I am going backwards...

I seem to be going backwards... Have I lost my mind!

I am now doing unit 3.3……. am I going backwards?

They go in order from when I posted them.

Thank You

The Muffin


3.3: Effective Communication and the purpose of it.

I have been instructed to study five websites of the following.
A Retailer
A Manufacturer
A Leisure or Sports website
A Local Government
A Charity

So I will start chronologically.

The Retail website I have decided to study is GAK (Guitar Amp Keyboard). This shop is based in Brighton and it does do some very, very cheap items. It’s not tat so to speak, in fact they’re proper brand-name instruments and instrument accessories which are very high quality if you buy from the shop itself. Buying online is still the same price. All they’re doing is knocking about five pounds off and put five pounds on delivery price. This isn’t a pain considering the main good part of the website is they will compare and beat prices! Unfortunately, not online prices so you have about a 50% chance of actually getting a beaten price. It’s unreliable in-a-nutshell. Much like their delivery service which leads me on to comment on their down-sides, believe me there are a few of them.

Their shop, while it is big, is extremely overcrowded. I had to wait thirty minutes just to ask about trying out a pedal and even then there was a wait time just to get on.
Second was that while the website was very useful and fairly easy to use in buying things, the quality of the box looked like the lowest quality cardboard in the world. You couldn’t get cheaper stuff if you tried.
It arrived five working days late. I ordered it on a Thursday meaning the lateness was appalling.
Trying to park somewhere near the shop when you’re physically going there is dreadful. It’s a bit like trying to get into Fort Knox. You just can’t find it.
If you do manage to actually get someone to help you inside the shop then expect to walk about a lot. The people behind the counter are always sending you to go to someone else in a different department.
While the physical side of the shop is still quite bad, the products themselves are quite good.
The website is easy to use, but the stuff comes late and while you’re ringing them up and saying that your product hasn’t come yet, they say “I’m so sorry I had no idea.”

The next website I’m going to review is the Ibanez Guitar Company. This company is a very, very good company. They give you all the information you need to know about the guitar or bass you need to look at. They give you a very good in-depth spec. of your guitar or bass. They will also give you endorsed retailers near you using a very clever and well designed and thought out database. The only thing I would point out is that the website is a little bit difficult to navigate around. It’s not that hard once you’ve gotten used to it. Overall I can honestly say: “This guitar company is excellent” I’ve never experienced better customer service both online and on the phone! Excellent! Well Done Ibanez!

LA Fitness is my next website I’m reviewing. Looking at the website I can see the cheesy: everyone on the front page is smiling like working is some kind of fun. When we all know, it’s not. This website is hard to navigate around in the sense that it will say: About Us: when you would normally expect then to say some cheesy story about the creator and then their main customer service number. What you actually get on the website is far different. You get this on the front page:
Latest News (this four lines long)
Lifestyle Tip. This one makes me laugh all the time. It says the following:
“We are now working longer hours than any other country in Europe. A survey by the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Work-Life Balance Campaign and Management Today magazine paints a poor picture of working conditions in the United Kingdom.”
How is that a lifestyle tip?
There’s a page that says “Corporate” This means nothing to my age group.

That’s all I have run out of time. I never have enough of it.

Thank you

The Muffin