Author: admin

Categories
Travel

Wrong Phone Number to Police

King County Metro Transit (which serves Seattle) has its own police force. The police force is a part of the King County Sheriff’s office. On the buses are signs encouraging decent behavior. But, if bad behavior arises, Metro Transit has provided contact information to law enforcement. See below the portion of the sign with this contact information.

The number showing for Metro Transit Police is wrong. It is NOT 206 553 3000. The listed number is the main number to Metro customer service. There is no option in the customer service menu system for police. And, the number is not answered 1) between 8pm and 6am, 2) weekends, 3) holidays. Listen to the audio below. (Recorded 2019-12-15-closed; 2019-12-16-open .)

Metro’s announcement message when closed. NO mention of police.
Metro’s announcement message when open. NO mention of police.

Metro has not forgotten about Spanish speakers. The same wrong number to the police appears in Spanish. “o llame a metro transit police al” translates to 206 553 3000″or call metro transit police at 206 553 3000″.

King County Transit Shows Wrong Number to Police

What is the right seven-digit number? According to the Metro Transit Police web page it is 206 296 3311 (in image below). Chief of Metro Police Major Dave Jutilla on 2019-11-14 said in an email “206.296.3311 goes into the dispatch center for the KC Sheriff’s Office & and Metro Transit Police. 911 should be used for serious in-progress crimes.” The chief did not mention 206 553 3000 in his email.

Clearly the Metro Transit Police know the correct phone number.

Telling customers to call the wrong number for police help will absolutely delay help and could potentially put people’s lives in danger. Imagine calling for the police and listening through a menu system that has no option for the police. Imagine calling for the police when no one answers the phone during closed hours.

Placing the wrong number to police on hundreds of buses is not very smart and certainly not customer-friendly. I would call this a serious management failure.

Updates

2020-02-04: Yes indeed, King County Metro Transit is still pushing the wrong phone number to Transit Police. Saw the same numbers on posters (English and Spanish) in coach 2649 tonight.

2020-02-13: King County Metro Transit is still displaying the wrong phone number to Transit Police. Saw the same wrong numbers on posters in coach 2634 today. Twice.

Categories
Travel

ShuttleExpress in Seattle Not Reliable

We no longer trust ShuttleExpress in Seattle to get us to the airport. Here’s why:

I made a reservation with private car (at double the expense) for a more precise pickup time: 415am. I called ShuttleExpress offices at least 24 hours in advance and confirmed the 415am pickup. The female representative assured me 415am was the pickup time. We received an email confirming the 415am pickup time.

The driver showed up at 330am — 45 minutes early! No warning!

The passenger, my housemate, was still dealing with the animals and other chores to prepare the house for departure. The driver showing up 45 minutes early put the passenger into a panic dealing with animals and other chores to secure the house.

I called the ShuttleExpress number at 425 981 7000 440am Pacific Time to complain and ask for a refund. The guy on the phone kept saying the computer showed 345am. Who cares what the computer says? It is wrong. I made the reservation. I called to confirm and was told 415am. We have an email confirming 415am pickup.

The bottom line is this:
— ShuttleExpress is not reliable

— ShuttleExpress people apparently lie

— ShuttleExpress did not conform to the agreed pickup time

When ShuttleExpress ignores the scheduled and time confirmed in their own email how can anyone have confidence and trust ShuttleExpress? We can’t.

Categories
Communication

Sloppy Journalism from KUOW Radio in Seattle

Headlines are often the only text a reader takes in. That’s why good journalism should accurately reflect article content.

The following headline on the website of KUOW radio in Seattle misleads readers. In a small focus group, readers thought the headline suggested a health hazard in water. The headline proclaimed “Wifi wires will run through water pipes in northern Washington town”.

Below is the text contained in the article below the headline.

Starting next month, people in Anacortes can get something unusual in their drinking water: the internet.

A normally busy sidewalk on Seattle’s University Way Northeast has been cordoned off for an all-too-common reason: the concrete is being torn up to put in new fiber optic cable.

