Call Sign January 2002 - Page 28

You may remember that about a year ago, the .ws domain was released with a lot of publicity stating this was the domain extension that would realistically compete with .com, but how many of you can name a famous .ws web site? With that in mind and the recent .ws domain renewal notices I've received, I feel it's time to release mine.
   So what future is there for the .ws domains and the newer .biz domain? My advice to anyone thinking of purchasing domains is to continue searching in this sequence; .COM /.CO.UK / .NET and if they're available, buy all three. If you're a company, then you may be interested in buying the .biz version too, but be prepared to prove you're a legitimate business with legitimate rights to the domain.
   I'm always on the lookout for excellent value web sites. This month there are two I feel deserve a mention: www.cd-wow.com and www.omnibooksuk.co.uk . The first is a UK based music site where you can purchase old or new titles online and that's all there is to it... well, except that they offer the titles at incredibly cheap prices and there's no charge for postage or packing. For instance, most of the titles in their top 20 album chart were selling for Ł8.99. Check them out for yourself and see; I think you'll be surprised.
   Ominibooksuk.co.uk, as the name implies, is a UK based online bookstore. I bumped into one of their stores in Camberley and was extremely impressed with their range and prices. Computer/IT books are their speciality in that they are slightly dated, but still good and pertinent to the IT industry today. For instance, for those wishing to learn more about the competitor to Microsoft
   Windows, i.e. Linux, they had an excellent selection of books for novices or professionals at less than a third of the original price.
   I purchased three books for the price that I would have paid for one! They included a Microsoft Office 2000 Guide (for 'Er indoors), a Visual Basic 6 Bible and an excellent reference for SQL; so for those budding computer Nerds, this site is a must...

Lost In The Jungle...
Last month I warned Call Sign readers about jungle.com. Well this month I'm warning you again, please do not under any circumstances buy anything from Jungle unless you want to spend endless hours

chinchat

telephoning/emailing their customer care/support. I ordered a Network Hub and after two weeks, decided it was just taking too long to be delivered, so I tried to cancel. No chance, that functionality wasn't available on their web site and my only option was to call Customer Care. They informed me that I couldn't cancel. They explained that their new application didn't provide cancelling functionality and that I would have to reject the package when ParcelForce tried to deliver. Fine, but I get quite a few deliveries and when the Jungle delivery wasn't clearly marked JUNGLE, then how am I supposed to know it was from them?
   Nearly a month after placing the order it was delivered. I contacted Jungle, who apologised for the error and sent me an email with the return details stating the item would be collected the next day. Two weeks later, two telephone calls later (when you can actually get through to them) and three emails later, the item is still at my house.
   Why oh why can't these plonkers sort out their businesses? Regular Call Sign readers of my column will more than likely be bored with my constant moaning about retailers that treat their customers like crap. Is it my imagination, but the more we become reliant upon IT systems to automate the manual tasks, the more they cock up!
   In my opinion, the Internet has exacerbated the problem. Here we have faceless, unintelligent interfaces to online catalogues that are in the main, un-navigable. When it works, it works well, but when it doesn't you're knackered! And when you try to actually talk to a human being, you're very lucky if you get through and extremely lucky if they actually understand your query.
   IT in the retail industry has a lot to offer, but as a consumer, it leaves a lot to be desired...
Cheers & Be Lucky in 2002

Vince Chin