NEED HELP with LIVE PERSON (phone) support on new format & not getting it!!

SarongGoddess

GRRRRRR!! I'm SOOOO FRUSTRATED!!!!!!! First off - I'm a MEGA technophobe!! I use SmugMug strictly to store photos - NON-professional photos I've taken on my trips, for my blog, things I like, etc.

I do not learn by watching a video or reading something - I NEED to have someone hold my hand LIVE ON THE PHONE (NOT typing it as we go) to show me what the heck I'm doing.

I've asked SmugMug to let me speak directly to a LIVE PERSON (usually within other questions) but it's yet to happen.

I personally NORMALLY LOVE change & I like SOME of the things I've seen in the new SmugMug - BUT - I don't know where I'm going to find the time at this moment to do anything with my OVER 40,000 pics as I'm in some BIG deadlines for about 2 more months.

Now I'm being FORCED to preview the new format & I'm not finding ANY button to get my old format back & I'm in MEGA deadlines for a garage sale for THIS weekend.

I've always thought the customer service level was pretty good at SmugMug but y'all not allowing me to talk to someone live after a few requests is VERY frustrating!!!

Can anyone out there PLEASE HELP this technophobe!!!

SarongGoddess

Does anyone else feel the new SmugMug is geared more towards professional photogs??
Does anyone else feel the new SmugMug is geared more towards professional photogs than technophobes & people just wanting to EASILY store their pictures??

zacHer0

Hi, I just responded to your email. Sorry, we do not have phone support but we do have live chat which you can use right now - http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/684824-where-is-the-help-desk-chat-box-

You are in the "preview" mode which means that you can freely switch between the old and new SmugMug platforms. Click BACK TO OLD SMUGMUG button at the top of your page. I attached a screenshot of the button in my email reply to you .

Ferguson

SarongGoddess wrote: »

Does anyone else feel the new SmugMug is geared more towards professional photogs than technophobes & people just wanting to EASILY store their pictures??

I am not with Smugmug, but I will disagree with this strongly.

I believe the OLD smugmug was more geared toward the technically sophisticated user. Smugmug allowed you to use javascript and lots and lots of customization that required a high degree of sophistication.

The new smugmug is very strongly drag/drop/template system, hiding much of the low level customization.

Please don't misunderstand -- I think it was a step up in terms of user experience with the end result, but a LOT of professional photographers complained a LOT about removing capabilities in return for more wizard-like, dumbed-down interfaces, keep-you-safe-from-yourself (ok, and a bit from others) techniques.

I also hope you will take this as a constructive... Let's say you pay $60/year for your subscription. Let's say the average web-savy customer support person makes about $40/hour loaded. Do you really think a company can remain in business providing live, probably many-hour-long support sessions with a self-described technophobe? Some companies will do that -- like cable companies. How? They out-source it, pay someone $1 an hour off shore who can't speak real English, reads from a script, and has never actually had Cable, who talk to you until you run out of energy and hang up. To me that is worse.

Alameth

SarongGoddess wrote: »

Does anyone else feel the new SmugMug is geared more towards professional photogs than technophobes & people just wanting to EASILY store their pictures??

I'd suggest that the new Smug is geared toward passionate photographers (whether they get paid for their work or not) who want a showcase that stands up to and enhances their work, without requiring the high degree of technical savvy that the old Smug required.

OTOH, for people like me (and, I assume, you) whose photography is more utilitarian and who do little or no customization, the new Smug is considerably more time consuming and difficult to use. (The new Smug is also missing a long list of features that were important to me, but that's a different question.)

So, IMHO, If people shout "I want that!" when they see your photos, the new Smug will probably serve you well. But if people are more motivated by a text description of your photos (e.g., "Day 10: Schladming Mountain GoKarts", you'll probably prefer the old.

By example: Several friends who take gorgeous photographs quickly embraced the new Smug, and when I visit their sites, it's almost an immersive experience. I can totally lose myself browsing from one beautiful moment to the next. Their old Smug sites did not do justice to their work; but they lacked the technical expertise to make their old Smug site awesome. The new Smug lets them do exactly what they want without having to learn HTML or CSS or pay a third party. They're passionate artists, not passionate web designers.

On the other hand, I work with six pool photographers, one of whom quickly switched to the new Smug (and loves it). He's a pro, but I find myself visiting his site 2nd-to-last because the new Smug is so awkward to use when reviewing a pool of hundreds of photos. Little things, like not being able to tell at a glance whether a gallery was recently updated, folder names that are truncated, or non-representative thumbnails, make all the difference. (FWIW, my last choice is the guy using Flikr.)

Darter02

Alameth wrote: »

On the other hand, I work with six pool photographers, one of whom quickly switched to the new Smug (and loves it). He's a pro, but I find myself visiting his site 2nd-to-last because the new Smug is so awkward to use when reviewing a pool of hundreds of photos. Little things, like not being able to tell at a glance whether a gallery was recently updated, folder names that are truncated, or non-representative thumbnails, make all the difference. (FWIW, my last choice is the guy using Flikr.)

There are ways to set up pages/galleries, etc., to show those sort of things. Just ask him to look into it. For instance, I set up a page that shows galleries have been recently updated. I also have a recent photo upload page. You can customize exactly which galleries, or folders, to tailor it to your needs. As for the truncated folder names, not sure about that without seeing them. If he's using square thumbs, and you don't think they're representative, just ask him to turn off square thumbs. Basically, you should let him know what would work better for you and see if he'll customize a section of his site.

Alameth

Darter02 wrote: »

There are ways to set up pages/galleries, etc., to show those sort of things.

True, but at the cost of more work for both of us; and it would need to be something much more elaborate than a single "most recent" folder. Perhaps a "most recent" folder for each category or subcategory. That's the whole rub with the new smug: customization and reorganization got a whole lot easier; but a lot that used to be easy or the default is now either a lot more work or impossible. And I'm really reluctant to tell my pool photographers how to manage their workflow or arrange their websites; they're volunteers, like I am; and I'd prefer they spend time on their photos.

Darter02 wrote: »

As for the truncated folder names, not sure about that without seeing them.

"My Wife Te" and "Mt. Horeb Chamber of Com" on your recently updated page are good examples. In my case, I had a page full of "Homestead High Schoo". Someone whipped together some CSS to do wrapping, but it has a history of breaking on site changes.