Disclaimer: I’m being paid to write this review.

One of the downsides of the ReviewMe process is that it doesn’t work very well for products that need to be shipped to you. When you receive a new review request you typically have 48 hours to make a decision whether or not to review the site and then anywhere from 2-5 additional days to review, write and actually publish the review. The system seems to give more time if the review is over the weekend perhaps understanding that some reviewers might take days off. For reviewing websites this timeframe is fine, but it isn’t optimal for actual products you don’t already own and/or can’t obtain in a local store.

Case in point, Lapdawg, which is a product which I didn’t buy and receive in advance to be able to review. Therefore I can only write about the prospective customer point of view on the product and whether or not I might actually order this product based on the website and pricing. I debated whether or not to pass on this review altogether for these reasons and ultimately decided there would be enough value for business owners and readers — and it was for a product I was geniunely interested in (the #1 criteria used to determine if I write any review) — to go ahead with it after all. If this type of review annoys you friendly reader, skip away.

We learn at the Lapdawg about page that:

By designing something to help improve posture, ergonomics and comfort, we hope that the LapDawg can help laptop owners avoid potentially damaging physical discomfort and make a small difference in improving our customer’s lives just a little bit more.

Who doesn’t want to improve the posture when using a laptop or Tablet PC? I also learned that the Lapdawg can double as a TV try, bed tray, student desk and lap writing desk. It’s made of light wood and looks kind of like a futuristic TV tray.

The way that pictures are used on the website is a bit annoying. Click on it and the picture blows up and the background dims:

Just give me large detailed product pictures — lots and lots of them — I don’t need web smoke and mirrors. I like that the pictures show me a person actually using the Lapdawg, but what about a video showing the unpacking and construction phase? There is a picture that shows how to put together the Lapdawg and it doesn’t look like some of the cheap desks you can buy with a million screws and instructions that would strain a rocket scientist’s brainpower:

Only one page of instructions and six big screws? Looks from the picture like something that could quickly be assembled. On the support page they link to a PDF of the assembly instructions. Suggestion: get some videos put together (hint: YouTube) showing how easy it is to put the Lapdawg together. Run a big timer showing the steps. Print text instructions in the world of the internet are way, way, way outdated.

I do not enjoy the product assembly phase and if something looks even remotely challenging, I usually pass. Call me assembly-challenged or whatever but Macguyver, I’m not. Take people like me as a real sales opportunity and show me that assembly is. Not. An. Issue.

Ground shipping the only option
The company is based in Toronto, Canada and that’s where shipping originates from unfortunately or fortunately depending on your proximity to them. The only shipping option ($20 USD) in the US available is ground via UPS and excludes Hawaii and Alaska. It’s too bad a FedX option isn’t available for more money. With an overnight shipping option I might actually have been able to get the Lapdawg in time for this review.

This dawg’s still hunting for a phone number
I laughed out loud when I saw under the company contact page the following:

A business with “will be available soon” for a phone number? WTF? At the very least it takes 30 seconds to sign up for a Skype account and buy a SkypeOUT phone number. You spend time designing and engineering a product, create a website and pricing and are out advertising and promoting but cannot get a phone number for potential and existing customers? The lack of a business phone number to me usually indicates a business isn’t, well, a business. They could have had multiple SkypeOUT business numbers for a year for what they paid for this review which makes this even more bizarre.

Get a phone number. Yesterday.

The pricing
I’m lukewarm on the pricing for this ergonomic laptop stand: $79.99. That doesn’t seem like a bad deal but what if your expensive laptop or tablet goes flying? Sorry, no help from Lapdawg via the warning on the Lapdawg details page:

The LapDawg cannot properly secure your laptop if it has been accidently hit or moved. Although it is a stable and secure platform at normal angles, when adjusted at sharp degrees it is sensitive to movement. Please becareful when using the LapDawg and test the stability before putting your laptop on. We hope to improve this feature in future versions of the LapDawg.

What about a money back or satisfaction guarantee? Doesn’t appear to be any. So you’re throwing 100 bones toward the dog and hoping it won’t be, well, a dog.

Summary
I like the idea of the Lapdawg but the sales pitch was underwhelming. Telling me how revolutionary it was but not showing me or providing any non-influenced customer testimonials hurts the likelihood of a sale. Sure, there are bulletpoints telling me how ergonomically sound the Lapdawg is but where are unbiased customer reviews?

Lapdawg could send out a questionaire to people who bought their product and ask them if they can use their reviews: good, bad and indifferent and publish them. How about a blog with comments enabled?

I suppose the Lapdawg folks might have hoped I’d buy their product to write this review and I thought about it (really I did) but as mentioned in the beginning this isn’t a very good strategy using ReviewMe because of the review to publish time constraints and a company based in another country only shipping by UPS ground. Even if I had decided to buy the Lapdawg and there is still a remote chance I might, it is doubtful I would ever have received the product in time to review it in the time alloted.

However, if I do elect to buy the Lapdawg I’ll update this post or add a follow-up with my customer experience with the actual product.

I would like my reasons for passing on Lapdawg to be taken constructively as most of these things can be easily corrected (business phone number, videos of assembly and usage, better pictures, unbiased customer reviews, etc). Hopefully my commentary will be helpful to both Lapdawg and other companies wanting to promote new products. When I look at buying something over the web I look at all these things. The lack of having some or all of them doesn’t mean I will never do business with but it makes it far more unlikely that I will.

A customer support area with only a web form is a black hole in customer’s minds. Get some sort of interactive customer support like IM, video chat, IRC, whatever and what about your office hours? No posted office hours either is a red flag. Businesses have posted office hours. I realize the web store is technically 24/7 but what hours will human being(s) around to handle customer and new sale inquiries and questions?

And asking people to just email isn’t really a good response. Email sucks, sorry. Maybe I should have tested sending them an email and asking if could I buy the Lapdawg and have it shipped using FedX? Probably would have done that if I could get past the other things I mentioned.

I’d be willing to drop 100 bones for a product like this if I felt there was some recourse if the Dawg doesn’t hunt. In this Dawg’s case, I think I’ll keep searching. Remember, the grade I’m giving Lapdawg in this review is not for the product itself, but the sales presentation for the product at the official website. It’s possible if I change my mind and buy the Lapdawg I could love the product. The problem here is that you have to convince people like me to buy the product first. And it’s rare as a business that you ever hear the prospective customer list specific reasons why they chose not to buy your product/service. The Lapdawg website from a sales and business perspective isn’t a failure, but it’s dangerously close. Grade: D-

Update 2/22/07 7:51am PST: Thanks Xeni from Boing Boing for linking (see trackback below) to this review. Boing Boing readers that are interested in other Hmm reviews please see our Hmm Reviews central listing page. You can also subscribe to Hmm Reviews by RSS.

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