you noticed !
thanks thought i was being too subtle !
fiach i reckon jwbam can fight his own battles but if whiteknighting gets you off than so be it..
So you just automatically assume that Telltale is allowed to delve into the details?
What if they are contractualy bound or if its somethin… moreg somewhat personal that has happend in the TT offices that it is mroe polite not to
Oh but no im sure youd love to know that the problem of the release date was that telltale wasnt legally allowed to say or that one of the developers died just to know why you had to wait so long
Insolent ungrateful bastards
So what? So that makes it ok? Because they've always had poor communication, that absolves them of scrutiny and criticism? That makes it even … moreworse. After all this time, and they still have bad communication. A better argument would be if they were not doing this for a long time, and were just starting out. But they aren't.
And it doesn't matter what someone will rage about later. That's not an excuse to remain silent.
If there is a delay, regardless of fault, you still apologize to your customers. It's just good customer service and it costs NOTHING.
Or don't apologize... but, if you do that, don't be surprised when your customers who expect a certain degree of professionalism stop viewing your business favorably. That's just part of a world where "the customer is king."
They are a BUSINESS. They are not your friends. They are not your family.
They are providing a product, or service for money.
Do they owe … moreus an apology? No. But is an apology a sign of a good and caring company worth investing further money into? Absolutely.
Ungrateful? This isn't a Christmas present. This is keeping us updated on the product that we paid them in full for. They aren't giving us this episode out of the kindness of their hearts.
It takes only a second or two to show a modicum of humility, but it goes a long way in business.
Grow up. Stop treating companies corporations and businesses, like they are your buddies. That you need to be grateful for even the slightest scraps of consideration. Stop being a god damn doormat. Its gamers like you that hung up your balls and forgot that you are a consumer, that created the industry we have today. Filled to the brim with unfinished releases, day one DLC, and patches made by players… [view original content]
So you being personally offened by telltale's lack of an apology is less of a personal relationship than me putting trust into a company
So… more if invested in a stock for a company and defended my claim of that investment Im now personally involved with the company?
Yah definately.........
Responsibility has nothing to do with it.
If there is a delay, regardless of fault, you still apologize to your customers. It's just good c… moreustomer service and it costs NOTHING.
Or don't apologize... but, if you do that, don't be surprised when your customers who expect a certain degree of professionalism stop viewing your business favorably. That's just part of a world where "the customer is king."
Worst gaming experience of all time? Hyperbole much?
Delays happen and it's shit, but Telltale are hardly the first company to push a release back. My position has always been the same. If it's a one time problem, it's forgivable. My loyalty is more dependent on how quickly they get episode 3 out the door.
Well, Telltale, this is a start but you've got a hell of a lot of more work/ass-kissing to your customers to do before you regain mine and man… morey others support. It took you almost 4 months to simply tell us you're still working on the episode. I've waited long enough that I'll probably just wait until all the episodes are released to buy them anymore, that's how I played WD S1 and it was one of my best gaming experiences of all-time. This TWAU thing though, has to be one of my worst gaming experiences of all time (simply speaking on the wait, episode 1 was fantastic even though I barely remember most things that happened now)
February is good news, I suppose. But too little too late for some.
silence will fall..
no it's not ok but what else can they do with out getting the exact same reaction from people ?
posting up they are … moredelaying it past the 'estimated date' would piss people off and they get raged at.
posting up they are having some problems, they get raged at for not doing their jobs right,
posting up a very soon they get raged at for no date of release
why put a target on your back with out some sort of exit/defence strategy ? like they did here a more or less confirmed release period.
ttg have target on there backs
I know. I jumped into the game before checking any forums. I figured, this has to be it! Why wait for the page to load? It would cost precious seconds! But, no. No. Just more waiting.
Here is something for the people who think that those of us who want an apology are out of line (e.g. "ungrateful bastards"). This is a blog post about the right way to apologize to customers when things go wrong. There are a few of these areas where the OP falls woefully short.
