A bad experience made bearable by good user experience!

 – posted July 28th, 2008 by Ruairi Galavan     Comments (3)

My nice car-clampedLast week I was clamped outside my local shopping centre. My car was outside for no more than 10 minutes, but they got me!

Anyhow, my ensuing rage short was lived. On the window of my car was a phone number and my clamp’s code. I called the number and followed the simple instructions; enter code, enter credit card number, hang up, and wait.

Approximately 3 minutes later, the ‘clamper’ arrived back having been notified of my payment, and the clamp was removed.

By double parking, i had made an error. The instructions to resolve this error were clear, and the process was surprisingly pain free (apart from the blow to my credit card).

We got talking in the office about how this experience could be made even better. One idea that stuck out was a device that you could remove yourself, without having to wait for the ‘clamper’ to return. So the process would be; enter code, enter credit card number, receive deactivation code, enter deactivation code, remove clamp, drive away.

Of course, the clamping device would need to be easily removable by anybody. Perhaps the clamping company could offer a 30% refund to the ‘clampee’ once the clamp is returned.

We would love to hear your design solutions.

Photo by Michael Wailes

Categories Design, Usability

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