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Comment by philwelch | Hacker News Reader

Be careful what you wish for. I'm dubious of getting any kind of service from a company known for not having any kind of customer service whatsoever.

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I actually have some experience with GoogCustSvc now.

I bought a Nexus 7. It has touch-screen problems. They provided a way to contact them here (http://support.google.com/nexus/bin/request.py?contact_type=...).

I talked to the rep (after waiting about 30 minutes). They were helpful, direct, competent, and provided a way for me to contact the person I talked to via e-mail after the call was ended.

They organized a replacement device and even worked through the fact that I'd purchased the tablet from my brother-in-law.

If their future customer service offerings are the same as what I experienced last night, I have no concerns.

For me they charged the wrong card for my Nexus 7, and I wrote them to see about fixing that.

Exactly 10 days later I received an email about american express cards being declined, and that I should now be good to go.

Google is great, just not when it comes to human beings helping you.

Me too - exact same issue, and the same experience; apart from the hold time the support people I spoke with were polite and helpful, and the second person resolved the problem with my original RMA request over the phone. Turned out I gave the first person the wrong serial number (there are two with very similar acronyms, marked SSN & CSSN). They got a replacement device to my desk within 24 hours once they had the correct number.

TelCo call centers are universally useless. Google could have a phone number you call and a robot on the other end that informs you of service disruptions and tells you to turn it off and turn it on again, and they would have better service than most ISPs.

My local TelCo, despite being shitty, plays a recorded message everytime there are specific issues affecting the area.

I get a message like that from Time Warner. I love it, because it always says, "A service disruption has been reported in the Los Angeles area. Service is expected to be restored by 8pm." Classic.

most telcos do that. the problem is usually that they are too vague to be of any use. i've called telus before and gotten the message "we are currently experiencing service intteruptions in some areas". thanks guys, that helps.

Maybe it's different in the States, but my experiences with Shaw/Rogers have been universally positive on the tech support front. 24/7 call center, and either the problem is fixed then and there, or there's someone out to replace the modem the next day. Hell, I even had one of them walk me through cloning my MAC address to force a new IP when I got banned from 4chan back in the day.

Google Fiber has customer service by phone. The phone number is visible at https://fiber.google.com/help/

Um... I've called google tech support numerous times (for google apps, and google adwords) and had great experiences. I'd be ecstatic if my ISP gave me the same level of support.

That's directly contrary to everything I'd ever heard about Google before. Interesting, maybe they've learned their lesson.

Having used Google customer service as a paying customer I have never had an issue. Customer service on their free offerings is another story all together but what do you expect on that end anyways?

Though to be honest - how good is ComCraptic at service? At least when Google has bugs they're solved quickly.

Last night my Comcast cable tv set top box started telling me it was unauthorized. I went through their phone tree twice (they simply booted me the first time ... Telling me to hang up an call again WTF?). I finally talk to a human -- nice and seems competent -- and he can't find any evidence of my having a set top box. Eventually he says that maybe the relevant system is down, try to call again in the morning. Fine, not his fault. But before I hang up he reads out a recorded item about how they are there ready to support me 24/7.

Oh and I love how I have to enter the same phone number twice AND give it to the human ... "For security purposes."

Anything is better than the rubbish we currently get from Comcast...

Not very long ago, I'd to wait for ~30 minutes in a line that stretched out to the street at my local Comcast office to, wait for this, exchange the set top box for one that had HDMI out! For such privileges, and cable and internet, I pay over $100 a month.

What are we comparing the customer service to though? For ISPs google cannot do worse, it's impossible. I've used Verizon, AT&T, Charter, Time Warner and they all have terrible customer service, and I am understating it.

I don't mind having no call centers to call as long as the service works better and the network is smart. Currently, you are having to use a phone to verbally tell the telco where the problems are on the network they run, which is insane.

You will be on a phone one way or another when the internet is down.

Yes, but I would rather not spend all of that listening to fur-elise for the umpteenth time while getting lost in the arcane submenus of a corporate telephone system, all the while being told how valued I am as a customer by a repeating disembodied voice.

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