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I'm one of those speak with my wallet kind of people. So when I seen news of this yesterday I wrote into their support saying I was not pleased with it. Their

by selykg 6y ago

I'm one of those speak with my wallet kind of people. So when I seen news of this yesterday I wrote into their support saying I was not pleased with it. Their response was some random canned response about how you can still export your data. I'm not a fan of lock in, and I'm even less thrilled about not actually responding to my actual questions and instead giving me some canned BS. I responded back telling them thanks for not even reading my question and responding with a canned response, then asked for instructions on how to delete my account. I haven't heard back. For what it's worth I wasn't rude in any of this, I was straight and to the point, but I was not rude. Now they seem to be simply ignoring me. I'm definitely not spending my money with this service any more. I used to feel a tiny bit sad for them competing with Apple and their whole complaint against Apple and payment stuff. But after seeing this shitty set of responses from them I just no longer care, it feels like they've brought at least some of this on themselves. As a sidenote, I'm sort of fed up with customer support in general these days. Snippeted answers are great when they make sense. I.e. a user is asking a simple question, you can take the approach of some personalization sprinkled with snippets to make your life easier and your messaging more consistent. But when you have an unhappy, or upset customer, the last thing you should do is throw in some canned response that doesn't even address their concerns.

sabellito 6y ago
It's a little surprising to me that you'd expect better customer support from a service with >248 million[1] monthly active users. Having worked for/with departments like this, they have to heavily optimise for their response rate, and use as many macros to respond as possible, which's probably your case as I'd assume that many customers contacted them with the same question. By all means, always speak with your wallet, but if you genuinely expect huge corporations to answer each request with a custom response, you will probably be disappointed often. [1] https://qz.com/1736762/spotify-grows-monthly-active-users-and-turns-profit-shares-jump-15-percent/ https://qz.com/1736762/spotify-grows-monthly-active-users-an...
- ISL 6y ago
  Most of the time I initiate contact with Amazon customer service, I seem to get a custom response. When pushy, I have gotten excellent custom responses. I expect Amazon does far more revenue/customer, though.
  - martin_a 6y ago
    Same for me. I was really surprised when I used their chat like four weeks ago and actually talked to a human being. Didn't expect that from Amazon.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    Not just more revenue per customer, but also the more issues they solve for you the more you'll be able to pay. If Spotify fixes your problem you won't go "now I'll use you more and pay 2x". For Amazon that's a real opportunity.
  - tachion 6y ago
    Your mileage may vary - I've got plenty of Amazon support staff blatantly telling me I've got no consumer rights (both national and EU) "because Amazon rules", no matter how high you try to escalate it.
    - ISL 6y ago
      If you feel that way, consider sending an email to jeff@amazon.com .
  - Merem 6y ago
    My local Amazon website customer service was also pretty good every time I had a need for it. On the other hand, the English customer support of Amazon.jp is just straight up terrible. Wanted to send back a damaged product which I had bought as new and which wasn't damaged during transportation. Sent an e-mail, asking for specific information regarding that return. Got reply lacking such information, asked again, different person answering, still unsatisfying answer...rinse and repeat. In the end, I had sent seven e-mails and got a reply from a different customer service representative every single time whose answers contradicted each other too even. Went with the reply that made the most sense and seemed the most right in the end and eventually got it returned (despite some wrong information still) and my money back. Another thing regarding wrong information on their product pages: Reporting wrong product names/descriptions and providing sources via the website was pointless and they never fixed it. After the whole ordeal with the return, I took the opportunity to tell them directly. Was told to provide a source (URL to some official website for instance) since they need it to confirm that there is something wrong there. Gave them all the URLs which included product titles, product pictures etc but they replied that they can't "use" (whatever that means) the URL (despite saying I should link it) and I'm supposed to screenshot it, upload it and then provide a link to the upload (or send it directly I guess). Of course, after everything above and now this, I was already beyond fed up and just stopped bothering since I'm certainly not gonna do their work for them. That, in addition to a website that is just getting worse and worse and worse stopped me from buying there. No point in having a bad buying experience and also knowing that, if you ever have an issue, support is gonna be an experience that will make you want to flip any tables you see for at least a few hours.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  I don’t necessarily disagree that Spotify’s response was unsurprising, but is the number of Spotify users relevant? Logically, the number of support staff ought to scale with the number of customers. It’s not about size, it’s about where Spotify has decided to invest.
  - sabellito 6y ago