An hour north, the seaside town of Anacortes has found a way to avoid all that disruption: fiber optics cables in existing water pipes.

The city of Anacortes in Skagit County is making internet a public utility in an unexpected way — running fiber optic cables through water pipes.

Sitting inside Anacortes’ main water pipe is a skinny plastic tube, like a drinking straw inside a glass of water.

“We have inserted a fiber optics cable inside of live water lines all the way from Mount Vernon to Anacortes,” said Fred Buckenmeyer, who runs the city’s public works department. “First in North America.”

Buckenmeyer said this internet tube is made of the same plastic as the water pipe it sits inside.

“Like having a water pipe inside a water pipe,” he said. “No chance of contamination or anything like that.”

Buckenmeyer said the utility had lots of leftover capacity after installing a fiber-optic system for monitoring the various pumping stations along its water system. He said this novel approach cost less than the alternative: digging under the Skagit River, the Swinomish Slough and 15 miles of farms, wetlands, streets and sidewalks along the way.

City officials say they hope to entice customers away from Comcast with locally owned and cheaper internet service.

Project manager Jim Lemberg said if municipal broadband can capture a third of the Anacortes market for internet service, the project will pay for itself in 15 years.

Here’s why this headline misleads the public.

The article talks about “fiber optics cables in existing water pipes”. Fiber is not wire. Referring to fiber as wire is completely misleading. “Wire” is never mentioned in the article.

Wifi is radio, hence radio waves. “Wifi wires” is nearly a contradiction in terms. Many times wire is used to make a connection from a router to an access point (which is the radio transceiver). The access point in turn uses antennae for the radio waves.

Radio transmission through water does not work well. Wifi is best when line-of-sight through air.

Wifi is never mentioned in the article. “Internet” is referred to three times.

The bottom line: KUOW is misleading the public with a headline that barely reflects article content.

Is there any wonder why the consuming public distrusts the media? The Society of Professional Journalists had started a project on distrust of media. Based on this KUOW article, it is easy to understand why there is distrust in media.

Categories
Marketing

QFC needs a logic shot for vaccination promotion

QFC — a retail grocery with stores in the Seattle area — is owned by Kroger. QFC offers vaccinations in the stores’ pharmacies. The QFC website is an example of how not to provide and promote vaccination customer service.

The first problem is that vaccinations don’t show up in the Pharmacy and Health drop down menu. See the image below.

Illogically, the consumer is supposed to know to click on “My Prescriptions”. That menu item brings up another page with a left-hand menu, see below.

On this page the consumer finds “Vaccinations Made Easy” under “My Prescriptions” and “Vaccinations” under Pharmacy Services. If the user clicks on “Vaccinations Made Easy” the user ends up on another page with a Consent form that gathers relevant information. “Consent” is not a “Prescription.”

If the user clicks on “Vaccinations” under “Pharmacy Services” the user is taken to a page with the heading of “Vaccinations Made Easy with No Appointment Needed!”. Huh? Shouldn’t that headline be associated with the other hyperlink (“Vaccinations Made Easy”)? Regardless, why are there two different hyperlinks on the page for vaccinations? Why not consolidate all vaccinations information on the same page? In marketing terms, splitting this information (with inconsistent use of terminology) destroys the sales funnel — the focus on content aimed at a sale. See image below.

Each of those hyperlinks takes the user to a PDF file with this content:

Redirect
Similar content can be found at the following URL. Please take a moment to update
your bookmark:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-combined-schedule.pdf

Gee. Isn’t that a helpful schedule? Rather than go into more detail, QFC should think about user experience rather than some convoluted corporate logic if it wants to makes sales and make it easy for the customer. And while corporate doesn’t have its promotional act together, it puts pressure on pharmacy staff to make vaccination sales. Corporate is failing in its job to deliver leads and then blames staff for not making sales targets. This scenario is simply unfair to pharmacy staff. The best customer service is when there is a good user experience that easily flows leads into the organization.