It's no joke - gadgets make us feel like dummies latest statistics reveal
31/03/08
Technology companies will be having the last laugh this April Fools’ Day by fooling consumers in to thinking that the latest gadgets and gizmos can do things they can’t. But it’s no April Fools’ joke, thousands of Britons are feeling like mugs following the Christmas splurge on gadgets they thought they knew how to use.
Calls to Geek Squad, the 24/7 technology support service, have increased by 42% over the past months with confused consumers looking for help and advice on how to understand and work their new technology.
Increasingly complex devices and 50 plus page instruction manuals are bewildering Brits. Whilst technical product claims and the wide-spread use of jargon are causing many users to believe their products are capable of the impossible.
The Plain English Campaign comments: “Techno jargon' is increasingly common within the technology industry and we feel that people have a right to understand the products and services they are purchasing.
Terms such as 'wireless' and 'free broadband' can cause confusion in customers who have no technical experience. In a world where people of all ages are required to deal with technical products on a daily basis, it has become even more important for companies to ensure that the language they use is clear and straightforward.”
Field Marshall Colin Burns from Geek Squad says “Technology companies like Google love playing pranks on us on April Fools’ Day but the joke’s on them. People in the UK are suffering from user-generated confusion and not just today! This trend has emerged with the introduction of ever-more complex gadgets and user manuals that practically require translation.
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Manufacturers seem to want to make things harder and more confusing than ever for the consumer and we’re on a mission to make wi-fi and new technology easy to use and simple to understand.”
Feel like a dummy today? You’re not alone - Geek Squad reveals five examples of enquiries made by UK customers in the past three months, both confused and frustrated by misleading techno babble on the box:
Closed the windows – A man called requesting advice on setting up his new wireless connection. When asked to close all his windows so the agent could find the relevant icon, there were a series of loud bangs as the caller shut the windows in the room.
Listened in stereo – A female customer called in despair after, as instructed by the manual, playing the set up CD for her new broadband connection. Prompted by the agent, she realised she should have inserted it in to her disc drive and not her stereo.
Pictured it – After purchasing a digital photoframe a man called seeking advice on how to re-size a picture to fit the frame. It transpired the picture he was attempting to insert into the frame was a print and not a digital image.
Wired up – Having tried to set up a wireless router a confused female customer called seeking an explanation for the problem. When asked if she had plugged it in to the power supply she was horrified to discover that the wires she thought has been put in the box by error were necessary to set up her ‘wireless connection’.
Free to roam – A female customer called for help understanding why her home wireless connection was not allowing her to get online when she left the house. She had expected to be able to get online wherever she was in the country from the home based router but once she learnt it would only work in her home and no where else she claimed would be canceling her connection.
Visit: www.thegeeksquad.co.uk or call: 0800 049 4335
