Business Tools Blog

Online Customer Service has gotten so bad … that even I have thrown in the towel.  And believe me, I can be relentless.

When did it become acceptable to hide from your customers?  And by hide, I mean put the “help” link in a tiny 4 point gray font at the bottom of the page.  Then have the link lead you through a maze of FAQ’s, that ultimately leads to a forum where you can post a question with the hope that a good Samaritan (not employed or in any way paid by the company) will post an answer.  Is there a phone number?  Not likely.  We wouldn’t want anyone at the company to actually have to talk to you.

I think Google started this trend, by making it absolutely impossible to get in touch with anyone.  If you have a problem with Google, you are pretty much out of luck.  There is no email that you can contact.  You have to rely on their Help forums … If you call their headquarters, you will be disconnected.  ”NO HELP FOR YOU”  should be Google’s slogan - they won’t even take your money to fix the problem.

And then there are the companies that trick you with “Live Help Online” … I love the concept.  Except, the live help can pretty much only help by reading back FAQ’s.  If you have a real problem, Good Luck.

There is company that I am working with that lets you put in a help ticket.  Then they half answer your questions.  Asking again doesn’t help.  And they refuse to give you a phone number or way to escalate your problem.  After going back and forth with this company for 4 weeks (and even sending emails to their founders) … I have given up.  Well, almost.