It's Always Something, Part II...

Found out Saturday morning that there's a problem with Authorize.net processing payments on the OldMaidCatLady.com website. How'd I find out? There were a few incomplete orders showing on my site. A call to the hosting company's helpline yielded no useful information. ("People just abandon their shopping carts sometimes; there's no way to know why.") Yes, but EVERY time? When I tried to buy something myself, that brought the answer. Naturally, it came after all the financial types had knocked off for the weekend.

Which brings to mind something: In this information age, if you're selling a product to people that will be used 24/7, does it not make sense to have customer service available 24/7 for when it doesn't work? Is there a place in today's gotta-have-it-now world for "banker's hours"? Whatever the case, it'll be Monday morning before anyone is available to address my issue.

I blame myself, mainly, for this; after all, I was the one who set up the gateway. And I should've tested it before rolling out any publicity for the site. But it seems that there should be someone to help new customers set up a gateway so that it functions properly and doesn't reject all the transactions that come its way. While independence is a fine thing, sometimes people just need a little help, and not in the way of a monstrosity of an online help file that's difficult to navigate when all the language is foreign to a newbie. Sometimes, a personal touch and a little hand-holding are in order. In absence of that, a blog on which to vent must substitute!