

Kindle: Buying Books by Accident - bensummers
http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2010/06/19/kindle_buying_books_by_accident/

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oscardelben
I once bought a book by accident but I was able to get a refund on the next
page.

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mike-cardwell
I like the way the author "forgets" to mention the simple refund capability.
It would have sounded even more like whining if he'd remembered to include it.

~~~
LukasMathis
I didn't forget to mention the refund capability. I didn't mention it because
it's not relevant to the point I'm making.

I'm not saying that Amazon is somehow trying to steal money from people (I
rather like Amazon). I also didn't write a general critique of the Kindle's UI
(which is usually quite well done). Instead, I merely pointed out a specific
flaw with its UI. You can call this "whining", but I'm a UI designer, so being
whiny about this stuff is kind of in my job description :-)

It's true that you can get a refund, but that doesn't make the problem go
away. It means that the user can _fix_ the problem once it has occurred. The
experience is unpleasant regardless of whether the user can fix it afterwards.
Preventing the problem from occurring is better than allowing users to fix it
once it has occurred.

In my particular case, though, I was unable to fix it on my own. As soon as I
realized that I had selected the wrong option, I hit "Home", hoping that it
would cancel the action. It didn't cancel the action, but it did prevent me
from seeing the order confirmation screen, which would have allowed me to
cancel the order. Obviously, a quick message to Amazon fixed the problem
regardless, but the point is that all of this should not have been necessary.
It could have been avoided if the Kindle had simply selected the same default
action for all types of documents.

~~~
mike-cardwell
I get that. However, when writing a blog post, it is good practice to consider
what questions people will ask when they've finished reading it and answer
them in the article. You have to admit, it's a pretty obvious omission.

~~~
LukasMathis
I probably should have pointed it out. I've added a footnote.

Writing blog posts like these is a balancing act. On the one hand, I want to
keep it short and stick to the point I'm making. The fact that you can get a
refund is not directly related to the specific UI problem I'm describing, just
like the "undo" feature in a desktop application isn't directly related to,
say, mislabeled menu entries.

On the other hand, I try to write defensively. If an article is read by
hundreds or thousands of people, there will inevitable be some people who feel
that something they consider important was not included. I try to anticipate
the most obvious criticisms or questions, and explicitly mention them
preventively. But if I include all of them, the text will eventually become
unreadable. I'm also writing for an audience of UI designers, who generally
realize that I'm merely pointing out specific UI flaws, rather than making
larger points about the products or companies I use as examples.

I probably missed the mark by not pointing out the fact that it's possible to
get refunds, but I think it's not as obvious as you imply.

