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Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

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Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#21

Post by uptown »

bradgessler wrote: post #12
mikeryan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no originally existing customers would only be grandfathered in for a year and they had to pay up front.

Wow, yeah, that's a huge mistake. We always grandfather our customers anytime we change our prices; however, in our ToS we do reserve the right to change our prices for existing customers as long as we notify them first. For other web startups out there who want to change prices, I highly recommend that you grandfather existing customers so you don't piss them off and because you don't have to communicate anything ab…

"We always grandfather our customers anytime we change our prices; however, in our ToS we do reserve the right to change our prices for existing customers as long as we notify them first."

What? You grandfather your customers, but reserve the right to increase your prices for them as long as you let them know? That doesn't make sense.

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#22

Post by parfe »

mcantor wrote: post #8
jimboyoungblood wrote: post #7

When we decided to make a change to the Zendesk pricing structure for our existing customers, we tried to be as thoughtful, transparent, and straightforward as possible. Transparent? Maybe you should've given your customers a warning first..? While the letter is certainly worded very nicely (and carefully), it reeks more of damage control than sincerity. The picture with the puppy dog face puts it way over the top.

How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I'm asking this in all honesty; I don't really understand where you see this as being insincere. Just curious.

Well for one thing pissing off your customers is not "letting them down."

It's pissing them off. Side stepping the fact in the "apology" is like a little kid apologizing for something because he knows it is a required action. Not because he's sorry.

This company is sorry that the customers got angry and forced the pricing change. They are not sorry for "letting them down"

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#23

Post by mcantor »

jimboyoungblood wrote: post #19
mcantor wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I'm asking this in all honesty; I don't really understand where you see this as being insincere. Just curious.

For the lack of a better answer, it sets off my spidey sense. Everything is too nicely worded- there is nothing spontaneous or "real" about it. Imagine if you were hearing those words spoken in person. I don't think they'd ring true. The photo really is the kicker. Nobody has a photo like that just sitting around on their computer. Obviously a lot of effort, from a number of people, went into producing and editing th…

I still don't get it, dude. What could they have written in that blog post which would have rang true to you?

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#24

Post by jimboyoungblood »

wolfish wrote: post #20
jimboyoungblood wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the lack of a better answer, it sets off my spidey sense. Everything is too nicely worded- there is nothing spontaneous or "real" about it. Imagine if you were hearing those words spoken in person. I don't think they'd ring true. The photo really is the kicker. Nobody has a photo like that just sitting around on their computer. Obviously a lot of effort, from a number of people, went into producing and editing th…

Spiderman, just because a thing takes effort and is well done, does not mean it is insincere.

Just my opinion. It's okay to disagree, you know?

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#25

Post by jdeeny »

uptown wrote: post #21
bradgessler wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, yeah, that's a huge mistake. We always grandfather our customers anytime we change our prices; however, in our ToS we do reserve the right to change our prices for existing customers as long as we notify them first. For other web startups out there who want to change prices, I highly recommend that you grandfather existing customers so you don't piss them off and because you don't have to communicate anything ab…

"We always grandfather our customers anytime we change our prices; however, in our ToS we do reserve the right to change our prices for existing customers as long as we notify them first." What? You grandfather your customers, but reserve the right to increase your prices for them as long as you let them know? That doesn't make sense.

I think he means they have reserved the right to change prices for existing customers, but choose not to do so as a general rule. If they ever are in a situation where they need to change pricing for existing customers, the TOS would allow them to do so.

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#26

Post by jimboyoungblood »

mcantor wrote: post #23
jimboyoungblood wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the lack of a better answer, it sets off my spidey sense. Everything is too nicely worded- there is nothing spontaneous or "real" about it. Imagine if you were hearing those words spoken in person. I don't think they'd ring true. The photo really is the kicker. Nobody has a photo like that just sitting around on their computer. Obviously a lot of effort, from a number of people, went into producing and editing th…

I still don't get it, dude. What could they have written in that blog post which would have rang true to you?

It's not the "what", but the "how". It doesn't matter anyhow- obviously the apology worked. All the pitchforks have been traded in for hugs and kisses already.

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#27

Post by danielnicollet »

I get a sort of "spin doctor: feel from this move, with the big glaring eyes looking at me as I make my way to the message on the zendesk blog post... Maybe not so well handled since one could think Zendesk is trying to turn a difficult situation into a PR blitz: why are you posting here, rather than just emailing your customers?

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#28

Post by jimboyoungblood »

epochwolf wrote: post #18
mcantor wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I'm asking this in all honesty; I don't really understand where you see this as being insincere. Just curious.

> How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I've noticed with hacker news there is always a few people (different people, not the same ones) that are not satisfied with the apology of the day. I'm not sure why this is. My initial theory is that the apology didn't address a highly specific issue in the exact manner that person wanted. Apologies like this are (necessarily) non-s…

For the record, I'm not and have never been a customer of ZenDesk, nor any of their competitors- so there's nothing I could have "wanted" out of their apology.

So perhaps I am one of those people that wouldn't be okay with any apology.

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#29

Post by parfe »

mcantor wrote: post #23
jimboyoungblood wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the lack of a better answer, it sets off my spidey sense. Everything is too nicely worded- there is nothing spontaneous or "real" about it. Imagine if you were hearing those words spoken in person. I don't think they'd ring true. The photo really is the kicker. Nobody has a photo like that just sitting around on their computer. Obviously a lot of effort, from a number of people, went into producing and editing th…

I still don't get it, dude. What could they have written in that blog post which would have rang true to you?

>Instead of our intended result, many of you read my Tuesday e-mail and thought, “You want to send me a big bill for something that I didn’t order and haven’t agreed to? WTF?”

The above line makes no sense. The apology never actually mentions what the "intended result" was. The intended change was exactly what the customer thought it was. Zendesk intended the result to be the customers just shut up and take it. Zendesk just couldn't cope with the customer reaction.

Re: Sorry. We Messed Up. (Zendesk responds to pricing criticism)

#30

Post by nickpleis »

epochwolf wrote: post #18
mcantor wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I'm asking this in all honesty; I don't really understand where you see this as being insincere. Just curious.

> How do you get more sincere than, "We failed. We let you down. And we apologize."? I've noticed with hacker news there is always a few people (different people, not the same ones) that are not satisfied with the apology of the day. I'm not sure why this is. My initial theory is that the apology didn't address a highly specific issue in the exact manner that person wanted. Apologies like this are (necessarily) non-s…

For me, it's just gotten to the point that I'm tired of the exercise itself.

The current idea seems to be "Do whatever the hell you want", and if enough people get mad "apologize profusely and come out looking like you really care about your customers." Facebook has practically turned this into an art.

If you really cared about your customers, you probably wouldn't have done whatever you're apologizing about in the first place. At this point, having seen this play out over and over again, the whole thing does seem to lack sincerity.

I'm tired of people thinking "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" as a properly moral way to conduct business.

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