Services That Try to Own You

It is not surprising that YouSendIt is down 8 slots on the Alexa scale (3 weeks ago rating compared to the previous six months). I had heard of it but never really used it until I received an email from a friend with photos from a recent mutual friend's birthday party via YouSendIt.

What a painful experience. I click on the link and it takes me to another site where naturally I have to take the time to sign up for their free basic service, and provide information I'd prefer not to. Stage 2 is supposed to bring me to the photos, but it isn't quite that easy.

A half an hour later, I emailed the friend and said, "listen, this is too much work AND BTW, please don't send me to Shutterfly, Kodak or any of the other services that require me to go through a similar painful process." It gets worse - the next day, they sent me a spam email message asking me to upgrade for $29.99 when I had only a guest account. You must be kidding?

After using client Sharpcast's service for several months now, I can't imagine going through anything this painful again.

A friend who is moving to San Francisco asked me to look at a flat for him, so I took some photos. Back in front of my PC, getting photos into Sharpcast took seconds. Then, I simply clicked on his name in my buddy list and was done. Simple. He received them on his desktop in a couple of minutes. No transfer, no link, no account set up and no follow up marketing emails.

As consumers, we must demand a different kind of experience. Whether your experience is with a social networking site, a photo site, or a place like Match.com, many of these services automatically renew your account whether you want to or not.

If I choose to try a service for one month or three months, it is the duration I have chosen. If I want to renew, I'll make the effort to do so. Vendor, don't try to own me. Of course, cell phone carriers do the same thing. Don't get me started on what is involved in the termination process, between the main penalty fee, and the additional taxes and fees they don't tell you about up front.

Why is all of this frustrating? Because it requires you to call their customer service line, which requires you to then remain on hold for an hour. When you finally reach the rep, who then proceeds to talk you into staying on for longer, you're already weary.

By the time you call, you have probably already been accidentally billed a month or two that you didn't want or use because you simply forgot or didn't have the time to cancel.

Did I mention that we as consumers must demand a different kind of experience. If we don't, the vendors win, not the customer.