TypePad taught me how to turn an evangelist into a mere customer. The experience leaves me wondering if I’m downshifting customers too; perhaps it’s also happening at your company.
I’ve used TypePad for every blog I’ve ever done. While it has some limitations, its elegance made it a more user-friendly choice for my clients. That changed this week with a forgotten password.
Ever forgotten a password? Who hasn’t. That’s why sites assist by either reminding of or resetting your password(s). This week my addled 50-plus brain blanked out on my TypePad password. I submitted the assistance form to reset. I got nothing. Tried again. Nothing. Wrote tech support. They suggested I check my SPAM filter. Did. Nothing. Wrote again. Two days later, same response. Wrote AGAIN. This time someone writes back, “I tried it and it works for me. Check with your email provider.” Heh?
Elegance is irrelevant if support doesn’t back it up. TypePad traditionally shined in both the elegance and tech support areas. My experience says something has changed. I found no mechanism for escalating my issue. I found no “feedback” loop on tech support replies: I couldn’t respond to TypePad’s messages. Instead, I had to restart and restate EVERY time. There’s no excuse for this.
I once recommended TypePad without qualification. I no longer do. I will include them as a potential solution provider, but there will be at least one other option going forward. It’s a lesson I shouldn’t have had to learn. Even more so, one we don’t want to teach.
