The worst customer service email from a startup founder I've ever seen. You might think it's the best.
Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
ryanmelogy.com
Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#2>"Admittedly, I was being a bit of a dick by adding the "wtf" at the end..."
This may explain, at least in part, the nature of the response that the OP received.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#3"It's either the best or the worst customer service email I've ever seen."
Considering the post, I'm leaning towards "best".
Two things about the article:
1) Order of information seemed really backwards. It was like the blog version of Memento.
2) I've never read an article that had so many sentences begin with the word "so". About half by my count.
...soooo, that brings me back to "best customer service email ever".
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#4>Worst Customer Service Ever?
Not-even-close...
There are certain assumptions people make when trying to help out others. I'm probably not going out too far on a limb to guess that Allan read OP's emails and one of his first thoughts were, "this guy didn't spend more than 2 minutes reading the documentation."
Given the ease of locating that information, I'd have to agree.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#5>"Admittedly, I was being a bit of a dick by adding the "wtf" at the end..." This may explain, at least in part, the nature of the response that the OP received.
I have a B2B app too, and get email from people who are downright rude. I wouldn't bundle the OP in with this bunch: he just seemed frustrated.
But as the service provider it's your responsibility to maintain a professional tone. When I get what, at best, are difficult customers, my approach is to be tersely polite. Then half tend to back down and be apologetic, the other half I never hear from again.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#6I think both parties are at fault here. Ryan's first query was fine. It was a total mistake to 1) Send another message (please wait for more than a "few minutes" before getting frustrated and sending another message), and 2) Be completely rude.
At the same time, Allan (CEO) should have maintained, like drsim said, a professional, objective tone. Sure, he probably got a kick out of sarcastically tearing down Ryan, but ultimately it did nothing for either party and only burned a bridge that otherwise could have been salvaged.
I don't think it's too late for Ryan to apologize for the misunderstanding.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#7The truth is. Some customers require 10x the support that others do and you only get paid the same amount. When you're a growing startup, those 10x'ers can suck up all your time and distract you from building a better product. Unfortunately it sounds like you were going to be a 10x'er for them and they were a bit blunt about suggesting you don't use the service.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#8I think both parties are at fault here. Ryan's first query was fine. It was a total mistake to 1) Send another message (please wait for more than a "few minutes" before getting frustrated and sending another message), and 2) Be completely rude. At the same time, Allan (CEO) should have maintained, like drsim said, a professional, objective tone. Sure, he probably got a kick out of sarcastically tearing down Ryan, but…
What misunderstanding?
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#9My personal opinion and standard for customer service (to my customers) is that no matter how rude the customer is (in this case, I personally wouldn't classify Ryan as rude), its my responsibility to be as polite and helpful as humanly possible. Perhaps I just have extra high standards, but for me, the email from Allan reflects pretty bad on Curebit's leadership team.
Re: Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever?
#10I think both parties are at fault here. Ryan's first query was fine. It was a total mistake to 1) Send another message (please wait for more than a "few minutes" before getting frustrated and sending another message), and 2) Be completely rude. At the same time, Allan (CEO) should have maintained, like drsim said, a professional, objective tone. Sure, he probably got a kick out of sarcastically tearing down Ryan, but…
@brianchu: I agree. I'm largely at fault. And I'm probably going to take down the post. I was just pissed off at Allan's attitude (especially the condescension), and thought I'd try to get a little revenge. But that's no way to behave. I do apologize. Also, I'm going to stop using the word "So" as often. Also, I'm going to start proofreading my blog posts before I put them live. It's just that it's never really mattered, because nobody has ever read it!