Retail, in the eyes of the everyday customer

“Site under construction” is a message I encounter often.  And it always makes me wonder why companies don’t just capture my email address and send an email when the site is live.  Today I came across bassshoes.com and they’ve implemented this strategy:

Company homepage

So I entered my email address and pressed go.  This is their follow up page:

I cannot believe they want me to verify my own email address AND enter some distorted text just to make sure I’m not a computer.  I’m sorry, but unless you manufacture the best shoes in the history of shoe making you’re never going to get away with this strategy.