Is Google too big to worry about satisfaction?

[Drapetomania]

Do you just read what you posted? So they purposely deceived us just so that we would order it directly through them? What kind of logic is that?

I'm on your side man. I'm making fun of them.

 

[steve dave]

Do you just read what you posted? So they purposely deceived us just so that we would order it directly through them? What kind of logic is that?

To be fair, they have a distinct advantage to have people order directly from them. They are already not making much, if any money on the hardware. It isn't out of line to think they are selling them cheaper to third party retailers so they can get their margins, too. I don't really think that they deliberately misled people because of that, but it isn't beyond the realm of imagination.

 

[theduder]

But if they had, nobody would have preordered from them directly! You can't blame Google for not being up-front about it!

If a company has to use a lie of omission to generate sales, they're not giving the customer a deal they would have otherwise entered into.

While you're right, it's no way to do business.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[keithz]

If you had to wait weeks then yes, you would have a legitimate complaint. But orders are starting to ship the day that B&M stores are starting to sell them. It is not a big deal to wait a couple of days. But it's hard to get through to the "self entitled, I deserve it first" membrane that surrounds some brains.

Given that not a single Canadian pre-order has shipped and you could buy it at Staples, Memory Express or NCIX on Friday, pre-orders will be getting it a week after any retail customer.

And Canadian Play customers pay $19 for shipping. And tax on the shipping charge.

 

[keithz]

There is no such thing as too big to worry about [customer] satisfaction. If a company is enormous (like Google), it can survive for a decent amount of time even if its customer service is horrible. Eventually, however, it will catch up and the company will suffer as a result.

This N7 launch does not bode well for Google. It created the N7 to directly compete with Amazon and it's ecosystem of books, movies, apps, etc. Unfortunately, the other thing Amazon has going for it is absolutely awesome customer service. They get it right every time. I have been a loyal Amazon customer since before the invention of Amazon Prime. The reason I remain so loyal is that they have always met or exceeded my expectations for customer service. Always. I haven't been disappointed once in seven years.
I stepped out on a limb for the N7. I had a Kindle Fire and I sold it. I took a chance on Google, and I was supremely disappointed. The customer service is abysmal, and they completely botched this release with no explanation and no apologies. Thankfully I was able to actually cancel my preorder, even though it was already in the preshipping phase. Oddly, that's the one thing Google actually did right: cancelled my order when I wanted them to. Sad. If they had good customer service in the first place I would not have wanted to cancel.

Unfortunately, it's going to catch up to them if they don't learn from this.

Now I am patiently waiting for the Kindle Fire 2.

This is what fanboys don't get. If Google wants to go toe-to-toe with Apple and Amazon, they better get customer service right. Die-hard Android users who pre-order N7s from the Play store is one thing. Imagine what the public outrage would be if Apple pulled off a similar show on an iPhone/iPad launch.

Google won't come close to Apple's success with this kind of customer support.

 

[keithz]

To be fair, they have a distinct advantage to have people order directly from them. They are already not making much, if any money on the hardware. It isn't out of line to think they are selling them cheaper to third party retailers so they can get their margins, too. I don't really think that they deliberately misled people because of that, but it isn't beyond the realm of imagination.

I don't think you can rule it out. Why else weren't they letting customers cancel orders a week before anything shipped?

They planned to fleece the pre-orders. And maybe they planned for pre-orders to pick it up a day or two prior to the stores, so that nobody would really notice or complain about the shipping charges. Something got screwed up and they didn't ship out in time but the retail stores did. And now customers have noticed what a ripoff the Play store is.

 

[crackberrytraitor]

Obviously they don't give a crap and are in "bunker mode" as they are not answering disgruntled emails from me or anyone else who has sent in a complaint. The only way to get info is by calling them and at this point the only thing they will tell people is "we're working on it".

Ignoring customer emails is something only shady companies do.