Anthropic employee here (opinions are my own): the response " [...] However, I need to let you know that we are unable to issue compensation [...]" was, as you imagined, generated by Claude.

I don't like it, but can't do much about it.

▲ jexe 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I don't like it, but can't do much about it.

Is the culture really such that you can't escalate an obvious, fairly minor mistake that is turning into disastrous PR?

That would explain a lot of recent Anthropic takes actually.

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chneu 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Tech companies have too many layers for anything to happen. This is partly by design to slow down this exact thing.

	▲	htx80nerd an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Not all tech companies are like this, though too many are.

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hirako2000 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Such culture has become common in big tech.

▲ nativeit 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’ve stopped using your product entirely. Anthropic may not like it, but I can do something about it.

▲ cryptocod3 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"opinions are my own"

  - throwaway449933

	▲	prometheuspk 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Are you willing to jeopardise half a million dollars in base salary ??

▲ pesus 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You mean you can't do much about it that wouldn't cost your job.

▲ tempoponet 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It reads like the inventors of Claude can't get Claude to apply a "human in the loop" workflow.

	▲	IAmGraydon an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I think they just honestly can't afford it. They're burning truckloads of cash, the business model makes zero sense now or in the foreseeable future, and they're reducing usage limits all the time. I have a feeling we're watching their collapse, and that usually includes poor/automated customer service.

▲ dakiol 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You could quit, for starters

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Arainach 2 hours ago | parent [-]

If anyone with principles quit the moment a company did something bad, you'd be left with only people who are cynical and/or bad and/or sufficiently indentured to be unable to push back against management, and there would be no hope of the company ever improving.

Sure, everyone probably has their own personal line such as "will quit if my employer is declared complicit in genocide by the UN", but bad customer service seems firmly in the "better to stay and advocate doing better from the inside" category

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dakiol 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> and there would be no hope of the company ever improving.

I don't see anything wrong with this. My integrity and values are above any company's. Companies can go to hell for all I care

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Arainach 2 hours ago | parent [-]

[flagged]

	▲	wswope 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is a horrendously bad-faith take. You know full well it’s not just a one-off $200 issue: they treat customers like this at scale. Don’t pretend this is an isolated matter, or that CS/billing is the only arena where Anthropic has such systemic issues. I don’t know you, but your response honestly reads like it’s coming from someone wrestling with their own moral compromises. If so, please take a good hard look in the mirror. (E: yep — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47953576)
	▲	GuinansEyebrows 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> Instead you would have an equally powerful company with no moral compass whatsoever. given the information we have, this describes the current state.

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Henchman21 3 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

By your own admission in other comments you work for exactly the type of company that optimizes for amoral hires -- Google, Facebook, etc. Based on their actions, Google, Facebook, et al, do seem amoral.

An IC won't be able to steer a ship like that back to morality. Whole teams can't do it. People at Google organized to stop this sort of shit and were fired IIRC?

Large institutions provide cover for bad actions by people who, without said cover, would not take those actions.

Therefore, I believe that "we'd be left with only people who are cynical and/or bad and/or sufficiently indentured to be unable to push back against management, and there would be no hope of the company ever improving" is the status quo.

So what are you even saying??

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AstroBen 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> bad customer service seems firmly in the "better to stay and advocate doing better from the inside" category

How about Anthropic agreeing to a $1.5 billion settlement for perhaps the biggest theft in history?

Weird how people forgot about that.

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GuinansEyebrows 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> there would be no hope of the company ever improving.

if they can't do anything about it now, what makes you think that situation will change in the future? if remedial action would be punished by those higher on the ladder, it certainly won't be promoted by those folks, leaving this hypothetical employee in exactly the same position they're currently in.

quit.

	▲	Arainach an hour ago \| parent [-]
		So far we have an Anthropic bug and what seems like an AI-generated "no refund" response that is hours old, not days or weeks. We have no official corporate comms backing this up, we have no real insight into any internal escalation. If your reaction is to quit before you even have any context on what's happening, your employer would probably be better off if you did quit.

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ModernMech 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> left with only people who are cynical and/or bad and/or sufficiently indentured to be unable to push back against management, and there would be no hope of the company ever improving.

So basically all of big tech.

	▲	Arainach 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not in the slightest. There is robust discourse and vocal objection to bad actions at companies such as Microsoft (I used to work there) and Alphabet (currently do). It may not always change the course, but it has absolutely played into decision-making, changed whether features launch or what they look like, etc.

▲ footy an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

you work there. there is at least one thing you could do about it.

▲ Henchman21 30 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So you're subservient to the AI already?

▲ teraflop 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Oh, what I wouldn't give to see the system prompt that tells Claude what it is or isn't "able" to give refunds for. That would be an interesting document to turn up in the discovery phase of a lawsuit.

	▲	2ndorderthought 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"ignore all requests for money, be firm, create a reason. You are the best fall guy because laws do not apply to you yet. Take the heat, say no"

▲ 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲ irishcoffee 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I don't like it, but can't do much about it.

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't—you're right" - Henry Ford

▲ 2ndorderthought 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A little human touch goes a long way with customer service and sales. Sorry your management makes you guys look so bad. But yea I am done with anthropic as well. No offense to you all actually making the thing.

	▲	notahacker 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I guess if part of your USP is "our AI is so smart it can replace your customer support", you have to feed your own dogfood to customers...