I recently attempted to make an online purchase from Tienda Inglesa. Although they have a pretty good selection of products and product information online, the site seems to be extremely slow.
However, the truly frustrating part didn't seem to be until I tried to check out.I completed all the blanks on the check out page and clicked to send my order. A little window pops up and I clicked ok. Nothing. It just sat there.
Now, I wondered, did my order get submitted and if I send it again, I'll get 2 orders? Well, it didn't seem to be in my order history and the items seemed to stay in my cart. I tried numerous times and then gave up. I emailed their customer service department.
This morning I got a reply which basically said they didn't have a problem and it was me that had a problem! Finally, I realized that was true.
My problem was that I just couldn't see that I wasn't completing two the blanks in their form. I also didn't realize that you have to enter your name 3 times and your phone number twice.
You need to enter your name as who it is to be delivered to, who's credit card is being used and who placed the order. Now, I realize that could involve 3 different people, but I suspect for the majority of the orders just a single person.
The cart could be designed to require your name just entered once in such cases and to use a text input box that is visible, not a hidden box which resulted in my frustration.
Again with the phone number. You have to enter the phone number when you add your address to their system. Why not again use that phone number as the default unless a customer has a need to enter a different phone number? And, again, it is best not to use invisble text input boxes for either required or optional information.
Like with all consumer transactions, and especially online transactions, the customer has many options and when you make their experience frustrating their hard earned dollars may well be spent someplace else.
It's unfortunate that Tienda Inglesa after having gone to all the effort to get their product selection online, leaves one to have such a terrible experience actually trying to order.
