AIBU to think commerce has utilised technology in a way that makes some aspects of our lives more cumbersome

[HauntedBungalow]

Supermarket shopping for example, not just the customer physically doing more but also the multi-tiered pricing systems.

Having to book many leisure activities in advance is another, also the pricing of these has gone rogue.

Accessing films, music too is complicated - theoretically we have everything at our fingertips but actually it's all parcelled up in subscription services and ownership/access changes all the time.

And if you hit a bump in service of any kind, your only remedy is to have a bot chat at you.

I thought the technological revolution would look a bit different, from this.

Kettles are still fast. They were always practically 100% efficient, there’s no improving on that.

I think they must be related to the websites that, as soon as you click on to them for the first time ever, they want you to sign up and/or give feedback on the site that you haven't yet had a moment to evaluate to see what it's like and if it interests you.

Dave Gorman once did a piece where he sent a friend out on to the streets to do a survey of passers-by, where the whole nature of the survey was asking for feedback of their experience in doing the survey!

It was hilarious in its absurdity as a comedy piece; but so many companies basically do the same thing in all seriousness!

The code thing. The fucking code for security purposes drives me bananas. If it's a short code, I can spot it flash up on the top of my phone screen and memorise it (as long as I've got my reading glasses on). If it's anything more complicated, I have to try and switch between screens, copy and paste, and nine tomes out of ten I've taken too long, and either the thing I needed it for has expired, or the code has, or the page has shut itself off.

And changing passwords - I spend an inordinate amount of time shrieking at my phone like a fish wife because "we have sent you a link to reset your password" and actually "No you haven't, it's taken 15 minutes, now it's expired, you bastard" Also it's gone into spam or junk. And sometimes you haven't even tried, I swear.

Had a right palaver trying to get into a hardly used email account. Couldn't remember the password. That's fine, sign in with Google/ Facebook. Oh you've changed devices. Use your old device (what the phone I upgraded two years ago because it was broken beyond repair so even if I still had it I couldn't use it?). I can't remember how I resolved it but it was about two days of PTSD inducing frustration, endlessly looping through verification processes that were never enough, including proving I wasn't a robot. I may have had to hand it to a young person in the end. Honestly makes me shudder just remembering it.

My Mum is (sort of) elderly, and her last GP would send her emails telling her to scan a QR code so she could give an update on her chronic condition and for an in person review to be organised.

Ye Gods.

I'm sure I read an article saying this was going to be introduced in the Week Junior (my main source of news 😄).

My other bug bear is the god damn wheel of fortune discount that comes up on every shopify store. The one that appears before you’ve even had a chance to look at products yet expects you to hand over your data - and even if you do decide I don’t mind an email, that’s no longer enough - you also have to give your phone number!

fuck off!!!!

I wouldn't mind a box that said 'We'll back off and just send a monthly email with good stuff in it' next to 'click here for the deluge, how do you rate your experience clicking this box and if it is not *** tell us why'.

To be fair, you can deposit a paper cheque online using your phone camera. It's more likely to be a tax dodge.

MULTI FUCKING FACTOR FUCKING AUTHENTICATION. 😡

I'd like to listen to this, but it's asking me to log in to BBC iPlayer 😄...

Using websites does my head in these days. No, I don’t want you to track my cookies, click, reject all, click, pop up 10% off if you’re new customer, I am not so no thanks, click. Searching for specific product using keyword(s), promoted items come up or suggestions for other things you might like, AND showing items that don’t remotely match what I’ve asked for.

I work fully remotely and live in fear of losing my phone as I need to use it for MFA every single day to be able to do my actual job.

Maybe it’s the way your local pool handles it.

Most of ours have an ‘open swim’ option - you book in there are lanes set up and you decide on the day, and another
part of the pool is open for just ‘bobbing about’ so to speak. Just checked online and could book a slot for this afternoon easily…..so it’s not a universal problem.

i’m not sure i under the issues people have with ‘signing up’ … you ‘signed up’ to mums net

I'll never forget the three hours of hell spent trying to get my 85 year old Dad onto the NHS app. He had multiple deteriorating health conditions and was assured that getting on the app would make it all easier to manage his appointments. All well and good except we could not get the face scan thing work, nor marry up with his photo ID.

My Dad came to me as a last resort, as in general he was better at tech than me, and eventually we asked for help down at his surgery. The receptionist blanched, and virtually waved a crucifix and garlic at us, and no, there wasn't anyone who could help.

Never did resolve it, and were confined to the mish mash of texts, emails and phone calls that comes with intensive healthcare forever more.

