5 ms·

I disagree, but I wouldn't email anyone with "it doesn't work! FIX IT!!!" with no further detail and expect to get help, paying or not. I'm frankly surprised th

I disagree, but I wouldn't email anyone with "it doesn't work! FIX IT!!!" with no further detail and expect to get help, paying or not. I'm frankly surprised that you think that a person this rude is entitled to support. Paying gets you support, it doesn't get you the right to be rude to the person you're asking for help. What would you have done?

technothrasher 6y ago
Considering they did come back with a polite follow up, I agree with the above poster that it was likely a case of poor communication skills rather than intentioned rudeness. Your quick follow up to their inappropriate message with your own overt rudeness is clearly what is setting posters off here. I would have given them a bit more of the benefit of a doubt before I went off on them.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  How is it rude to tell someone they're being rude? My takeaway from the reactions in this thread is that businesses are culturally expected to let the customer walk all over them, and anything other than "thank you for your abuse, now please let me help you" is considered rude.
- ecpottinger 6y ago
  Garbage! Telling someone they are rude is not rude, it is cutting off the rude behavior.
MaxBarraclough 6y ago
I'd have felt an obligation to make the effort to help them, on account of how they paid me, and I'd ask them to clarify the problem. I'd use a tone that reassures them I'm taking them seriously, rather than one that gives them good reason to think I don't care about them. Yes, their tone is rude, but it's not as if it's outright abusive. One can't be so thin-skinned as to take offence at punctuation. They also failed to provide any details about the problem, but that's what happens when you deal with customers rather than professional testers. The ability to file good bug-reports (or support requests) is a skill; you can't very well insist that all your customers must have it.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  I insist that all people I come across have a modicum of respect for another person. I don't care that they didn't provide details (very few customers actually do on the first email), I care that they didn't say hello, or please, or thank you, but "it's broken! FIX IT!!!" and nothing else. I sincerely don't understand how that's controversial at all. If someone on the street saw you and said "Hey! You! Help me cross the street NOW!!!" would you feel obligated to help them? Would it be rude to say "you can't talk to me like that"?
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    You could have gone with a simple prologue of Please be respectful. Instead your first reply contained no substance at all. You were doing nothing to actually help, such as getting them to clarify the problem. That's likely to rile up the customer even more. On top of that, your tone wasn't appropriate. > I sincerely don't understand how that's controversial at all There are gradations. If the customer were being truly offensive, that would be one thing, but in this case they're really just making themselves look like a petulant teenager. I'd have rolled my eyes and got to work, knowing they'll probably behave better (and regret their silly outburst) once they know I'm taking them seriously. If an employee sent a message with this level of rudeness, then sure, you'd want to have a word with them about their netiquette, but customers can't be held to the same standard.
    - julianlam 6y ago
      > I'd have rolled my eyes and got to work, knowing they'll probably behave better (and regret their silly outburst) once they know I'm taking them seriously. This is where I think you're mistaken. Customers and clients like this, once they see they've gotten you under their thumb, will be more than happy to continue exploiting you. Remember Stavros was charging a small lifetime fee. Clients from hell will twist this and try to make you their personal developer for as long as possible. You seem to think that Stav should be thankful for the opportunity to fix the particular bug, but who's to say he wouldn't have discovered and fixed it on his own time? Customers can and should be held to the same standard. Otherwise you end up with shit customers.
bartvk 6y ago
I have to admit that I've been rude on the phone with Support as well. So I'm using a car sharing system. The car is great. The app is a weird, slow, HTML-ish thingy that appears to trigger bluetooth bugs and frequently loses state. So I drive my family to a friend. My partner will then continue the trip with our kid. What you need to do, is get out, lock the car, and close the reservation. Then my partner can create a new reservation, and continue driving. We're already late. It's hot outside. Kid is crying. I open the app, lock the car, and close the reservation. App fails with vague error. My partner is standing there, kid and phone in arm, asking "c'mon hurry". I call the support line, and give him the problem. The support guy asks me to go through a series of steps. Then I flip and scream: "DAMNIT I'm sick and tired of this app failing me, it's never simply a painless process and now I'm standing here in the heat with a crying kid". He laughs and says: "I understand but I'm trying to help you, sir. How about you let me talk to the partner?" To this day, I'm both ashamed, amazed and happy how professional this guy was.

technothrasher 6y ago

Considering they did come back with a polite follow up, I agree with the above poster that it was likely a case of poor communication skills rather than intentioned rudeness. Your quick follow up to their inappropriate message with your own overt rudeness is clearly what is setting posters off here. I would have given them a bit more of the benefit of a doubt before I went off on them.

