I had a promo code that I wanted to redeem. I logged in my regular account but it didn’t work – account too old. Nowhere was it mentioned the code I was sent was OK for new accounts only.

I decided to register a new account … it was a pain in the a$$ (without a Google account). When I finally got to the billing preferences, it refused to accept a promo code WITHOUT me typing my credit card as well! OK, got my CC, typed in the info.

I finally enter the promo code into the new account and it says “promo code already redeemed”!! Where? When? Why? No credit was added to this account, the $75 simply vanished.

I canceled the acount. Is Google EVIL? Definitely.

Yep. But it’s more than just a principle :).

1. My iphone doesn’t handle HTML email well. It screws the resizing and zooming. I’ve noticed that a lot of handhelds have similar problems. Blackberry is the only exception – and that’s because they artificially remove all the HTML on the server before sending it to the client.

2. As you say, there are lists that will automatically dump any posts sent in HTML

3. … and there are *people* who do the same (I only find this out when talking to them and they mention their policies – I never send out HTML mail, so I never run into problems myself. Normally).

The vast majority of their users (like the vast majority of people who send email) don’t mind sending and receiving HTML email. Many of them prefer it, in fact, which is probably why they made this change. It’s really only a problem for those of us who are irked on principle because we used to use a text-based email reader or people who use text-based email lists.

1. *I’m* incompent. Before posting, I edited-out a CRITICAL piece of information (I’ve just updated the post to rectify that).

2. The “split testing” is actually a really good point – I’ve seen a lot of cases of people arguing over whether Gmail does or doesn’t have a minor feature, both claiming “it does / n’t on mine!”. Maybe they were *both* right :).

We don’t tend to talk about the effects on users of split-testing. I always assume that developers will use their common sense and not do anything that materially damages the user experience. I guess that’s a pretty optimistic assumption…