And, AND, the way you arrive on a website and within 2 seconds it's 'Sign up to our newsletter for a 10% discount' 'Download our app' 'Add us to your home screen' I haven't had the chance to even look at anything yet.

Oh the irony!
On the other hand, me being able to find and link to a programme broadcast 2 years ago is a positive aspect to modern technology. Or is it causing overwhelm and choice fatigue now that we can (and should?) listen/read/watch everything ever made? I’m going for an old-fashioned lie down in a darkened room

Omg YANBU. I HATE sodding apps for everything and passwords for everything. I hate having to clean out my burner email accounts of spam weekly ( it’s just another chore). I hate parking apps and passcodes to my phone or I can’t log in to whatever.
Time was when I had the same phone number for 20 years. I was very protective over who I gave my number to. I never got spam calls.
After having to sign up for an identity checking service I got so much spam I had to change my number.
And yes, music! I have Spotify and have to pay a tenner every month to avoid adds and so it will let me choose the song order I want to listen to.
I miss Walkmans.
And yes cocking loyalty cards where you can “ choose” to pay 1.49 or 5.49 for a roll of kitchen paper. It’s not really a choice then is it? It’s more a gun to your head to sell your data or be unable to afford groceries.
But my biggest rant is for the people who think i
hate it all because I’m old!! No, it’s because I resent having to get my bloody phone out for everything! I don’t think needing a pocket computer for every single thing you do in life is freedom, it’s quite the opposite.
I’m sick of being patronised by people who don’t get why we hate it. In the supermarket the other day I asked one of the two assistants standing there if they were going to open another checkout ( there was 1 with a long queue) . She said “ no…. but you’re welcome to use the self checkout over there”.
Oh silly old me… I’m obviously too stupid to
understand my options… I just dead eyed her and said “ no thank you” but ffs . It’s like when you call a company and they tell you you can access services on their website. Well yes but if I wanted to do that presumably I would be!
It’s a tyranny and I intend to go down fighting!
< breathe>

God the review requests! I'm going on holiday in August, so like the sensible woman I am, purchased travel insurance when I booked in March. The insurance company keep emailing me asking how I'd rate their insurance and would I recommend it to friends and family?

I've not even been yet, let alone had any need to claim on the insurance, which let's face it is the important bit.

So what they're really asking me on a weekly basis is 'how would you rate how easy it is for you to give us your money'?

Oh, thank you for this thread OP.

The catharsis is welcome, and the sense of solidarity from other humans is so very reassuring.

I'm just waiting for a ChatGPT infiltrator to appear and try and lure us to the light side.....

@bob1985 "Plus…better for the environment to remove need to re print menus every time there’s a change to the menu items."

Probably not. I am sure a clever poster will know the facts, but I think all this technology is probably using far more of the earth resources than a laminated menu. At worst that laminated menu is going to change four times a year. Or they'll print the specials or stick them on a board.

It's like people thinking electric cars are better for the environment. Or not realising how much environmental resource is used by AI.

For the points on this thread in general - I don't really understand why it's gone this far. There are many organisations where the staff will be driven mad by all the technology. The customers will be driven by all the technology. So why does the company want to in the first place? One poster has said it's capitalism. But actually, it's not terribly efficient or profitable for a lot of places to spend all this money on technology.

One place where I worked for six years, they changed all of their technology three times while I was working there. I can only assume that those in charge were doing it as a way to line pockets of friends. They paid consultants an absolute fortune.

The user experience at the end was either the same, because they were just fiddling with backend systems and ultimately made them worse for staff. literally looked the same to the users.

Or in one case, the user experience was annoying enough to generate a lot of complaints. They genuinely did not make any directly related profit from adopting these changes. And when I pointed it out to them, they were unhappy. As if they didn't want someone pointing out an area where they might be able to save money. What is that about?

We do seem to have a culture of incompetence bedded into business now. And I can't understand why. What would cause that happen?

Oh, and your privacy is important to us - in the same way that your handbag is important to a mugger
Brilliant!
On the plus side I now rarely buy anything online so it’s good for my bank balance.

Things are much easier and much harder in equal measure.

I regularly cull companies whose technology and systems are too painful and long winded.

I cancelled my Waitrose card and took my email off their system, because any time I bought even a pint of milk there, I was stalked every single time with a 'how were your groceries' email before I got home. Grim!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/09/britain-digital-id-cards-labour-reform-borders-identity

Oh boy.

Another potentially reasonable to a degree idea that will no doubt be riddled with errors and clusterfuckery.

I hate that we're here.

Parking apps you end up paying more. Local one adds 40p per session doing it by app but invariably the ticket machines are all out of order to pay by cash/card.