Support that supports? Help-desks that help?

Customer ‘service’?

You’re kidding.

The Customer Service Department is organised to serve the company, not the customer.

What did you expect?

Support that actually supports?

A help-desk that can help?

If you even get a reply, it’ll likely be a link to an online FAQ or ‘help’ article that seems to have no relevance to your problem.

Or some Kafkaesque email conversation, which goes back and forth for days, until you get so frustrated that you swear never, ever to use that particular company again!

That is, assuming you have any choice.

Sometimes the worst offenders get away with being so bad because they’re fully aware that you have no other option.

To be fair, it’s not always like this.

I use a UK bank called First Direct.

I rarely call them, but when I do, every five years or so, a real person answers promptly.

She has a nice regional accent, sounds as if she’s smiling, and yes she CAN help with my request.

Certainly, she’ll do it right now, that’s no problem at all.

And is there anything else she can help me with, while I’m on the line?

Running websites, you get used to dealing with help-desks.

Hostings, plugins, themes, payment processors…

If you know what those are, you’ll already know to avoid opening a ‘ticket’, as it is INVARIABLY a waste of time.

But again, it’s the exception that proves the rule.

Just the other day, I had some friendly support from the wonderful hosting company WP Engine.

It was an online chat.

Some nice fellow in Texas. He didn’t seem to know much more than me, but he certainly tried.

He listened to my theories, didn’t treat me like an idiot, and wasn’t in a hurry to get off the line.

And while we were working on the problem together, the issue magically went away!

So there you go.

The impossible is possible after all.

Which is my inspiration when it comes to answering questions from club members, would-be online students, and ebook buyers.

Each day, emails come zinging in from time zones all around the world.

Most of them are pleasant, a few are curt or angry.

I reply as soon as I can: first thing in the morning over breakfast, or when I finish my classes late in the evening.

And I try my best to intuit what the problem could be, as it’s not always obvious.

Especially with those ‘user-friendly’ iPads, which no one over thirty can operate.

When I can, I’ll fix the issue directly.

If that’s not possible, I’ll check the system is working normally and write detailed instructions on what to do.

For example, here’s one that came in overnight…

Hi Daniel. I’m sorry to be a nuisance, but my attempts to buy Skype lessons seems to be jinxed! It seems to let me put 10 in my cart, but then it says ‘your cart is empty’ and I can get no further. I’d actually like to buy 2×10. That should last for a while! Can you help please?

On the subject of the lessons, I’m enjoying them immensely. XXX is a great teacher. I find the speed and ease with which she uses the computer to make notes, show me vocabulary, usage, grammar, my ‘errori’ and corrections thereof, all without any fuss, is truly impressive, helpful and fun. I’d be grateful if you could please pass on my comments to XXX and to Lucia.

One reason I post this here is to offer reassurance.

Ecommerce is new to most of us, so it’s normal to have problems.

And it’s OK to ask for help!

Below is my reply (as yet, I can’t tell you if it solved the problem…)

Thanks for the feedback about XXX. And I’ll certainly try to help you complete your order!

1. Click this link to go to the product page in the new shop: https://easyreaders.org/product/online-italian-lessons10-x-30-minute-lessons/
2. Press the orange ‘Add to cart’ button
3. Click this link to view your cart: https://easyreaders.org/cart/
4. Adjust the quantity, from one to two by clicking on the up arrow in the quantity box. Delete anything you don’t want by clicking the red X on the left
5. Add the coupon code, easter offer 2017
6. Press the ‘Update cart’ button
7. Scroll down and press the ‘proceed to chckout’ button
8. From the top of the page down, if you prefer to pay with Amazon, click on the orange Amazon Pay flash, no need to enter your details that way
9. Or scroll down and choose one of the other two options on the right hand side of the page under ‘Your order’, that is to say ‘Paypal’ or ‘Direct Bank Transfer’
10. Complete the customer information on the left and press the large orange ‘Proceed’ button

That should do it. If you have issues, just write back to me. Please be as specific as you can about what is going wrong…

I used XXX, rather than the teacher’s name, because I hope that the lady’s comments are true for ALL of our online teachers.

But if that turns out not to be the case, or if you’d simply like a change of face or accent, our teaching manager, Lucia, is always on hand to help.

To find out more :

• read customer reviews for online Italian lessons.
• view online Italian lesson options in our old shop (priced in euros)
• view online Italian lesson options in our new shop (priced in British pounds)

And don’t forget to use the coupon code to save 20% (you’ll find it in bold, here below).

A domani!

Easter Sale!

Stock up today on online Italian lessons and/or ebooks for learning Italian to save 20%!

Copy and paste this coupon into the box in your shopping cart (where it says ‘Apply coupon’):

easter offer 2017

Italian lessons / ebooks can be bought in EUROS from onlineitalianclub.com, with payment through Paypal, here:

https://onlineitalianclub.com/shop/

Or from easyreaders.org in British pounds, with payment through Paypal, Amazon or bank transfer (if you have a UK bank account) here:

https://easyreaders.org/product-category/italian/

If you’re unsure what to do, check out the ‘how to use the coupon code’ page.

The explanations, pictures and links are for the club shop, but the process is identical in the new shop.

(Note that, once you’ve applied the coupon code and pressed the button, you won’t see the actual item cost change – you need to scroll down the page to see that your order total has been discounted.)

Summary:

• Coupon code easter offer 2017 gets you a 20% discount on lessons and ebooks
• It’s valid through 23/04/17
• There’s no min. or max. spend
• It can be used multiple times until the end of the offer on 23rd April 2017
• It applies to items on sale too (but cannot be used with other coupons you may have)