Google is stupid

Beauracracy level now exceeds the gov't.

[wheel]

So I'm running an adwords campaign, trying to claw my way to a dominant position. Willing to take the time and spend the cash to get there.

As part of that process I had a third party expert review my account and they basically said, cancel and start fresh. So I did.

Google then dangles an enhanced 'Energizer' level review of my campaign by phone. So sure enough, I call.

Their response? They won't provide the service to me because it's a different account. yes, the same website. Same product. Same name, ads, address, credit card. Same everything except login. therefore they are not able to provide the service to me.

Why not I ask?

Because they have limited resources and can't offer this to all the accounts.

So what's the difference in resources used if you're answering questions using my old login or my new login? None that I can see. There's no difference in resources being used.

That was the stock answer given, and it was clear it was a stock answer. I can only push the staff so far, they're not completely at fault here. I asked them if what I was saying made sense, all they can say is 'they appreciate my frustration but do to limited resources we cannot offer this service to all accounts'. etc. (i.e., they don't have an answer).

So I ask them to relay my specific objections and concerns to management. I'd like someone with some authority to say 'well, that's stupid', to review what happened. Response? they'll notify 'members of the team'. #*$!? They're going to have a cubicle member's conference? One thing that's exceptionally bad service is to completely ignore specific complaints like they don't mean anything, and only deal with generalities. that's about the exact opposite of what they should be doing.

So make me an offer, then revoke it because of a different login. I complain that's stupid, they give me a clearly nonsensical answer. I ask them to take it to manangement, they won't.

What do they do? Put me through to an automated phone survey that offers to record my verbal comments - AND THEN CUTS ME OFF HALFWAY THROUGH!

Thanks Google.

[Swanny007]

And it's only going to get worse with Goofle.... bigger, badder, more $$$, that's the direction as I see it...

[martinibuster]

It's part of how they try to automate and streamline interactions by codifying how company employees interact with the outside world. It's partly the engineer culture but also excessive hovering by their legal department. It's not the employee's fault. From what I have seen from the expressions on some Googlers faces, I could tell they had the desire to help but were frustratingly constrained by company policy.

Google isn't stupid. Neither are their employees. I think this discussion could have been titled better because you make a legitimate observation.

[wheel]

No, google is stupid. They may know how to code. They don't understand customer service.

One big mouth who got some really bad customer service isn't a data point you can average out. That's what they're doing. That's not smart, that's a lack of understanding. Or to put it in Google's terms, they forgot to weight the data point. When they put my number into their calculator, they forgot to multiply my number X20.

Unhappy and frustrated customers with no alternative is a very bad recipe.

You watch Oprah today?

[James2]

those who have the gold make the rules

[wheel]

Google does have lots of money. And lots of success. But they're really only been around 10 years - not forever like most monolithic companies.

And their business model can fail, and fail FAST. To get users off of MS over to linux you have to chip away slowly. To get users off of Google to another SE it takes nothing more than a change in consumer mood and a grassroots movement, and about 3 months. Google can disappear that fast.

They seem to be alienating their most influential users these days - webmasters and advertisers.

[wheel]

The rep emailed me back, here's a snippet:

Previously the Energize email you received included the customer ID number of the eligible account in the upper left corner of the email. Going forward, these emails will additionally include a statement that only the account listed in the email will be eligible for Energize service at that time.

And they've checked off 'problem solved' and moved on, another happy customer looked after. Their reports will look good this month.

Of course what the email really highlighted for me is that they completely ignored the problem I had and ignored any bit of common sense. It didn't address my concerns, it's actually another example of my concerns.

I closed one account and opened another, the old account was eligible, the new one wasn't. Apparently that's because they don't have the resources. When queried what the difference in resources was between my old account and my new one, no response.

Does anyone really think I"m going to reactivate my old account simply to get their assistance?

[cloudtap]

The reps think in one way so it's something annoying to get used to. As any company grows, they become more bureaucratic and non-flexible -- I'd say, just move on or talk to people in management by using your LinkedIN account in order to get facetime with a management team member

[mrguy]

I agree, if your are a business and have poor customer service, then it's just a matter of time before those customers go elsewhere.

From a business standpoint, if you have all the resources in the world and you treat customers like crap, that's a pretty stupid move in my book and it really comes from their arrogance in thinking they can code it and then let the robots do it all.

Just look at the way many webmasters now openly talk about how they dislike Google. 3 or 4 years ago that was unheard but the number of people who dislike them is growing every day for one reason or another.

So yes, Google is stupid.