TTG did not "fess up early" -- I think a big point of contention is how long it took for TTG to give fans any definite news, or even just an acknowledgement that there was a problem. I realize TTG might have had reasons they couldn't be very forthright, but this is just one reason why the long delay (with very little communication) really raises people's rancor.
TTG did not apologize -- While the delay might not have been their fault, one thing TTG DID do wrong was not communicating with their customers. Instead of owning up to that mistake and saying they were sorry for it, they just acted as if they are totally absolved of responsibility in this matter, and there was no apology.
TTG has not clearly explained why it happened -- I understand there might be legal reasons for this, but the lack of explanation does not inspire confidence when TTG says they don't foresee this happening again. How do we know we can trust that when we don't even know what caused the delay/poor communication in the first place?
Customers cannot trust TTG to fix it, or their promises that it won't happen again, because without an apology for the lack of communication, or an explanation for the delay/lack of communication, we have no way or knowing what (if anything) has changed between what caused the problems before and the present time.
When things went pear-shaped over at MozLand, they did so in a big way. The result was lots of unhappy customers, but their response is a case study in how to apologize for problems that seriously affect your customers.
You can read the full text of their apology over on the SEOMoz site but here are the elements of what they did right.
1. Fess up early
I’m not a customer of their services, just a reader of their blog but from the description in the first part of their apology, it’s pretty clear that they had a major melt-down. Rather than offer weak excuses or saying “it wasn’t so bad”, they owned up to the issue. They did this in the first sentence of their response.
2. Tell everyone who was affected
SEOMoz posted the apology on their main blog feed which has 100,000+ RSS subscribers and 120,000+ Twitter followers. They didn’t hide the problem. They didn’t try to find just the people that had been affected and email them a private message. They told the world that there had been problems.
3. Apologize
It sounds simple. However, many companies hide behind 51 kinds of “the dog ate my homework”. In SEOMoz’s case, they didn’t try to dodge the issue. They just said sorry simply and clearly in the second sentence.
"We want to first apologize for any inconveniences or problems that these issues caused you."
They followed that up with another apology at the end of their statement.
You will find that if you apologize for what is your fault, clearly and sincerely, you will eliminate 90% of the customer anger. Everyone makes mistakes and customers accept that sometimes, things do happen. If you are sincere in the apology, you will find that they are much more likely to forgive you than if you find reasons why it wasn’t really your fault, even if it wasn’t.
The worst mistake companies make in this area is to find fault with the customer at this point: “you didn’t log in properly”, may be a reason but not an excuse. It’s your job to make sure that customers do log in properly.
But remember, if you make a similar mistake two, three or four times, customers will consider that you are not serious about your apology and this will turn against you.
4. Clearly state what happened and why
Get to the root of what caused the customer problem, clearly explain what happened and why it happened. In the case of SEOMoz, they have broken the issue down into multiple lines of sub-issues. This “Issue” list clearly identifies what when wrong and why.
If you have not already corrected the immediate issue, let customers know when it will be resolved. Resist the urge to give a better ETA on the fix that you can reliably deliver.
Telling a customer the fix will be completed on Wednesday and delivering it in Thursday just makes things worse. However, telling them the fix will be sorted by Friday and delivering on Thursday will get you points. Same delivery time, very different outcomes.
Many years ago someone told me:
"Customers like good news, they dislike bad news but they really hate surprises."
It’s a good motto to live by.
5. Fix it
Seems like this should go without saying, but get on your bike and fix the problem as fast as possible.
6. Tell customers why it will not happen again
Most companies breath a sigh of relief when the “Fix it” element is done but it is not enough; you need to go on and tell customers why they will not experience this problem again. Closing the loop like this demonstrates to them that you are serious about resolving the problem and preventing it from occurring again.
In the customer feedback research that we have performed into identifying what drives customer loyalty in IT companies, we have found that this closing the loop process is often more important than solving the problem the first place. Your customers have been inconvenienced and they want to be reassured that it will not happen again.
because your clearly not listening/reading stuff.
you're just saying the same stuff over and over.
and the fact you admit they don't owe us an apology is amazing..