StavrosK 6y ago
How is it rude to tell someone they're being rude? My takeaway from the reactions in this thread is that businesses are culturally expected to let the customer walk all over them, and anything other than "thank you for your abuse, now please let me help you" is considered rude.
ecpottinger 6y ago
Garbage! Telling someone they are rude is not rude, it is cutting off the rude behavior.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago

I'd have felt an obligation to make the effort to help them, on account of how they paid me, and I'd ask them to clarify the problem. I'd use a tone that reassures them I'm taking them seriously, rather than one that gives them good reason to think I don't care about them. Yes, their tone is rude, but it's not as if it's outright abusive. One can't be so thin-skinned as to take offence at punctuation. They also failed to provide any details about the problem, but that's what happens when you deal with customers rather than professional testers. The ability to file good bug-reports (or support requests) is a skill; you can't very well insist that all your customers must have it.

StavrosK 6y ago
I insist that all people I come across have a modicum of respect for another person. I don't care that they didn't provide details (very few customers actually do on the first email), I care that they didn't say hello, or please, or thank you, but "it's broken! FIX IT!!!" and nothing else. I sincerely don't understand how that's controversial at all. If someone on the street saw you and said "Hey! You! Help me cross the street NOW!!!" would you feel obligated to help them? Would it be rude to say "you can't talk to me like that"?
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  You could have gone with a simple prologue of Please be respectful. Instead your first reply contained no substance at all. You were doing nothing to actually help, such as getting them to clarify the problem. That's likely to rile up the customer even more. On top of that, your tone wasn't appropriate. > I sincerely don't understand how that's controversial at all There are gradations. If the customer were being truly offensive, that would be one thing, but in this case they're really just making themselves look like a petulant teenager. I'd have rolled my eyes and got to work, knowing they'll probably behave better (and regret their silly outburst) once they know I'm taking them seriously. If an employee sent a message with this level of rudeness, then sure, you'd want to have a word with them about their netiquette, but customers can't be held to the same standard.
  - julianlam 6y ago
    > I'd have rolled my eyes and got to work, knowing they'll probably behave better (and regret their silly outburst) once they know I'm taking them seriously. This is where I think you're mistaken. Customers and clients like this, once they see they've gotten you under their thumb, will be more than happy to continue exploiting you. Remember Stavros was charging a small lifetime fee. Clients from hell will twist this and try to make you their personal developer for as long as possible. You seem to think that Stav should be thankful for the opportunity to fix the particular bug, but who's to say he wouldn't have discovered and fixed it on his own time? Customers can and should be held to the same standard. Otherwise you end up with shit customers.

bartvk 6y ago

I have to admit that I've been rude on the phone with Support as well. So I'm using a car sharing system. The car is great. The app is a weird, slow, HTML-ish thingy that appears to trigger bluetooth bugs and frequently loses state. So I drive my family to a friend. My partner will then continue the trip with our kid. What you need to do, is get out, lock the car, and close the reservation. Then my partner can create a new reservation, and continue driving. We're already late. It's hot outside. Kid is crying. I open the app, lock the car, and close the reservation. App fails with vague error. My partner is standing there, kid and phone in arm, asking "c'mon hurry". I call the support line, and give him the problem. The support guy asks me to go through a series of steps. Then I flip and scream: "DAMNIT I'm sick and tired of this app failing me, it's never simply a painless process and now I'm standing here in the heat with a crying kid". He laughs and says: "I understand but I'm trying to help you, sir. How about you let me talk to the partner?" To this day, I'm both ashamed, amazed and happy how professional this guy was.