Hacking Webkinz: What’s Up With That?
My family just had dinner with some close friends of ours, celebrating our pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday ritual at our favorite neighborhood Japanese restaurant. Two 40-something couples hanging out, getting a little head on, with four beautiful kids joking around, playing 20 Questions and Mad Libs. A pair of 10 and 7 year olds, one boys and the other girls, reveling in their shared history and interests. All was good. Except one thing. The little girl discovered today that her entire Webkinz room had been cleaned out. Totally cyber hacked. This little girl had spent months painstakingly playing games, earning points and furnishing and decorating her room, and identifying with all she had put in to her little project. It was all her own. And she was proud of it.
Needless to say, when she came home and logged on and found out that she had been robbed, she was pretty hysterical. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had stuff taken a few times in my day and I’ve felt pretty angry and violated myself. And I was far older than 7 when both thefts occurred. So this little girl feels violated, unempowered and helpless. Her mom, who is quite computer-savvy, logs right on to Webkins to find out how to deal with the situation. The first thing she reads when clicking on Customer Support and Has Something Gone Missing is this:
The only way an item can go missing is if someone knows your username and password (or Secret Code) and has accessed your account. If someone has removed or sold an item, it cannot be reinstated. Please change your password by clicking on the “Login” button on the menu to your left (or go to the Webkinz World homepage and click “Login”). Click “Change my Password.” You’ll be able to create a new password. Please remember to make it something easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess.
Now that’s a pretty confident statement: “The only way an item can go missing is if someone knows your username and password (or Secret Code) and has accessed your account.” I don’t think Google, Microsoft or Yahoo! make such declarations. Based upon my experience with the Internet and on Wall Street, if one were to interpret such a statement as a Service Level Agreement it would mean 100% assurance, no deviation. This clearly is nonsensical, as no service provider on the planet can guarantee such performance. But somehow Webkins feels they can. And even with such an astounding level of confidence, it is really hard to get hold of them. No easy way to drop Customer Support an email. No seamless way to share concerns and issues. This is not the way it should work. If you claim a 100% service level one of two things needs to be happening, either:
- Perfection, no variation; or
- Ready, willing and able service representatives to address issues in real-time.
Since neither of these appear to be present in this situation, I’m frankly confused. How does a little girl get satisfaction from having been robbed? It doesn’t appear that Webkins has either anticipated such a circumstance or gives a sh*t. I’d be really interested to know their stance on these issues. Because I’m not happy. And neither is my 7 year old friend.
