![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
I'm quitting my job. I gave my employer two weeks notice as of Monday.
I've spent the last five months working in customer service for Catch of the Day as Quartermaster Catch. Basically this is answering emails, but it also involves a whole lot of work sorting out packing errors, tracking down and recovering missing parcels, watching and correcting our sales, and telling other staff to do their job. The list goes on with all sorts of things that need to be done to make sure that customers are happy.
Unfortunately, the ethics in this place are a bit shady. As I've been in this position, I've felt less and less comfortable about being involved with this company, and the final straw was the Birthday Bash that we had last week.
Half an hour before the sale even goes up, the Catch of the Day website starts to buckle. Customer service staff got locked out of the Help Centre and it was practically impossible for anyone to access the website. There was something in the vicinity of 10,000 people hitting Catch's servers at once. The IT staff desperately tried to get some performance back into the server. They shut off some functions and tweaked it a little in the hope that it'd help it to endure. Maybe a little.
Some people seemed to think we were busy. As if. With the web servers falling to pieces, nothing worked and there was very little anyone could do. We sat around all afternoon reading up on our sale in the Whirlpool forum and eating pizza. There was even one point where the Whirlpool forums were taken down just because there were too many people trying complain about the sale all at once. The next day we could finally access the system and there were over 1300 emails -- most of them ended up getting deleted by Supreme Commander Catch, general manager, after half a glance.
That said, the customer service guys just work here. We're actually pretty powerless.
All these emails (made using our online form) had to be sent the following day, because during the sale, the server was collapsing so bad that one guy's credit card was charged 13 times for the one order. I had to refund those extra 12. I also refunded plenty of others who had been charged more than a couple times. Thousands of people crowded the Catch servers. Most of them were after a Wii at an awesome price.
There were people in the Daily Deals store (please, they're not Catch of the Day) rampaging about how they wanted to get a Nintendo Wii before the sale had even begun. Practically everyone in the office got at least one phone call at some point from a friend or relative who wanted some help so they could get a Wii. Hell, I wanted to buy a Wii and I don't even like them.
A while ago, QQQ and pals went to a store and bought 10 Nintendo Wiis from a retail store at the normal retail cost of $399. They then cut $200 off the price and resold them as part of the Birthday Bash. It was the same story for many of our headline sales.
Ten Wiis. This wasn't a sale, this was a lottery. Sorry, let me rephrase that -- this was complete bullshit.
Some people have accused Catch of the Day of Bait and Switch advertising. Pfft. As if. There was no "switch". Here's the most relevant law, although I suspect that Catch is also affected by laws from around the country, considering that it sells interstate.
Please just call it "bait advertising". It makes more sense.
We also have plenty of leftover iPod Nanos. The load on the website during that hour was so bad that only one person actually made it through the checkout. The management is trying to work out what they should do with the spares.
I was impressed that people on the Whirlpool forums worked out that no one bought the Wii for the first 55 minutes of the sale. As far as I know, that wasn't deliberate. Of course, it's certainly convenient that people were finally able to buy them in the last five minutes.
Not that our IT department is competent. They seem to program in the style that many graduates do. They get told to do something, and they follow the most direct method. Things such as security, speed, reliability, efficiency aren't a very deep consideration.
You tend to think that because your credit card details have been sent to a website over a secure, encrypted SSL connection that they're safe. They are NOT. For several reasons, credit card details had to be kept on the server.
Naturally, as customer service I have to review people's orders. I noticed that every time I open up someone's order (hundreds of times a day), in the source of the page is the customer's full credit card details. This is sent from the off-site server over an unencrypted connection. Every time I viewed someone's order, the customer's credit card details were completely exposed.
I only mention this security hole because I forced them to fix it about a month ago. General Catch, the man in charge of IT, wasn't too enthusiastic about taking action. There are a few other security issues I know about (and I've mentioned) that they haven't fixed. There's bound to be plenty more I haven't found, because I haven't been sitting around auditing the website. It's all just kind of scary.
There is something that bothers me more. Occasionally we notice a transaction or an overcharge to a customer. Captain Catch and I decide to be proactive and fix it straight away. Every time, the General puts on a really confused look. "Why are you refunding them if they haven't noticed?" This isn't deadpan humour. Plenty of staff in this place think the same way.
