Lively Customer Support is very helpful, but they are stuck using the same glitchy secure messaging system as customers. More often than not, they don’t receive my attached screenshots, even though I have no problem attaching them.
Another problem is that they insist on using their threaded messaging system. I explained that it is too easy for info to get buried in a long thread (thus overlooked and unanswered) and the CS agent today agreed with me, but he said the Lively engineers are the ones who have a problem with changing the messaging system. (I explained that my personal email provider offers the option of turning on or off threads, and asked why they couldn’t do the same?.) Apparently Lively engineers are not open to that. The CS agent said he has brought up this issue before—and the frequent glitches receiving attachments—with his supervisor (and they with the engineering team), but so far no luck. He will keep bringing it up every time a customer complains until engineers fix the problems.
Until then, he said the only way to avoid the stupid threaded message organization and the risk of attachments getting zapped by their system is to just email Lively from my personal email address (unless the message contains personal identity/financial info). That’s pretty sad that their engineers are that unwilling (or unable) to fix problems with their messaging system.
Third problem with their messaging system: there is a time delay when using the app. I.e., most recent messages sent via my Lively account don’t show up in the app for a couple of days, but they show up right away if I access my account via their website. I found myself using the online system more often because the link they provide in an email to my home email account directs to their website.
Fourth issue: the weird/UN-user-friendly design. Buttons or labels that are most important like “Inbox” should be visible at the top of the screen, not buried at the bottom (in a small font). There are weird things like this with both the app and web access. In the app, you have to press the 3 lines in the top left corner of the screen to open the sidebar where the secure message system icon is hidden (a conversation bubble). On the web, there is no icon at the top for the secure message system, just the words “Secure Messages” buried far down the list that appears in the left sidebar. How bizarre is that? Do none of their engineers have web design experience? Does Lively not have designers working with engineers? People who are familiar with usability guidelines? It’s not rocket science, folks! Make the most used features the most accessible, and try to make the two designs similar, if not identical. The 2 are SO different it’s not funny.
Another example is the authentication code screen that appears in web access view. (I chose to add this.) When I get the authentication code via text and enter it in the Lively field, you see a colored bar below that field which you expect to say “Enter” or “Continue”, etc. But no—The button directly below is labeled “Back”, so if you press it the system will shoot you back a screen and you’ll have to start over. The “Continue” (or whatever it says) bar is BELOW the “Back” bar. Idiotic, counter-intuitive design, not good especially for the ham-handed. Examples like this abound. It is probably the most poorly designed system I have ever used. The app is better organized and more streamlined—but you have the problem of message delay and greater likelihood that any attachments to your message will get zapped in their end. (Customer Support rep told me when I first created my account to use web access rather than the app to send attachments, but the attachments I sent months later that were zapped were on the Web, so go figure.)
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