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Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

AVOID Skadate! – Lack of tech support

25 Jun 2017

AVOID Skadate! – Lack of tech supportSkadate – AVOID THEM!

Sadly, I started a website using the Skadate software, and it has been a nightmare from day 1.

LOTS of people have complained about Skadate. I’m not the first. BUT, the most people I can steer AWAY from Skadate, the better. They operate under the name "Skalfa LLC" as well.

One of the *ONLY* redeeming things about Skadate / Skalfa, was the customer community forum. There were THOUSANDS of entries with hundreds and hundreds of solutions to the countless problems Skadate has… and today, when I’m trying to figure out and solve a problem with the software, they’ve REMOVED the forum!!!!

SKADATE REVIEW / SKALFA REVIEWSI only found out because their "Pre-sales" live chat person told me that it was taken down, but they are putting it back "on Monday." I HIGHLY doubt they’ll have it back up on Monday – and I suspect they will have removed all of the useful history. BUT, let’s say that they DO bring it back up, and all of the existing information is there… WHY did they take it down in the first place? They could have left it up, but disabled the ability to add new comments, so that CUSTOMERS could still make use of the information while they retool it. (For REAL software development companies, THAT is how they do it!)

Again – BEWARE of Skadate / Skalfa!

Trust me, this is just the latest in a DOZEN issues I’ve gone crazy over. I’ve just never written about them – but going forward, I’m going to share EVERYTHING they say, in the hopes that other SUCKERS like me don’t fall for their sales pitch.

Here’s the full transcript of my chat session with them tonight:

Chat transcript

Sabrina – Sat, 06/24/17 11:43:16 pm America/Los_Angeles
Hi! Do you want to start a dating website with iOS & Android? I’m here to help.

Client – 11:43:16 pm
Where’s the URL for the community support forum?

Sabrina- 11:43:46 pm
Are you a SkaDate Customer?

Client – 11:43:51 pm
Yes
I use to find other customers on the forum who had answered questions…

11:44:10 pm
I already submitted a ticket to "support", but the answer might already be in the community forum.

Sabrina – 11:44:43 pm
May I please have your name and email?

Client – 11:44:50 pm
Dave Tavres – dave@tavres.com

Sabrina – 11:45:08 pm
Thank you! Hold on please

Client – 11:50:02 pm
? Hello?

I just want the URL for the community forum

Sabrina – 11:51:28 pm
Dave, I was told that the Forum will be activated on Monday.

Client – 11:51:43 pm
Huh? It’s been up for a few YEARS

Sabrina – 11:52:39 pm
Yes, they upgraded the Client Area but no Forum yet.

Client – 11:52:52 pm
Fine – where is the OLD forum?

I just want to search for existing solutions.

Sabrina – 11:53:59 pm
I understand but it is disabled now. You will have the access to Forum on Monday

Client – 11:54:29 pm
!!!!!! WHY DO YOU GUYS SUCK SO MUCH?! You don’t have 24/7 tech support, and now you TAKE AWAY access to the only USEFUL information?!

Can you have someone answer my support ticket NOW then?

Sabrina – 11:55:25 pm
I’m a pre-sales operator. I do not have access to customers accounts. You will need to wait til Monday when support team is back to work.

Client – 11:55:37 pm
Yeah… figures.

Duration: 12m 36s

Chat started on: https://www.skadate.com/

 
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Posted in Business, Customer Service, Marketing, Reviews, Software, Technology

 

Bank idea for potential fraud charges

19 Jun 2017

chase_logo[1]I do *love* that banks will decline charges on your card when they think the charge is fraudulent. It has the potential to save me a lot of time, and save the bank a lot of money. Of the 20 or more times I’ve had it happen in my life when my card was ‘on hold’ because of unusual spending, it’s never been a terrible inconvenience, considering the work they are doing on the back-end to help protect us both.

I recently got a short survey from Chase Bank after they declined an unusual charge. The charge was mine, but their process to unblock left something to be desired. They left me a voicemail telling me to call their fraud department using an 800 number. Well, scammers could just as easily leave that message, so I searched the web for the 800 number. No where to be found. I went to the Chase Bank website and searched for the number – again, nothing found. I checked my personal email for a message – nothing. I checked my "private Bank idea for potential fraud charges | DaveTavres.cominbox" on the Chase website for my account – again, nothing. I double-checked for txt messages on my phone, and again, nothing. My red-flag-meter started cranking up, feeling pretty sure that this lonely voicemail, supposedly from Chase Bank, was in fact an identity thief or scammer. So I finally called the 800 number on their website.

This is the frustrating part. I had to wait and get transferred twice to get to the right department – verifying an amazing amount of information each time. Then when I finally got the right person, and got verified, I confirmed the charge and they removed the block on the card. Done. Okay, it only took 20 minutes of my life, but it’s still slow and frustrating. So, here’s the idea – and some banks already do some of this…

First – send email, txt, and a private message on the bank website.

Second – have a published number on the official bank website.

Third – have two big buttons (links) in the email/txt/message that say "I VERIFY THIS CHARGE" or "BLOCK THAT CHARGE".

If you click the "VERIFY" link, you’re taken to a bank webpage where you only have to enter a single keyword, phrase, or password to prove that it’s YOU, and not an identity thief who has your phone. If you click the ‘Block’ link, you’re taken to the Bank webpage where you do not have to enter a passphrase, you just confirm that you don’t know what the charge is – which should then prompt a call from the Bank.

Pretty simple. And of course, this should be opt-in/opt-out. Some people want the phone call, or they don’t want emails, txt messages, etc. Personally, I want it to be easy. This is pretty easy.

 
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Posted in Business, Customer Service, Technology

 

Pelican Cases Have No Part Numbers!

25 May 2017

Pelican Cases Have No Part Numbers | DaveTavres.comMy crazy, logical, business brain, is shocked once again. Pelican Cases do NOT have even a tiny part number molded into the inside of their cases. So, if the label is removed, damaged beyond reading, painted, etc., if you don’t already know which model the case is… there’s no "easy" way to identify it.

Pelican customer service actually told me on the phone, that only way to figure out which model a case is, is to measure the outside dimensions, then search their catalog. She further explained the "customers often don’t want the case to have the brand name on it." (ahem-look-at-their-catalogs-ahem) That has to be one of the dumbest answers I’ve ever heard.

Even if Pelican just molded a unique identifying number on the INSIDE of the bottom and top of a case – under the area where the foam usually is – it would be very helpful for customers to quickly find out which case they have.

Well… I guess when you ‘own a market’, you don’t need to be logical :)

 
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Posted in Business

 

Awesome feature in Slack

25 Apr 2017

Awesome feature in Slack – #REMINDERS!

Such as:
/remind me on December 5th that It’s Walt Disney’s Birthday
/remind me every day at 4pm to drink a glass of water

www.Slack.comSlack | DaveTavres.com

 
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Posted in Business, Software, Technology

 

The end of Google Keep…

22 Apr 2017

Google Keep | DaveTavres.comWell, it looks like the end of #GoogleKeep… Keep has been a GREAT tool, but Google just removed Keep support from Google Home. Probably a sign that they will be killing #Keep :(

 
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Posted in Business, Software, Technology, Websites

 
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