Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

community.garadget.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 453 posts

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#231

Post by eps »

bigbugbag wrote: post #93
eps wrote: post #30

Not "for negative Amazon review", but for being an asshole. This guy forgot that there are people behind every product and the abstraction is as thin as it gets when it is in fact a smaller company or a startup. There are negative reviews and there are nasty reviews. He was nasty to them and they no longer wanted him as a client. No reason why a company should swallow shit that a person wouldn't. They certainly _can_…

There are countries where national laws says doing that is illegal to deny service to some customers based on subjective opinion and you can be sued for discrimination. "This customer is a toxic asshole" is not that far from "this customer has a skin color / religion / political view I don't like".

Examples?

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#232

Post by PeterisP »

victorhooi wrote: post #220
PeterisP wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling a product a piece of shit is perfectly acceptable behavior, it often is a reasonable and accurate opinion about a product and definitely meets the standards of the "level of decorum" expected for customer product reviews. Customers shouldn't be absolved of having a minimum level of decorum, but that minimum is at the level of (a) personal insults at specific people ("Bob in customer support is a piece of shit…

No, I'm sorry, that is not perfectly acceptable behaviour. It's not illegal - but it's also not helpful, or constructive, and nor is it desirable if you're trying to build a helpful community. There are other ways of getting your point across, without resorting to insults such as "piece of s*it". In Chinese, we might call this 家教 - or "upbringing". If you have no decorum, or class - it suggests that your upbringing w…

The audience of Amazon product reviews is other customers, not the developer. "Don't buy this product, it's a piece of shit" is constructive, helpful, actionable advice to other customers.

It is desirable if you're trying to build a helpful community where customers help other customers differentiate between good products and products that sometimes don't work on arrival or have software reliability problems; a community that recommends to avoid certain companies is a helpful community to have for a buyer.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#233

Post by chrischen »

restlessmedia wrote: post #148
atemerev wrote: post #72

"Throwing a tantrum"? The review in question is something along the lines of "the control app is flashing and doesn't work at all. This is junk, don't waste your money on it. 1/5 stars." If you make any public facing products, you will occasionally get such (and worse) reviews even if your product is a shiny perfection forged in heaven by angels themselves and wrapped in magic. Fact of life. On the other hand, the su…

I absolutely agree. From an outsider, the reaction from Garadget will stay in my mind far longer than the initial review. Imagine this in a bricks and mortar high-street shop? 'The customer is always right' is a difficult but noble stance - if a customer is being difficult, suck it up, be sickly nice then go out the back and scream when they've left.

A lot of brick and mortar shops actually have a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service."

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#234

Post by r3bl »

tajen wrote: post #226
msh wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a reference? Googling dont reveal any cases, only people speculating if they might do it.

Yes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4682392 . There are speculations on whether the Kindle was actually wiped or whether she just couldn't use it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4684392

Wow, seems like it really is the case.

Well, turns out my strategy of de-DRMing Kindle books[0] is more than a good suggestion, just to be on the safe side.

Under my moral compass, after I have purchased one edition of the book, I have the right to convert it to whatever the hell I want.

https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools/

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#235

Post by throwanem »

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #209
throwanem wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the customer is always right This is a useful perspective to take if you're in sales. For a support engineer, not so much. When I did Tier 1 for credit cards, the mantra everywhere invoked was instead: "The customer is not always right, but is always deserving of respect." Which has always struck me as a much more balanced and sensible attitude to take, when the objective is to solve a problem. Sometimes that probl…

The two are exactly the same from the outcome perspective; you always treat the customer with respect and try to please them.

Ideally, yes.

The more nuanced formulation acknowledges the existence of limits on what will be done - you don't, for example, get a 90-day delinquency reaged off your account once you pay up to date, no matter how you ask.

It also, and I think this has merit for Tier 1 reps who are constantly exposed to all the marvelous and frequently trying vicissitudes of humanity, explicitly calls out respect as a value. Certainly I found that explicit reminder useful from time to time, and I know others did as well. Perhaps this fellow might have, too.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#236

Post by qume »

throw_this_away wrote: post #134
qume wrote: post #53

Dear customer, We are a small team who don't have the resources to test every single OS version on every device. Problems will happen. As such we're happy to issue you a refund, and you can keep the device. All we ask is that you let us update the app to make sure it's working on your device, and hopefully others. Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until it is fixed. If at some stage you…

I get the sentiment, but why should a hardware company let the user keep the device and their money? Issuing a refund and finding a way to retrieve the device so it can be resold makes much more sense to me. Especially for a small company.... Giving away your product for free to every customer that complains seems like a quick way to go out of business. If you buy a faulty ipad from apple, they'll certainly give you…

Super simple - turn your worst anti-evangelist into your biggest supporter. For the value of a used, possibly defective device with a $99 retail (therefore costing probably $20-35 to produce).

It's hard to explain, but I've lived through this so many times, and seeing an angry customer turn into a better marketing resource than any adwords campaign, and getting the warm fuzzies at the same time, is good business in my book.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#237

Post by throwanem »

Veen wrote: post #229
qqg3 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite clear a lot of people in here are approaching this with a "B2B" mindset where clients and contracts can be fired and terminated. This scenario is "B2C", "the customer is always right" may be a tired phrase but it rings truer than you might think. A lot of people are saying this guy should be respectful of this small, indiegogo compnay. Problem is, they are ignoring the fact the product is being sold on Ama…

I don't agree. As a freelancer, when I do business with someone, I expect them to comport themselves in a civilized manner. If they're too thick or ill-bred to manage it, they can take their money elsewhere. I don't see why it should be different for any company. The exchange of money isn't a license to ignore standards of social interaction between equals.

You're absolutely right! Engaging in this kind of substantive retaliation because someone said a swear word you didn't like is totally unacceptable in any professional context.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#238

Post by andybak »

chrischen wrote: post #233
restlessmedia wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree. From an outsider, the reaction from Garadget will stay in my mind far longer than the initial review. Imagine this in a bricks and mortar high-street shop? 'The customer is always right' is a difficult but noble stance - if a customer is being difficult, suck it up, be sickly nice then go out the back and scream when they've left.

A lot of brick and mortar shops actually have a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service."

Yes but they had better have a really compelling unique product if they choose to exercise that right.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#239

Post by mmjaa »

deadbunny wrote: post #147
mmjaa wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>minimum level of decorum Free speech doesn't mean much? Entire nations were founded on the basis of individual rights to bitch about things they don't like, without incurring oppressive retaliation. Really, this is imperialism versus the free market. Either you harden up and listen to the people whose participation influences your survival directly (i.e. customers), or you go out of business. In this case, the latte…

> Entire nations were founded on the basis of individual rights to bitch about things they don't like, without incurring oppressive retaliation. From the Government.

One mans business is another mans government.

Yes, we should be protected from business interests when they usurp our basic rights to free speech. We should be protected - by our governments - whenever our rights are misused/abused.

What else is government for if its not to protect our basic rights?

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#240

Post by barking »

matt4077 wrote: post #212
barking wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience there are a small percentage of customers, bullies basically, who are toxic and have the ability to ruin the experience for your good customers by taking up an inordinate amount of resources in money, time and employee mental state. Maybe part of the reason they are cheap is because they don't pander to this type?

Dunno. I once tried to check in online, but the service was just giving me errors. Tried for half an hour. When the service was back up, it wouldn't let me check in because that closes two hours before the flight. There were around 20 people at the check-in, all of which had had the same problem. They made every single one pay 45 Euro per boarding pass, telling us to file a complaint later. Filed a complaint, got a c…

You left it rather late to check in by the sound of it, though. Just saying
Post reply on HN