    I absolutely agree that it should scale with the numbers of customers. However, from my experience working for companies that have customer support, that was definitely not the case.
- selykg 6y ago
  Did I expect different than what I got? No, I didn't. I honestly expected exactly what I got. Before I even emailed I had already made the decision to move, but I figured I should at least give them the opportunity to respond, and at the very minimum on my part give them feedback as to why I'm leaving.
- falcolas 6y ago
  Scale should never be an excuse for poor customer service. Customer service is part and parcel of offering a service to customers. A failure to offer good customer service is a failure of your service, period.
  - turbinerneiter 6y ago
    You pay them 120 bucks per year. I get great customer service at the local record store, where I pay 30 bucks for an LP.
    - stevenwliao 6y ago
      What kind of service would you expect if you ask them to give you a list of every LP you've ever purchased from them?
      - Karunamon 6y ago
        ...I mean, video rental stores and libraries have had the ability to pull that data for a long time. Many companies, even small ones, offer loyalty programs, which would also mean they have a list of your purchases available.
  - pacamara619 6y ago
    Exactly, companies just see people who need support as pure cost, since they can't make money off someone who already paid for the service, they treat you like garbage.
  - tashoecraft 6y ago
    I think the internet age has changed this. The pure cost to offer customer service is insane for the costs users are paying. If you want good customer service you're going to have to pay for it, but the market has shown that's not going to be a option, because not enough people are willing to pay for it. Great customer service used to be a differentiator, but for many services, cost is way more important, and customers are willing to pay.
- gmadsen 6y ago
  I don't agree. All my questions to Western Digital are answered quickly and personally. Not that I am trying to promote them, but that is my most recent customer service experience. As another example, 5 years ago, Amazon had excellent and prompt customer service, rivaled by pretty much no one. Although it has gotten worse recently.
- isoprophlex 6y ago
  I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a human to answer a customer service request in a sensible manner, when you're paying them 120$/year!
- Miraste 6y ago
  That statement's a little misleading--they only have ~100 million paid users, for whom one would think they'd prioritize support requests.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
sascha_sl 6y ago
You shouldn't be surprised that support people are essentially human firewalls, and getting any sort of policy decision or assistance, especially technical, beyond their knowledge base is impossible. Even Apple support is at least an hour of talking with someone who'll read the knowledge base back to you before being escalated into "I did my homework now look at my syslog" territory.
- personlurking 6y ago
  And as always, on these types of calls, one should never take a "no" from someone who doesn't have the authority to say "yes". Of course, this has to be balanced with how much the question/problem at hand matters to you.
  - the_only_law 6y ago
    How do you even figure out who does and does not have the authority to say "yes" an an outsider though.
    - srtjstjsj 6y ago
      Ask to speak to their manager, or research executive support or track down corporate salaried employee's contact info online.
- selykg 6y ago
  I work in support, have for close to a decade. I take at least a little pride in being a personable worker who can read the situation and respond appropriately from the beginning. Acknowledging the problem and the concerns of the customer is at least the bare minimum and they didn't even do that.
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    Are you doing tier-1 support for a product that costs less than the support phone call? If not, you are not in the same category.
W0lf 6y ago
Same here. I'm canceling my Spotify subscription right now and am moving to iTunes (back again). Spotify doesn't seem to support the newly announced home pods as well, which was another reason to quit my subscription, but mainly the somewhat enforced lock in from Spotify concerned me as well.
- martin_a 6y ago
  > Spotify doesn't seem to support the newly announced home pods as well Is this really Spotifys decision or something about how Apple handles announcements and development access to their devices? Or: Does Apple want Spotify in their game and on their devices? Or would they rather sell Apple Music subscriptions?
  - whoisburbansky 6y ago
    Apple announced a third-party SDK[0] for HomePod at the event last month, iirc the onus is on Spotify to actually implement support at this point. I'm assuming they couldn't iron something out in time for this event's announcement. https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/homepod-music-services/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/homepod-music-services/
- kingosticks 6y ago
  Isn't the homepod (mini?) issue pretty much Apple's lock-in?
  - blep-arsh 6y ago
    AirPlay 2 is available for Mac and iOS apps, as far as I remember, but is only implemented in the iOS Spotify all
srtjstjsj 6y ago
I don't think the person (if any) played to run the support bot is nearly as emotionally invested as you are. Voting with your wallet means redirecting your funds, not trying to argue with bots.
- selykg 6y ago
  I didn't argue with the support people. I stated my concerns for what they were doing as feedback. I was going to leave it at that, but it turns out that two things are important here that continued the conversation: 1. Their response was awful 2. They require you contact support to delete your account... which, is yet another anti-consumer policy.

