RE: UKNM: Online retail pays no attention to detail.

[Paul ODonoghue]

"don't believe the hype"


didn't I say the easiest way to book a holiday was to walk down the high

street and go into a shop.


This is a wonderful industry we work in, but it really pisses me off when

sites launch with a big hoorah of PR and then fail to live up to the hype.

Why cant site owners just get it right first time?? No wonder the press/TV

constantly have a go, no wonder vc's are getting smarter with their cash, no

wonder public resistance to change is so high, no wonder more people would

trust WHSmith's than Amazon to buy a �10 book online....(no slur against

Amazon, its great example of a site that delivers, just some research I

recently saw regarding consumer confidence)


There are more sites out there doing damage than the ones who can fulfil.

which is bad for all of us in the industry.


Paul O'Donoghue

Communications Planning Manager - New Media

020 7577 9352

http://www.citruspublishing.com


Citrus is an interactive publishing agency that "helps companies build

profitable customer relationships through the highest quality online &

offline publishing". We are an independent company with �11m turnover, 20

clients and 65 full time staff supported by an extensive freelance network.


-----Original Message-----

From: Rachel Kittridge [

rkittridgehotmail [dot] com (mailto:rkittridgehotmail [dot] com)

]

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 3:00 PM

To:

uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

Subject: UKNM: Online retail pays no attention to detail.



I have to say I have had a right old internet spending frenzy lately and

here I am fresh back from a fab holiday in the South of France still reeling

from "e-commrage".

I attempted to book a flight for four to Nice through e bookers but found

that in order to get the cheaper of the advertised prices that I had to book

2 flights as every time I tried to book four together I was told that there

weren't four seats on the flight. Funny that,I thought as I checked with

British Midland and their were loads of seats. Anyway after going back to e

bookers and booking two more seats on the identical flight I was pleased

with myself for conquering the system. SCORE 5/10

Next step was the hotel, this was not too difficult, through business

riviera I was able to select and book a quality hotel with sea view rooms

for four.

SCORE 9/10

Car Hire was long winded but I managed to arrange a car for collection at

the airport at a competitive price through Hertz.

7/10

Insurance was simple through cgu, a bit cheaper than the high street and

scarily easy to arrange.

9/10


So it looks good so far doesn't it? FULFILLMENT?


*Hertz had no record of my booking at Nice airport and I had to complete

everything again. Just lucky they had a spare car I guess!

*The hotel rooms had been given away at 4pm as a no show even though I gave

my arrival time as 8pm and arrived at 8pm. Sent to the camp site down the

road.

*I never recieved any insurance documents at all so for all I know we could

have broken our necks and not been covered.


Thing is,I am ready to shop online but is anyone ready to serve?

My advice is only to book holidays if you are prepared for stress and

disappointment, I've had more relaxing times at the dentist thanks!

Rachel Kittridge

rachelkgenclick [dot] co [dot] uk

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