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Leaving Google Fi

jasonatwood.io

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Re: Leaving Google Fi

#221

Post by tomcam »

barry-cotter wrote: post #188
tomcam wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just contact HN support about the downvote. I kid.

I’ve emailed HN support about comments that were showdead because they were new accounts or once a comment I made that was flagged, I felt, unfairly[1], and gotten actual support from real people who can make decisions and fix problems in under 12 hours. HN does actually have better customer support than Google. [1] If you find yourself doing this you are taking arguing on the internet entirely too seriously.

I have had exactly the same experience with the HN staff up to and including [1], and you are completely right about the comparison to Google. In Google‘s defense, I had a decent experience with support for my paid GSuite about 5 years ago.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#222

Post by falsedan »

pishpash wrote: post #164
smeggysmeg wrote: post #156

I'm a long-time Google Fi customer and moderate another community about Google Fi. Some of the criticism about Google not being as customer focused is valid, but the two biggest problems with Google Fi are: * The dependence on rigid processes. Customer support reps are cogs in a machine with no ability to override automated actions or to circumvent when processes go awry. * Google does absolutely zero of the inventor…

Not an excuse at all. It is Google that chooses their own logistics partners and support team. Why do they choose shitty ones?

I remember when Amazon fucked up and signed a contract with the worst local courier company in the UK; they were locked in and couldn't back out. So the advised people who'd previously had poor service from those couriers to put "please deliver with royal mail" in the delivery notes and would ship it out-of-contract & ate the fees.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#223

Post by falsedan »

londons_explore wrote: post #97
exabrial wrote: post #64

I had a problem with messages app, not sending messages. 5 calls to support, and they couldn't fix it. They don't have a way to get a hold the messages team to fix it. Simply incredible.

The messages team doesn't want to talk to you. Their app is used by 1.5 Billion people. If just 0.1% of them had some issue with their app, that would be 1.5 million phone calls. There are ~3 people working on the messaging app usually. Thats half a million calls each. Thats 52 years to answer all those calls! The TL;DR is that you will never make a bugfree app, and the remaining bugs will always leave some unhappy c…

how did telcos manage to run a message product (SMS) for the 20 years before Google? The user-base is bigger than 1.5B too

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#224

Post by ncallaway »

reaperducer wrote: post #174
ncallaway wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under the FDCPA you have the right to demand no contact with you, your workplace, or your family members. If they willfully violate this non-contact demand, they can be on the hook for $1,000 in statutory damages. They can also be on the hook for disruption they caused at a work-place, or emotional of physical distress. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/damages-fdcpa-violat... If a debt-collector is getting ove…

You can't sue a company that won't give you its name. When I moved into my current place, a collection agency (agencies?) kept sending people over looking for the deadbeat who lived here previously. They would tell me why they were there but never from what agency so there was no way to preemptively make them stop. After a few months of telling them that the previous person moved out it died down. But every four or f…

> It's great that you know the law. They know it, too.

They don't. Or, if they do, they're actively violating the law by refusing to tell you what agency they were from. It's definitely an effective tactic to make enforcement of the law hard to impossible, but they are not working within the bounds of the law.

From: https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/debt-collection-rights/

> You have the right to ask for the debt collector’s name.

> As noted above, debt collectors are also required to furnish the name of their company or agency.

They cannot (legally) refuse to provide you the name of the collections agency.

If they do so, I'm not even sure how you would be able to make a payment. If this were to happen, I might try to imply (without explicitly stating) that I wanted to make a payment, and then ask who I need to contact to figure out how to write a check. I'd then use whatever address/contact information they gave me to start researching them.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#225

Post by viraptor »

maxxxxx wrote: post #127
devm0de wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ll call YOU if you’re paying for their ads platform. ‘Just checking in, making sure everything is going alright.’

I often get these cheerful E-mails from other vendors. When I tell them what's not going alright they set up a series of meetings with clueless people and nothing happens usually. I would expect Google to be the same.

> they set up a series of meetings

In my experience those meetings have the goal of explaining you how to use the product. If the issue really is that something doesn't work, it's not something sales people can do anything about.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#226

Post by b_tterc_p »

mabbo wrote: post #48

This is the difference between Google and Amazon. People have lots of criticism of Amazon, some I even agree with, but working here[0] one of my favorite little cultural things is that customers can and do email Jeff when stupid things happen. And Jeff reads them. Every now and then he'll forward one of them to a senior VP with a simple "?" added to it.[1] That question mark indicates two things: that you have 24 hou…

This is interesting to me because amazon has a ton of anti-consumer practices right now- most importantly the large amount of incorrectly labeled knock off goods. But by doing this on the odd occasion he virtue signals that he is taking time from his day to solve the common man’s problem, evidently fostering a culture of leader worship.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#227

Post by criley2 »

winningcontinue wrote: post #178
sbr464 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically i’d agree, but aren’t they a customer if they are purchasing fulfillment services from Amazon (and paying platform fees)? I think the digital/sharing/on demand/fulfillment economy needs new definitions for these concepts.

Look at their budget. Most of their revenue comes from AWS. So their large AWS clients are their customers. The margins on the retailing e-commerce customers is slim and wasn't profitable on a cashflow basis until recent years. From a financial perspective, they're the people who are going to stock the items and take the risk for products where demand is uncertain. Once more data is collected about their sales, Amazo…

I just want to point out how ridiculous it is to think that AWS > Selling stuff out of a warehouse in terms of revenue.

Amazon does about $30B a year in selling goods, and about $7B a year in AWS.

AWS does deliver higher profit margins and more operating income than the tiny margins on selling and shipping goods, so perhaps that's what you meant to say.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#228

Post by baselined »

AaronFriel wrote: post #9

Google Fi support went down the drain when they expanded. I had a recent experience with my mother's phone being stolen while she was at a hospital, here's the summary after it was confirmed missing and police contacted, with a lot of redundant messages removed. 1st chat with agent Me Hi, my mother's phone was stolen, I'm tracking it on find my phone. Them: Sorry to hear that, we can black list the phone but you must…

I have been with Fi for several years and have never had a problem with customer service. I always call and speak with a rep who is readily available to help. My Pixel 1 had bluetooth issues and I was sent a replacement within a week. The second time it went bad because the screen stopped turning on, it was an equally quick turn around.

Maybe voice is a better option than chat, at least in my experience.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#229

Post by TeMPOraL »

paxys wrote: post #61
ArlenBales wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the quickest route to having your Google account permanently suspended. (YouTube, Gmail, etc. goodbye)

Google has demonstrated enough times already that your account can be permanently suspended for any or no reason at all. While the services they offer are definitely useful, if people are relying on them in their personal or professional lives it's best to be ready in case they are taken away without notice.

Yeah, their propensity to random account shutdowns in lieu of resolving whatever issues got them worried is why I've started paying FastMail and am slowly migrating to mail at my own domain. I can live without any other Google service, but having been a heavy GMail user for the past decade, account shutdown is an existential threat.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#230

Post by neogodless »

gecko wrote: post #114

I've used Google Fi for years, and I've heard stories like these for years. Despite comments in this thread, I don't think these experiences are new; they're just more common now because more people are on Fi. I think there are two major issues: first, Google doesn't really care all that much about Google Fi. It's just them keeping their foot in the water for later, not a major focus right now, so it doesn't get the…

That sounds like automation in a nutshell. On rails, everything is excellent. Veer off course and there's no recovery!

Usually humans fix those outliers, but if things are just too stuck on rails, there may be no fixing derailment.

It's like even if a CSR individually has excellent intentions and believes there will be a follow-up, it's not actually on any scripted recovery plan, so it just won't happen.

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