

Curebit: Worst Customer Service Ever? - schusterfluke
http://ryanmelogy.com/yc-alum-curebit-worst-customer-service-ever
The worst customer service email from a startup founder I've ever seen.  You might think it's the best.
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dariusmonsef
The truth is. Some customers require 10x the support that others do and you
only get paid the same amount. When you're a growing startup, those 10x'ers
can suck up all your time and distract you from building a better product.
Unfortunately it sounds like you were going to be a 10x'er for them and they
were a bit blunt about suggesting you don't use the service.

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jemka
>Worst Customer Service Ever?

Not-even-close...

There are certain assumptions people make when trying to help out others. I'm
probably not going out too far on a limb to guess that Allan read OP's emails
and one of his first thoughts were, "this guy didn't spend more than 2 minutes
reading the documentation."

Given the ease of locating that information, I'd have to agree.

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mhofstadt
"It's either the best or the worst customer service email I've ever seen."

Considering the post, I'm leaning towards "best".

Two things about the article:

1) Order of information seemed really backwards. It was like the blog version
of Memento.

2) I've never read an article that had so many sentences begin with the word
"so". About half by my count.

...soooo, that brings me back to "best customer service email ever".

~~~
schusterfluke
@mhofstadt: Sooooo, you're right about my use of "so." It's terrible. But I
still like the Memento-style ordering...

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answerly
>"Admittedly, I was being a bit of a dick by adding the "wtf" at the end..."

This may explain, at least in part, the nature of the response that the OP
received.

~~~
drsim
I have a B2B app too, and get email from people who are downright rude. I
wouldn't bundle the OP in with this bunch: he just seemed frustrated.

But as the service provider it's your responsibility to maintain a
professional tone. When I get what, at best, are difficult customers, my
approach is to be tersely polite. Then half tend to back down and be
apologetic, the other half I never hear from again.

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brianchu
I think both parties are at fault here. Ryan's first query was fine. It was a
total mistake to 1) Send another message (please wait for more than a "few
minutes" before getting frustrated and sending another message), and 2) Be
completely rude.

At the same time, Allan (CEO) should have maintained, like drsim said, a
professional, objective tone. Sure, he probably got a kick out of
sarcastically tearing down Ryan, but ultimately it did nothing for either
party and only burned a bridge that otherwise could have been salvaged.

I don't think it's too late for Ryan to apologize for the misunderstanding.

~~~
schusterfluke
@brianchu: I agree. I'm largely at fault. And I'm probably going to take down
the post. I was just pissed off at Allan's attitude (especially the
condescension), and thought I'd try to get a little revenge. But that's no way
to behave. I do apologize. Also, I'm going to stop using the word "So" as
often. Also, I'm going to start proofreading my blog posts before I put them
live. It's just that it's never really mattered, because nobody has ever read
it!

~~~
rogerjin
I think the other commenters are way too harsh on you. While I don't think you
really need to apologize in this case, its a classy move regardless.

~~~
brianchu
Right. Apologizing is not strictly necessary. But relationships matter; in the
long run someone who is able to apologize and keep calm despite others' rude
statements is going to be better off.

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rogerjin
My personal opinion and standard for customer service (to my customers) is
that no matter how rude the customer is (in this case, I personally wouldn't
classify Ryan as rude), its my responsibility to be as polite and helpful as
humanly possible. Perhaps I just have extra high standards, but for me, the
email from Allan reflects pretty bad on Curebit's leadership team.

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andys627
Integration/onboarding/first time setup pages work much better in my
experience when the user can't really do anything until they do the minimum
setup.

For curebit, they should focus on making sure to only show that page when the
person is ready (probably the case 99% of the time... if someone signs up and
puts in CC).

For FaithStreet they wanted you on this page for a reason and put in a bit of
effort keeping you there.

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hnwh
I really hate when companies act like they're doing you a favor by letting you
pay them for services.. The fact that they exude this attitude at such an
early stage, and from so high up, marks a bad sign.. If you can't empathize
with the pain points of your customers (ESP ones who have already paid you
money), then perhaps you should give up the business

