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I tried Zoho for my last startup, since gsuite nuked the free tier. That lasted 2 weeks. Being locked out of or requiring special considerations for the first

I tried Zoho for my last startup, since gsuite nuked the free tier. That lasted 2 weeks. Being locked out of or requiring special considerations for the first calendar invite, or video conference, or collaborative document was a complete unnecessary pain. “But you can make a google account with your external email” barf. Its sad because Zoho is trying so hard too. Imagine planning and working on all those equivalent products. lol

viraptor 6y ago
I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean by locked out and by special considerations?
- _-___________-_ 6y ago
  Presumably they were still trying to collaborate with people inside Google's walled garden of documents, calendar events and videoconferences.
  - vmception 6y ago
    Which is everyone, or at least a very predictable friction.
fg43g443g 6y ago
Nothing on planet is worse than Zoho. I tried their email service and even after I marked the same sender more than 100 times as spammer, their creepy service still not putting their emails automatically to the spam folder. There were many other issues with their service. Don't use Zoho or you will regret it.
- ZohoMailSupport 6y ago
  We are sorry that we gave you this perception. Our Spam filter is self-learning and the algorithm responds to user markings. If we have your account information or the headers of the sample mail, we will be able to look into it and identify what went wrong. We request you to write to support (at) zohomail (dot) com with those details and description about the other issues you faced. We will definitely address it for you.
  - lallysingh 6y ago
    Downvoted for: (a) Sounding like a canned response (b) "We are sorry that we gave you this perception" passive aggressive gaslighting and abdication of any responsibility to the user. Really, I've barely ever heard of zoho and had no opinion of them _until_ this response. Now zoho's on my fuck-them list for talking this way to a customer. Speak like a human for fuck's sake.
    - tilolebo 6y ago
      Your message is actually much more problematic than its parent, IMO.
    - hobofan 6y ago
      Responding to "your spam detection is not working" with what is essentially spam has to be one of the most unintentionally funny things I've read on HN.
    - ZohoMailSupport 6y ago
      Hello! This was definitely not a canned response, but we can understand why it was seen that way. Tone is a really tricky thing through text, and we didn't mean to sound like a robot. We hope you won't mind if we try again: We are very sorry that the spam filter is giving you such trouble. It has self-learning capabilities, but algorithms are not always perfect. If you could send us your account details and the headers for some of the emails, we will look into this right away. Please send us an email at support (at) zohomail (dot) com when you have a few minutes and we will dig into the details.
      - lallysingh 6y ago
        I appreciate y'all trying again. Here's some constructive feedback: (1) Look at other responses from people directly responding to issues from customers here at HN. Look at how specific, authentic, and action-oriented those responses are. Then look at yours again. (2) Notice how they don't use the royal "We." It's 2020, we're all working from home with small spots of clean behind us for zoom, the royal We has to die. Unless the speaker is actually a committee or Borg, please use I. (3) "not always perfect" is garbage. It failed the user at its basic job. Say so. Any apology without admission isn't an apology. Actually, kill the entire sentence. Nobody cares about the capabilities of a system that doesn't work right. (4) They've already said that they tried you and you failed. Explicitly ask for a chance to make it right. Why would they bother working with you again, if you don't even ask them? They'd be doing you a favor. Ask for the favor. (5) Nit: The last two sentences redundantly ask for the customer to contact you. Combine into a single request for an email with (btw, you don't have to explicitly "send us an email" when you're giving them an email address to contact -- it's a side-ways way of talking down to the customer's intelligence) account "details" (Which details? The account name? Credentials? What?) and headers.
ZohoMailSupport 6y ago
Sorry to learn about your unpleasant experience with us. We request you to elaborate the lock out and the special considerations you are referring to, by writing an email to support (at) zohomail (dot) com. Having specific details along with your account information will help us to analyze and make necessary corrections and enhancements. Looking forward to hearing from you.
- chki 6y ago
  I think you are misunderstanding OP. At least I assume that Zoho will not be able to change Google's policies, otherwise that would truly be outstanding customer service.
- vmception 6y ago
  For me you're not the problem, you just have no power here. Google services are more convenient to use with Google email accounts, they are more prevalent and there is no point in burdening an organization with another email provider if there is a choice.
dx034 6y ago
How are you locked out of business by not using Google? Enough companies run solely on Microsoft products without any issues. Others use separate providers for Email and conferencing (e.g. Zoom). I don't see how not using Google is a problem when dealing with other companies. Quite the opposite, it's still much harder to not use Excel if you exchange data with a lot of business partners.
- vmception 6y ago
  "but you can use separate services for video conferencing, calendars, emails, look at all these other organizations that are less convenient and doing it just fine" yeah I'm aware. if you have a choice on a new organization, low budget but still able to access good, fast and cheap, use Gsuite.
  - dx034 6y ago
    Or Office, same prices for similar features.

viraptor 6y ago

I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean by locked out and by special considerations?

