Screencast-O-Matic's Customer Support Team Needs Customer Support.
Screencast-O-Matic is a great service when it works. But I find that it doesn't work as often as it should.
This is a free service. You can record whatever is on your screen. You can narrate it. It is great for teaching. The free version allows 15 minutes. The pro version allows unlimited time. This costs $15 a year. Cheap.
The company lets you save the video file for free on its site. Or you can post it on YouTube.
I recorded two on January 10. No problems. I recoded one on January 11. All I got was a black screen.
The site offers this: Send feedback. I clicked it. I got three options:
Finally, it died:
So, to register a warning, you must go through the hoops set up by customer support. But customer support's reporting system had broken down.
So, how does anyone inform customer support? He can't.
Every site needs a simple email option to warn the webmaster of a problem.
A lot of websites make this mistake: a complex system to contact the people running the site. Complexity invites foul-ups. There should always be a simple email option or some other contact device.
There should be multiple ways for a visitor to use email to contact the webmaster, customer support, and senior management. Senior management should never seal itself off from site visitors. Complaints are early warning indicators for problems that can grow.
To find an email, I looked in PRIVACY POLICY. No email. I looked in TERMS OF SERVICE. No email.
I went to www.DrWhoIs.com, the domain registry listing. The owners have paid extra to hide who they are.
When a site seals itself off from emails, it sends a negative message: "We don't make mistakes. No need to contact us."
It's a shame when the company sells a good product, as this firm does.
If you set up a website, be sure that visitors can contact you by normal email.