Thread

1. 4chandaily · 1790423618 · focus · HN ↗

   Customer support has gotten so terrible. Now that all big companies have terrible support, none of them are punished for it. You can still occasionally find people who give a shit in small business, but that is it. Google is probably one of the worst offenders of all. I don't know what the solution is, it seems like the only way to get any satisfaction on an issue at a big corp anymore is a social medial call-out like this one.

   If you are here, thank you for Conversations, Daniel, it has been my go-to for years for communicating with friends and family.

   1. utopiah · 1790425016 · focus · HN ↗

      That's because you the user are not the customer of Google and such services. You are actually the product being sold to the customer, namely advertising companies, by Google.

      The farmer take care of his pigs but only to the point they get slaughtered.

      1. Loquebantur · 1790426191 · focus · HN ↗

         Google has captured what really is a public utility and should be either state-owned or heavily regulated.

         (Long) distance communications, just like public roads, breathable air, potable drinking water and so on do not fit into a "free market economy" paradigm.

         They simply don't fulfill the basic requirements that make the "market" idea work.

         Specifically, a free market needs goods from different suppliers to be easily interchangeable. You cannot sensibly build multiple roads parallel to each other, or have multiple water pipes installed and you have only one airway to breath through.

         1. jolmg · 1790447995 · focus · HN ↗

            > Google has captured what really is a public utility and should be either state-owned or heavily regulated.

            I think part of what makes a utility a utility is that the nature of the service is naturally a monopoly. For example, you can only realistically have one set of waterways, so the company providing tap water as a service is a utility. Same with power lines, you can only realistically have one set, so the electricity-supplying company is a utility. With phone/internet service, I imagine that also requires sharing infrastructure.

            Google doesn't fit in that paradigm. The nature of their services don't naturally require sharing resources to compete. They a monopoly simply because they amassed a ton a money to do things that other people can't, like drive on all roads on Earth with special cameras, or host however many videos there are on YouTube, serving those videos throughout the world, and even pay livable wages to the creators of the videos.

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