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I Loathe Software Customer Service

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Why does it seem like customer support is horrible or nonexistent at so many software companies?

I am still waiting for reply emails from 3 different web services right now. It's going on 3 weeks and 10 emails for one name-brand company.

Even Google is awful. Any of their free services, don't even bother. But even Adwords/Adsense where I spend or generate hundreds of dollars every month - I cannot get decent customer service.

I realize that there are plenty of exceptions. But for the most part, software customer service is worse than the rest of the world.

I hate the customer service at my bank, AT&T and at Directv, etc - but at least I can call those people. Google? Forget about it.

Why is it so bad?

At most organizations the customer support people are completely separate from the people who build and manage the product.

This means: the people who make the products do not want to hear from the people who use their products.

How many software CEOs and product managers regularly hear from or speak with their actual customer-users? Very few.

Is it any wonder Google can't come up with anything good besides their search? Do they ever speak with customers? The only ways to reach the right product people is to learn their names through their blog and then send them a message through Facebook.

What you can do:

If you're going to sign up for any software service make sure you can:

1. Contact their customer support. You shouldn't have to dig through FAQs ad knowledge bases in order to contact them.

2. Test them before you sign up. Email them and ask them a question. See if they get back to you ASAP.

3. Before you do reach out, make sure they don't have your answer listed somewhere. It should be easy to find.

If you run a software company, get rid of the walls between customer service and your product. And make sure your customers can contact you. And return their calls and emails.