You Are Responsible for Your Own Registration

[Onyx_TKD]

I guess my stance is that this is "known issue" without a resolution except "figure it out yourself", and to me that's just not ok.  College is just too expensive, too time consuming and too intricate for "known problems" to just be par for the course.  I mean what recourse does a student have?  Drop out?  Spend hundreds applying somewhere else or even hundreds reapplying next semester once the issues are resolved?

When was the student told to "figure it out for [herself]"?  BeagleMommy suggested several (potentially fixable) things that might be causing the problem (e.g. firewalls on the computer, or the known issues that other students have had), offered to walk her through the process over the phone, and finally provided her with the materials to register on paper and bypass the computer issues entirely. Certainly the final resolution of registrating by paper form was probably less convenient for both student and university than having the computer system working without a hitch, but it's far from being told to "figure it out for yourself."

Also, the fact that a paper registration form exists suggests to me that this is the way the university allows for students being unable to register by computer (either because of system failure or other reasons). Because there is a form for it, I suspect employees are not supposed to change a student's course registration status without an official written request. If that is the case, then (assuming she had instructions on how to properly submit the form) it's the equivalent of handing her off to whoever could do the actual registration--regardless of who she was talking to, the form would need to be properly submitted before she gets registered.

[PastryGoddess]

I guess my stance is that this is "known issue" without a resolution except "figure it out yourself", and to me that's just not ok.  College is just too expensive, too time consuming and too intricate for "known problems" to just be par for the course.  I mean what recourse does a student have?  Drop out?  Spend hundreds applying somewhere else or even hundreds reapplying next semester once the issues are resolved?

Yes but when given the options by the OP to help her figure it out the student declined.  That's not the OP's fault.  the student was given several options, all of which she failed take advantage of. 

And really when it comes down to it, it's the students responsibility to get registered.   If that means she has to come in person to register, or she has to be transferred to a different department, or follow the workarounds that have been created; then that's what you have to do  Just because she wants someone to register her, doesn't mean she has the right to have someone complete her registration. 

I'm in the process of finishing up a bachelors before I get my masters.  Sometimes the system doesn't work.  Sometimes the system is slow.  Sometimes the system is a big ole mess.  However, there is a system in place to get me registered. It's up to me to figure it out and get registered since it's my degree.


OP offered many options.  Student refused and would only accept the one thing the OP couldn't do for her.

[LadyClaire]

At the university I work for, students are responsible for registering for their classes. They can do it online, or they can fill out a form. Staff are not allowed to register the students for classes.

[ellebelle]

Not to derail into legal territory but colleges and universities often have legal reasons for no longer registering students via the phone. We cannot!

I supervise a college advising center and the idea that a student doesn't want to follow our suggestions and we should just "do it for them" because they are "paying our salaries or paying for our services" grates on me to no end. They are there to get an education, if they choose not to take ownership when they have been given options then it is on the student, not the staff member.

I think the OP did everything right and I would praise my staff for doing the same.

[Yvaine]

I supervise a college advising center and the idea that a student doesn't want to follow our suggestions and we should just "do it for them" because they are "paying our salaries or paying for our services" grates on me to no end. They are there to get an education, if they choose not to take ownership when they have been given options then it is on the student, not the staff member.

I'm going to agree with this too. A college is not precisely the same as a customer service situation. If you go to a store, you pay money and you receive goods in exchange for that money. At a college, you don't automatically get a diploma because you pumped in the right amount of money. It requires work on the part of the student as well.

[Bexx27]

I guess my stance is that this is "known issue" without a resolution except "figure it out yourself", and to me that's just not ok.  College is just too expensive, too time consuming and too intricate for "known problems" to just be par for the course.  I mean what recourse does a student have?  Drop out?  Spend hundreds applying somewhere else or even hundreds reapplying next semester once the issues are resolved?

The OP never said there was a "known issue without resolution" or told the student to "figure it out for herself." I'm not sure where you are getting that from. She provided excellent customer service by offering the student several options, including walking her through the entire process over the phone. That, to me, is above and beyond. And if the student didn't want to deal with the online system, there was a paper form she could use. The student was in no way prevented from registering. Choosing to drop out rather than simply fill out a form seems rather extreme.

And yes, university administrators should provide "a certain level of customer service," but the student was asking for a higher level than is reasonable. Why do you think she was "entitled" to have an employee do her registration for her? She's clearly not entitled to that since it's actually impossible. If BeagleMommy were expected to personally register hundreds of students, that would have to be her full-time job. I work in academia and I've never heard of an institution providing that service. And where does it end? Is the student entitled to have a university employee order her textbooks for her and deliver them to her room, since she's paying for a service?

Customers in all situations can expect a certain level of customer service, but they can't expect employees to cater to their every whim. I might be reasonable to expect a grocery store employee to bag my groceries for me, but if that particular store doesn't offer that service, I would be a special snowflake not to accept that. And it would never be reasonable of me to expect a store employee to babysit my child while I shop. That's well above the "level" of customer service to which I am "entitled."