_-___________-_ 6y ago
Presumably they were still trying to collaborate with people inside Google's walled garden of documents, calendar events and videoconferences.
- vmception 6y ago
  Which is everyone, or at least a very predictable friction.

fg43g443g 6y ago

Nothing on planet is worse than Zoho. I tried their email service and even after I marked the same sender more than 100 times as spammer, their creepy service still not putting their emails automatically to the spam folder. There were many other issues with their service. Don't use Zoho or you will regret it.

ZohoMailSupport 6y ago
We are sorry that we gave you this perception. Our Spam filter is self-learning and the algorithm responds to user markings. If we have your account information or the headers of the sample mail, we will be able to look into it and identify what went wrong. We request you to write to support (at) zohomail (dot) com with those details and description about the other issues you faced. We will definitely address it for you.
- lallysingh 6y ago
  Downvoted for: (a) Sounding like a canned response (b) "We are sorry that we gave you this perception" passive aggressive gaslighting and abdication of any responsibility to the user. Really, I've barely ever heard of zoho and had no opinion of them _until_ this response. Now zoho's on my fuck-them list for talking this way to a customer. Speak like a human for fuck's sake.
  - tilolebo 6y ago
    Your message is actually much more problematic than its parent, IMO.
  - hobofan 6y ago
    Responding to "your spam detection is not working" with what is essentially spam has to be one of the most unintentionally funny things I've read on HN.
  - ZohoMailSupport 6y ago
    Hello! This was definitely not a canned response, but we can understand why it was seen that way. Tone is a really tricky thing through text, and we didn't mean to sound like a robot. We hope you won't mind if we try again: We are very sorry that the spam filter is giving you such trouble. It has self-learning capabilities, but algorithms are not always perfect. If you could send us your account details and the headers for some of the emails, we will look into this right away. Please send us an email at support (at) zohomail (dot) com when you have a few minutes and we will dig into the details.
    - lallysingh 6y ago
      I appreciate y'all trying again. Here's some constructive feedback: (1) Look at other responses from people directly responding to issues from customers here at HN. Look at how specific, authentic, and action-oriented those responses are. Then look at yours again. (2) Notice how they don't use the royal "We." It's 2020, we're all working from home with small spots of clean behind us for zoom, the royal We has to die. Unless the speaker is actually a committee or Borg, please use I. (3) "not always perfect" is garbage. It failed the user at its basic job. Say so. Any apology without admission isn't an apology. Actually, kill the entire sentence. Nobody cares about the capabilities of a system that doesn't work right. (4) They've already said that they tried you and you failed. Explicitly ask for a chance to make it right. Why would they bother working with you again, if you don't even ask them? They'd be doing you a favor. Ask for the favor. (5) Nit: The last two sentences redundantly ask for the customer to contact you. Combine into a single request for an email with (btw, you don't have to explicitly "send us an email" when you're giving them an email address to contact -- it's a side-ways way of talking down to the customer's intelligence) account "details" (Which details? The account name? Credentials? What?) and headers.

ZohoMailSupport 6y ago

Sorry to learn about your unpleasant experience with us. We request you to elaborate the lock out and the special considerations you are referring to, by writing an email to support (at) zohomail (dot) com. Having specific details along with your account information will help us to analyze and make necessary corrections and enhancements. Looking forward to hearing from you.

chki 6y ago
I think you are misunderstanding OP. At least I assume that Zoho will not be able to change Google's policies, otherwise that would truly be outstanding customer service.
vmception 6y ago
For me you're not the problem, you just have no power here. Google services are more convenient to use with Google email accounts, they are more prevalent and there is no point in burdening an organization with another email provider if there is a choice.

dx034 6y ago

How are you locked out of business by not using Google? Enough companies run solely on Microsoft products without any issues. Others use separate providers for Email and conferencing (e.g. Zoom). I don't see how not using Google is a problem when dealing with other companies. Quite the opposite, it's still much harder to not use Excel if you exchange data with a lot of business partners.

vmception 6y ago
"but you can use separate services for video conferencing, calendars, emails, look at all these other organizations that are less convenient and doing it just fine" yeah I'm aware. if you have a choice on a new organization, low budget but still able to access good, fast and cheap, use Gsuite.
- dx034 6y ago
  Or Office, same prices for similar features.