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

community.garadget.com

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

#321

Post by jdeibele »

atemerev wrote: post #305
linuxkerneldev wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the support engineer's response (that ends with blocking the user's device for good) _is_ a bona fide tantrum, worthy of textbooks. I don't think that's a support engineer. I'm pretty sure that's Denis Grisak, the founder of Garadget. I find it fascinating that he used the phrase "only demonstrates your poor impulse control" to the customer while arguably his own response seems to suggest his own impulse control ma…

That explains some things. I have been a founder too, and I am aware that this is a lot more stressful than it seems from the outside, and this one star review might have been the last straw. However, dealing with angry customers is a part of the job (like everything else, until proper employees are hired). Let's say that this person is not particularly good at said job.

I was a founder and did tech support for years. Eventually stopped doing it for a couple of years and tried doing it again.

I wanted to fire every customer who called in because of the abusive way they treated the support people. The support people patiently explained to me that it was part of their job and they didn't take it personally.

I have found people are on a grid with "people helpers" as one axis and "problem solvers" as the other. Close to 100% people helper, you know that you can help this person because you've done it 100x. Close to 100% problem solver, you're going out of your mind because you've done this 100x.

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

#322

Post by HelloNurse »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #18
finaliteration wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acting out in retributive ways when your customers (justifiably or not) have issues and leave negative reviews is a pretty terrible way to build and run a business. Is the spite towards that one person really worth it?

Look at the timing. This was an Amazon purchase. The developer mentions Saturday, and how the Amazon review was left around the same time as the forum post, so presumably the the item was delivered on that same day. That's gonna be a bad experience for both sides: The purchaser has to wait until Monday to return, and the developer has to deal with (what I expect is) a drive-by flame. It's a Saturday night, and each s…

Apart from the effect of being unable to trust a security-critical product? As mentioned in other comments, Garadget is able to open the garage doors of its customers remotely; this incident implies that they could actually do it, should their decide that a customer deserves an even worse punishment than denied service.

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

#323

Post by gambiting »

bigiain wrote: post #271
ekidd wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked retail. Pretty much every place that's worth working at has banned a few customers. Perhaps 1 in 1000 customers will be actively abusive towards other customers or towards employees. I recall my first boss, who once had a customer push to the front of the line in a crowded shop. The customer rudely demand to be served. My boss was a very proper older southern lady, and she said, "Ma'am, you can also find…

There's "refusing service", "banning customers", and then there's "turning off a device you've already sold to a customer after he's taken it home". There are not many goods/products/businesses who get away with doing that. Even Steve's "You're holding it wrong!" wasn't followed up with "so I'm gonna remote brick it on you"... (Interestingly, Amazon have in the past remote-deleted Kindle books on people's devices - b…

I've had one of my kindles replaced because it wouldn't connect to wifi anymore, and the rep said they are sending me a new one, and I don't have to send the old one back, but they are blacklisting it on their servers - so if I ever fix it, it won't connect to the internet at all.

It was a bit weird, but I guess acceptable in that situation.

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

#324

Post by barking »

beedogs wrote: post #311
barking wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can require your customers to show decorum if you choose.

Nope. If you've already sold them the product, you really cannot do this.

No? If I went into a store to complain and my first words were "what kind of shit have I bought here?", then I don't think I'd have any cause for complaint if I were forcibly ejected and told to come back when I'd learnt how to behave myself. Same should apply online.

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

#325

Post by barking »

robryan wrote: post #176
barking wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can require your customers to show decorum if you choose.

This is actually not true if you hope to sell long term as an Amazon marketplace seller.

Is existing only at Amazon's pleasure any kind of long term strategy for a business?

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

#326

Post by feld »

nla wrote: post #285

Who would use a garage door opener that has to connect to some clown company servers?

I'm using their product. Let me tell my story.

I have an old garage door opener -- ancient Craftsman. It doesn't even have a secure RF opener; no rollover codes or faux-crypto. My wife lost her garage door opener remote. I looked for replacements and couldn't find any that were less than $40 new or $30 used. Ridiculous.

I have an outdoor keypad on the garage, which is detached. It doesn't work very well in the extreme cold because the 9V battery gives out. This solves a unique problem for me: I do not want to buy a new garage door opener. Mine was recently rebuilt with new gears and should be good to go for years. Further, would be a few hundred dollars without labor, and I don't want to do the labor myself. I've done it before; not worth my time. Now, Garadget exists. I got mine for $69. Now I have infinite remotes as long as my wifi works (It's on my IoT VLAN which only can do outbound 80 and 443).

So, Garadget solved a unique problem for me in 5 minutes of work and saved me money. Hilarious that a device this advanced is cheaper than a simple RF remote, but that's supply and demand in action.

Now is this a security concern for me? No. If someone wants to break into my garage they can eBay some garage door keys and just disengage the garage door from the opener via the keyhole on the front of every modern garage door. Or pick it I guess? Or they could get a kids toy and reprogram it to brute force all the garage doors in the neighborhood. https://youtu.be/iSSRaIU9_Vc

tl;dr while this is the Internet of Silly Things, this is not a security concern for me. If someone hacks the company servers and starts opening and closing my garage door I'll just unplug it or remotely block it from my network.

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

#328

Post by warent »

lucideer wrote: post #163

I'm pretty surprised by the comments here on decorum and civility. The customer called the product a "piece of shit" - yes he used bad language, but he's criticising the product itself. An object. The rep. directly insulted the customer's character (saying he had "poor impulse control" and was throwing a "tantrum"). Is this another example of American tendencies to be extra sensitive about "profanity" or am I missing…

Fair enough. Previously his remarks seemed justified to me but I hadn't considered it from this angle before. I agree with you; personal attacks are never justified, and Denis Grisak is valuing his own work over a customer's​ bad experience.

In other words, the creator would rather be alone with his product than have customers. That's fine, but in that case it's probably best to reconsider selling it altogether.

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

#329

Post by barking »

gambiting wrote: post #320
youngtaff wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My tolerance for Ryanair is zero… I won't give my money to a business that treats me like shit

I wish I had such choice......ryanair is the only airline that flies anywhere near where I live. I could say "fuck you ryanair" and fly with someone else, but then my total journey time home would go up from 3 hours to about 8-9 hours. As much as I dislike them, I'm not going to make my life significantly more difficult and spend more money just to avoid them.

In the mid 80s the route I occasionally flew was monopolised by the national airlines of each country. There wasn't a penny difference between their fares at about ten times the usual fare today. Most people went by coach instead, a 12 hour miserable journey. Everyone flys it today thanks to Ryanair.

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

#330

Post by linsomniac »

Personally, if I ended a support request with "wondering what kind of piece of shit I just purchased", returning to Amazon for a refund would probably be the BEST outcome I would expect.

But the founders response also could use some work. Always take the high road.

"Get a lawyer" is why we can't have nice things.

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