Debbie Landa’s rant of the month:
“Customer Service 2.0 uhm, NOT
Here’s my rant of the month. It seems like everyone is trying to get on the office 2.0 train. Clearly, any developer with some code know-how can make a product but, “servicing” the product is the challenge.
I will openly stand up and say that i’d pay a fee for a product that offers phone support. When a product that you’ve been using breaks, it sucks when you can’t get help. You’re stuck with all your documents or info in random spots and there’s nothing you can do until someone responds.
ok, i’m talking about Google, yes the dearly loved Google that i have praised for acquiring writely, our collaboration tool of choice. Google, meet customer service 2.0….yup, that’s what i’m saying. (You’d make millions if you actually had someone we could call) Why can’t we call you? Why don’t you respond to our silly forms that we spend so much time filling out…why oh why are you making us so crazy. I hate to complain, but it’s been three days and still no reply….. “
I feel the pain … been there, done that. As a user, I completely agree. But let’t look at reality, it’ simply not economically feasible to offer phone support to millions of free users. Support is costly and somebody has to pay for it.
That said, there are companies that excel in supporting their free product, but guess what, their name does not start with G* … not even with Y* … a good example is Z*. As in Zoho. I am using several of their products: they all have a “feedback” feature built right in the menu bar. Typical response time is hours or less; I’ve had 10 minutes, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced more than 2-3 hours. I seriously doubt you can ask for more with free products.
I think support goes right out of the window the moment a lean-and-mean startup is gobbled up by a giant. If Zoho is able to answer your queries, or at least come online, in hours, that’s because they are still a small outfit. Wait till Yahoo! acquires them. Then the wait begins.
My 0.02