I ordered - or thought I ordered - a few things for Adena from Sundance.com last week.  Their site has always been frustrating from a usability perspective, and I found the checkout process particularly confusing this time (it’s been a year or so since my last order.)  I thought I checked out correctly, and when I didn’t get a confirmation email, I assumed it was caught in my spam filter or just delayed.

For once I was ahead of the game.  My order was placed (or so I thought) well in advance of Christmas and Adena’s birthday a few days before.  Regular shipping had it slated for delivery last Thursday or Friday, and even if it was a bit late, no big deal.  Until, of course, Adena decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday this past Saturday rather than the following one as I’d planned.

Friday morning, I logged into Sundance.com.  I saw the order in my history, but no delivery date was displayed.  Everything looked normal, just no indication that it had shipped.  I called, and they explained that the order had been “placed” but not “completed” meaning they never got the credit card information.  I had to provide that via phone to complete the order — there was no such option online.  When I complained about that, the rep gave my favorite archaic line (not a direct quote):

“We don’t work with the online group — you’d have to talk with them about the web site ordering process.  I don’t know anything about it.”

When will they get it?  I don’t care about their groups and misguided legacy divisions.  I just want to give them money — why do they make it so difficult?

The rep went on to say that if I wanted to get my gift in time, I’d have to pay express shipping.  Not acceptable, I explained, and to her credit she came through with approval from her supervisor to send it next day without any extra charge. 

I appreciate their independence and wisdom for the gesture, and I remain a Sundance fan, just not of their outdated web site.  Hopefully they’re tracking “customer service” costs like this in a way that will help their web group justify reworking their user experience.