Let it sink in: The man administrating the website and databases would steal from your credit card if he thought he could get away with it.
The new warehouse is much better. But there are so many problems with this company that anything they do only takes them forward in baby steps.
Catch of the Day often sells stuff that it hasn't got in stock yet. Fine, but the deliveries are often late. A couple weeks ago, Catch sold Acer laptops with a $99 cashback. One of the conditions of the cashback was that you had to send in your application within two weeks of purchase. One and a half weeks later, the stock actually arrived at the warehouse. It wasn't even shipped until two weeks after the sale. A couple weren't even shipped until yesterday (3 weeks later).
But it was okay, because we'd heard that Acer had extended the cashback. Oh shit, they only extended the offer. You still have to apply within 2 weeks of purchase. We were in a bit of a chaos, and there were several people getting onto the supplier and manufacturer to extend the cashback for our customers.
Almost two weeks after the original sale, they managed to work out an extension with Acer. The IT staff had to change the "purchase date" on all of the invoices to make them two weeks later. Acer was happy with that.
Of course, if the shit hit the fan, Catch would have provided the cashback itself. But there's an emergency every week.
Captain Catch is a well meaning guy, but he buys their bullshit way too much. When picking new customer service staff, they tell him not to bother interviewing the women because they "wouldn't know anything about TVs and stuff". They pull the strings and he dances. We have guys doing the thinking in the office, and girls looking pretty in the shop. Welcome to the 50s.
I am tired of making excuses for these guys.
The next two weeks are going to be awkward.
I've spent the last five months working in customer service for Catch of the Day as Quartermaster Catch. Basically this is answering emails, but it also involves a whole lot of work sorting out packing errors, tracking down and recovering missing parcels, watching and correcting our sales, and telling other staff to do their job. The list goes on with all sorts of things that need to be done to make sure that customers are happy.
Unfortunately, the ethics in this place are a bit shady. As I've been in this position, I've felt less and less comfortable about being involved with this company, and the final straw was the Birthday Bash that we had last week.
Birthday bait
This sale was promoted with such things as the Wii for $199, the PS2 for $99 and iPod Nano 4GB for $99. In the words of QQQ, the sales guy, "there is plenty of stock, hope to see you there!" There is also a video on YouTube showing a roller conveyor full of Nintendo Wiis.Stock levels | |
| Nintendo Wii | 10 |
| Sony Playstation 2 | 20 |
| Tom Tom GPS | 30 |
| Samsung camera | 50 |
| Kenwood Steamer | 50 |
| iPod Nano 4GB | 50 |
| Samsung DVD | 50 |
| Daewoo | 70 |
| Mini Remote Control Helicopter | 100 |
| Celine Dion perfume | 200 |
| 1.5" Digital Photo Frame | 300 |
Some people seemed to think we were busy. As if. With the web servers falling to pieces, nothing worked and there was very little anyone could do. We sat around all afternoon reading up on our sale in the Whirlpool forum and eating pizza. There was even one point where the Whirlpool forums were taken down just because there were too many people trying complain about the sale all at once. The next day we could finally access the system and there were over 1300 emails -- most of them ended up getting deleted by Supreme Commander Catch, general manager, after half a glance.
That said, the customer service guys just work here. We're actually pretty powerless.
All these emails (made using our online form) had to be sent the following day, because during the sale, the server was collapsing so bad that one guy's credit card was charged 13 times for the one order. I had to refund those extra 12. I also refunded plenty of others who had been charged more than a couple times. Thousands of people crowded the Catch servers. Most of them were after a Wii at an awesome price.
There were people in the Daily Deals store (please, they're not Catch of the Day) rampaging about how they wanted to get a Nintendo Wii before the sale had even begun. Practically everyone in the office got at least one phone call at some point from a friend or relative who wanted some help so they could get a Wii. Hell, I wanted to buy a Wii and I don't even like them.
A while ago, QQQ and pals went to a store and bought 10 Nintendo Wiis from a retail store at the normal retail cost of $399. They then cut $200 off the price and resold them as part of the Birthday Bash. It was the same story for many of our headline sales.
