Cindy, Cindy, Cindy,
You act as though you thought the vendors actually gave a rodent's fundament
for the ease, convenience and mental health of the customers. They have
undoubtedly switched to the "new & improved" system because it is
easier/cheaper for them. And by "the vendors", I'm not referring to the
people we deal with, many of whom are as frustrated by the current trends as
we are, but to the beancounters in charge of everything. And while I have
nothing against beancounters in the abstract, when their costcutting
measures consist primarily of having me do their jobs for them, I resent it.
How come Matthew Bender has people available to call me about invoices that
are a year "overdue", but when I call them back with the information on the
payment of those invoices a year ago, plus documentation of the two other
times we've straightened out the same problem with someone from customer
service, I get voicemail & no return call? How come Andrews has the manpower
to send out invoices for Hazardous Waste Strategies but not to send notices
that they "lost" the publisher and haven't done an issue since last
November? How can Lexis manage to load an entire multi-volume Matthew Bender
treatise, Commercial and Consumer Warranties, and mislabel the entire
document as Commercial and Consumer Commodities? How come West...oh, never
mind, I don't have that much time.
As long as legal publishing is in the hands of companies with a purely
bottom-line (not to say bottom-feeding) mentality, and especially while they
are still trying to recoup the huge outlay conglomeration has cost them,
don't expect to see any improvement.
Bob Ryan
Hill Farrer & Burrill
Los Angeles
-----Original Message-----
From: Cindy Chick [mailto:cchick@netcom.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 12:05 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Aspen - Can I vent?
I really try not to vent on law-lib too much, but today I just can't
help myself.
<VENT ON>
I called Aspen Publishers to place an order. It seems that they have a
new accounting system. So the sales person asked me for the name of
my firm, and the zip code. I said that I had an account number. But
she tells me, this new and improved system CAN'T SEARCH BY
ACCOUNT NUMBER! So she pulled up our many accounts, and had to sift
through them all to find our main account. This was after a long hold,
and an attempt to order the book on their web page. Except you can't
order from their web page with an ACCOUNT NUMBER. You must charge to a
credit card. ARGHHH.
What kind of computer systems are these people upgrading to???
<VENT OFF>
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Cindy Chick cchick@netcom.com
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