I was trying to log into a system but was unable to. The error message reported an internal error.

A link was displayed where help was apparently available. However, to be able to access that help documentation it was necessary to be logged in.

I contacted support. They sent me a link to another page that would apparently help. Accessing the other page also required being logged in, so I couldn’t see that either.

I gave up.
Customer lost and unhappy. Guess what that means for my word-of-mouth.

What are the lessons?

  • Ask: Are the things that are access controlled really needing to be access controlled?
  • When offering support, are we confident that what’s suggested is possible and helpful?
  • When offering support, do we really understand the situation, or just sending the default and general answer?
  • Rather than just point someone to a website that we think (assume?) has the answer, can we provide the answer (cut-and-paste the relevant paragraph) and also point to the source for more details?