Yeah, what’s with that title anyway?

With a new wave of MHCI students moving to Pittsburgh in the next month, I’ve been trying to think whether I should recommend Comcast or Verizon for internet service. The truth is, I hate them both for different reasons, so if you’re asking, I recommend Choice C, whatever that may be.

The current issue with Verizon is their online bill paying system. I didn’t get an email saying I had a Verizon Phone Bill this month, but I had a hunch that I still had to pay the bill, so I went to pay it today. I’ve made a couple of unnecessary payments in the past, and I think you’ll see why as I walk through my current predicament.

First of all, the webpage is hopelessly cluttered, but near the top of the page, I see a table that discusses my current balance. I’ve recreated it here because an image wouldn’t work (the text would be too small):

Um…

What does that mean?!?! Do I owe money or not? If I don’t owe money, why is there a due date? I know I need to pay monthly for phone service, and I know I haven’t paid this month. So what is going on!

The problem is exacerbated by the poor payment amount options. On all of the other online bill pay sites I frequent, they have an option to pay the amount of the recent bill, the total current amount, a minimum payment, or a specified amount. Here at Verizon, though, you have to choose how much you want to pay – even if you want to pay your full bill amount every time.

The process for deciding what to pay and paying it quite simple at first look. Yet Verizon’s design seems to make the process far more complicated than it needs to be, violating a ton of Nielsen’s heuristics in the process:

• Consistency and Standards: The most common way to indicate that a balance is due is to have it prominently displayed on the page. It’s not an official standard, but one Verizon ought to follow.
• Recognition Rather Than Recall: Don’t make the users recall whether there is a payment that covers a cost on the statement - list it so that they can see it.
• Error Prevention: Support a design that prevents users from making an error (and paying unnecessarily)! Clearly demonstrate the current status of the account.
• Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: Allow the users to pay the full bill amount as quickly as possible. That means not forcing the user to enter their own payment amount.

By the way… if you’re curious, I did have an outstanding balance of $22.68 for this month. You wouldn’t think that by the big ol’ bold $0.00 at the top there, would ya?