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

community.garadget.com

341–350 of 453 posts

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

#341
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. Don't American's bleep their TV shows?

It's quite amusing the see American guests on some of the ruder British talkshows, and see their reactions when some British guest swears, which often leads to more swearing when the British guests notice their reaction and choose to demonstrate just how much they can get away with. It's pretty much a standing joke on some shows - US guests on these shows fall in two categories: those who are aware of UK humour and/o…

Here are some examples of what can happen on UK talk shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTd4hw7mZEI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4sGU_eFc40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RAE98uE7E&t=393

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

#342
post #289
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the device the user paid 99 dollars for and is now useless. So for the user to get his money back he has to send back the device.

And? That's how it works.

No. That's probably illegal.

Don't break the law.

It doesn't matter what fine print the customer signed, if the contract is illegal.

Consumer protection laws protect us from this BS.

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

#344
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems a bit like altering the terms of the sale after the sale has completed. He bought the product, he's entitled to the product -- a refund is not sufficient since the purchase cannot be rolled back.

Err, isn't that by definition what a refund is? You roll back the purchase? Customer gets his money back, Garadget gets the device - and they don't need to deal with each other again.

If I am a clothing store, and I do not like your review, I could NOT come to your house and confiscate the clothing that you bought.

Even if I "refund" it. That's still illegal. It is called theft.

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

#345
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems a bit like altering the terms of the sale after the sale has completed. He bought the product, he's entitled to the product -- a refund is not sufficient since the purchase cannot be rolled back.

Err, isn't that by definition what a refund is? You roll back the purchase? Customer gets his money back, Garadget gets the device - and they don't need to deal with each other again.

You cannot rollback the purchase, there is opportunity cost and other factors that make this impossible, but a new arrangement can be made if both parties agree to it.

A refund is one way to attempt to satisfy your obligation of the purchase. If both parties to the sale agree that it is satisfactory then it is sufficient. However, one party cannot unilaterally make that decision precisely because the transaction is completed and cannot be undone because the buyer can't be guaranteed to be made whole again by this action.

For example, a buyer choosing between two products both on sale for today only purchases product X for $10 over product Y for $15. If product X turns out to be unable to do the things agreed to in the purchasing contract, and that flaw is discovered a few days later when product Y's price has gone up to $1000 then refunding the $10 and leaving the purchaser without any product has COST money due to no fault of the purchaser and the purchaser probably would not agree to have a refund as a suitable next step, instead preferring to have the original obligation satisfied as promised and paid for.

A more real-world scenario happened to me when I was purchasing an oven from Sears. I bought a floor model for last year's model of oven on sale (but not "As-Is" or "No Warranty"). I paid around $1200 for the oven, which had all the features I wanted and was the price I wanted to pay. I received the oven, installed it, verified it worked and subsequently donated my old oven. A few days later, the new oven's electronic display started to fail. The item was still covered by the manufacturer's 90-day sale warranty so I called the manufacturer service out and they attempted to repair it but were unable to do so. They indicated that they had stopped making parts for this oven and it could not be repaired. They offered to refund the purchase or provide me with a new oven whose price did not exceed what I paid for the oven I did purchase. This would leave me with an oven of less value than I purchased, or no oven at all -- both worse off than before I engaged in the purchase. The sale was complete, I held up my end by providing all the cash requested for them to provide a working oven with the features I had selected. We had come to an agreement and because the product they delivered had a defect they were attempting to substitute some alternative product instead of the one I purchased. I did not accept this proposal, even though they insisted it was the only two options. I offered to contact my state's attorney general regarding this situation. They were suddenly able to send a more competent repairman who reported that this was a common problem with this model, a known-defect, and there was a standard kit to fix it. It was fixed a few days later and has continued to work to this day.

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

#346
I was a co-founder of a business where I served as the lead product developer and served as tech support for many years at the same time. When you craft something with your own two hands - pouring sweat and tears (literally) into it - and a customer contacts you with half truths, unfair accusations and has made very little effort to fairly examine the situation, it is incredibly difficult to not take it personally.

In the heat of the moment, I occasionally found myself typing up a nasty response. Out of habit, I would re-read my response before sending it. That always caused me to pause. I don't recall a situation where I sent my original gut reaction. Inevitably, I would re-write the response in a much less personal and much more professional tone. This caused my customer to (almost always) respond in a similar manner, and in time a personal and professional relationship of trust was the result.

Nonetheless, it seemed to be somehow therapeutic to bang out my initial reaction, even though I didn't send it. It allowed me to put my frustrations down on paper, which caused me to think through the situation. It also allowed me to "vent" and blow off the steam caused by my ooo-so-personal connection to the business. And perhaps most importantly, it allowed me to see that the nature of my gut response was at least partially unjustified, somewhat immature and certainly unprofessional.

I shudder to think of the opportunities (and genuine friendships) that would have been forever lost if I had pushed "send" on my initial responses. The satisfaction of such responses lasts but a moment yet the consequences last forever.

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

#347

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.

Yes. Former founder here as well. One thing many would-be founders don't seem to realize is that like it or not, good companies satisfy individual humans, and successful ones scale that to satisfying a lot of individual humans.

Companies aren't about the big idea. They aren't about the product. They're about serving other people. To do that, having a big idea and a product can definitely help. But the very easiest way to fuck up a company is to forget that success comes down to a great number of small interactions.

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

#348
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the customer is always right This is a useful perspective to take if you're in sales. For a support engineer, not so much. When I did Tier 1 for credit cards, the mantra everywhere invoked was instead: "The customer is not always right, but is always deserving of respect." Which has always struck me as a much more balanced and sensible attitude to take, when the objective is to solve a problem. Sometimes that probl…

"You never win an argument with a customer."

That is a hundred times better than the standard version. I am stealing that for sure. Do you know who to credit?

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

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience there are a small percentage of customers, bullies basically, who are toxic and have the ability to ruin the experience for your good customers by taking up an inordinate amount of resources in money, time and employee mental state. Maybe part of the reason they are cheap is because they don't pander to this type?

Dunno. I once tried to check in online, but the service was just giving me errors. Tried for half an hour. When the service was back up, it wouldn't let me check in because that closes two hours before the flight. There were around 20 people at the check-in, all of which had had the same problem. They made every single one pay 45 Euro per boarding pass, telling us to file a complaint later. Filed a complaint, got a c…

Another horror story: A friend of mine had booked a trip with Ryanair to Hungary for a week, Sunday to next Saturday. A few days before the trip, Ryanair calls him and tells him that the Sunday flight is not going to happen due to low occupancy, but they can transfer his booking to the Sunday after that. He had already booked the hotel, so he only agreed grudgingly, figuring that he might be able to transfer that booking for next week and asked whether the return flight would be on a Saturday as well, but Ryanair's answer was incredible:

The Saturday (return) flight is going to fly as scheduled, so they said it wasn't their responsibility to reschedule it for free. He could either pay out of his pocket to reschedule his return flight (if he could find a suitable flight), or he could return from Hungary a day before he actually flew there.

Fuck Ryanair.

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