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Short version: I once wrote to a company to complain about their instructions, and received a pompous, insulting letter in response. It was discouraging, but I haven't given up hope that someday well written instructions for everyday products will be the norm, not the exception. . .Does anyone have suggestions on how to campaign for this?!
Long version:
A few years ago, I ordered a do-it-yourself kit for a fancy-dancy beaded/sequined/beribboned Christmas ornament. It arrived with all the components mixed up in a plastic bag, and a set of Truly Awful Instructions: six-point Courier type, both portait and landscape text crammed onto the same page, steps out of order, incomprehensible descriptions of the ribbons and beads, useless diagrams, and more. After a year of frustration, the finished ornament had only a passing resemblance to the one shown in the catalog. My mother and sister had identical experiences with kits from the same company.
I figured for $30, the instructions should've been better, so I wrote to the company to explain my frustration and offer them an opportunity to improve. I suggested that they could contact their local STC chapter if they were interested in consulting a professional technical writer.
Their reply letter was dumbfounding -- it claimed that they have received AWARDS for their instructions, insisted that one of the owners has been writing the instructions for years and they have *never* received a complaint, implied that I must be a moron if I couldn't figure out the instructions, and snidely wished me well in my job search! The last straw was that they never apologized or appeared remotely interested in retaining my business.
Needless to say, I haven't ordered from them again. All I could do was regret that their customers have such low expectations, and feel sorry for them that they took constructive criticism so personally.
Kate Schommer
Sr. Technical Writer
Metsys Engineering Incorporated
kschommer -at- metsyseng -dot- com
Paul Strasser <paul -dot- strasser -at- WINDSOR-TECH -dot- COM> wrote:
How do you folks react to Truly Awful Instructions for "everyday" products?
>>snip<<
...have any of you ever contacted the offending company and either complained or offered
your services to improve their instructions?
