As long as what you want to do is routine, like buying something or paying your bill, there is a menu option or link that conveniently takes care of it. But the moment you have anything out of the ordinary, or any issue that might cost the merchant some money, finding some way to get it resolved becomes very difficult.

It's easy to get a software subscription online, but once they have your credit card number, it's damned near impossible to get it canceled.

Just an example, we recently bundled all our telephone, television and internet connection services with one company. We were told what our costs would be and we wrote them down. Now suddenly, our bill has gone up unexplainedly, and we wanted to know why. Of course, no "menu option" exists to deal with that eventuality, and getting someone to actually talk to us required a half a day on the phone putting up with the runaround. Eventually, by asking through the Spanish speaking marketing operator, I got a sympthetic clerk to redirect our call (and we wrotedown the number so we could call again!) through the back door to connect us to someone who could answer our question.

Again, after several hours of runaround and being put on hold, we learned that the price hike was due to the expiration of some of our "introductory rates". When we were able to read them documentation that these rates had never been sold to us as "introductory", then we were told that the "partner" who had installed their equipment handled that part. We knew better, we had gotten the same runaround from the partner already. (Of course, the partner had used the parent company's name as a marketing tool, and the bill came with the parent company's logo on it, and our checks have the parent company's payee and endorsement on them.

It wasn't until we convinced them we were were perfectly willing to give up communications services for a month while our former providers re-installed their systems, and we demanded that they send someone out to disconnect us immediately, that SUDDENLY they found a way to "resolve our concerns." Mighty white of them, eh?

I am not saying that they are doing this deliberately in order to swindle people who are too lazy, or intimidated, or unprepared to protect themselves. They are doing it to save money. It took my wife and I an entire afternoon on the internet and the telephone to get them to do something they admitted was their fault. In other words, they replaced the labor and training of a full time clerk who could have handled this "misunderstanding" with Reclus labor and administrative costs. And I'm sure their accountants and their lawyers have already calculated how often this will happen and have decided exactly how to organize their operation so it has optimum benefit for them.

Now, a contrast. When my new stereo was delivered a few years ago the power plug would not mate properly with its socket. I called Bose customer service and a nice lady immediately answered, and after listening to my description of the problem, suggested I ship the entire unit back as soon as possible. They would send me a complete replacement unit (not just a new power cable), packing materials for returning the old unit, and a FedEx invoice to cover shipping. The stuff all got to me in two days, and I was rocking and rolling even before I had shipped back the defective merchandise.

The same thing happed when a Barlow lens I ordered from Orion had a tiny flaw. I was stargazing again before the old unit was back in the mail to them.

What I'm saying is that the former case used to be the exception, and the latter two the rule. Now it's the other way around. Now I'm happy to use online services to conduct my business, I do use them with several transactions I regularly do, including ordering my meds, and they are a great convenience, record keeper and time saver. But there should always be direct human contact on demand for the customer, and if there isn't, it's not because the merchant is doing me a favor. It's because he is using me as unpaid clerical help.