by selykg 6y ago

sabellito 6y ago

It's a little surprising to me that you'd expect better customer support from a service with >248 million[1] monthly active users. Having worked for/with departments like this, they have to heavily optimise for their response rate, and use as many macros to respond as possible, which's probably your case as I'd assume that many customers contacted them with the same question. By all means, always speak with your wallet, but if you genuinely expect huge corporations to answer each request with a custom response, you will probably be disappointed often. [1] https://qz.com/1736762/spotify-grows-monthly-active-users-and-turns-profit-shares-jump-15-percent/ https://qz.com/1736762/spotify-grows-monthly-active-users-an...

ISL 6y ago
Most of the time I initiate contact with Amazon customer service, I seem to get a custom response. When pushy, I have gotten excellent custom responses. I expect Amazon does far more revenue/customer, though.
- martin_a 6y ago
  Same for me. I was really surprised when I used their chat like four weeks ago and actually talked to a human being. Didn't expect that from Amazon.
- viraptor 6y ago
  Not just more revenue per customer, but also the more issues they solve for you the more you'll be able to pay. If Spotify fixes your problem you won't go "now I'll use you more and pay 2x". For Amazon that's a real opportunity.
- tachion 6y ago
  Your mileage may vary - I've got plenty of Amazon support staff blatantly telling me I've got no consumer rights (both national and EU) "because Amazon rules", no matter how high you try to escalate it.
  - ISL 6y ago
    If you feel that way, consider sending an email to jeff@amazon.com .
- Merem 6y ago
  My local Amazon website customer service was also pretty good every time I had a need for it. On the other hand, the English customer support of Amazon.jp is just straight up terrible. Wanted to send back a damaged product which I had bought as new and which wasn't damaged during transportation. Sent an e-mail, asking for specific information regarding that return. Got reply lacking such information, asked again, different person answering, still unsatisfying answer...rinse and repeat. In the end, I had sent seven e-mails and got a reply from a different customer service representative every single time whose answers contradicted each other too even. Went with the reply that made the most sense and seemed the most right in the end and eventually got it returned (despite some wrong information still) and my money back. Another thing regarding wrong information on their product pages: Reporting wrong product names/descriptions and providing sources via the website was pointless and they never fixed it. After the whole ordeal with the return, I took the opportunity to tell them directly. Was told to provide a source (URL to some official website for instance) since they need it to confirm that there is something wrong there. Gave them all the URLs which included product titles, product pictures etc but they replied that they can't "use" (whatever that means) the URL (despite saying I should link it) and I'm supposed to screenshot it, upload it and then provide a link to the upload (or send it directly I guess). Of course, after everything above and now this, I was already beyond fed up and just stopped bothering since I'm certainly not gonna do their work for them. That, in addition to a website that is just getting worse and worse and worse stopped me from buying there. No point in having a bad buying experience and also knowing that, if you ever have an issue, support is gonna be an experience that will make you want to flip any tables you see for at least a few hours.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
I don’t necessarily disagree that Spotify’s response was unsurprising, but is the number of Spotify users relevant? Logically, the number of support staff ought to scale with the number of customers. It’s not about size, it’s about where Spotify has decided to invest.
- sabellito 6y ago
  I absolutely agree that it should scale with the numbers of customers. However, from my experience working for companies that have customer support, that was definitely not the case.
selykg 6y ago
Did I expect different than what I got? No, I didn't. I honestly expected exactly what I got. Before I even emailed I had already made the decision to move, but I figured I should at least give them the opportunity to respond, and at the very minimum on my part give them feedback as to why I'm leaving.
falcolas 6y ago
Scale should never be an excuse for poor customer service. Customer service is part and parcel of offering a service to customers. A failure to offer good customer service is a failure of your service, period.
- turbinerneiter 6y ago
  You pay them 120 bucks per year. I get great customer service at the local record store, where I pay 30 bucks for an LP.
  - stevenwliao 6y ago
    What kind of service would you expect if you ask them to give you a list of every LP you've ever purchased from them?
    - Karunamon 6y ago
      ...I mean, video rental stores and libraries have had the ability to pull that data for a long time. Many companies, even small ones, offer loyalty programs, which would also mean they have a list of your purchases available.
- pacamara619 6y ago
  Exactly, companies just see people who need support as pure cost, since they can't make money off someone who already paid for the service, they treat you like garbage.
- tashoecraft 6y ago
  I think the internet age has changed this. The pure cost to offer customer service is insane for the costs users are paying. If you want good customer service you're going to have to pay for it, but the market has shown that's not going to be a option, because not enough people are willing to pay for it. Great customer service used to be a differentiator, but for many services, cost is way more important, and customers are willing to pay.
gmadsen 6y ago
I don't agree. All my questions to Western Digital are answered quickly and personally. Not that I am trying to promote them, but that is my most recent customer service experience. As another example, 5 years ago, Amazon had excellent and prompt customer service, rivaled by pretty much no one. Although it has gotten worse recently.
isoprophlex 6y ago
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a human to answer a customer service request in a sensible manner, when you're paying them 120$/year!
Miraste 6y ago
That statement's a little misleading--they only have ~100 million paid users, for whom one would think they'd prioritize support requests.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

