Usability Ballache: O2 Broadband Sales
I’ve just moved into a new flat in North London and so we’ve had the joy of setting up the various essential utilities — chief among them (of course) being the Interwebs. Being an O2 mobile customer I get preferential pricing for O2 broadband — they’re also currently offering 3 months free for new signups. And if that wasn’t enough, Quidco were (until a few days ago) offering up to £100 cashback. Cha-ching!
Ordering this most bargain of packages, however, proved to be a bit tricky. O2 require that you pay by Direct Debit, and that the bank account you specify for that must be registered to the address for which you’re ordering broadband.
On top of that, they authenticate the customer further by checking the details of a debit or credit card which must also be registered to that address. Having just moved here, none of my cards or accounts are registered here, so I would have to amend the details on one of my accounts before I could place an order.
Fair enough, you might think — as did I, to a point — so I changed my account address to the address of my new flat. The order still wouldn’t go through, however — there was one further obstacle still to navigate. Turns out the address has to match exactly, unlike most e-tailers where only the numbers in the address (plus the postcode) have to match.
Entering my postcode and building number in the order form produced a list of addresses, including the building my flat is in, but not a list of flats. Instead, the closest address was “28, Flat A-G, <my street> […]” (number changed to protect the guilty). So I could select every flat in the building, not just mine. OK..?
The kicker was that most e-commerce sites allow you to customise the address after picking it from a list. Not so with O2, where the listed address was all I got; no opportunity to edit. So I had to change my bank account’s address to this — incorrect — address before the order would go through. And all correspondence arriving here is addressed to every flat, not mine. Good work, O2 web developers.
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We’ve a sometime ritual in the office of listening to Annie Mac’s Friday night show on Radio 1 — usually on a Monday via iPlayer. Despite no doubt noble intentions, Annie’s show is a temple of mainstream banality and repetition, its conservative playlist interleaved with vacuous pop soundbytes, obnoxious shouty vocal stings and (most annoyingly) a bloody airhorn sample.
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Hipstamatic and Rebooting a Hobby
As anyone who hasn’t been living in a sack for the last few years will be aware, the iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) platform has become something of a popular hit, with an App Store that now comprises hundreds of thousands of apps for all purposes (both real and imagined) under the sun. I’ve owned an iPhone for the last two years, and during that time have tried a fair few. Many have been impressive, but none so much as Hipstamatic (iTunes link), which I bought on a whim after seeing some of its output on Twitter. And I’ve found using it to be quite a transformative experience.
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Jobhunting with Less Pain, Part 3
I’ve already had some great feedback from the first two parts of this article, so I’m pleased to be able to share the third and final part today.
Having read this far, you should have some idea about the processes required to set yourself up with an interview with a prospective employer for a job you actually want. For most roles, this is the most crucial step, and giving yourself the best possible chance of success is key.
Jobhunting with Less Pain, Part 2
The first part of this article dealt with my motivations for writing it (very meta, eh?) and the basic steps you should take before starting out on the path to finding a new job — deciding what job you want, and preparing a CV that doesn’t suck.
The CV section alone turned into a colossal beast of a thing, such that the originally envisaged single article turned into a multi-part series, the true extent of which will only be known once I’ve finished writing it. In this second instalment I’m going to discuss cover letters, the “hunt” itself, and perhaps round off with some words about recruiters, if you’re lucky.
Jobhunting With Less Pain, Part 1
A new influx of recruiter spam plopping into my inbox this afternoon prompted me to write a post I’ve been meaning to put together for a few months: a collection of my top tips for completing the job-hunting process with as little pain as possible.
This article ended up becoming a bit of a beast, so I’ve split it into sections which I’ll post daily for the next few days until — like a strange, informative illness — I’ve got it all out of my system. UPDATE: You can find the second part of the article here, and the third and final part here. Enjoy!
Also: Portable Fear and Loathing