There are plenty of reasons why a company might provide a web
form as the only means for customers to get in touch with their
customer support department: for instance, the web form compels the
customer to send along important information with the first
request, therefore saving time (and money) for the customer service
department.
Even though I hate web forms, I sometimes do fill them in and
usually get an answer back; it works.
Every once in a while, however, I ll encounter a form designed
by people without any form of understanding of the role of a
customer for
any business (it s the most important
asset ). Such is the case when the form limits the message to a
certain number of characters. Obviously, no customer service agent
wants to read novel-length prose when fielding incoming requests,
but a few hundred characters may also not be enough to get the
point across.
Star
Alliance, for instance, expects you to get your point across in
300 characters.
I find it hard to imagine that people write lengthy texts into
web forms, unless they have more information to get across. I also
see no technical reason for limiting the length of the text which
can be submitted. The only logical explanation I have is that those
companies give a flying food about customers and would much rather
not have them contact the support department.
NP:
The Flower Kings:
Back in the World of Adventures