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Comment by dangero | Hacker News Reader

I had an absolutely horrendous experience with Magic a few years back. I wanted them to find out how much all my competitors charged hourly so I asked them to call and ask but was very clear “you cannot say you’re calling on my behalf. Do not mention me.” I told them this stipulation multiple times.

When I got the report back, I discovered that they told all of my competitors that they were calling on my behalf to find out their pricing structure and referred to me by name.

I also asked them to call all the flower shops near me to find orchids. They responded next day “we called 10 shops near you and none have them” I found this to be odd so I called one place I had used before. They had them.

I think they should change their name because it’s not magic.

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Yeah, my experience is that they really don't follow directions with precision and they seem to always identify themselves.

The quality/cost of service have dropped off imo, I used to rave about them circa ~2017 but the intelligence of the service really dropped off.

The idea is great, I still use them once in a blue moon, but the execution is in this uncanny valley of not being cheap enough for rote work (like compiling expense spreadsheets from texted receipts) and not intelligent enough for complex research tasks.

I guess that makes it less like a valley and more like a plain of negative value.

Yeah in the end when you recognize that they just try to be middlemen, you realize you're better off finding a remote personal assistant that remembers prior context.

> The idea is great

What about the idea is great? There are few economies of scale, no automation, no long term edge, and it is completely dependent on the existence of cheap labor.

They were offering a service that people have a need for, at a price point that makes it affordable to people, who previously could not have afforded it (the alternative being hiring a personal assistant).

It's simple enough to argue that's not enough to make it "great". I would say just about as simple as it is to argue that it is.

There was some British one I’d use to get primark jeans when working/staying in the city, it was kinda cool if you are a disorganised piece of shit but was pretty expensive.

It's magic as long as you don't look behind the curtain!

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