Ten Wiis. This wasn't a sale, this was a lottery. Sorry, let me rephrase that -- this was complete bullshit.
Some people have accused Catch of the Day of Bait and Switch advertising. Pfft. As if. There was no "switch". Here's the most relevant law, although I suspect that Catch is also affected by laws from around the country, considering that it sells interstate.
Please just call it "bait advertising". It makes more sense.
We also have plenty of leftover iPod Nanos. The load on the website during that hour was so bad that only one person actually made it through the checkout. The management is trying to work out what they should do with the spares.
I was impressed that people on the Whirlpool forums worked out that no one bought the Wii for the first 55 minutes of the sale. As far as I know, that wasn't deliberate. Of course, it's certainly convenient that people were finally able to buy them in the last five minutes.
General security
Certainly, I understand that it would have been virtually impossible to prepare for the load that the Catch website had on the day. Really, no matter what they did, the website would not have been able to handle the traffic. Some defend Catch's poor performance with those explanations. True, but consider that they could have done more to minimise the damage.Not that our IT department is competent. They seem to program in the style that many graduates do. They get told to do something, and they follow the most direct method. Things such as security, speed, reliability, efficiency aren't a very deep consideration.
You tend to think that because your credit card details have been sent to a website over a secure, encrypted SSL connection that they're safe. They are NOT. For several reasons, credit card details had to be kept on the server.
Naturally, as customer service I have to review people's orders. I noticed that every time I open up someone's order (hundreds of times a day), in the source of the page is the customer's full credit card details. This is sent from the off-site server over an unencrypted connection. Every time I viewed someone's order, the customer's credit card details were completely exposed.
I only mention this security hole because I forced them to fix it about a month ago. General Catch, the man in charge of IT, wasn't too enthusiastic about taking action. There are a few other security issues I know about (and I've mentioned) that they haven't fixed. There's bound to be plenty more I haven't found, because I haven't been sitting around auditing the website. It's all just kind of scary.
There is something that bothers me more. Occasionally we notice a transaction or an overcharge to a customer. Captain Catch and I decide to be proactive and fix it straight away. Every time, the General puts on a really confused look. "Why are you refunding them if they haven't noticed?" This isn't deadpan humour. Plenty of staff in this place think the same way.
Let it sink in: The man administrating the website and databases would steal from your credit card if he thought he could get away with it.
And so...
These guys have been getting better. Back when I started, orders would be marked as "dispatched" as soon as we printed a label for it, and that could be weeks before it was actually shipped. If the customer asked, the policy was to tell them it was in the post, and Australia Post was to blame -- even if we knew it was collecting dust in the warehouse.The new warehouse is much better. But there are so many problems with this company that anything they do only takes them forward in baby steps.
Catch of the Day often sells stuff that it hasn't got in stock yet. Fine, but the deliveries are often late. A couple weeks ago, Catch sold Acer laptops with a $99 cashback. One of the conditions of the cashback was that you had to send in your application within two weeks of purchase. One and a half weeks later, the stock actually arrived at the warehouse. It wasn't even shipped until two weeks after the sale. A couple weren't even shipped until yesterday (3 weeks later).
But it was okay, because we'd heard that Acer had extended the cashback. Oh shit, they only extended the offer. You still have to apply within 2 weeks of purchase. We were in a bit of a chaos, and there were several people getting onto the supplier and manufacturer to extend the cashback for our customers.
Almost two weeks after the original sale, they managed to work out an extension with Acer. The IT staff had to change the "purchase date" on all of the invoices to make them two weeks later. Acer was happy with that.
Of course, if the shit hit the fan, Catch would have provided the cashback itself. But there's an emergency every week.
Captain Catch is a well meaning guy, but he buys their bullshit way too much. When picking new customer service staff, they tell him not to bother interviewing the women because they "wouldn't know anything about TVs and stuff". They pull the strings and he dances. We have guys doing the thinking in the office, and girls looking pretty in the shop. Welcome to the 50s.
I am tired of making excuses for these guys.
The next two weeks are going to be awkward.
Follow-up.
06 November 2008 @ 08:21 pm ~ And so it reaches the management....21 elements | Start a reaction