customer service is dead
You used to be able to walk into a store and talk to the owner.
Next, you called a help line, and talked to some kid reading a 3 ring binder.
That was too expensive, so we hired Indians who don't understand your problems to help you with your problems.
Following that, we got lots of websites where you can only fill out a web form, and someone will help you, eventually.
Google has taken the next step, and told people to fuck off completely.
I've got a problem with Noobtoob's streaming feed on Youtube. It's all documented right here in a forum post.
Why is it in a forum post, where I'm begging for help, and no one is listening? Because Google has decided that they won't help you at all with anything that breaks. They set up a forum, so you can beg for help from other people who are there to beg for help. Needless to say, it doesn't work very well.
If you go to their help pages, you can click through FAQs, but there's NO contact information anywhere. There is literally no way to get help from anyone. You can't even fill out a form begging someone to help. Once, I found a page where there was a text field, and I begged that they would help me with my Youtube/Adsense problem.
I got no response, so I went back to use the text box again... and they had REMOVED it, I shit you not. There was one place on the entire site where you could try to contact a person, and it was a mistake that they fixed.
So, this is the future. Web 2.0, community-generated help forums, with thousands of people screaming into the night and no one listening. I guess if enough people complain on forums or blogs, they'll read about the problem in a website, and then decide it's big enough to fix. I never thought I'd miss Indian call centers.
It's mind bogglingly unfriendly and stupid, but I guess it's cheaper than helping people. Because, you know, Google is short on money.
posted by Tobin @ 11:34:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
"Sorry we're all busy making Web 3.0, but if you just wait a bit that'll fix all your problems! Thanks, the Google family ^_^"
I remember back when there were a few people who actually responded to feedback sent to the Tellme public feedback alias. Every once in a while a question or complaint would get forwarded to me if it was phone related. Kinda cool I thought. That stopped and one day I was curious and checked who was subscribed to the feedback mailing list. Not a single person. Empty. Guess it wasn't important.
Clearly the solution is to read this rant in an entertaining way, perhaps dressed up in a chicken suit, upload it to YouTube, then submit it to Digg etc. and hope it enters the gestalt.
-Andrew
A perfect demonstration of the truth:
If you are a little guy, you are not Google's customer. If you are just a "user", you are definitely not their customer.
Google is an advertising company, and they prefer bigger clients.
If you are a big AdWords or AdSense client, you get support from Google. (If you're really big, they'll talk to you on the phone.)
To me, that attitude is short-sighted.
i went through the same thing. i had some problems with google and waded my way through their "help" system and wound up at their forums.
for when you need to talk to someone on the phone, i've found this site pretty useful.
http://www.gethuman.com
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