A little help?

I currently work as a temp at a community college, where it's my job to sign people up for GED testing and classes. We have this free program (as many institutions do) to help those in the surrounding community acquire the ability to attend college. As I field several hundred calls and walk-in inquiries a day, it has become apparent to me that no one has our phone number or knows the name of our department. Students and staff alike are routinely transferred or forwarded to my phone and desk from other places that they have incorrectly called or visited. This has led me to wonder what the hell is going on? Why does no one know who we are, and why is it so difficult to contact us? At the outset, one might wonder if it is the ineptitude of those trying to reach us. On closer inspection, one discovers (for an as yet undetermined reason) that getting information on just about any place is nearly impossible. Even in the "cyberspace age", old or broken links, as well as misdirection, is pervasive. Why is this? I must re-ask the now cliche' question: What makes businesses think that less service is better business? Even for programs, services and businesses that generally want to be found.

For example: I recently needed to locate a nearby Staples store. I searched online, and after getting to the overloaded front page of their website, I finally found a tiny little link, off in a corner, that read "Store Locator". Great. I usually know where to look on a page to find such a thing, but because their home page is so busy, it took me nearly seven or eight minutes to see theirs. I clicked on it, and located the store I wanted. I got a phone number, which did not go to the actual store (though the site led me to believe it did), but instead went to a call center. The call center then transferred me to the store. Once I was transferred to the store, no one answered for an extended period, then when they did, they transferred me to the wrong department.

Now why would all of this happen? Well, corporate doesn't want you to walk into a store when you can buy online. The employees don't realize it, but they have been poorly trained in handling customers, in order to better serve corporate's goals. If everyone moves to online purchasing, corporate can then start closing stores, laying people off (those very same low-wage, poorly-trained salespeople), dramatically cutting their overhead in the process. Of course, their online prices are somewhat cheaper, but it is more than made up for (on your end) by the shipping charges. Sure, Staples doesn't get that money, it goes to FedEx or UPS or whomever, but that makes little difference to your pocket. It still stings.

Case in point, I was merely looking for a $2 sketch pad that I thought they might carry. They didn't have it in-store or online, but if they had, the shipping charges to have them send it to me were well in excess of double the cost of the pad. However, they (institutionally) did everything imaginable to keep me from 1.) talking to a human and 2.) coming into the store, effectively making it impossible (if not just very difficult) to buy it any other way (from them). All this, by the way, while doing everything imaginable to eliminate competition so that, despite the poor service, you have to spend your money with them. Guess it's the American way.

But why is this the case at a college or university, like the one at which I work? Surely, they must want students, as it means more revenue and exposure. This one is less obvious to me. Perhaps the gigantic bureaucracies which run colleges and universities are to blame. No one knows what the other is doing, every call is passed off and redirected and ultimately, students and prospective students are lost in the shuffle. Or perhaps academia is subject to the same trends as business. With more offerings online, they can cut some overhead by not having on-campus classes. Fewer buildings means lower real estate costs. As well, fewer professors can teach more classes online, allowing the schools to hire less. More students, fewer teachers and expenses, as well as the support staff that accompanies those things.

I don't know the answer, but I know it's infuriating. A little help? Anyone?