Make it easy for the customer to reach you

My PDA device had some trouble with the internal battery. I wanted to call the helpline of the manufacturer.

I visited the website of the manufactuer to get information. I had a lot of difficulty:

* the website does not show the contact telephone in the home page
* I had to search through many webpages
* Some of the webpages were slow in loading, as they insist on showing some video (which I do not need)

I found a webpage which was supposed to help me to find a reseller. I had to answer many questions into a form for the search. When I click on "submit", there was no response for a few minutes. The database server hung.

It seems that they do not want to talk to a customer. Instead, they impose a form to chase the customer away.

I hope that all corporate websites can be made friendly, easy to access, and helpful to their customers. The most important information is a 24 X 7 contact number, e-mail address, and a physical address with operating hours. They should aim to welcome a customer contact.