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Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

calculatedriskblog.com

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Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#51

Post by georgemcbay »

chris_mahan wrote: post #22
raverbashing wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the advertisers I know have their share of Google complaints as well relating to customer service.

I'm sure if an advertiser spends $10M a month on Google ads, they have someone's cell phone they can call anytime if there are any issue, and that person will "fix" whatever the problem is. These are the Google customers, not the guy who spends $50 a month advertising his self-published book.

The guy who spends $50 on Google's ads is a customer. As is the guy who gives Google page views instead of cash. They are certainly lower priority customers but they are still customers.

If Google wants to treat such low priority customers like non-entities, they are free to do so, but lets not pretend like they should act this way, because they shouldn't. It might be fine for them to do this in the short term, but in the long term it bleeds a lot of good will, which eventually catches up with every company no matter how big.

Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#52

Post by x0x0 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #44
JoeCortopassi wrote: post #11

Heavily relying on Google product? ✓ Hitting a dead-end with Google's customer service? ✓ Have an existing audience you can leverage to get some random Google employee's attention? ✓ Reach front page of Hacker News? ✓ Good news! You should have your problem fixed in 2-5 business days. The rest of us suckers relying on google services get to stare at our inboxes helplessly, waiting for a response to our support ticket…

I am ... less than pleased with Google as a company and its policies of late (I came home a couple of weekends back to find the top 3 HN slots addressing issues with Google and the YT/Google+ integration, two of which were either links to or based on my posts there). That said: I've found Google personnel highly responsive (though not always immediately so) to issues I've raised. Most recently with the Data Liberatio…

Yeah, they're responsive after negative stories draw peoples' attention. So if you can hit the top of HN or you're Jeff Jarvis (see dell hell) you'll get ok customer service. If not, google wants you to gfad.

Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#54

Post by babuskov »

TrevorJ wrote: post #26
chris_mahan wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google _does_ do customer support. You are not their customers. Advertisers are.

This is the right answer. I managed an Adwords campaign that had a spend in the mid to high six figures a year, and we had standing meetings with support every week. I don't like the fact this this is how it works, but I understand the reality.

What do you mean by "standing meetings"?

Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#55

Post by maaaats »

cabbeer wrote: post #43

Just curious, how is Microsoft's support in this department? Has anyone dealt with customer support for hotmail/outlook, skydrive, etc ?

Twice I've been in contact, went well, at least compared to the radio silence Google has given me.

And when searching I actually end up finding a ticket/question in some MS system with an official response. With Google I far too often end up in a Google Group with tens of complaints but no solutions.

Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#57

Post by jonny_eh »

Osiris wrote: post #50

I work at GoDaddy and recently our CEO read an email from a customer who had been encouraged by a son to use Google services for his small business, but when he couldn't figure out some issue with support ("they talked way over my head"), he called GoDaddy and found someone that worked to get his account setup. Google probably, appropriately, calculates the cost of providing good customer support to hundreds of milli…

You know you're support is awful when GoDaddy makes you look bad.

Re: Will Google Kill my Blog on December 6th?

#59

Post by dredmorbius »

x0x0 wrote: post #52
dredmorbius wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am ... less than pleased with Google as a company and its policies of late (I came home a couple of weekends back to find the top 3 HN slots addressing issues with Google and the YT/Google+ integration, two of which were either links to or based on my posts there). That said: I've found Google personnel highly responsive (though not always immediately so) to issues I've raised. Most recently with the Data Liberatio…

Yeah, they're responsive after negative stories draw peoples' attention. So if you can hit the top of HN or you're Jeff Jarvis (see dell hell) you'll get ok customer service. If not, google wants you to gfad.

Jeff's Verizon stories have also been classics.

I won't say I haven't been a thorn in Google's side (large or small I'm not entirely sure). But I've managed to develop some level of a relationship with some folks on the inside. I'm largely in the process of extricating myself from their services, but I had seen multiple positive responses.

I can only imagine it's similarly frustrating on the inside. Remember: they're trying to address the needs of hundreds of millions (or more) users with a pretty finite staff. It's the dual-lever challenge of automated systems: you can provide for the world with a staff of 40, but you're stuck with providing for the world with a staff of 40. Unless you come up with ways of 1) automating support 2) self-support and 3) very effective triage you're going to have horror stories.

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