4 ms·

when it comes to customer support Do they have customer support? Last time I used my google account (a few years ago) to attempt to buy a Nexus, my transactio

when it comes to customer support Do they have customer support? Last time I used my google account (a few years ago) to attempt to buy a Nexus, my transaction was flagged as fraud and I was locked out of my account.. I tried for a few days to find a way to contact anyone from Google.. never happened.. I eventually gave up and bought an iPhone and it was ironically the best thing that could have happened in that scenario.

bitL 8y ago
> Do they have customer support? Powered by Google Duplex(tm)
paulpauper 8y ago
if you are a big ad words spender, they have some support
- janesvilleseo 8y ago
  They also have support for Google MyBusiness (local listing). This is their gateway to more AdWord spenders. Most noticeable because it’s the first pop up you get after you claim your listing.
- busterarm 8y ago
  Some. It's proportional to level of effort. Good luck to you if their APIs are broken and you need engineering to fix it. Co-sponsored events (as in conferences) + AdWords 360 + Attribution 360 + high 8-digits/year spent on AdWords and another high 8 spent on YouTube isn't enough to get that sometimes.
noitsnot 8y ago
Sure, chat support is usually fast or you can have them call you. The cheap, outsourced labor is actually very good at English.
markdown 8y ago
> Do they have customer support? Their free services have no direct support channels, as expected. I wouldn't provide free support for free services either. I've received excellent support from Google for GSuite/Google Apps and Google Cloud over the years, both via chat and calls, usually out of their Ireland office. I live in Fiji and my account with them isn't worth all that much (~$100/month).
- will4274 8y ago
  > Their free services have no direct support channels, as expected Why is this "as expected"? Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon all have direct support channels for free tier customers. They aren't as prompt, but it's only Google who doesn't have these things at all.
  - chipperyman573 8y ago
    Do they? * I don't believe Microsoft offers support for their free products to people who haven't bought an O365 licence, and instead you have to use their god-awful Microsoft Answers forum (they seem to change this up every few years though so this might not currently be the case). It's community support so if you're having an issue with your account this won't help you, but if you're confused about how to use a product Microsoft makes you might get a response. * Apple doesn't have any free products (even if you have only downloaded free apps and listen to free audiobooks, you have to run it on hardware you purchased from them). * Similarly, Amazon requires you to pay in one way or another (Buying an item, paying for prime to watch prime video, etc) to use any of their services. AFAIK AWS doesn't have free support. * Facebook has a "help center" that's marginally more useful than Microsoft's, but it has the same problem... it's all community support so nobody can "pull up" your account to fix any real issues (like being locked out).
    - code_duck 8y ago
      Apple makes some software available for other platforms without charge, such as Safari for Windows.
mherdeg 8y ago
> Do they have customer support? Two effective strategies I have seen are: (1) Contact a friend who works at Google and show them the comical chain of correspondence showing how your simple, silly problem got even sillier over time. Convince your friend or friends to show an interest in the problem internally. (2) Write a blog post about the problem and circulate it on social media (news.ycombinator and /r/programming front pages seem to work great).

bitL 8y ago

> Do they have customer support? Powered by Google Duplex(tm)

paulpauper 8y ago

if you are a big ad words spender, they have some support

janesvilleseo 8y ago
They also have support for Google MyBusiness (local listing). This is their gateway to more AdWord spenders. Most noticeable because it’s the first pop up you get after you claim your listing.
busterarm 8y ago
Some. It's proportional to level of effort. Good luck to you if their APIs are broken and you need engineering to fix it. Co-sponsored events (as in conferences) + AdWords 360 + Attribution 360 + high 8-digits/year spent on AdWords and another high 8 spent on YouTube isn't enough to get that sometimes.

noitsnot 8y ago

Sure, chat support is usually fast or you can have them call you. The cheap, outsourced labor is actually very good at English.

markdown 8y ago

> Do they have customer support? Their free services have no direct support channels, as expected. I wouldn't provide free support for free services either. I've received excellent support from Google for GSuite/Google Apps and Google Cloud over the years, both via chat and calls, usually out of their Ireland office. I live in Fiji and my account with them isn't worth all that much (~$100/month).

will4274 8y ago
> Their free services have no direct support channels, as expected Why is this "as expected"? Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon all have direct support channels for free tier customers. They aren't as prompt, but it's only Google who doesn't have these things at all.
- chipperyman573 8y ago
  Do they? * I don't believe Microsoft offers support for their free products to people who haven't bought an O365 licence, and instead you have to use their god-awful Microsoft Answers forum (they seem to change this up every few years though so this might not currently be the case). It's community support so if you're having an issue with your account this won't help you, but if you're confused about how to use a product Microsoft makes you might get a response. * Apple doesn't have any free products (even if you have only downloaded free apps and listen to free audiobooks, you have to run it on hardware you purchased from them). * Similarly, Amazon requires you to pay in one way or another (Buying an item, paying for prime to watch prime video, etc) to use any of their services. AFAIK AWS doesn't have free support. * Facebook has a "help center" that's marginally more useful than Microsoft's, but it has the same problem... it's all community support so nobody can "pull up" your account to fix any real issues (like being locked out).
  - code_duck 8y ago
    Apple makes some software available for other platforms without charge, such as Safari for Windows.

mherdeg 8y ago

> Do they have customer support? Two effective strategies I have seen are: (1) Contact a friend who works at Google and show them the comical chain of correspondence showing how your simple, silly problem got even sillier over time. Convince your friend or friends to show an interest in the problem internally. (2) Write a blog post about the problem and circulate it on social media (news.ycombinator and /r/programming front pages seem to work great).