Usability Blooper: Dollar, You Ain't Helping

Here’s an interesting screenie from Dollar rent-a-car:

Two issues jump out.

Poor copywriting

The message is clear as mud. Too wordy. Also, displaying internal error codes (“Message Business100”) is a sin unto death, figuratively speaking.

UI disconnect

The error message refers to something the UI doesn’t actually display. There is no list to select from. I can kinda-sorta quess I need to start typing because I’m familiar with AJAXy auto-completes, but still…

“Location” up there is ambiguous because I don’t know their location codes. “Location” is an implementation detail from the jargon of Dollar’s IT peeps.

If it were up to me, I’d go with “Type the city or airport where you’d like to pick up the vehicle.”

Any favorite usability bloopers you’d like to share?