sascha_sl 6y ago

You shouldn't be surprised that support people are essentially human firewalls, and getting any sort of policy decision or assistance, especially technical, beyond their knowledge base is impossible. Even Apple support is at least an hour of talking with someone who'll read the knowledge base back to you before being escalated into "I did my homework now look at my syslog" territory.

personlurking 6y ago
And as always, on these types of calls, one should never take a "no" from someone who doesn't have the authority to say "yes". Of course, this has to be balanced with how much the question/problem at hand matters to you.
- the_only_law 6y ago
  How do you even figure out who does and does not have the authority to say "yes" an an outsider though.
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    Ask to speak to their manager, or research executive support or track down corporate salaried employee's contact info online.
selykg 6y ago
I work in support, have for close to a decade. I take at least a little pride in being a personable worker who can read the situation and respond appropriately from the beginning. Acknowledging the problem and the concerns of the customer is at least the bare minimum and they didn't even do that.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  Are you doing tier-1 support for a product that costs less than the support phone call? If not, you are not in the same category.

W0lf 6y ago

Same here. I'm canceling my Spotify subscription right now and am moving to iTunes (back again). Spotify doesn't seem to support the newly announced home pods as well, which was another reason to quit my subscription, but mainly the somewhat enforced lock in from Spotify concerned me as well.

martin_a 6y ago
> Spotify doesn't seem to support the newly announced home pods as well Is this really Spotifys decision or something about how Apple handles announcements and development access to their devices? Or: Does Apple want Spotify in their game and on their devices? Or would they rather sell Apple Music subscriptions?
- whoisburbansky 6y ago
  Apple announced a third-party SDK[0] for HomePod at the event last month, iirc the onus is on Spotify to actually implement support at this point. I'm assuming they couldn't iron something out in time for this event's announcement. https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/homepod-music-services/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/homepod-music-services/
kingosticks 6y ago
Isn't the homepod (mini?) issue pretty much Apple's lock-in?
- blep-arsh 6y ago
  AirPlay 2 is available for Mac and iOS apps, as far as I remember, but is only implemented in the iOS Spotify all

srtjstjsj 6y ago

I don't think the person (if any) played to run the support bot is nearly as emotionally invested as you are. Voting with your wallet means redirecting your funds, not trying to argue with bots.

selykg 6y ago
I didn't argue with the support people. I stated my concerns for what they were doing as feedback. I was going to leave it at that, but it turns out that two things are important here that continued the conversation: 1. Their response was awful 2. They require you contact support to delete your account... which, is yet another anti-consumer policy.