Where’s my app?

Until recently I had a loyalty app on my smartphone from a well-known café chain. It was an app I’d used quite frequently – mainly because they have branches everywhere, including one just five minutes from where I live, but also because I like to score a free coffee or almond friand every now and then. So imagine my horror when I discovered the app wouldn’t work one day. Despite my best attempts, I could not log on to my account. Then when I went online to try and fix things I discovered a bunch of other people who had experienced similar frustrations with the app.

Turns out the app is not as reliable as you’d hope; I was even advised by a staff member last time I ordered a coffee there that the old-fashioned plastic loyalty cards are more reliable.

That’s a shame. When the app worked it was fantastic – emailing all sorts of incentives and discounts to encourage me back in. Now that I’ve deleted the app in frustration I no longer feel like patronising the brand. To be honest I’m a little disappointed.

Which all goes to teach us that technology, while wonderful when it’s working as it should, can be a real turn-off when it doesn’t. Literally.

I don’t know what caused the app’s reliability issue, and maybe it’s fixed now, but it does highlight the need for robust backup when offering customers clever new technology.

It’s the same with my on-again, off-again phone and broadband service at home. It’s been like that for years and changing ISPs won’t solve it. I’ve simply learnt to put up with the frustration.

But fibre is now in our street and just weeks away from being connected. Perhaps that technology will make all my telco problems go away for good! Yeah, right!

Speaking of solving problems, our insight this month into the views of Stuart Nash, Minister for Small Business, answers some of your questions on what the new government has in mind for making life easier for business owners.

Let me know what you think.