit.

Why do companies torture their customers this way?

Tell me your product torture stories. I want to hear them. From actual physical products to bad user interfaces.

 

[Essence Lumin]

You might enjoy this reddit group. r/CrappyDesign

 

[Summer Haas]

Don't get me started about this company I deal with called Linden Lab. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

 

[Sid]

So the lid on my Cuisine Art coffee maker broke. I purchased a stainless steel carafe but damn if I didn't drop the lid. I wanted to purchase a replacement. So I go to their website. It's not like they just have a list of coffee makers and replacement parts.

Noooooo, the first thing they want to know (besides your name, phone number, address and the name of your first born) are the model and serial number (which are "conveniently on the bottom of the coffee maker).

I growled a bit, but emptied all the water out of the pot, turned the damn thing upside down, only to discover that they had put the model and serial numbers in raised black letters on a black background in the smallest font they could possibly use. I had to get white paint (fortunately I had some), paint it on the raised letters and then take a picture with my iPhone so I could magnify it. How stupid is that?

So I put all that information into their form on the website and ask what replacement part I should buy and then a day later, I get an email from them. In the email, they want the model and serial number of the unit.

Why do companies torture their customers this way?

Tell me your product torture stories. I want to hear them. From actual physical products to bad user interfaces.

Lesson to be learned: Never buy unless it is mod - copy.
Oh wait.... carry on, nothing to see here.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Garmin GPS - This happened many years ago now, but it still can spike my blood pressure. I bought a wide-screen Garmin GPS that worked beautifully, was easy to configure, everything I had wanted in a GPS when I traveled to Washington D.C. But roads change quickly around the metro area, and after two years I was getting some mismatches between where I was driving and what Garmin thought was the right road.

This is when I learned that updates weren't free, in fact they were pretty expensive. But there was an "all updates forever" option, so that's what I chose.

Only my Garmin wouldn't update. Turns out my model didn't have enough memory to update the maps. I complained VERY LOUDLY to customer support and they sent me a supposed workaround that would download the data to my computer, update it there, then upload back to the Garmin. Except none of the steps they described matched any of the options on my unit. I asked for a refund on my map update fee, never heard anything back.

Never buying their products again.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Rose: I am ALWAYS ready for a rant about bad product design! Ten points to... what's your house again?

Beebo: Luckily there's no reason to buy anything from Garmin again.

My gripe: Apple's butterfly keyboard. Now Apple hasn't made a good keyboard since the '90s but this one I can't use for more than a few minutes without pain. It's like they're laughing at me.

Work has ordered me a 16" Macbook Pro because it has reverted to the scissors type keyboard. Mine's held up in China because of a virus problem.

Sorry.

 

[Stora]

Garmin GPS - This happened many years ago now, but it still can spike my blood pressure. I bought a wide-screen Garmin GPS that worked beautifully, was easy to configure, everything I had wanted in a GPS when I traveled to Washington D.C. But roads change quickly around the metro area, and after two years I was getting some mismatches between where I was driving and what Garmin thought was the right road.

This is when I learned that updates weren't free, in fact they were pretty expensive. But there was an "all updates forever" option, so that's what I chose.

Only my Garmin wouldn't update. Turns out my model didn't have enough memory to update the maps. I complained VERY LOUDLY to customer support and they sent me a supposed workaround that would download the data to my computer, update it there, then upload back to the Garmin. Except none of the steps they described matched any of the options on my unit. I asked for a refund on my map update fee, never heard anything back.

Never buying their products again.

I've had the opposite experience with Garmin. I had one of the first handheld GPS's with no fancy maps, it just gave a position that I used when I was Geocaching. Anyway I broke the battery cover and could not find any information on how to replace it so I sent an email to their support. They asked for my address and sent me a replacement free of charge even though it was my fault that I broke the cover.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Work has ordered me a 16" Macbook Pro because it has reverted to the scissors type keyboard. Mine's held up in China because of a virus problem.

Sorry.

But I thought Macs couldn't get viruses!

/me runs

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Bad product designs are SL demos which derender automatically after five minutes so that you've got to get a second one after that. Even worse when they are doing that and putting some visual distractions like rings scattered across your whole avatar, and not only a "demo" sign above your head.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

But I thought Macs couldn't get viruses!

That was before Wuhan.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I've had the opposite experience with Garmin. I had one of the first handheld GPS's with no fancy maps, it just gave a position that I used when I was Geocaching. Anyway I broke the battery cover and could not find any information on how to replace it so I sent an email to their support. They asked for my address and sent me a replacement free of charge even though it was my fault that I broke the cover.

There's a difference between good customer support and good product design. Breaking something and getting a replacement part is great customer support. Kudos to them for doing at least that much. Building a product that can't be updated -- even though its main purpose will require updating to keep working -- THAT is bad design. And there really wasn't anything customer support could do for me, short of a full refund for something I'd bought several years previously. (Not happening.)

My Fitbit is another example of great customer support trying desperately to make up for bad product design. The wristbands on the Fitbit are notoriously fragile at the juncture between the band and the Fitbit unit. As I found out to my dismay, they last about 3 months with normal usage, then break off. Fitbit will send a replacement each and every time that the breakage occurs in less than a year from purchase, but it's ridiculously poor design to have a wristband that breaks that often and that easily.

