Good intentions, bad service

In the last year or so many organizations have sprung up that are dedicated to getting Bush out of office, electing Democrats to Congress and other positions, and generally fighting the conservatism that is taking over our country. I applaud these organization. Hell, I even support them. But I have to say that their customer service sucks. I think that are all understated and probably lacking in the kind of organization that a corporation would have. I don't take issue with this as a strategy, but I have first hand experience that tell me that this isn't as effective as it could be. For example, I recently wanted to order a Regime Change Party Pack from the True Majority ACTION PAC (at ShowGeorgeTheDoor.org). When I tried to purchase my party pack True Majority's web site tried to charge me nearly double the amount I should've been charged. It even said "Price $34.50, quantity 1, total $69.50". Now that's some creative math! Okay, well everyone experiences bugs. The problem came when I tried to get in touch with them. I looked for ways to contact them and the only method I could find was to email their 'info' email alias. I did and never got a response. In the meantime, they sold out of the Pants on Fire Bush doll! I was devastated (okay, disappointed). I emailed them again. Eventually I got a response which basically said "That's weird, try again". After multiple attempts and some monkeying I somehow got it to work and ordered the party pack (with no assistance from True Majority). They promised delivery in time for the 4th of July. They later sent mail saying the party packs were being sent out a little late, but would still arrive "in plenty of time", about a week before the 4th. It is now the 3rd of July and I haven't heard a peep from them and haven't seen any party packs in the mail. I sure hope it shows up today. I don't mean to pick on them. I think they have good intentions and are doing a great thing. But some basic organizational changes could help. For example, don't just have one email address for every kind of inquiry from "the sky is falling" to "gosh, you guys are neat". Second, consider a simple email form to help sort through your inquiries by putting them into buckets so you can prioritize your responses. Third, and I know this is a risky one, include a phone number for people with real issues. I think once you start doing e-commerce on your web site you have to take on some responsibility and can no longer just be a casual fly-by-night operation. But as I mentioned earlier, there are many of these new organizations doing great things with bad customer service. Not to pick on True Majority unduly; I had a very similar experience with the MoveOn PAC. They offered a great deal on some clever bumper stickers so I went ahead and placed an order for 10 for $3.00. Just like True Majority, the MoveOn PAC's web site charged me double for my order (though their system didn't tell me this until it was too late to cancel the order). I contacted MoveOn PAC through the form on their web site and never heard back. I searched and found an email address for them (I think I resorted to searching their code for this) and email them again. Never heard back. It has now been over a month and although I received my 10 stickers, I have never received a response from them on my being overcharged. And all I asked was that they send me an additional 10 stickers rather than refunding my $3. Perhaps there is a rogue coder out there selling bad e-commerce scripts to well-meaning Democratic organizations. Maybe that coder is an angry Republican. Either than or a less-than-competent coder. Okay, so that is my little rant. I should say one more thing as a caviat. If I were to tell you the story of ordering my new phone and service from AT&T Wireless (and perhaps I will one day soon) then you would likely say to me "clearly the corporations don't have good customer service, either." Well, you would be right. Though the cynical part of me says that for-profit entities have a lot more incentive to get customer service right than not-for-profit groups focused on other things entirely. Regardless, let's kick ass and send Bush back to Texas where he belongs!