Word: manuals
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...instructions are bad business as well as a torture to read. A maddening manual can cripple sales of products that might have been successful. Coleco lost $35 million in the fourth quarter last year partly because people flocked to return the initial version of its Adam computer, which the company offered for $600. In a statement to shareholders, Coleco blamed much of the consumer dissatisfaction on "manuals which did not offer the first-time user adequate assistance." Observes Joseph Sugarman, president of J S & A, a mail-order house that specializes in high-tech merchandise: "Very often, items with...
Consumer electronics companies insist that customers are generally satisfied with the directions they get. "Over the past year the number of complaints we have received because of difficulties understanding our user's manuals would probably fit in one hand," says W.T. Collins, a vice president for consumer affairs at RCA. The firm's instructions used to be written by design engineers, but now they are prepared by technical personnel who train distributors in how to operate and service RCA products. Says Collins: "We realized that engineers have a tendency to make the content of a manual...
...clear manual can be a thing of beauty and a joy forever. "Those that are well thought out make good reading," says Catalogue Merchant Joseph Sugarman. "They sound as if they were written by a teacher with plenty of patience who is aware of all the mistakes a consumer can make...
Many retailers are impressed with the manual for Apple's new Macintosh computer. Designed to be used with tapes and video displays, it guides Macintosh owners gently through a technological thicket. Says Chris Espinosa, 22, an eight-year Apple veteran who supervised the booklet's preparation: "A good manual is not a narrative; it is an outline or report. Nobody ever reads a manual cover to cover-only mutants do that...
...least, many consumers are likely to continue to find operating booklets more frustrating than enlightening. Indeed, some may feel like twisting the famous bromide "If all else fails, consult the manual" into a new admonition: "No matter what happens, do not look at the manual...