Print = poor service, full stop

To traditional commerce, it must seem ironic that the web has turned product businesses into service businesses. But it has. Boy, it has. And the sooner traditional organisations—specifically those dealing with print media—realise that, the better off we'll all be.

This week I bought a gift subscription to the printed National Geographic online, from the National Geographic website. Purchasing was, unsurprisingly, easy enough. But then...

1. I receive an unbranded text-only email, and realise that I made an error in the delivery address for my gift subscription. On closer inspection I realise that while the confirmation tells me the payment method I used, it doesn't tell me how much the charge was.
2. I visit the account management website but have no account number to enter, so I can't change the details.
3. I call the Australian support number listed in the email, but it's been disconnected.
4. In a last-ditch effort, I reply to the receipt email, but unsurprisingly, it's undeliverable.
5. I tweet @natgeo four times, to no avail.
6. I drag up the White Pages and call the National Geographic Channel, whatever the fuck that is, in Australia.
7. Through the IVR I get the 1800 number listed exactly nowhere else for magazine support in Australia.
8. I call that number. 
9. The support person tells me I can expect a confirmation email in a week which will have an account number in it. I can then email service@nategoaust.com with the account number and the correct mailing address.

...or I could just stick a fork in my eye, call the ambulance, and endure optical surgery rather than put myself through the pain of trying to navigate National Geographic's subscription "service"...

This reminds me of a recent book order in a specialist book store. The book was supposedly in the Australian warehouse and would take "a week or two" to come in. I cancelled the order after three so I could just order it online from overseas, receive the fucker, and be done with it.

I am one of possibly 6, maybe 7 people on the planet willing to fork out actual money solely to support the Australian print industry. And where has it got me? Exactly nowhere, friends. Nowhere.