02 vs Usability

Have you ever tried getting a contact number for o2 from their website – its really easy. All you have to do is…

1. go to www.02.co.uk
2. hunt for a “contact us” button
3. There isn’t one. Think for a bit, and try Help
4. Wonder why they need a mobile number before you can see any help info
5. Type in the telephone number
6. Be amazed at the complete lack of apparent customisation
7. Wonder what Jakob Neilsen would think of 10 small, fairly random text links and a search box as a help section
8. Find “Telephone Us” link second from bottom. Hurrah!
9. Begin reading telephone us page. It talks about how to find help information on the website.
10. Go back, and make sure you clicked on the “Telephone us” link, and not the “give me unhelpful information about the awfulness of our site usability and how to search for things we haven’t linked properly”
11. Nope. It’s the same page. Read down the page.
12. Wonder why they titled the page “Telephone us”, and not just “Fuck off. You’ve already paid, so we don’t care anymore.”
13. Swear and swear and swear.

Now, wasn’t that easy?