3 ms·

I think this article (and most comments below) failed to grasp a component that is highly relevant to the discussion: Google doesn't have a billion customers.

by nokya 8y ago

I think this article (and most comments below) failed to grasp a component that is highly relevant to the discussion: Google doesn't have a billion customers. Google is a company that collects data from over a billion human beings, then structures and organizes it in a profitable way for a very small group of large corporations that want to spend millions$/year to reach their targeted audience. To that matter specifically, and I speak from personal experience as part of a digital marketing department at a retail group, Google offers not very good, but quite "ok" support. People complaining about Google offering them bad support for software (google apps) or hardware (google phones and/or android in general) forget they are not Google's customers. We are basically raw resources with purchasing power and Google is trying to help its customers influence our purchasing decisions in their interest. That's it. To my opinion, a question worth much more of our attention is to discuss how and why we, as human beings, have accepted becoming reduced to a simpleton with a wallet by our own peers (other humans...).

llampx 8y ago
I fully agree that the little guys aren't the customers; they're the product. > To my opinion, a question worth much more of our attention is to discuss how and why we, as human beings, have accepted becoming reduced to a simpleton with a wallet by our own peers (other humans...). In war, the first step is to dehumanize the Other. Many here have experienced or heard of the arrogance of some Google engineers in dealing with Others, be they seeking support with GCP, Adwords, Apps or something else. Its a short step from that dehumanization to "Let's take `em for all they've got"
blfr 8y ago
I'm pretty tired of "you're the product" mantra, even when you dressed it much more eloquently. The brutal truth is that there is very little human support any company can offer for a $5/mo product (like G Suite). From my experience, many customers everywhere expect support far in excess of what they're worth and they're also unwilling to pay more for support, and definitely unwilling to pay what it actually costs, even with offshoring, to have a reasonably intelligent person look deeply into their particular problem. Uncustomized products and solutions usually cost 1/5th to 1/10th of their custom counterparts (think shirts and suits which people still routinely order custom so there is competition and reasonable market rates) with the ratio easily going to 1000:1 and more for software or industrial products. How much would I need to spend to get a customized email/drive/docs version of G Suite? Would it be even close in quality and security? How much are CNC parts vs mass produced ones? So the reason human beings have accepted standardization or, as you call it, becoming reduced to simpletons with a wallet is that it's vastly financially preferable to bearing the cost of being treated differently.
- deleted 8y ago
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- rightbyte 8y ago
  Customer support is an group insurence for the costumers. Most wont use it. Profit per customer is irrelevant. It's profit for all customers per support event that's the metric. If the users are the product then the sites that shows the ads are the retailers or whatever. As a small reteiler 200 USD/month I got no support what so ever when Google closed our account for unspecific policy violations. Just autoreplys. It would be nice with some law like the signs on ciggaret packets when signing up for a Google account. "WE COLLCECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA AND SELLS A ANALYSIS OF IT. WE MAY DELETE YOUR SUBMITED FILES AND MAILS WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE AND WE PROVIDE NO SUPPORT TO USERS. WE MAY CHANGE THESE RULES WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE." I don't think most users are aware.
- altmind 8y ago
  Enterprise Google suite is $25/user/mo. The one who ask gsuite support the most are domain administrators, not users. Users cannot even reach the support page https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213?hl=en the service cost is not $5, you should multiply that by avg number of users in a domain.
ubernostrum 8y ago
Google's reputation with their paid services which paying customers pay them payments to use isn't stellar, either. Basically it's them and PayPal in the finals of the candidates tournament to see who takes on US cable companies for the worst-customer-service championship.

by nokya 8y ago

llampx 8y ago

I fully agree that the little guys aren't the customers; they're the product. > To my opinion, a question worth much more of our attention is to discuss how and why we, as human beings, have accepted becoming reduced to a simpleton with a wallet by our own peers (other humans...). In war, the first step is to dehumanize the Other. Many here have experienced or heard of the arrogance of some Google engineers in dealing with Others, be they seeking support with GCP, Adwords, Apps or something else. Its a short step from that dehumanization to "Let's take `em for all they've got"

blfr 8y ago

I'm pretty tired of "you're the product" mantra, even when you dressed it much more eloquently. The brutal truth is that there is very little human support any company can offer for a $5/mo product (like G Suite). From my experience, many customers everywhere expect support far in excess of what they're worth and they're also unwilling to pay more for support, and definitely unwilling to pay what it actually costs, even with offshoring, to have a reasonably intelligent person look deeply into their particular problem. Uncustomized products and solutions usually cost 1/5th to 1/10th of their custom counterparts (think shirts and suits which people still routinely order custom so there is competition and reasonable market rates) with the ratio easily going to 1000:1 and more for software or industrial products. How much would I need to spend to get a customized email/drive/docs version of G Suite? Would it be even close in quality and security? How much are CNC parts vs mass produced ones? So the reason human beings have accepted standardization or, as you call it, becoming reduced to simpletons with a wallet is that it's vastly financially preferable to bearing the cost of being treated differently.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rightbyte 8y ago
Customer support is an group insurence for the costumers. Most wont use it. Profit per customer is irrelevant. It's profit for all customers per support event that's the metric. If the users are the product then the sites that shows the ads are the retailers or whatever. As a small reteiler 200 USD/month I got no support what so ever when Google closed our account for unspecific policy violations. Just autoreplys. It would be nice with some law like the signs on ciggaret packets when signing up for a Google account. "WE COLLCECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA AND SELLS A ANALYSIS OF IT. WE MAY DELETE YOUR SUBMITED FILES AND MAILS WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE AND WE PROVIDE NO SUPPORT TO USERS. WE MAY CHANGE THESE RULES WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE." I don't think most users are aware.
altmind 8y ago
Enterprise Google suite is $25/user/mo. The one who ask gsuite support the most are domain administrators, not users. Users cannot even reach the support page https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213?hl=en the service cost is not $5, you should multiply that by avg number of users in a domain.

ubernostrum 8y ago

Google's reputation with their paid services which paying customers pay them payments to use isn't stellar, either. Basically it's them and PayPal in the finals of the candidates tournament to see who takes on US cable companies for the worst-customer-service championship.