[bopper]

Think of it this way:

Let's say you went to the grocery store and used the self service check out kiosk.  It was known to be flaky.  You asked for help and then someone said "Did you try another kiosk?"  You are trying to purchase something from the store and they are making it difficult for you to do so.

Same thing at the University...they are trying to purchase classes and cannot use the system to sign up for them. Of course they get frustrated!  The customer/student sees that you have put in a difficult system and they just see the university putting all the work back on them.

[Bexx27]

Think of it this way:

Let's say you went to the grocery store and used the self service check out kiosk.  It was known to be flaky.  You asked for help and then someone said "Did you try another kiosk?"  You are trying to purchase something from the store and they are making it difficult for you to do so.

Same thing at the University...they are trying to purchase classes and cannot use the system to sign up for them. Of course they get frustrated!  The customer/student sees that you have put in a difficult system and they just see the university putting all the work back on them.

It's really more like you asked for help and someone offered to stand with you at the kiosk and give step by step instructions, but you refused because you just wanted them do it all for you. But it's not totally comparable anyway because the clerk could actually check out for you. The OP does not have access to register for a student.

And I may have missed something, but I don't think the OP mentioned that the system was flaky. She said she knew of problems some students were having, but not whether those problems were due to system error or user error. In any case, there are always problems with any system. Having minor or occasional technical issues* is not poor customer service; failing to offer help with those issues would be, but the OP did offer help.

*I'm assuming the OP would have mentioned it if the issues were severe or widespread.

[PastryGoddess]

Think of it this way:

Let's say you went to the grocery store and used the self service check out kiosk.  It was known to be flaky.  You asked for help and then someone said "Did you try another kiosk?"  You are trying to purchase something from the store and they are making it difficult for you to do so.

Same thing at the University...they are trying to purchase classes and cannot use the system to sign up for them. Of course they get frustrated!  The customer/student sees that you have put in a difficult system and they just see the university putting all the work back on them.

Re: the university, the work was always on the student as they are the ones that have to register no matter what.  The university offers different ways of registering.  If one way is not working, then you have to use a different option.  It doesn't mean you can't register




Re: Grocery store, there are other ways for you to purchase your items from the store.  Just because you don't want to use another kiosk or stand in a regular line doesn't mean that there is no way for you to get what you want.


And if you know the system is flakey and still use it, then that decision is on you...not the store.

[Onyx_TKD]

Think of it this way:

Let's say you went to the grocery store and used the self service check out kiosk.  It was known to be flaky.  You asked for help and then someone said "Did you try another kiosk?"  You are trying to purchase something from the store and they are making it difficult for you to do so.

Same thing at the University...they are trying to purchase classes and cannot use the system to sign up for them. Of course they get frustrated!  The customer/student sees that you have put in a difficult system and they just see the university putting all the work back on them.

First of all, it was never established that computer issues were actually what was preventing the student in the OP from registering. BeagleMommy suggested this as a possibility, but the student refused to let her troubleshoot the problem.

Second, this analogy would apply if she were using a university computer (e.g., in a computer lab) and the firewall on that computer was incompatible with the university's own online systems, but that's not indicated in the OP. I usually register for classes from my own personal computer, and I would assume that most students with computers do as well. Thus, a closer analogy would be trying to make an online purchase from my computer. If I can't place my order because I've disabled cookies on my computer, then telling me I have to enable cookies to make purchases through the website isn't "putting the work back on [me]." It's simply informing me what conditions are required to use their online system. I then have the option of using an alternative method of ordering (if the company accepts phone, mail, or in-store orders), enabling cookies on my own computer, using a different computer with cookies enabled, or not ordering at all if I refuse to use one of the other options.

[Yvaine]

And I may have missed something, but I don't think the OP mentioned that the system was flaky. She said she knew of problems some students were having, but not whether those problems were due to system error or user error.

Yes, this. I don't think this is actually a "known issue" in the sense of a computer glitch or bug. There are a lot of things that people find difficult or annoying on computers even though they're working fine. For example, in my work we sell tickets to an annual event through our website. Many attendees are not tech savvy or find the interface not intuitive to them. It works fine, as in it doesn't have a bug that needs actual repair, but sometimes we have to walk someone through it. Which I'm happy to do, and which the OP was also willing to do.

[artk2002]

Since OP hasn't reported a general uprising over the registration system not working, my first suspicion is PEBKM*. Step-by-step help as OP offered is the right way to find and fix problems like that.





* Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Monitor

[Yvaine]

Since OP hasn't reported a general uprising over the registration system not working, my first suspicion is PEBKM*.

  I've also heard PEBCAK: Problem exists between chair and keyboard.

[Jones]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).
 

[PastryGoddess]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).
 

ooooh I like this one.  I'm used to using PEBCAK