The Indianpolis-based mobile answer service ChaCha and I have had a tumultuous relationship.
It started out great, like most relationships do. I’m talking about Autumn 2007 through Winter 2008. I loved ChaCha and I used it often for serious reasons (What’s the address of the Broad Ripple Brew Pub?), for curiosity’s reasons (What does the Pope’s brother do?), and for laughs (NSFW).
I showed ChaCha off to all my friends. They loved it and used it to.
Then something happened. I’m not sure what and I couldn’t tell you exactly when, but in ChaCha’s quest for a sustainable business model, their service completely fell off a cliff. I stopped getting responses to my questions, or if I did, it would come 30 minutes later. Sometimes I was told I was out of questions (see below). Sometimes they would ask me multiple tedious questions about what phone I was using, and after I answered they would then tell me I was out of questions (to this I would scream outloud “But I haven’t asked a question in 4 months!)
I stopped using ChaCha then, which should have ended the drama, but there was another event that would really add to it…
Back in September 2008 I forwarded an article to the roughly 20 people who were currently in the Orr Fellowship titled No ChaChing for ChaCha Guides. (What can I say other than the rarity of seeing an Indiana company in TechCrunch excites me to the point that I have to forward an article, no matter how flimsy the basis for the article.)
My email reached someone in the C-suite at ChaCha (I won’t say how and I won’t say who since my point isn’t to drag anyone through the mud) who responded vociferously via email. There’s no doubt the email was meant to be sharp and meant to tell me to “shut up.”
Well, since that time TechCrunch has since changed it’s position on the company (ChaCha Makes Its Crazy Business Model…Profitable) and I’ve tried giving ChaCha another chance.
That chance came this past Thursday and unfortunately, the results are horrible. The full text of my conversation is below.
Before reading, you should note that using my friend’s Blackberry I discovered the actual answer to my question was the IU Men’s Basketball team was playing Michigan that night at 9pm Eastern and the game was televised.
Me: Is there an IU men.s basketball game tonight? (Thu, Jan 14, 6:50 pm)
ChaCha: Gimme an A, Gimme an N, Gimme an S-W-E-R! *What do you call it when a group of cheerleaders have taken over? Text TAKEOVER and you’ll find out. (Thu, Jan 14, 6:50 pm)
ChaCha: No, the Indiana Hoosiers game against Bison at 8:00 PM EST at Assembly Hall isn’t listed as being on TV. ChaCha again! *Ads always start with an * (Thu, Jan 14, 6:50 pm)
Me: I’m pretty sure that’s wrong (Thu, Jan 14, 6:53 pm)
ChaCha: We’ve got answers yes we do, We’ve got answers, how ‘bout you? *Do you know what a cheerbarrassment is? Find out so you aren’t one! Text CHEERBARR (Thu, Jan 14, 6:53 pm)
ChaCha: You’re right. It’s the newsly-released Casio Exilim Pro, at 60 fps. *Wanna see high energy dancing n cheering? Txt HIGHENERGY (Thu, Jan 14, 6:53 pm)
Me: That’s not what I asked. I asked who the IU Men Basketball team plays tonight
ChaCha: Aarrrgh! Ur temporarily out of Qs. Txt WHYME to know why. Or u can use ThmbSavrs: txt MENU or FUNMENU. Or txt HOWLU to ChaCha and C if LuLu knows the answer. (Thu, Jan 14, 6:56 pm)
So I’m left wondering, why does ChaCha still not work with any sort of consistency? Why is the experience still not as good as it was in late 2007?
Does it work for anyone?
I want to love ChaCha because it’s an Indiana company, but I won’t lie and say in my experience they do great work, because I haven’t seen it in a while.
