Canada has a program that assists people to renovate their home so that it is more energy efficient. You decide on a project and submit it to the government program and they will give you a grant to do the project. Projects could be for upgrading insulation, windows ,doors etc. They send out a technician who checks if there is air leakage in any place. They make a recommendation as to what should be done.
We decided to put in some windows under this program.
So about 3 months ago we registered for the program. Yesterday I received a confusing email saying that I had registered but not submitted a project. We were not supposed to submit a project at the time but wait until we were accepted.
So for the next step I could use my GC to enter the government website or snail mail. The micro manager said, "do this on line." I said, "no use mail." So after about 45 minutes of going around and around and not finding the place to register, well we decided to go the snail mail route. We phoned and the person answering the phone wasn't much better than trying to use the website.
Every time I try to use a government website I have trouble. I know part of is me. When I phone for assistance and they walk me through the process it works.
Is anybody else completely baffled when it comes to using government web sites?
I consider myself an intelligent person and I find the government websites completely confusing. They are very unclear and half the time you must guess at things. Even when you do things correctly as per the process laid out the sites often do not work. I know you and I are not the only ones with this problem. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteYou also come back to sites that don't work anymore like CRA.
DeleteWe allegedly have a scheme like that, though you have to be fairly poor to get much help - and if you're that poor you presumably have other priorities. UK government websites (touching wood, crossing fingers etc) seem to work reasonably well in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThere's no reason why are websites should be so complicated.
DeleteYes! I've had to use them a lot since my husband's death for various services. I set up an account as recommended so I could do things online, but it didn't work for me when I went back into it. It was the most stressful and frustrating thing I've ever done online. At the end of it I had to call (and wait 45 minutes to have my call taken) in order to figure out the problems. My heart just sinks when I get any mail from any government department because I know it's going to be confusing to do whatever they are telling me to do. Gah. I feel your pain and hope you can get your funding without any more problems.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. You get something set up and the next time you go back to it it doesn't work.
DeleteI tend to get locked out of the RevCan website because I don’t type in my answers to the security questions properly.
ReplyDeleteI write my answers down so at least I can et that. You have grandchildren to you have it made.
DeleteI avoid them for precisely the reasons you mention. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteWe are going to get to a point where that's the only option we have.
DeleteHope you get it worked out, Red. Computers can be so complicated!
ReplyDeleteIT'S THE PEOPLE WHO DEVELOP THE WEBSITE WHO MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT.
DeleteWelcome to my world, Red. I always phone and they help me to whatever…
ReplyDeleteYou have to be patient when you phone and then if you have poor hearing like me that's another challenge.
DeleteI haven't tried communicating through government websites. In fact, I try to avoid it. I do hope you find a way to get the grant and get the project done. Good luck with it all, Red.
ReplyDeleteI will get this done. It will happen. I may have to use a different vocabulary but it'll happen.
DeleteOh, don't get me started! Part of it may be the user but certainly part of it is the way the sites are set up, i.e. don't enter St but Street. Who does that? Service is a lost art it would seem. Wait on hold on the phone, wait on a chat box. Satisfaction is low/frustration high whenever I have to do those things. I sometimes wish that I could adopt the smile & nod persona of the people on the other end and keep saying in a trained monkey voice - I'm so sorry instead of WHAT THE WHAT!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure these people have heard many words that are rare in our vocabulary.
DeleteAbsolutely! You know how conservatives often say the private sector does things better and more efficiently than government? Well, I don't always agree, but when you have a business you're going to make your web site clear and easy to use. Government, unfortunately, doesn't have a profit motive so there's less incentive to make things user-friendly.
ReplyDeleteThe govt. should realize that they have important things to do with people and they should make it simple. Remember when call centers first came and how rapidly calls were answered and dealt with. Not anymore.
DeleteWhenever I have a question that I can't find the answer, I always use email and I have always got my answer.
ReplyDeleteI rarely go into government websites.
ReplyDeleteLet's put it this way Red: Although we live in different countries, t'was ever thus.
ReplyDeleteI think they make it complicated so that you give up:(
ReplyDeleteI've only ever used the U. S. Social Security website ... and it works surprisingly well!
ReplyDeleteI haven’t had much experience using government websites down here in “the states”. At the moment, the only one I can think of, that I’ve used several times, is the Good-To-Go site, operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). We have toll roads and tunnels here in Seattle. A person who frequently uses them needs to put a “pass” on their windshield. As you go through the tunnel, for example, a camera snaps a picture of your car/license plate and a WSDOT device reads information from your pass. The tunnel fee will be automatically charged to your credit card on file with their website. One has to periodically go onto the website to add money to their account or, perhaps, to make sure they aren’t getting charged for trips they didn’t make. Now, getting back to your question, the website isn’t too difficult to use, but it sure does take some getting accustomed to. I can understand your GRRR! As for the program in Canada that helps people renovate to be more energy efficient … you are way ahead of us on that.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for medicare. I came up with a user name and password. However, midway, you get shifted to another website and guess what? Your user name and password don't work on that one.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! At times it can be like being in a maze going through all the government links. Sometimes it's easier to just pick up the phone and get it over with.
ReplyDeleteI posted on FB that young programmers should have to spend a summer with their grandparents and walk them through websites as a means of making the sites better when they go back to programming! They are NOT intuitive.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done anything on government type websites, but yours does sound confusing. The program itself sounds great, if it works though.
ReplyDelete