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> cant replicate it That's how the co-founder of a customer service oriented company responds to a bug complaint? Three whole words? And then he has the nerve

> cant replicate it That's how the co-founder of a customer service oriented company responds to a bug complaint? Three whole words? And then he has the nerve to "go nuclear" on the customer? Wow, talk about being rude and arrogant. Not only is your response unprofessional because of its poor grammar, you also didn't even give the cusomter the impression that their complaint matters to you. How about something like, "Still haven't been able to replicate it yet, but we're trying"? I wouldn't respond how the customer did, but I think you deserved it.

Millennium 14y ago
Pretty much this. A better response might be "I need more information, because I can't get this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about exactly what you were doing when the problem happened?" That's just a generic response; someone who knows the product could probably come up with more specific questions to guide the user toward giving the right info.
- kunle 14y ago
  > A better response might be "I need more information, because I can't get this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about exactly what you were doing when the problem happened?" Definitely a better response. No excuse for the casualness of my tone - just reflective of my relationship with Jon (which at the time was more casual/familiar than with others)
  - adhipg 14y ago
    In that case, his response was also one of casual exclaim - complete with a smiley that meant he's at a loss of words. Not an excuse - when your job's doing customer service better.
  - nirvana 14y ago
    Sometimes, "Fuck out" is the most polite, concise, and well reasoned response someone can give, because it points out how you've been treating them. What you fail to realize, even to this day, is that you said "Fuck you" to him FIRST. Then when he called you on it, you did it again. You blew him off with a three word response that doesn't give him anything to go on, or any reason to believe that you were taking him seriously. Then when he called you on your failure to provide adequate service (or an explanation of why you couldn't or even, have given him anything to go on to try and move the ball forward)... rather than recognize that message for what it was (A repetition of what you said to him) you made it even worse! Your final response is blowing him off, telling him that he's not an important customer, that you care much more about having your anus licked very carefully, than about the issue at hand. YOU made it personal. First by blowing him off, then when he (quite politely, frankly) pointed this out to you, you made it all about him. Worse, you've now gone and written a blog post. This whole affair is all about how your delicate sensibilities are far more important to you than solving a customers problem. Worse, it wasn't even sufficient to simply blow him off, you had to do it PUBLICLY by writing this blog post... while smugly lecturing us on good customer service? Frankly, I would be astounded, but there seems to be a lot of this kind of attitude going around silicon valley these days. I think its what you get when you get kids right out of college and have them do "startups" without them ever having any real life experience. I suspect pointing this out to you is not going to make any sense. You clearly think you were in the right, and you may not be able to conceive of how you might not be. That's the problem. That you work for a company all about "customer service" is pretty rich irony, though. You just told everyone over 30 that, when push comes to shove, you care more about finding an excuse to blow them off.
rhizome 14y ago
For some time it's been apparent that working with complete sentences (let alone capitalization) is a sure path to being seen as a cut above, professionally.
- nthj 14y ago
  My father took me aside when I was 6 years old (I still remember this conversation like it was yesterday), because I was complaining about writing class, and he told me, yes, it's hard, but it's the number one skill you need to succeed in life. He was a tech guy who was made manager of a half-dozen younger engineers at Northrop-Grumman in no small part because he could boil all the tech stuff down into a 1-page report that could be placed directly on the CEO's desk. I still didn't like writing, of course. But I had no idea how right he was. It continues to amaze me how rare proper grammer, coherent sentences, and clear, concise thinking are in the professional world, and how much of a jump start he gave me forcing me to learn those skills, year in, year out.
monksy 14y ago
I found it funny that they claim that they help make Customer Service awesome.
- dirkdk 14y ago
  totally!
imsofuture 14y ago
That's one line from an interactive chat, not a flippant email or something...
logn 14y ago
Completely agree. I used to love as a programmer selecting "Works for Me" from the dropdown on QA reports because in my mind it was like selecting "Fuck Off, Noob". Terse replies can come across wrong. Even, "can't replicate it yet..." would be much better as it shows you're willing to still try. Or "can't replicate it on my environment" because it means the customer has a valid complaint. "Cant replicate it" means you think the customer is explaining something wrong or is otherwise nuts.

