Zipcar Isn't So Zippy
And when I say that, I’m only referring to their website. The Zipcar service is perfect for people like me and Naz—we don’t want the hassle and expense of owning a car; we don’t want to bother our friends with borrowing theirs; but we need occasional wheels for errands. I resisted signing up for the service because I thought it would make us “soft,” as in we wouldn’t ride our bikes as much. That didn’t actually happen, and the Zipcar has come in mighty handy at a moment’s notice.
But even as I was registering for our annual membership, I noticed their site to be a bit cumbersome to navigate. I couldn’t find all the answers to my questions readily, and when I finally did, I couldn’t remember what page I saw the info on (there isn’t a site map). Essentially, they operate two sites. The initial site with FAQ and such for nonmembers, and then the member area. But going between the two after signing up isn’t always obvious; clicking on the masthead takes you to the main site, not your dashboard if you’re signed in. It seems counterintuitve. In fact, to my knowledge, the only way to access your information on the main page is a tiny link at the top right that says “Reserve a car.” And what if you don’t want to reserve a car, you just want to see your account info? Is that really the only access area?
My latest bumbling around came just today as I needed to change a reservation. I log in only to find the site automatically refers me to Chicago reservations for our old neighborhood. My address with my account info has been changed, and our new San Francisco address has been saved as our preferred location. So why the redirect to Chicago? This continued after I double-checked my settings and cleared my cookies. On the iPhone I had similar issues, but I merely resaved a bookmark to direct to SF, and the issue was resolved. But when I simply type zipcar.com into my browser (iPhone or desktop), Chicago pops up. What gives?
This issue won’t stop me from using Zipcar’s service, but site navigations such as these drive me insane both as a user and as someone who dabbles in quality assurance.