We’ve all been there. You run into some problem with some software, device or service and you require some help. You’re often left navigating some phone system or website that resembles a “choose your own adventure” book written by the devil himself. You rarely ever arrive at “Press one for somebody with a clue who can actually help you”, and more often than not more akin to pressing all of the buttons simultaneously as you slam your phone & head against the wall to the beat of elevator music.

We have all been there. In fact, I’m positive I’ve experienced enough appalling support to write harvard business school case-studies on it. From banks, software firms and even web hosting providers: Service levels are frustrating, profits are up and consumer satisfaction is measured in revenue & stock dividends instead of happy clients.

I often imagine that there are white-haired men that sit around a boardroom table laughing, bourbon in hand, while they listen to the sobs & screams of clients in voicemail boxes. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, as more often than not companies do happily tear away support pillars to reduce costs and put profits first.

As I sit awake at 6AM EST just hours before our own clients wake up, I’m patiently awaiting a third-party vendor to respond to a mission critical request of our own that they’ve sat on for eight hours. It reminds me of an instance about a decade ago that resulted in us launching the company that is now Fused Network. A web hosting provider had allocated my domain name to a third party and dealing with their support team made any solution impossible. Despite the verdict essentially meaning the loss of my other company I gave up. All of our attempts proved futile and left us frustrated and unamused.

Fused Network launched not too long after that when I decided I could do better, and we’ve just past our 10th year in business. We strive daily to continue to improve our own support because we’re users too, and know just how frustrating bad support is.

Do you have any horror stories of your own? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.