Howdy. My name is Paul and I’m the Director of Technology here at Smilebox. Smilebox is an interesting and unique company. There are a lot of processes and rituals we follow that may interest others, so I thought I would spend some time sharing what happens “Inside the Box.” In the next weeks and months, I hope to give you a glimpse of what makes Smilebox special, not only as a service, but as a place to work. We take a lot of pride in what we do and spend a lot of time trying different ways to improve. Some succeed and some don’t; but we always learn something.
This week I’d like to start out by sharing with you a decision we made early in the company. When we first started Smilebox, we knew we needed to do something a little different. We wanted to ensure that we designed and built a service that was fun and creative. Leveraging the idea that a product directly reflects the team that built it, we needed to foster a culture within Smilebox that was also fun and creative. Explicitly designing the culture of a company during its early stages was a unique challenge and we attacked it directly.
So, how does one go about cultivating a company’s culture? For us, we defined a set of values upon which we would build the company. Many of the founders of Smilebox, including myself, were familiar with various agile processes and the values they espouse. For example, the values defined by Kent Beck for his Extreme Programming process are “Communication”, “Simplicity,” “Courage,” “Feedback” and “Respect.” We wanted to define our own set of values that would set us apart and be guide posts for our future as a company. After much thought and discussion, we agreed on the following values for Smilebox: “Consumer Centric;” “Creative and Technical Excellence;” “Family Oriented;” “Accountable;” “Transparent;” “Collaborative;” and “Fun.”
Just glancing through the values we picked, I think you’ll start to see how Smilebox has built such a fun and creative service. In my next posts, I’ll briefly discuss each value, along with why we feel it is important and how it is reflected in both our work and in our service. Till then, happy Smileboxing…
39 Comments
I have used smilebox and loved it…but I just got a new iMac and realized I can no longer use it…..Please make a version for Mac?
Hey all, I joined but Smilebox won’t work on mt PC. The page opens and then nothing. I press the button to sign in and sign in and then…nothing. I have even tried to cancel before my 14 day trial is over but ever time I press the HELP button I get “Page unavailable”. How do I cancel this service before they charge me. I don’t think this is fair. And there is no way on the website to contact anyone. Is that by design. I’ve only been a customer for 5 days and I am very unhappy.
Janina
We’re very sorry you had difficulty signing into your Smilebox account. We hope our customer service support was able to help. In the future, if you have problems or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact support@smilebox.com so they may help you get up and running quickly on Smilebox. Full and complete support information is available by clicking the help button in the application and visiting the customer support area of our website at http://www.smilebox.com. There you will find a Smilebox Knowledgebase and a Smilebox Troubleshooter to help you answer your questions, as well our newest customer service enhancement, an automatic account cancelation feature. This is also where you can send a support ticket to our customer service group at Smilebox. If you submit a ticket and want to check the status, you can click the “My Support” tab to view your ticket. We wish to provide all Smilebox customers with superior support and are listening to ways to improve both our service and support.
Hi … LOVE Smilebox, but I too just switched over to a MAC and am so sad that I can no longer use this product … I am begging too for a MAC version … after 10 years of windows, just got tired of all the crashes and freezes, so PLEASE make a MAC version!!
i see all the questions about MAC….when will we get it? why does no one answer?
San,
Based on many customer requests, we are very busy working on the Mac version of Smilebox! We appreciate your patience and will provide additional updates here in the coming weeks.
hi! please, please make a Mac version. Loved this software the day I joined and have recommended it to friends. But since I switched to Mac, I’m the one that can’t use it anymore. Would appreciate if you can send me an email to advise a Mac versions already available.
Tried multiple times to add video files and everytime smilebox crashes after i press continue on the video add screen
Customer service have been responsive with suggestions which I have tried but no luck, I am vey frustrated I signed up for the premium version so I could share videos as well as photos and very disapointed this feature is not working in time for Easter greetings to be sent
Susan,
Our customer service group will be in touch with you to resolve your issue.
Please consider the 2 following suggestions:
**more Maxine formats!!!
**ability to use more than 1 tune for the extra large formats of 50 or more pics
Love this program!!!
Your customer service staff have not properly addressed my account issues. I believe they do not even read the whole request and base their replys to the subject header only. I have been using SmileBox as a paid premium member and have LOVED it – I used it for everything – and suddenly one day my account is showing as BASIC. (2 months into the year I paid for) No one has been able to resolve this and as a PAID in full member, I am appalled! I hope to have this issue resolved and expect and extension on my one year contract for the time I have been unable to utilize my account as a PREMIUM Member.
