| ▲ | OptionX 5 hours ago |
| Google is the worst offender, but a lot of companies are increasingly hiding themselves behind a wall of automated systems to completely neuter users ability to challenge any decision unilaterally taken by the them. The LLM-age has worsen the situation but it started well before it. At some point it may be necessary to add the requirement for large companies to have a both human contact point and perhaps a requirement for specifics on account terminations and the like, or at least a way to request them, to the letter of the law. |
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| ▲ | usernametaken29 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| It’s a strategy. Ask RyanAir. They systematically shut down any way to communicate with them, except lawsuits.
Tried their chatbot, hotline, email, letter, fax, small claims court (I’m not joking they don’t even care about that). Unless you turn up with a court order and confiscate a plane, they simply won’t give a fuck, and I’m sure it’s a tactic to deter 99% of their problems before they start |
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| ▲ | ryandrake 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | These companies have correctly figured out that customers will still give them money, even if they provide no customer support, are actively hostile to their customers, and only respond to lawsuits. Such a weird timeline we are on! People willingly do business with companies who are actively against them. | | |
| ▲ | dam_jackalopes an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | Sometimes you don't get a choice, which is even more frustrating. We got an admittedly very good deal to switch cell carriers. Part of that deal was receiving a debit card with my phone's trade in value loaded. That card turned out to be digital. I put it on my phone without thinking too much of it. However, given my lack of experience with Apple Pay, I didn't realize that I now didn't have access to my own card number. When I try to use the debit card, I am asked for a PIN that I've never been given an option to set up. When I call the card provider, the automated system demands a card number. Which I don't have. Granted, it was my ignorance as a user that is responsible for some of this but it's pretty clear that the lack of access and support is intentional. | |
| ▲ | matkoniecz an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Ryanair admittedly wins on price and regulatory setup in EU provides guarantees that planes are safe. Yes, Ryanair stole 100 euro from me once, but if next flight is 50 to 250 euro cheaper than competition... I did some big projects motivated entirely by spite (project was overall helpful, but I would not do this if someone would be less nasty). But I still would use Ryanair. |
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| ▲ | sensanaty 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | British Airways is the same. After they wrongfully didn't let me board my flight I had to escalate to the Dutch aviation authority (ILT, they sided in my favor within 3 days of me sending my letter in, that's how blatantly in the right I was) in order to get them to stop ignoring my emails, and even with the letter from ILT I still had to escalate to CEDR and they still took forever to compensate me what I was owed after legally being bound to do so. Along the way they tried every scummy tactic that exists, including sending me an email to close my CEDR case and they pinky promise they'll compensate me if I do that (which should be HIGHLY illegal but apparently isn't). They even went over the legally enforced time limits! They had 2 months after CEDR made their ruling in my favor to pay me back, and I STILL had to hound them after 2 and a half months to get my fucking money! If I wasn't as idiotically stubborn as I am, I would've given up a month into the 8 month ordeal it eventually turned into. I guarantee you the vast majority of people wouldn't bother escalating to their CAA, or contact the relevant courts or authorities, which is what these scummy tactics are designed for. They would've been ignored like I did, then they would've given up because what's even the point? The fact that we're allowing companies to get away with bullshit like this is ludicrous to me | | |
| ▲ | cube00 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | >The fact that we're allowing companies to get away with bullshit like this is ludicrous to me. If they decide to not reply it becomes much more resource consuming to go down the legal road. I had this with DoorDash, even if you call they just say some specialised team needs to look at it and they'll email you back, surprise, they never do. | | |
| ▲ | anjel an hour ago | parent [-] | | This isn't laissez faire.
Along with useless binding arbitration they precisely lobbied for a marketplace devoid of consumer protections or redress channels.
We now live in an age of strict Non-liability. |
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| ▲ | Retr0id 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > small claims court (I’m not joking they don’t even care about that) If they don't show up, doesn't that mean you win by default? (And then you can indeed send a bailiff to seize a plane...) | | |
| ▲ | sscaryterry 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Depending on the jurisdiction, getting a judgement alone doesn't allow you to have a bailiff enforce it. | |
| ▲ | StilesCrisis 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yes, you can win in small claims if the other party doesn't show. I suspect a plane might exceed the "small claims" limit though! | | |
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| ▲ | sscaryterry 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The fact that this has become acceptable is the real problem. | | | |
| ▲ | ShinyLeftPad 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Same with Amazon Japan. It blocked my account with no way to contact them, never used again. |
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| ▲ | nellophonic 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Funny you should say that. I'm not a big Instagram user, but have had an account for years. The company I work for has just started an Instagram campaign, and asked anyone who wanted to, to check out their campaign and give it a like. I did so, and a minute later received this email: "Your Instagram account has been suspended. This is because your account, or activity on it, doesn't follow our Community Standards on account integrity. If you think that we made a mistake, you have until 8 March 2027 to appeal." I've now uploaded my drivers licence, a photo of my passport and still apparently that's not good enough for them. My latest rejection says I have only one more chance. No idea what the transgression was, but apparently there is no recourse. I guess it's a good thing I don't really give a crap about Instagram in the first place, isn't it. |
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| ▲ | deltoidmaximus 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > I guess it's a good thing I don't really give a crap about Instagram in the first place, isn't it. If you were willing to upload your driver's license and passport for a mere chance at getting back an account you don't give a crap about I'd hate to see what you'd do for one you do care about! Facebook demanded my driver's license at one point out of the blue. I simply abandoned the account, I was already pretty over them at that point anyway. About a year later it let me log in just fine and had forgotten all about how badly it had needed a scan of my license for security. In fact I didn't even remember the password, it just auto logged in from an email link. You kind of confirm what I suspected though, that they'll just keep asking for more stuff leaving you more exposed and they're under no obligation to actually give you the account back no matter what you do. I don't use discord but IIRC I read that if your account was banned they were asking for a mobile number to get it back. Instead of getting it back if you complied they just added the mobile number to their ban list so you couldn't make a new account with it. | |
| ▲ | x______________ 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > I've now uploaded my drivers licence, a photo of my passport and still apparently that's not good enough for them. That's not a good practice to begin with. Your insta account doesn't matter but your privacy and government-issued documents do matter. | |
| ▲ | WarmWash 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Meta knows you work for them, and sees it as boosting or gaming the algo. There are a gazillion accounts that do this constantly, and all of them appeal. | |
| ▲ | kevin_thibedeau 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > uploaded my drivers licence, a photo of my passport Sounds like its working as designed. This is why you never cross streams between work and personal life. | |
| ▲ | qingcharles an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The sad thing is if you go through that final step you'll probably receive a permanent ban. But if you go on Swapd right now and pay a Meta employee $500 while it's still in appealable state you'll get your account unlocked in an hour. Make it make sense. | |
| ▲ | 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | [deleted] |
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| ▲ | tryauuum 18 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The part where they block the customer support and then you can't do anything is so real autistic retards at microsoft blocked my account on github and if I go to the customer support portal the only option I get there is to... reinstate my account. And I can't use it also, literally the POST is failing There is no way to delete my github account in this situation. I've lost track of how long have they been holding my email and phone address hostage. For 6 months already? Damn microsoft people, just delete my account, or I'll advocate for building concentration camps for microsoft employees |
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| ▲ | Cthulhu_ 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > At some point it may be necessary to add the requirement for large companies to have a both human contact point and perhaps a requirement for specifics on account terminations and the like, or at least a way to request them, to the letter of the law. This is already implemented, under the EU's Digital Services Act, you can appeal and get specifics about account terminations - see https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/dsa-out-co... |
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