Yes, companies with good customer service DO apologize for someone else's mistakes, as long as the mistake has inconvenienced their customers. It's called professionalism.
I'm not looking for a refund. I'm not looking for them to beg forgiveness.
Is it really too much to ask that they acknowledge the inconvenience and apologize that it upset many us?
Even if it's not their fault, it's just an empathetic thing they can do that COSTS THEM NOTHING (and gains them much)!
Edit to add: And a simple apology doesn't require them to "publicly out their partners"...
so your saying ttg should be apologising for someone elses mistake ?
it should be the ones responsible apologising right ?
yes lets publ… moreically out our partners or the party at fault because people demand it.. yeah that'll do em good.. but the customers will be happy !!
seriously..
I'm sorry that I'm not grateful that a company took my money and then refused to comment when asked what was going on with their product for months on end.
I'm sorry that I'm not grateful that a company took my money and then refused to comment when asked what was going on with their product for months on end.
:"well they owe us an apology because they do" logic
However as you stated we dont know if its for legal reasons or not
I can understand people wanting them to "dive into the details" but if it was something they Could do they probably would have
Personally I trust telltale but I can reasonably imagine the amount of doubt that you all have in them at this point
An apology did not seem necessary here in my humble (shitty to most) opinion as it wasn't really telltale's Fault (as far as we know) taht this delay happend
Telltale did assure in the post that this will not be happening again
Honestly if Telltale "fessed up early" there would be much more rage than acceptance
As far as we know the "problem" has been fixed
Look I can actually make a semi constructive post when I try!
Here is something for the people who think that those of us who want an apology are out of line (e.g. "ungrateful bastards"). This is a blog p… moreost about the right way to apologize to customers when things go wrong. There are a few of these areas where the OP falls woefully short.
* TTG did not "fess up early" -- I think a big point of contention is how long it took for TTG to give fans any definite news, or even just an acknowledgement that there was a problem. I realize TTG might have had reasons they couldn't be very forthright, but this is just one reason why the long delay (with very little communication) really raises people's rancor.
* TTG did not apologize -- While the delay might not have been their fault, one thing TTG DID do wrong was not communicating with their customers. Instead of owning up to that mistake and saying they were sorry for it, they just acted as if they are totally absolved of responsibility in this matter, and … [view original content]
This is alot more reasonable then your previous
:"well they owe us an apology because they do" logic
However as you stated we dont know … moreif its for legal reasons or not
I can understand people wanting them to "dive into the details" but if it was something they Could do they probably would have
Personally I trust telltale but I can reasonably imagine the amount of doubt that you all have in them at this point
An apology did not seem necessary here in my humble (shitty to most) opinion as it wasn't really telltale's Fault (as far as we know) taht this delay happend
Telltale did assure in the post that this will not be happening again
Honestly if Telltale "fessed up early" there would be much more rage than acceptance
As far as we know the "problem" has been fixed
Look I can actually make a semi constructive post when I try!
Comments
That's absolutely nothing to be proud of.
are you saying one of the developers died? Why the name calling?
Attacking Telltale for things that were out of their hands Doesn;t make your arguments any more valid
silence will fall..
no it's not ok but what else can they do with out getting the exact same reaction from people ?
posting up they are delaying it past the 'estimated date' would piss people off and they get raged at.
posting up they are having some problems, they get raged at for not doing their jobs right,
posting up a very soon they get raged at for no date of release
why put a target on your back with out some sort of exit/defence strategy ? like they did here a more or less confirmed release period.
ttg have target on there backs
sarcasm SHEESH
seriously...
I am not Brazilian but I know some Portuguese.
Responsibility has nothing to do with it.
If there is a delay, regardless of fault, you still apologize to your customers. It's just good customer service and it costs NOTHING.
