I think the general lack of willingness to help in Big Tech is very problematic. You can almost never get through those thick-skulled reps that email you out of the blue...
The reason why those free tiers went away is that AI came along. Not so much that the AI scrapers were abusing Yelp free tier[0], but that they could. And once companies realized how much money was floating around in selling data access, non-abusive free tier users went from "a cool goodwill gesture" to "freeloading parasites".
David Kopec and Restauraunts got steamrolled in a case of technological gentrification. If you're selling data access for $TOO_CHEAP_TO_METER/call to a random indie, Apple, Google, and/or Microsoft will use that as a comparable for why Yelp should charge peanuts. Or they'll just acquihire him. They need him and his app to go away because he is inconvenient to the long-term valuation plan of Yelp, an old guard Web 2.0 business that never quite became sovereign.
[0] Though, to be clear, AI scrapers are absolutely abusive in general.
I'd like to see how someone can see a directly employed Google support agent / repair technician in person for support like you can with the Genius Bar.
Additionally, as far as I know, the kind of support you get calling AppleCare is unmatched by anyone else.
He did get through to the sales rep. The responses are directly in the article. The sales rep responded within hours and showed him how to sign up for the free trial option to extend the free usage period longer while he decided.
What more would you want the rep to do?
> What more would you want the rep to do?
Not send a threatening, inaccurate email with a 4-day (1 business day Friday->Monday) deadline in the first place?
Also for the record, this was not a sales manager. This was someone in "growth" that sent the email. I guess maybe that just means "sales."
You're right it wasn't just inaccurate it was outright deceptive, trying to frame this as something specific to OP that he is responsible for rather than a change in their business applying to all API users.
Employ a shred of critical thinking and realize this app probably drives more value to Yelp than the cost to run the API, and flag it for an exception.
And yes, many companies have "customer service" like that designed to waste your time until you go away. That doesn't mean it's the only possible way.
This is a strategy, like quiet firing, to make people go away.
Rather than being up front, this is an underhanded way of making folks leave.