amy cham :: pixels + people

Mon Dieu! Student Loan Servicing Site #FAIL Part Deux

To see where this all started, check out my post from Tuesday: Student Loan Servicing Site #FAIL. My complaints from that post seem so...quaint...now.

Short story--the colossal failure of the federal government's student loan servicing site migration to myedaccount.com has gone from an annoyance to a serious concern for people's finances and private personal--and financial--information.

One Tuesday morning, I blogged a rant about the poor communication, site inoperability, and customer service runaround I encountered while attempting to pay off my student loans.  Here's my followup.

Student Loan Servicing Site #FAIL

Hey folks...I've posted an update with an overview of the last couple days (10/11 to 10/13) here.

So the federal student loan servicing site moved to a new system and URL (myedaccount.com).  Could they have managed this any more poorly?

1. The move was announced in a single email, which looks rather spammy given A) the oversized font and B) the broken images. Of course, the single email they sent was buried in the masses of other email I get, so I never saw it until this morning.
2. The old URL provides only a barebones redirect page featuring another broken image. Not sketchy at all.
3. On redirect, I have to reload three times before the page will actually load, because it keeps timing out. Icky, I go search to find out if this is legit.
4. After verifying there is truly a new URL, I attempt to login and discover a completely changed login process.  Previously, they asked for SSN, first two letters of your last name, DOB, and a PIN.  Now it wants a "username".  Seriously?? 
5. I go dig up aforementioned email...no mention of the new login process.  Ummm....
6. Click the handy "Forgot username?" link.  Wait a minute and a half for the next page to load. Fill in requested info and submit.  I've only had an active account on their site for, oh, ten years or so. I'm sure they can pull up my info.
7. Wait another minute or so for the page to load, only to get a message that "We were unable to validate the information you provided. Please try again orcontact us."
8. Click "contact us" and got to a totally different site, for the company apparently running this mess now.

Dear whoever is responsible for this nonsense: You are in the wrong line of work.  Trust me.

PS - Considering how much money I am trying to give you right now, you might want to make it a little easier to get at my account.

Updated: After 30 minutes on hold and a failed attempt at creating a new account (just in case) the customer service person at Nelnet--which the servicing site linked to by "contact us"--says they are not actually the ones running the site, but have had many calls this morning.  The site is apparently not functioning because "they" are working on it.  Can't help noticing, however, that Nelnet, Inc. is noted in the site footer.

Might I suggest that whoever is handling student loan servicing consider taking the site offline next time they disable or break critical functionality?  Or posting a notice even?

Also note, more than an hour after first attempting to login to my account, I still have no idea whether I even have an account on this new system.

Good job, folks.

The Pricing Puzzle

Just what do I think I'm worth?

One of the things I learned quickly upon starting Paper Swan Photography was that figuring out what to charge--and what to provide--is one of the most difficult parts of the job.  When I first started, like so many others, I simply took whatever I could get--or worked for free--and was (truly) grateful for the opportunity.

Now I am in another place altogether.  I'm not a world-famous 'rock star' photographer, but I'm not a baby anymore either.  In this middle ground, where so many of us reside, there is, it turns out, absolutely no standardization in pricing.  None. Zero. Zilch.

A snowy morning in NYC

Growing up in Bernhards Bay, NY...what, never heard of it? No way!!  It's here.

As I was saying, growing up in Bernhards Bay, there weren't too many people, but we were surrounded by two things--trees, and snow. Lots of both.

Since moving to Manhattan, I don't generally see quite so much of either.

This morning as he was heading out to work, my husband called me and said to get outside with a camera, because he had never seen the snow on the trees quite like it was, and I should get some pictures.  For Manhattan, is was, in fact, a rare and beautiful sight!

See them bigger, or check out the full set on Flickr!

Geek(ette) in the Pink: Me and Mary Kay

Since the mid 1980s I've had a soft spot in my heart for Mary Kay Cosmetics. My mom was a consultant back then, and my first makeup experimentations were with her stash. Sadly, this involved mistaking a forest green eyeliner for eyebrow pencil. But bonus points for knowing what an eyebrow pencil was when I was 10 years old, right?

In high school I first got some Mary Kay of my own. Classic Basic skincare, formula 3 across the board, plus a fantastic manicure set that introduced me to the magic of a 4-way buffing board and strengthening basecoat. Given my resilient teenage complexion (I swear I never had a pimple until I was about 23), I have to admit the manicure set got steadier use than the skincare. Even so, I loved it.

Given my early introduction to Mary Kay and ongoing affinity for the products, it's not surprising that I've decided to sign on as an Independent Beauty Consultant.  What may be surprising is that it's my third time. :)