 

[EmpressOfCommunism]

So the lid on my Cuisine Art coffee maker broke. I purchased a stainless steel carafe but damn if I didn't drop the lid. I wanted to purchase a replacement. So I go to their website. It's not like they just have a list of coffee makers and replacement parts.

Noooooo, the first thing they want to know (besides your name, phone number, address and the name of your first born) are the model and serial number (which are "conveniently on the bottom of the coffee maker).

I growled a bit, but emptied all the water out of the pot, turned the damn thing upside down, only to discover that they had put the model and serial numbers in raised black letters on a black background in the smallest font they could possibly use. I had to get white paint (fortunately I had some), paint it on the raised letters and then take a picture with my iPhone so I could magnify it. How stupid is that?

So I put all that information into their form on the website and ask what replacement part I should buy and then a day later, I get an email from them. In the email, they want the model and serial number of the unit.

Why do companies torture their customers this way?

Tell me your product torture stories. I want to hear them. From actual physical products to bad user interfaces.

As someone who worked in design, at least now days there are entire modules and full mandatory courses for most design degrees about designing with visual disabilities in mind: type as big as what is harmonious with the rest of design, contrast for colour blindness, light against dark or dark against light to reduce eye strain, careful consideration on raised text because any shadows caused can impair readability. It's just so standard now that the lack of consideration the head graphic designer especially, who is likely and experienced professional that makes six figures, put into this is just staggering.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I have a question about user interface programming design. Are there books considered classics in their field?

As much as I like open source, I have found it often suffers from a terrible user interface. Not that MS and Apple get it right a lot of the time. Are their books that are considered classics in the field of UI for programming?

 

[Free]

I have a question about user interface programming design. Are there books considered classics in their field?

I don't know about classics. Ones I feel are important, in one way or another:

The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman
* Pretty much The Book on the topic of product design in general. It's not really a book on building user interfaces, but more how to think about how people will use what you create. Good to dip into now and again, but can be a bit of a slog.

Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug
* If you don't have this book in your arsenal, you're an idiot.

Designing for the Digital Age, by Kim Good
* This covers a lot of stuff at a high level. You might think of it as a text book for UI and UX. I'm not sure one *needs* it, but it's an important reference.

The User Experience Team of One, by Leah Buley
* This one is a bit mixed in usefulness, but deals with the fact a lot of dev teams don't have a group of people focused on the interface.

The Non-Designer’s Design Book, by Robin William
* For newbies. Writing is eh, but if you can get past that you can learn a lot.

The Best Interface Is No Interface, by Golden Krishna
* A somewhat sarcastic rant that if you "get it," you'll get a lot out of it. Otherwise, seek out videos of his talks, especially his SXSW keynote of the same name.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I don't know about classics. Ones I feel are important, in one way or another:

The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman
* Pretty much The Book on the topic of product design in general. It's not really a book on building user interfaces, but more how to think about how people will use what you create. Good to dip into now and again, but can be a bit of a slog.

I bought this after we moved into our new office and the main entrance is a classic "Norman Door" and our design group got very informative and sarcastic about it.

What about Edward Tufte's books?

 

[Essence Lumin]

I don't know about classics. Ones I feel are important, in one way or another:

Thanks Free. That's very useful. Some of those and other material they lead to should keep me busy when I look at them. Bookmarked.

 

[Noodles]

My Fitbit is another example of great customer support trying desperately to make up for bad product design. The wristbands on the Fitbit are notoriously fragile at the juncture between the band and the Fitbit unit. As I found out to my dismay, they last about 3 months with normal usage, then break off. Fitbit will send a replacement each and every time that the breakage occurs in less than a year from purchase, but it's ridiculously poor design to have a wristband that breaks that often and that easily.

A helpful suggestion on this, maybe.

In my experience, every Wal-Mart has a selection of 3rd party replacement bands in the clearance aisle for 1-2 bucks. I would suggest, at that price, if you find some for your model that aren't super ugly, pick up a couple and squirrel them away for the future.

 

[Stora]

There's a difference between good customer support and good product design. Breaking something and getting a replacement part is great customer support. Kudos to them for doing at least that much. Building a product that can't be updated -- even though its main purpose will require updating to keep working -- THAT is bad design. And there really wasn't anything customer support could do for me, short of a full refund for something I'd bought several years previously. (Not happening.)

My Fitbit is another example of great customer support trying desperately to make up for bad product design. The wristbands on the Fitbit are notoriously fragile at the juncture between the band and the Fitbit unit. As I found out to my dismay, they last about 3 months with normal usage, then break off. Fitbit will send a replacement each and every time that the breakage occurs in less than a year from purchase, but it's ridiculously poor design to have a wristband that breaks that often and that easily.

I thought about this just after I posted and I agree with you , I remember those map packs being expensive at the time.

 

[Rose Karuna]

I don't know about classics. Ones I feel are important, in one way or another:

The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman
* Pretty much The Book on the topic of product design in general. It's not really a book on building user interfaces, but more how to think about how people will use what you create. Good to dip into now and again, but can be a bit of a slog.

You beat me to the punch, I was going to recommend this book. You listed some that I haven't read so now I have to add them to my reading list.

 

[Govi]

Doors in public places that have a big stainless steel plate at the right height for a hand push, a bar across the door for pushing there, too, and a little sign near both that says PULL.