ChaCha disappoints with the technical equivalent of a busy signal

I've been both complimentary and critical of ChaCha's service in the past, but today I think ChaCha really blew a chance to make a good first impression with one of my clients.

I was teaching my client how to use the 2003 version of Microsoft Excel which led into a discussion of whether or not my client should upgrade to the newer 2007 version of Microsoft Office. My client was concerned that her computer was too old and wouldn't meet the minimum requirements for the new version.

I told my client that memory was probably the only issue so I quickly checked to see how much memory her computer had. With that information in hand, I started to look up on the Internet what the minimum memory requirements are for Microsoft Office 2007.

ChaCha could save me time

But then I realized that looking up this information wasn't the best use of my client's time and money so I decided to ask ChaCha instead. I asked my client if she knew what ChaCha was and she said no. After I explained how I could ask them any question via text message and receive the answer a few minutes later, she was excited to see ChaCha in action.

So I fired off this question to ChaCha:

What are the minimum requirements for Office 2007 home and student? Specifically minimum memory requirement?

Within a few seconds I received the now-standard text advertisement from ChaCha telling me they are working on my answer and that the Fray is going to be on tour this summer. I actually don't mind these ads. I understand ChaCha has to make money somewhere if they are going to continue to offer their service for free.

Bzz bzz bzz bzz bzz bzz

What did bother me was the next response I received from ChaCha a few minutes later. The one right after I said to my client, "Ok, ready for our answer?"

Here was the response:

Hello! ChaCha is experiencing extremely high volume and we can't answer your question right now. Please try again later. Thanks for using ChaCha!

So apparently, it's now possible to get a busy signal with ChaCha.

3 comments for this blog post so far...

  • #1
    March 31, 2009 at 9:29 am

    grnwdmom

    Perhaps ChaCha has lost some of its employees due to economics.  I heard that they make something on the order of 20 cents per answer and are only paid by answer, not by hour.  How long would you work like that?  I’ve gotten a few good helpful answers, and a few “I’ve never heard of that"s, too.  We both end up doing the research.  But the people I’ve spoken to about the job are usually home bound for physical or distance reasons, and they learn a lot from their computers having their job with ChaCha.  I wonder how much longer the service will last.

  • #2
    March 31, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Michael B

    I’m a chacha guide and I agree with grnwdmom’s statement, its because the pay is probably too low.

  • #3
    March 31, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Patric Welch

    @grnwdmom @Michael B: I too am a ChaCha guide but very much an inactive one. I gave up after 1-2 days when I realized how much time it spent for me to answer the questions. I was averaging about $2-3/hour and that’s BEFORE they made the changes that cut the pay in half for people not submitting quality answers or at least 300 (I think) answers per week.

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