How do we get to see what we sent, if it was correct or how to keep it?
I subscribe to premium smilebox and have loved it. The last few times I’ve tried to use it I have been unable. First I got error message wrong password so had password changed. I can log in & go to my acct and see the creations I’ve sent. But when I sign in that is as far as I can go. When I just go to home page there is only option to try smilebox no place to log in. When I click smilebox icon on desktop it doesn’t work. I try to redownload it and click “run” on the two prompts and I still can’t get it. this is the same computer I’ve always used. Would really appreciate some help.
I am still very disappointed in your program. I paid for premium on August 12, 2008 . It is September 4, 2008 and I still have only basic. I keep getting the run around.
Mary S. Powell
When will we be able to save our creations to a DVD disc to play on our TV.
I love, love, love this sight
I just began smilbox and so far loved it. However, I had to reboot my pc and now it is no longer on my desktop…I need to know how I can get smile box re downloaded without being charged again so I can use this program. It’s only been a couple of days since i started account in which I paid in full for the year. And, now i dont have access to it.
I made a mistake in thinking that I could put my smile box creation on dvd after having signed up for the 14 day free trial. The very same day that I signed up I cancelled my free trial. When I looked into my bank account I found that you are trying to debit my account after I very quickly cancelled my contract with you. What happened to 14 days free? I have had to contact my bank about the matter as you have gone into my account without authorization. Do you make a policy of this? I pray that I do not have to take further action.
Ingrid Wilgen
I am trying to use Smilebox, but the website keeps on telling me I need Windows XP, Vista, MAC or so on. I have Windows XP Professional, but it still does not want to work. What can I do, I really want to try this program!
I went to use my smilebox acct. and it says something about updating and restarting smilebox. I have restarted the page many times and also restarted my computer and I still get the same posting. What to do?
I also got the message saying that I need to restart Smilebox. Well, I cannot figure out how to restart it! I wanted to use it to send out my Christmas newsletter, but I had to give up. It has been very frustrating. It looks like that I am not the only person having the same problem. Can someone help us out?
what is my passwode
waht is my passwode
I once used a free version of smile box and certainly loved that! But now, even if I’m willing to pay for more, somehow I cant open http://www.smilebox.com web site. Do you think there’s a problem with it? really want to download it but I dont know why I cant. Can you help me with that?
Hello, I signed up last August 2008 and have not successfully been able to use Smilebox. It is so frustrating because I get “application not found” every time I click on creating something. So many times I just wished there was a phone number to call in your Customer Support info. I wish I could get a refund, but better yet, I love Smilebox and did two creations just fine, but now I can’t do anything because of the error messages. Going on 8 months and I signed up for a membership and was so looking forward to creating albums. Funny thing is my neice gets it to work for her and she hasn’t even paid for a membership! I’d appreciate any ideas you might want to share. It’s a great concept, but without being able to use it, I wish I’d never paid the membership.
We’re sorry you are having problems. We’ll have our customer support group contact you and get you up and running.
April, we’re happy to help you cancel your subscription so that you’re not charged. I will have our customer support team contact you.
I have paid for the premium version of Smilebox all of a sudden I am getting “updating” message and then a error saying the windows update file is invalid – I have been working on this for days!
You guys need a phone number especially for paying customers ….. very poor customer service. Very frustrating!
Carole,
Our customer service team is happy to help. I will have them contact you directly.
I’m having using smilebox now, it keeps telling me I’m not connected to the internet when I try to log onto my account….can you please HELP me…I love your program….thanks
Rosie,
Our customer service team is happy to help you. I will have them contact you directly.
Thank you, I have uninstalled the program and re=installed and still not able to log onto the website.
Thanks.
Hey fellas. I’ve had Smilebox for some time now and just love it…until today. I’m using the elastic windows design on my web site (Road Trip Spur). On playback, things appear normal for a number of frames…then the photo fades and my system freezes. The music keeps playing and I can’t exit. Next time I try it, it works fine. Any idea what’s going on? This one really has me stumped. Thanks.
Dr. Mick
Have you changed your layout? I am not finding the My Creations page anymore. I tried to resend a smilebox and my address book is gone!!!
Rick,
Our customer service team is happy to help you. I’ll have them contact you directly!
Lynda,
Our customer support team is happy to help you. I’ll have them contact you directly!
I’m having the same problem with smilebox saying i need to connect to the internet, but i am connected. i just don’t know what else to do.. can you please help me as well!!
Alex,
Our customer support team will be in touch with you to help you out!
I too have the same problem saying i need to connect to the internet. please help me
Hi Aida! I will have our customer support team contact you to help you out!