New LOA Customer Service Center

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New LOA Customer Service Center

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1LucasTrask
març 29, 2012, 9:03 pm

I just went to my account on the LOA site and it has a new customer service center. I think the new center looks much better than the old one and is much easier to navigate and manage my account. My only complaint is that you are required to add a username and password and then the site still asks me for my account number and zip code every time I enter it. The extra level of security is nice, but I think it will get annoying quickly.

I would also like to be able to see my complete subscription list showing not wanted, wanted and shipped/owned titles. I am currently using an Excel spreadsheet sent to me by LOA and I have been manually updating with newly announced titles as well as ones I've received.

The new CSC also has the 2012–2013 Subscription Customization Form listing all new titles and all reprints. I have already submitted it and hope that it was received.

2brother_salvatore
març 29, 2012, 10:33 pm

Wow! Just logged on and checked it out. That is a huge improvement! Thanks for the heads up!

3Ollerman
març 30, 2012, 8:47 am

LoA told me that this double log in was a "feature, not a bug." That's a load of hooey. Their point was that a lot of subscribers have multiple account numbers so the double log in is a good thing.

Mine is that that's a load of crap. First, if their programmers aren't good enough to look me up by my first log in name and see that I only have one account number (and thereby skip the second log in screen), then they need to go get some new entry level programmers.

Secondly, since the account numbers are unique, what purpose did creating a new log in name (my e-mail address) serve? It doesn't really do anything. Because the account numbers were established first, my guess is that anyone can log in with their e-mail address and then successfully enter my account number and zip code.

Features, and not bugs, abound.

Apparently I'm grumpy this morning.

4mattsya
març 30, 2012, 12:41 pm

It is a great improvement, much easier to navigate. And I like that pictures of each volume for sale are available--it will help me maintain a nice color balance during the next sale. (I only own one tan volume and way too much blue!) Like LucasTrask, I would love to be able to see my send/don't send/own list, but I understand that having that feature is easier said than done. I'm sure there aren't programmers on staff and LOA is doing the best they can working with a turn-key system to adapt it to their needs.

5LucasTrask
març 30, 2012, 12:43 pm

Ollerman, I'm willing to see if I can log into your account. Send me a PM with your account number and zip code and I'll give it a try. ;-) That aside, thanks for answering why they have the double log in.

6DCloyceSmith
Editat: març 30, 2012, 7:03 pm

Everyone: The double log-in is temporary.

From my perspective, the new customer service center is only about 25% done. There are a large number of enhancements and subscriber-only features in the works. We went live with what we had both because it is basically working and because we wanted the new customization form to be available in the new center.

Over half of our currently active customers have more than one account number from our old system since each unique non-subscription order generated a new account number. (In addition, if your billing address was different from the shipping address then, whether you knew it or not, you had two account numbers: one for each address.) Thus, some e-mail addresses have several or even dozens of associated account numbers. So, for now, you need to identify the account you wish to view.

We are currently working on additional programming that will require you to enter an account number only once; subsequent log-ins will then show you a list of accounts previously "registered" on the site that you can label ("My Subscription"; etc.) for easy identification.

In the meantime, for those of you with only one account number, we've programmed it so that most browsers will save the account number and zip code so that they auto-fill when you type the first number.

The e-mail address/password log-in does add security that didn't exist before; as each account is registered with the site; you'll need them to access the account in subsequent visits.

Ultimately, I beg your forbearance: as many of you know, we have only 16 employees, most of whom work on the editorial aspects of the business, and we have no "programmers on staff." All our order processing, warehousing, fulfillment, systems and website programming, etc. is outsourced, and it can be a challenge to get exactly what we want as fast as we want it.

(I'm glad everyone seems to like the new subscriber-only bookstore. There's lots more to come: tables of contents, editorial extras, samples of interior pages, etc. Also, you'll eventually be able to order replacement slipcases--at cost--through these pages, request--at no charge--missing flyers, and much more. Basically all this will appear as fast as I can build it and coordinate it with the other branches of our business. And I hope you all noticed you are now encouraged to add your reviews for LOA books!)

7LucasTrask
Editat: març 30, 2012, 7:30 pm

David, thanks for the update on the new CSC. The additional features and enhancements sound great and I look forward to them.

Regarding the multiple account numbers, its would seem that you have already combined mine, as I placed two orders through the website before becoming a subscriber and they show under my list of all orders. So thank you for that. :-)

However, I do have one small complaint regarding the order history. It is setup to view recent orders, which is fine, but when I change it to view all orders, select an order to view and then return to the order list it reverts back to show just recent orders. If possible I would like for it to stay on the all orders view if I have selected it.

I also noticed the review option and may use it if I can actually write a decent review.

8DCloyceSmith
març 30, 2012, 7:00 pm

>6 DCloyceSmith::

Thanks for the feedback. I've just passed your suggestion along to the programmers. (This is the kind of programming fix only "live testing" with customers can provide.)

9AnnieMod
març 30, 2012, 7:44 pm

Great work on the portal :)

Any plans on adding a list of "This is what you already have according to our records" somewhere?

10DCloyceSmith
març 30, 2012, 9:01 pm

>9 AnnieMod:

Yes, one of the final items on the plan (it's the most involved and expensive from a programming perspective) is an interactive customization form listing all titles, with the titles we've already shipped pre-populated for each subscriber. The website programming for such a form is actually pretty straightforward, but getting the Web form to "talk" to the order/fulfillment system will be the challenge.

A Netflix-style queue is on the wishlist for the future, but (at least at this point) we may not be able to afford it.

11AnnieMod
març 30, 2012, 10:17 pm

Yeah, I imagine it would be.
Had you thought of an early version that gets updated with a cron every Sunday or once a month that simply lists what the subscriber already got up to that Sunday. Or something like that? This way the only orders one need to check will be from the last month....

12DCloyceSmith
març 31, 2012, 1:07 am

>11 AnnieMod:

We are investigating a variety of solutions; everything is on the table. And whether we will need to update the subscriber forms in batch mode or in real time is still not clear.

That said, we're reluctant to sidetrack our programmers with a temporary fix or upgrade that could simply delay what we really want them to do--and add to the expense.

Plus, it's a little more complicated than you describe. At any given time, we have around 13,000 subscribers but about 5,000 subscribers leave or join/return each year--so it's not simply updating the new orders but also uploading the lists for the new/returning customers as well. On top of that, of course, the list of titles changes each year.

13AnnieMod
març 31, 2012, 1:15 am

I understand but what I was thinking of is just an accumulative list of what is in the orders - not really a list against all titles with a possibility to see what you can order - more like a one place where you can see what you already have.

So that instead of opening all orders I have to see if a book is in them, I can just open the list on the site and see it.

There is already code that lists all the orders when you login; having a list automatically based on them is what I was thinking - which can even be static so it does not get calculated every time.

But I can understand not wanting to put half solutions so I was just asking (the reason is that I was looking at the subscription form and could not remember if I own a volume or not. Of course I might as well get around to it and fix my catalog here in LT which will solve this little problem for me:) )

14DCloyceSmith
Editat: març 31, 2012, 3:11 am

>13 AnnieMod:

Oh, sorry--I understand what you're suggesting now. That's an interesting idea. I'll throw it at our programmers and see what they say.

15brother_salvatore
març 31, 2012, 1:07 pm

Was just checking out the Subscriber Store area - which is very nice. So tempting to pick up a lot of extra goodies.