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I mean maybe Apple and Netflix do. When was the last time Google provided meaningful customer support without the customer getting some attention on Twitter/HN?
by AlexandrB 6y ago
I mean maybe Apple and Netflix do. When was the last time Google provided meaningful customer support without the customer getting some attention on Twitter/HN? Amazon is getting mega-lazy with their shipping practices; damaged goods are pretty normal. Meanwhile Facebook keeps shoving services you don't want in your face (Reels), pushing algorithmic feeds to the detriment of the user's mental health, and collecting information on you whether you consent or not. Oh yeah, and the recent move to make Facebook logins mandatory for Oculus (which no customer seemed to be happy with).
FAANG companies mostly treat us like trash. We've just come to accept poor service, UX dark patterns, and all-pervasive tracking as the norm. I've had much, much better customer service experiences from smaller, more focused companies.
Edit: I feel like I breezed over Google. They've also killed multiple popular services (Reader), tried to force G+ on everyone (again with UX dark patterns and no consent), and degraded their main product (search) to the point that some keywords return only one or two organic results "above the fold".
- theptip 6y agoIt’s a really popular meme around here to bash Google for killing products, and Google’s behavior here annoys me a lot. However I’m skeptical whether many consumers care; Google’s favorability ratings are very high: https://www.cnet.com/news/googles-approval-ratings-best-apple-facebook-twitter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/googles-approval-ratings-best-appl... This is just the top result from Google, I’ve seen others similar. I’m in favor of strengthening antitrust (and that applies to a bunch of other industries too, not just tech), but you really have to be careful not to destroy more value than you preserve with this sort of thing.
- cblconfederate 6y agoexcuse me, what's the point of "favorability ratings" when there is no competition to compare them to ?
- vkou 6y agoThere are popular and well-known competitors to Google for search, maps, free email hosting, web browsers, laptop OSes, phone OSes, blog hosting software, collaborative productivity software, and, if you are on the seller side, paying for ad space. Outside the US, particularly in China, there are large video hosting services, and within the US, Twitch, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram serve as not-quite-apples-to-apples equivalents for video hosting.
- dodobirdlord 6y agoIt’s hard to engage with a statement like this. Can you name a Google product that doesn’t have a competitor? I can’t think of any.