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The fuck off contact page

nicchan.me

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Re: The fuck off contact page

#51

Post by b3lvedere »

fabian2k wrote: post #42
permo-w wrote: post #39

I'm not sure I've ever seen a contact page that wasn't like this. I always felt it was basically reasonable. if you can direct someone to an answer without having to waste money/time/compute on providing custom service, then that seems basically reasonable to me. yes it's annoying, but it's not a pattern I've ever felt was particularly dark. I'm perfectly happy with "speaking to a human" being the last port of call t…

It really depends on how hard they make it to actually make a support request.

This. Entirely this.

I do get it when companies who serve billions of people cannot do support like companies who support hundreds. But it should be possible to actually contact some human when you, as a customer, have proven that you have exhausted all other options.

As much as i did not like Broadcom purchasing Vmware and made everything a lot more expensive and annoying, i have to acknowledge that their chat support is pretty good, once you have exhausted all other options.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#52

Post by latexr »

permo-w wrote: post #39

I'm not sure I've ever seen a contact page that wasn't like this. I always felt it was basically reasonable. if you can direct someone to an answer without having to waste money/time/compute on providing custom service, then that seems basically reasonable to me. yes it's annoying, but it's not a pattern I've ever felt was particularly dark. I'm perfectly happy with "speaking to a human" being the last port of call t…

> I'm not sure I've ever seen a contact page that wasn't like this.

Click the “Contact” link at the bottom of this HN page. It’s a mailto link.

mailto:hn@ycombinator.com

Reeder has a simple contact form on the page.

https://reederapp.com/classic/

Overcast list an email and social media to contact.

https://overcast.fm/contact

Alfred points to the forum and lists email addresses to contact.

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/contact/

iA Writer lists emails.

https://ia.net/about-us

SnippetsLab list an email.

https://www.renfei.org/snippets-lab/manual/mac/share-your-fe...

iTerm2 list an email.

https://iterm2.com

Those are just a few off the top of my head. Indie developers tend to be more respectful of their customers.

> I'm perfectly happy with "speaking to a human" being the last port of call to fix a problem. as long as it is available somewhere

Yet, too often, it simply isn’t.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#53

Post by pbhjpbhj »

dotancohen wrote: post #18
reedf1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the last point combined with some real data or case studies would prompt introspection. Anecdotally I stick to companies with good customer support like glue, even if their product is inferior. It's an absolute wonder to be taken seriously by a company, to have feedback integrated into future products, or just have small issues taken care of without hassle.

You're going to laugh, but this is why I stick with AWS. They've twice helped me with billing issues on my personal account - as in an actual human helping me. They have no idea I manage large (not huge) AWS deployments at my day job. They just demonstrate great customer service to me as a small client. So they have me as a loyal customer. And advocate, it seems.

>They have no idea I manage large (not huge) AWS deployments

I wonder if that is true? Like, how tenacious are they with knowing customers? If the same IP address was used to login to manage two deployments would customer service see a potential link in their interface?

I'm never quite sure in our supposed data-driven economy how clever companies get with this stuff.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#54

Post by orthoxerox »

froh42 wrote: post #5

That with its pixel art is styled so beautifully and so hard to read at the same time. Couldn't read it at all. (It's not an eye vision problem, reading pixel fonts just is quite taxing on the brain).

What made me switch the default font off was its color fringing, like it was being displayed on a CRT display with poor convergence.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#55

Post by n4r9 »

latexr wrote: post #52
permo-w wrote: post #39

I'm not sure I've ever seen a contact page that wasn't like this. I always felt it was basically reasonable. if you can direct someone to an answer without having to waste money/time/compute on providing custom service, then that seems basically reasonable to me. yes it's annoying, but it's not a pattern I've ever felt was particularly dark. I'm perfectly happy with "speaking to a human" being the last port of call t…

> I'm not sure I've ever seen a contact page that wasn't like this. Click the “Contact” link at the bottom of this HN page. It’s a mailto link. mailto:hn@ycombinator.com Reeder has a simple contact form on the page. https://reederapp.com/classic/ Overcast list an email and social media to contact. https://overcast.fm/contact Alfred points to the forum and lists email addresses to contact. https://www.alfredapp.com/he…

Deutsche Bahn has a good contact page: https://int.bahn.de/en/help/contact

Conversely, Virgin Media's is well into the "f** off" realm: https://www.virginmedia.com/support/help/contact-us

Re: The fuck off contact page

#56

Post by savolai »

Wow I love the design of this site. Really hit some right notes for me. If you’re going to talk about reviving the ”old web” on hn, please follow through and reach for the originality level of this. So many thoughtful details.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#57

Post by nephihaha »

Urgh... One of the worst things, when you want to contact someone and they have hidden every means of doing so. It reflects badly on the companies that do this and questions why such pages exist to begin with. I understand why companies hate spam, but when a company hides customer service, that should be a major red flag and reeks of cowardice. Customers can and do have major problems, not just Karen type issues, but being ripped off for hundreds or even thousands. They sometimes hide behind underpaid staff who are students or can barely speak English.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#58

Post by graemep »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #17
Rebuff5007 wrote: post #13

This whole post is coming of a bit naive to me... I highly doubt this client is just an inspirational design meeting away from changing their offering and make a massive investment in customer support. I also don't get why a web-development consultant would feel so responsible for a pretty typical business decision.

> I also don't get why a web-development consultant would feel so responsible for a pretty typical business decision by their client. Because they are an expert in their field and the client, presumably, isn't? I can't imagine another field—hairdressing, construction, financial advice—where the client would reject the paid expert's viewpoint so readily and firmly.

Its bikeshedding - they can see it so they have an opinion on it. I think it happens in many fields where the output is visual - photography, advertising,.....

There is also a general feeling that websites are primarily about design (rather than development) and that the design is aesthetic (rather than UI).

> I can't imagine another field—hairdressing, construction, financial advice

For financial advice, maybe not as readily, but it definitely happens pretty firmly. Lots of people have lost money taking risks they have been warned about. A lot during booms because of FOMO, and a lot because people do not even take advice in the first place.

Re: The fuck off contact page

#59

Post by unloader6118 »

The contact page on the left is something I absolutely hate. If the prefer method of contact is email, just give me an email. If they need to enter that into some ticketing system, give me access to the ticketing system. The page on right give me some ideas how they handle things internally.

The form on left is almost certainly a webform-to-email, this is ridiculous.

looking at font choice, how ironic they are complaining about UX

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