Millennium 14y ago

Pretty much this. A better response might be "I need more information, because I can't get this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about exactly what you were doing when the problem happened?" That's just a generic response; someone who knows the product could probably come up with more specific questions to guide the user toward giving the right info.

kunle 14y ago
> A better response might be "I need more information, because I can't get this problem to happen on my machine. Can you tell me more about exactly what you were doing when the problem happened?" Definitely a better response. No excuse for the casualness of my tone - just reflective of my relationship with Jon (which at the time was more casual/familiar than with others)
- adhipg 14y ago
  In that case, his response was also one of casual exclaim - complete with a smiley that meant he's at a loss of words. Not an excuse - when your job's doing customer service better.
- nirvana 14y ago
  Sometimes, "Fuck out" is the most polite, concise, and well reasoned response someone can give, because it points out how you've been treating them. What you fail to realize, even to this day, is that you said "Fuck you" to him FIRST. Then when he called you on it, you did it again. You blew him off with a three word response that doesn't give him anything to go on, or any reason to believe that you were taking him seriously. Then when he called you on your failure to provide adequate service (or an explanation of why you couldn't or even, have given him anything to go on to try and move the ball forward)... rather than recognize that message for what it was (A repetition of what you said to him) you made it even worse! Your final response is blowing him off, telling him that he's not an important customer, that you care much more about having your anus licked very carefully, than about the issue at hand. YOU made it personal. First by blowing him off, then when he (quite politely, frankly) pointed this out to you, you made it all about him. Worse, you've now gone and written a blog post. This whole affair is all about how your delicate sensibilities are far more important to you than solving a customers problem. Worse, it wasn't even sufficient to simply blow him off, you had to do it PUBLICLY by writing this blog post... while smugly lecturing us on good customer service? Frankly, I would be astounded, but there seems to be a lot of this kind of attitude going around silicon valley these days. I think its what you get when you get kids right out of college and have them do "startups" without them ever having any real life experience. I suspect pointing this out to you is not going to make any sense. You clearly think you were in the right, and you may not be able to conceive of how you might not be. That's the problem. That you work for a company all about "customer service" is pretty rich irony, though. You just told everyone over 30 that, when push comes to shove, you care more about finding an excuse to blow them off.

rhizome 14y ago

For some time it's been apparent that working with complete sentences (let alone capitalization) is a sure path to being seen as a cut above, professionally.

nthj 14y ago
My father took me aside when I was 6 years old (I still remember this conversation like it was yesterday), because I was complaining about writing class, and he told me, yes, it's hard, but it's the number one skill you need to succeed in life. He was a tech guy who was made manager of a half-dozen younger engineers at Northrop-Grumman in no small part because he could boil all the tech stuff down into a 1-page report that could be placed directly on the CEO's desk. I still didn't like writing, of course. But I had no idea how right he was. It continues to amaze me how rare proper grammer, coherent sentences, and clear, concise thinking are in the professional world, and how much of a jump start he gave me forcing me to learn those skills, year in, year out.

monksy 14y ago

I found it funny that they claim that they help make Customer Service awesome.

dirkdk 14y ago
totally!

imsofuture 14y ago

That's one line from an interactive chat, not a flippant email or something...

logn 14y ago

Completely agree. I used to love as a programmer selecting "Works for Me" from the dropdown on QA reports because in my mind it was like selecting "Fuck Off, Noob". Terse replies can come across wrong. Even, "can't replicate it yet..." would be much better as it shows you're willing to still try. Or "can't replicate it on my environment" because it means the customer has a valid complaint. "Cant replicate it" means you think the customer is explaining something wrong or is otherwise nuts.