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Re: undefined

#41

Post by jacquesm »

arethuza wrote: post #36
Skeletor wrote: post #22

This is Michael, CEO of drchrono. It's definitely a rude awakening to wake up to see a post on top of Hacker News from an angry customer. I've reached out to Dr. Dal to have a phone call today to see how we can resolve his issues. Me and my staff have attempted to have a phone call with him for the past several weeks to address his issues. Rather than try to dig into the issues he brought up publicly, we'll do our be…

Now you've just established the fact that HN is a good place to raise problems with YC companies. :-)

It even works for Google, why wouldn't it work for YC companies?

Re: undefined

#42

Post by grannyg00se »

I don't remember seeing such an individual complaint laid out against any one company. The post was a personal gripe.

I'd hate to see the front page of HN turn into a YC complaint board.

Re: undefined

#43

Post by [deleted] »

mcguire wrote: post #16
kohanz wrote: post #4

It doesn't seem fair. If the OP (drdal) had created a blog post instead, would that have made a difference?!

Wrong question. If the OP had written an AskHN saying how happy he was with the service , would that have made a difference. Can't really have a yes for one and a no for the other, in that case.

[deleted]

Re: undefined

#44

Post by csbrooks »

austenallred wrote: post #21
chrisacky wrote: post #2

PG already responded in the post. (He got downvoted heavily so his post is muted): As we say in the guidelines, http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html HN is a news site, not a forum for people with issues with companies we've funded (even when concealed as Ask HNs). So I'm killing this. If you have an issue with Dr Chrono, please contact them directly. If you ask me, there wasn't anything wrong with the question.…

This is one of those weird instances when I think the poster was right to post, and I think PG was right to kill it. The poster was looking to have a conversation about what he should do, but PG saw the inevitable flame war coming (and even beginning in the post itself). I don't think any of us would pretend that thread would end up as constructive, so PG gave the definitive answer: Talk to them.

>so PG gave the definitive answer: Talk to them.

Which the poster has been doing, and it hasn't worked?

Re: undefined

#45

Post by thejteam »

I can see both sides of this. On one hand, it would severely degrade the quality of HN if it became a sounding board for complaints against Ycombinator funded companies. One the other hand, there was a chance for a completely germane discussion about quality customer service at Saas companies in general and small startups in particular. If a person does outsource a critical business function and the company doesn't respond, what is a person to do? What is an acceptable response time when the error brings a person's business to a standstill?

Re: undefined

#46

Post by frogpelt »

minimaxir wrote: post #30
mcguire wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong question. If the OP had written an AskHN saying how happy he was with the service , would that have made a difference. Can't really have a yes for one and a no for the other, in that case.

A how happy he was with the service post would read more like spam than a call for discussion.

Something like this:

    Ask HN: Should I be really excited about how awesome
    drchrono is? They have treated me with dignity and 
    class since I signed up. This is in addition to saving
    me hours per day and thousands of dollars on each 
    transaction. What do you think, HN?

Re: undefined

#47

Post by srean »

jrs235 wrote: post #34
austenallred wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of those weird instances when I think the poster was right to post, and I think PG was right to kill it. The poster was looking to have a conversation about what he should do, but PG saw the inevitable flame war coming (and even beginning in the post itself). I don't think any of us would pretend that thread would end up as constructive, so PG gave the definitive answer: Talk to them.

I agree. And if the OP really just wanted honest advice on whether to sue a start up or not the OP should have omitted the name of the start up. However, the name was provided because HN was not being used to get advice but was used as a side channel to provoke action from a Y Combinator funded company.

That was not my reading. To me the post seemed to be well intended: a way to get the message through to the investors so that the problem could be resolved without legal unpleasantness. EDIT: That is still well within request for "honest advice" in my books, or at least I dont see whats dishonest about the advice sought.

Re: undefined

#48

Post by fluidcruft »

austenallred wrote: post #21
chrisacky wrote: post #2

PG already responded in the post. (He got downvoted heavily so his post is muted): As we say in the guidelines, http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html HN is a news site, not a forum for people with issues with companies we've funded (even when concealed as Ask HNs). So I'm killing this. If you have an issue with Dr Chrono, please contact them directly. If you ask me, there wasn't anything wrong with the question.…

This is one of those weird instances when I think the poster was right to post, and I think PG was right to kill it. The poster was looking to have a conversation about what he should do, but PG saw the inevitable flame war coming (and even beginning in the post itself). I don't think any of us would pretend that thread would end up as constructive, so PG gave the definitive answer: Talk to them.

To slightly nuance that, given the fact that he had already tried "talking to them" (to death actually, he's bent over graciously--first via support, escalating to discussions with the CEO and ultimately an unanswered demand letter)... in this case continuing to "talk to them" means "sue them", right?

I mean, that was his question. All he seems to have left is suing. He was asking if he had another option. And, of course the other option is "raise a stink on HN/interwebs". But that's a luxury reserved for "hackers"/VIPs, not lowly customers.

PG told him to sue DrChrono.

Re: undefined

#49

Post by axeny »

Skeletor wrote: post #22

This is Michael, CEO of drchrono. It's definitely a rude awakening to wake up to see a post on top of Hacker News from an angry customer. I've reached out to Dr. Dal to have a phone call today to see how we can resolve his issues. Me and my staff have attempted to have a phone call with him for the past several weeks to address his issues. Rather than try to dig into the issues he brought up publicly, we'll do our be…

This is how the first thread should have been resolved. Great answer and I really hope both sides benefit from the following conversations.

Re: undefined

#50

Post by gamblor956 »

austenallred wrote: post #21
chrisacky wrote: post #2

PG already responded in the post. (He got downvoted heavily so his post is muted): As we say in the guidelines, http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html HN is a news site, not a forum for people with issues with companies we've funded (even when concealed as Ask HNs). So I'm killing this. If you have an issue with Dr Chrono, please contact them directly. If you ask me, there wasn't anything wrong with the question.…

This is one of those weird instances when I think the poster was right to post, and I think PG was right to kill it. The poster was looking to have a conversation about what he should do, but PG saw the inevitable flame war coming (and even beginning in the post itself). I don't think any of us would pretend that thread would end up as constructive, so PG gave the definitive answer: Talk to them.

The unfortunate reality of many YC companies is that talking to them doesn't solve the issue until it becomes a PR crisis. At that point, the company usually falls all over itself to handle the customer's needs and loudly proclaims that it really wasn't their fault that a customer's complaints somehow went un-addressed for months despite multiple appeals by the customer to multiple employees and executives.

That's something that could be reasonably expected from a mega-corporation which has to deal with multiple layers of bureaucracy, but even in those situations a direct appeal to an executive officer usually gets the issue resolved. Getting the runaround is not something anyone should have to deal with when the company has a handful of employees and minimal, if any, layers of middle management. After all, isn't one of the primary benefits of being a startup supposed to be that the company is more responsive to customer needs?

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