Sometimes you just have to wonder what the web developers were smoking. A large trading company recently told me the following after I failed to remember my password in three attempts:
Beacuse I might not be using a web browser to do anything else.
So there goes any hope that I’ll get that task done. They are forcing me to ignore them until I can restart my browser. Who really things this is OK? Why to consumers settle for this kind of quality? We should all know better than this.
3 comments
TerryG says:
2009.05.15 at 19:35 (UTC -7 )
The same ones who disable the back button to ‘increase customer retention’.
Adam Roach says:
2009.05.31 at 08:04 (UTC -7 )
Dude.
Safari > Preferences. Click “Security.” Click “Show Cookies.” Type “etrade.com” in the search box. Highlight all the matching cookies, and click “Remove.”
Yeah, this setup blows for people who don’t work closely with the technology — but it should have been a minor annoyance for you, not a showstopper.
On the other hand, if you ever need etrade to *reset* your password, you’ll know the true meaning of bureaucratic hell. According to someone I know who had to do exactly this, you need to do it in person, *BY* *APPOINTMENT* at one of their physical locations.
Alan says:
2009.06.01 at 11:08 (UTC -7 )
Adam, Dude.
I am fully aware how to fix this.
However, I’m thinking about the thousands if not millions of normal web users that are running into things like this from all manner of companies they are forced to deal with.
More and more employers are outsourcing significant parts of their business and HR operations. I personally have to deal with five different external web services folks monthly. None of them have a decent website and none of them are ‘doing it right’.
My post was really just a rant. I was busy, had a few minutes (tops) to deal with something at E*Trade and they made it impossible for me to get the task done in the allotted time. In fact, that task remains incomplete until I can talk to the local administrator (for much the same reason you imply — apparently I don’t know my password anymore).
I’ll be off down the hall so he can reset it to something really secure, like my birthdate or the name of our company. Yeah!
Grumble.