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This seems like a theme with pretty much all internet companies, big and small - undercut the competition by cutting corners on things that "don't matter", unti

This seems like a theme with pretty much all internet companies, big and small - undercut the competition by cutting corners on things that "don't matter", until they matter. Google for example has almost no way to reach customer service, even for their paid products. When it works it works great, when it doesn't God Help You. Ditto Uber/Lyft/other cab companies, where there seems to be no end of people who were put in seriously unsafe situations and were unable to get any attention to their issues until they blogged about it. Who knows how many cases we haven't heard of because they weren't able to get their concerns to the top of Reddit/HN/wherever. This sort of thing happens in any low-margin business. Not only is there not enough money to hire good customer service, but what little customer service exists is not empowered to make things right for the customer, because thin margins and $$$. It turns out that keeping spare rooms on standby, generous rescheduling/rebooking policies, and all the niceties we associate with hotels are powered by the fatter margins they enjoy. The big innovation we've made in the last few years is making low-margin low-rent business models seem boutique and high-end.

pdappollonio 11y ago
(Disclaimer: I'm in no way affiliated with Uber or Lyft) It's nice to say that for me and my family, Uber and Lyft has been so professional. We moved from Latin America to Miami a year and 2 months ago and the whole time we've been using Uber / Lyft for our needs. We faced about 4 or 5 crazy moment where Uber / Lyft has solve our problems putting themselves in our side rather than in the driver's side. One instance a driver accepted our ride, reached our apartment and then start driving away. We did not understood at first until he called us and say "I'm going to be delayed to get you guys, so please hang tight". I told him it could be fine if he didn't started the ride already like we were already with him on his car. He said "it is the standard procedure". Bullshit. We cancelled the ride and contacted Uber support. They removed the driver from the service (allegedly, it has happened before) and they refunded us close to 12 USD. Similar situation happened with Lyft.
cptskippy 11y ago
> Google for example has almost no way to reach customer service, even for their paid products. When it works it works great, when it doesn't God Help You. That's not entirely true, I think it depends on the product. I've had to contact them about two different Nexus devices and got someone on the phone in minutes. The support was unbelievable and the matters resolved in record time. Google Apps also has 24/7 phone support for paying customers.
notvladputin 11y ago
IME non-internet, big corporations, are no better than google. Try reaching someone at your health insurance provider, or almost any other 'customer support" / complaint line.
- alexqgb 11y ago
  In my experience this isn't so. While most companies are reliably bad, I have never had a customer service experience as cartoonishly awful as the one I got from Google. And that was for a paid service.
mistermann 11y ago
The older I get the more cynical I get, and the further I drift leftward politically in favor of more government regulation, the underlying reason I think being that generally speaking, most cultures (and especially "high achievers" within) are fundamentally dishonest - like teenagers, they often cannot be trusted with serious responsibility. They have highly potent skills, but they don't have the corresponding maturity or morality to safely wield those skills. And this goes not only for small startups, it is applicable across huge blue chip companies as well, the latest being VW (and now it appears other auto manufacturers).
- dandare 11y ago
  A guy from post communist country here: how is more government regulation going to solve anything?
  - coldtea 11y ago
    A guy from a never communist country: privatization is not all that it seems to be when you've had to live under a "really existing socialism". Neither capitalism, for that matter.
  - RodericDay 11y ago
    You can hit a sweet spot between 2015 USA and Cold-War China and USSR. ps. Upholding claims of private property with a state-monopoly on violent means of coercion is "government regulation". So you just build upwards from there.
  - Xeoncross 11y ago
    Well, unlike teenagers, the government is known for its honesty
    - alttab 11y ago
      Sarcasm, right?
  - mistermann 11y ago
hsod 11y ago
Weird, in my experience Uber customer service is very responsive. Never used Lyft CS but friends report the same for them. Can you share some examples of the "no end of people" you refer to?
wspeirs 11y ago
I've had GREAT responses from Uber customer support when I rate a driver lower than 3 stars and add a comment. I usually get a follow-up within an hour or so.

pdappollonio 11y ago

(Disclaimer: I'm in no way affiliated with Uber or Lyft) It's nice to say that for me and my family, Uber and Lyft has been so professional. We moved from Latin America to Miami a year and 2 months ago and the whole time we've been using Uber / Lyft for our needs. We faced about 4 or 5 crazy moment where Uber / Lyft has solve our problems putting themselves in our side rather than in the driver's side. One instance a driver accepted our ride, reached our apartment and then start driving away. We did not understood at first until he called us and say "I'm going to be delayed to get you guys, so please hang tight". I told him it could be fine if he didn't started the ride already like we were already with him on his car. He said "it is the standard procedure". Bullshit. We cancelled the ride and contacted Uber support. They removed the driver from the service (allegedly, it has happened before) and they refunded us close to 12 USD. Similar situation happened with Lyft.

cptskippy 11y ago

> Google for example has almost no way to reach customer service, even for their paid products. When it works it works great, when it doesn't God Help You. That's not entirely true, I think it depends on the product. I've had to contact them about two different Nexus devices and got someone on the phone in minutes. The support was unbelievable and the matters resolved in record time. Google Apps also has 24/7 phone support for paying customers.

notvladputin 11y ago

IME non-internet, big corporations, are no better than google. Try reaching someone at your health insurance provider, or almost any other 'customer support" / complaint line.

alexqgb 11y ago
In my experience this isn't so. While most companies are reliably bad, I have never had a customer service experience as cartoonishly awful as the one I got from Google. And that was for a paid service.

mistermann 11y ago

The older I get the more cynical I get, and the further I drift leftward politically in favor of more government regulation, the underlying reason I think being that generally speaking, most cultures (and especially "high achievers" within) are fundamentally dishonest - like teenagers, they often cannot be trusted with serious responsibility. They have highly potent skills, but they don't have the corresponding maturity or morality to safely wield those skills. And this goes not only for small startups, it is applicable across huge blue chip companies as well, the latest being VW (and now it appears other auto manufacturers).

dandare 11y ago
A guy from post communist country here: how is more government regulation going to solve anything?
- coldtea 11y ago
  A guy from a never communist country: privatization is not all that it seems to be when you've had to live under a "really existing socialism". Neither capitalism, for that matter.
- RodericDay 11y ago
  You can hit a sweet spot between 2015 USA and Cold-War China and USSR. ps. Upholding claims of private property with a state-monopoly on violent means of coercion is "government regulation". So you just build upwards from there.
- Xeoncross 11y ago
  Well, unlike teenagers, the government is known for its honesty
  - alttab 11y ago
    Sarcasm, right?
- mistermann 11y ago

hsod 11y ago

Weird, in my experience Uber customer service is very responsive. Never used Lyft CS but friends report the same for them. Can you share some examples of the "no end of people" you refer to?

wspeirs 11y ago

I've had GREAT responses from Uber customer support when I rate a driver lower than 3 stars and add a comment. I usually get a follow-up within an hour or so.