By None

Copyright staradvertiser

In a recent piece from The Atlantic, author Chris Colin described how his Ford Escape suddenly froze while he was driving, which set off a months-long ordeal with Ford’s customer service. Despite the car’s dangerous malfunction, Ford’s representatives failed to replicate or fix the issue. Colin fell into an exhausting loop: long hold times, disconnections and endless retellings of his story to indifferent agents who often mysteriously disappeared or closed his case without explanation.

At first, he thought it was just bad luck. But as the process dragged on, he realized this wasn’t random incompetence — it was, in his estimation, part of a system designed to wear customers down.

According to the author, this practice is called “sludge” — a term coined by behavioral economists Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler in their book “Nudge.” Sludge refers to excessive red tape, complex procedures and long wait times that create friction.

Colin learned that sludge is built into the system. Companies limit what frontline agents know or are allowed to do. This encourages dropping calls, endless transfers and “accidental” disconnections. In essence, sludge has become a deliberate corporate strategy.

The purpose: frustrate customers into giving up.

Sound familiar?

Fast forward to Hawaii. A friend on Maui purchased an expensive generator for his Kula home from a recognized, quality brand. He bought a maintenance contract from the company. Six months after installation, when it was time for maintenance, he contacted the company and was told there was no one on Maui capable of servicing it.

Repeated calls to the manufacturer led him on what he described as a “wild goose chase.” Countless phone calls later, he gave up on finding someone on Maui who could honor the contract. After six weeks he got some of his maintenance money back (pro-rated). Fortunately, he has the mechanical chops to fix the generator himself, but that wasn’t supposed to be the plan.

My own ongoing adventure with sludge focuses on Meta, previously known as Facebook.

Back in March, I was horrified to see that the Facebook profile of my late friend, Gerry Takano, was hijacked. The latest Facebook incarnation of Gerry has poor grammar (I’m certain English is not his first language) and he spews out phishing schemes, “get rich” scams and constantly hits me up for loans. I told him I’d love to speak to him, but he says his phone never seems to work.

Sure, I could block him and forget it, but he has no business impersonating my late friend’s profile to con people.

I’ve contacted Meta’s “Report Profile” link a dozen times. Their “Transparency Center” proclaims that if content “goes against the Community Standards, Meta will remove it.”

Meta also provides a link to report “scam, fraud or false information” and offers “Report Details” to submit. However, there’s no form or method to submit those pesky “details.” They also have a “Special Request for Medically Incapacitated or Deceased Person’s Account,” which I dutifully filled out.

Again, no response.

How difficult can it be to determine that the profile of a deceased individual has been hijacked? Maybe look at the posts and the obituary they wanted for the “Special Request” form. Perhaps their AI isn’t that akamai.

I dug a little deeper and found (thanks to ChatGPT) a number to call at Meta — 650-308-7300 — to report this sort of thing. I was overjoyed … until I realized it has no human support and no voicemail. The message refers you to the “Community Standards” page. Back to square one.

Pure sludge.

As a postscript to Atlantic writer Chris Colin’s experience with Ford, the company agreed to buy back his defective car — 108 days later. Ford apologized but denied intentionally creating sludge. (I suspect it didn’t hurt when they learned he was a journalist at a national magazine).

I would think that if Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg had an issue related to his $300 million property on Kauai that necessitated a question to the Kauai County Council, he wouldn’t have to wait 108 days for an answer.

As far as my late friend’s case is concerned, I’m still waiting. I don’t plan to give up.

Rob Kay, a Honolulu-based writer, covers technology, health and sustainability. He is the creator of fijiguide.com and can be reached at Robertfredkay@gmail.com.