tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post2343584144880212559..comments2024-03-17T02:12:53.713-05:00Comments on POD People: Up the Lamazon Without a Paddleveingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-60588435536366243142009-06-15T00:35:32.456-05:002009-06-15T00:35:32.456-05:00"Your quote is a bit out of context."
I..."Your quote is a bit out of context."<br /><br />I think you missed the point of what my purpose was in quoting the article. I quoted someone mentioning Amazon's poor customer service (I'm afraid that Amazon's customer service does have a reputation in cyberspace for not answering e-mails, and I'm afraid not all of us are in a position to communicate with customer service by telephone) because I've heard that CreateSpace's customer service is equally poor. I was responding to the comments above about how good CreateSpace is.<br /><br />I take your point about Lulu not offering as much customer service as Amazon does. Can we agree that all of these businesses could do with some improvement?<br /><br />As for the article I quoted, I took it to be mainly a complaint by the article writer about Amazon's service to its customers. Clearly the article writer didn't know the full nature of how Amazonfail started. <a href="http://duskpeterson.livejournal.com/40483.html" rel="nofollow">I did</a>. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-27520088749210707172009-06-14T18:02:19.328-05:002009-06-14T18:02:19.328-05:00Dusk-
Your quote is a bit out of context.
"...Dusk-<br /><br />Your quote is a bit out of context.<br /><br />"Sudden onset homophobia on Amazon's part was just one of many eventually disproved conspiracy theories..." That's a good thing. The theory that Amazon was a big homophobe was DISPROVED and the whole thing was chalked up to being a glitch. Now, I don't really believe that, but it's what they said.<br /><br />The real worry lies in what Mark Probst's was told when Amazon called him back (before the www cannons went off). Here's what Mark said they told him (from the same article you quote):<br /><br />"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude 'adult' material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature."<br /><br />I think that speaks volumes when it comes to blatant censorship of books. Amazon sells sex lube and dildos, but even they are allowed a sales rank. There's even a "fisting" tee with, you guessed it, a sales rank!! So if Amazon failed on purpose, why did they single out books?<br /><br />And it's actually easy to get Amazon to call you back. I don't know why the article makes a big deal about that. You go to their customer service screen and there's an option to enter your phone number and have them call you immediately, in five minutes, or in ten minutes. And a live person will be on the line. I've used it often. <br /><br />Lulu has no phone customer service, no online chat support, and has taken up to 25 days to reply to emails since getting rid of chat. At least Amazon is a tad bit quicker with a response.Shannon Yarbroughhttp://www.shannonyarbrough.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-8518426246467114162009-06-14T04:43:49.066-05:002009-06-14T04:43:49.066-05:00Well, I haven't been on the Lulu forums recent...Well, I haven't been on the Lulu forums recently, so I haven't encountered the problems that others are having. I think that Lulu has done a good job of updating its software periodically, and I haven't found its search engine to be hard to use, but I agree that it's behind the times as far as social networking is concerned. I also don't much like their procedure for shopping checkout, though they've improved it.<br /><br />The only act by Lulu that I find really alarming is the Amazon Marketplace snafu, but I'm hoping they've rolled back that policy by now?<br /><br />As for CreateSpace . . . While I don't have anything against their business model, I'll quote here Helen A.S. Popkin in <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30215820/" rel="nofollow">Shocking Truth Behind Amazon's 'Glitch'</a>, because, from the reports I've been hearing, these words are also applicable to CreateSpace's customer service:<br /><br />"Sudden onset homophobia on Amazon's part was just one of many eventually disproved conspiracy theories, all of which distracted from truly shocking story here: Mark Probst attempted to contact someone at Amazon . . . <i>and someone actually contacted him back!</i><br /><br />"Seriously. Dude. Is that something you ever expect to accomplish in your life?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-28450231466465230612009-06-11T16:23:39.300-05:002009-06-11T16:23:39.300-05:00You hit it out of the park, Shannon! CreateSpace w...You hit it out of the park, Shannon! CreateSpace will eventually take over Lulu's market share.Floyd M. Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07328513361518450633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-31767962750702468632009-06-11T13:00:48.122-05:002009-06-11T13:00:48.122-05:00I agree with Henry, and was going to say Wordclay ...I agree with Henry, and was going to say Wordclay and CreateSpace are going to steal Lulu's share of the market over time. <br /><br />If CS ever expands beyond Amazon and keeps their pricing low, Lulu might has well call up AuthorHouse and see if they've got room for one more.Shannon Yarbroughhttp://www.shannonyarbrough.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-12920764398269339882009-06-11T12:40:57.398-05:002009-06-11T12:40:57.398-05:00I agree. Terrible, terrible management at Lulu. U...I agree. Terrible, terrible management at Lulu. Unsustainable. Think they've been riding on the backs of people who don't know any better - that quote "we publish bad poetry" really does seem at the heart of how they run the business. They don't respect their writers, but writers are getting a lot more savvy about self-publishing tech and will take their business somewhere else. Wordclay and Createspace look a lot more attractive now.Henry Baumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152826970185134084noreply@blogger.com