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> I really don't like to resort to public shaming, but this really is unacceptable. Public shaming works quite well on HN; I remember quite a few cases when th

> I really don't like to resort to public shaming, but this really is unacceptable. Public shaming works quite well on HN; I remember quite a few cases when the problem was solved very quickly by hitting the front page. However, in this case I'd give MailChimp more time. It seems the author contacted them today. Maybe there is a reasonable explanation and they will provide it tomorrow?

collyw 8y ago
Indeed. I have found that the best way to get a company to respond to a complaint in a reasonable manner is to post your complaint on their facebook or twitter profile. Its a shame that it needs to be like this.
- philpem 8y ago
  Depends on the company. Some simply delete complaints and block the people who left them... The best way to get satisfaction (in the UK at least) seems to be to get a tabloid journalist involved....
  - vezycash 8y ago
    Can confirm. Sent eBay a private message on both Twitter and Facebook. Facebook's was read and ignored. Posted the complaint on their fb page wall. It was automatically deleted. What worked was commenting on their post.
colinbartlett 8y ago
There could also be some selection bias here. I always wonder how many other attempts at public shaming never make it anywhere. I've been locked out of my Amazon and AWS account for more than two weeks despite numerous phone calls to Amazon support and desperate pleading on social media. "We are still looking into this matter for you." I could post some nasty blog post but I have really little faith it would get me anywhere.
- cgriswald 8y ago
  I can't speak for using AWS, but Amazon customer support in general is awful. Recently, my girlfriend was unable to get into her account. When she would try, it would say she had the wrong password. When she would try to reset the password, it would say the account didn't exist. When she gave up and just tried to recreate the account it wouldn't let her because it said the account already existed. During this process, she also accidentally created and gained access to an account using an email address that belongs to someone else with the same name. She called Amazon support. The first person she talked to just told her to do all the things she had already done. She humored them by repeating the steps. She told the support person it wasn't working. The support person said she couldn't be helped because she wouldn't do the steps. My girlfriend asked to speak to someone else who could help her and the support person hung up on her. She called back and had to talk to two other people before she finally got someone who would help her. (Once she did, it was a process of about 30 seconds to resolve the problem!) She received some gift cards from a couple of her clients and when she clicked the link, it credited them to the wrong account (the one with the wrong email). She had to call support again and although their solution was ultimately quick and simple it took another 30 minutes of nonsense on the phone to get there.
  - colinbartlett 8y ago
    My experience is similar since its with Amazon support and separate from AWS. My account, encompassing everything covered my Amazon credentials, was put on hold for "address verification" two weeks ago and handed to the "Accounts Team". This means, no buying anything on Amazon for the holidays and zero access to my AWS account, Lambdas, S3 buckets, etc. Just a mind-numbing cycle of phone trees and "we are looking into this". I cannot even sign into my Washington Post subscription. Thanks, Bezos!
sevensor 8y ago
It's been two days since this was written. Presumably the nuclear option of posting it to HN was deferred to give Mailchimp the opportunity to fix things. Edit: Also, considering the author's fame, I expect public shaming on HN will work quite nicely.
- snlnspc 8y ago
  it didn't work the first (or second) time that this article was submitted. there was no waiting done here.

collyw 8y ago

Indeed. I have found that the best way to get a company to respond to a complaint in a reasonable manner is to post your complaint on their facebook or twitter profile. Its a shame that it needs to be like this.

philpem 8y ago
Depends on the company. Some simply delete complaints and block the people who left them... The best way to get satisfaction (in the UK at least) seems to be to get a tabloid journalist involved....
- vezycash 8y ago
  Can confirm. Sent eBay a private message on both Twitter and Facebook. Facebook's was read and ignored. Posted the complaint on their fb page wall. It was automatically deleted. What worked was commenting on their post.

colinbartlett 8y ago

There could also be some selection bias here. I always wonder how many other attempts at public shaming never make it anywhere. I've been locked out of my Amazon and AWS account for more than two weeks despite numerous phone calls to Amazon support and desperate pleading on social media. "We are still looking into this matter for you." I could post some nasty blog post but I have really little faith it would get me anywhere.

cgriswald 8y ago
I can't speak for using AWS, but Amazon customer support in general is awful. Recently, my girlfriend was unable to get into her account. When she would try, it would say she had the wrong password. When she would try to reset the password, it would say the account didn't exist. When she gave up and just tried to recreate the account it wouldn't let her because it said the account already existed. During this process, she also accidentally created and gained access to an account using an email address that belongs to someone else with the same name. She called Amazon support. The first person she talked to just told her to do all the things she had already done. She humored them by repeating the steps. She told the support person it wasn't working. The support person said she couldn't be helped because she wouldn't do the steps. My girlfriend asked to speak to someone else who could help her and the support person hung up on her. She called back and had to talk to two other people before she finally got someone who would help her. (Once she did, it was a process of about 30 seconds to resolve the problem!) She received some gift cards from a couple of her clients and when she clicked the link, it credited them to the wrong account (the one with the wrong email). She had to call support again and although their solution was ultimately quick and simple it took another 30 minutes of nonsense on the phone to get there.
- colinbartlett 8y ago
  My experience is similar since its with Amazon support and separate from AWS. My account, encompassing everything covered my Amazon credentials, was put on hold for "address verification" two weeks ago and handed to the "Accounts Team". This means, no buying anything on Amazon for the holidays and zero access to my AWS account, Lambdas, S3 buckets, etc. Just a mind-numbing cycle of phone trees and "we are looking into this". I cannot even sign into my Washington Post subscription. Thanks, Bezos!

sevensor 8y ago

It's been two days since this was written. Presumably the nuclear option of posting it to HN was deferred to give Mailchimp the opportunity to fix things. Edit: Also, considering the author's fame, I expect public shaming on HN will work quite nicely.

snlnspc 8y ago
it didn't work the first (or second) time that this article was submitted. there was no waiting done here.