Or don't apologize... but, if you do that, don't be surprised when your customers who expect a certain degree of professionalism stop viewing your business favorably. That's just part of a world where "the customer is king."
exactly, so why get so bent out of shape ?
So you being personally offened by telltale's lack of an apology is less of a personal relationship than me putting trust into a company
So if invested in a stock for a company and defended my claim of that investment Im now personally involved with the company?
Yah definately.........
no got and tftb are only in the early stages the main teams are working on twd and twau.
The delay might not have been in their hands, but the terrible communication and shoddy customer service was.
you can certainly have your opinion, but when you start name calling, then you're not doing yourself any favors. Not a big deal.
damn TWAU updated on steam today and i got excited, i guess its good to know an approximate time, but damn that is/has been a long wait
[removed]
Okay, cool
nevermind..
Worst gaming experience of all time? Hyperbole much?
Delays happen and it's shit, but Telltale are hardly the first company to push a release back. My position has always been the same. If it's a one time problem, it's forgivable. My loyalty is more dependent on how quickly they get episode 3 out the door.
Thank you!
I doubt telltale is weeping in a corner because of negative comments that people post on their forums. It's just customers venting.
so your saying ttg should be apologising for someone elses mistake ?
it should be the ones responsible apologising right ?
yes lets publically out our partners or the party at fault because people demand it.. yeah that'll do em good.. but the customers will be happy !!
seriously..
paying customers for an episodic game ?
that is made one episode at a time with only a small team doing work on the rest.
it is not made in full then released when they feel like it..
and that's the god's honest truth people, don't like it tough
because your clearly not listening/reading stuff.
you're just saying the same stuff over and over.
and the fact you admit they don't owe us an apology is amazing..
I know. I jumped into the game before checking any forums. I figured, this has to be it! Why wait for the page to load? It would cost precious seconds! But, no. No. Just more waiting.
Thanks telltale finally! I think I will jump into my fridge and wait till February. Cant Wait!!! February here I come...
Here is something for the people who think that those of us who want an apology are out of line (e.g. "ungrateful bastards"). This is a blog post about the right way to apologize to customers when things go wrong. There are a few of these areas where the OP falls woefully short.
TTG did not "fess up early" -- I think a big point of contention is how long it took for TTG to give fans any definite news, or even just an acknowledgement that there was a problem. I realize TTG might have had reasons they couldn't be very forthright, but this is just one reason why the long delay (with very little communication) really raises people's rancor.
TTG did not apologize -- While the delay might not have been their fault, one thing TTG DID do wrong was not communicating with their customers. Instead of owning up to that mistake and saying they were sorry for it, they just acted as if they are totally absolved of responsibility in this matter, and there was no apology.
TTG has not clearly explained why it happened -- I understand there might be legal reasons for this, but the lack of explanation does not inspire confidence when TTG says they don't foresee this happening again. How do we know we can trust that when we don't even know what caused the delay/poor communication in the first place?
Customers cannot trust TTG to fix it, or their promises that it won't happen again, because without an apology for the lack of communication, or an explanation for the delay/lack of communication, we have no way or knowing what (if anything) has changed between what caused the problems before and the present time.
Case study: How to apologize to your customers when things go badly wrong
When things went pear-shaped over at MozLand, they did so in a big way. The result was lots of unhappy customers, but their response is a case study in how to apologize for problems that seriously affect your customers.
You can read the full text of their apology over on the SEOMoz site but here are the elements of what they did right.
1. Fess up early
I’m not a customer of their services, just a reader of their blog but from the description in the first part of their apology, it’s pretty clear that they had a major melt-down. Rather than offer weak excuses or saying “it wasn’t so bad”, they owned up to the issue. They did this in the first sentence of their response.
2. Tell everyone who was affected
SEOMoz posted the apology on their main blog feed which has 100,000+ RSS subscribers and 120,000+ Twitter followers. They didn’t hide the problem. They didn’t try to find just the people that had been affected and email them a private message. They told the world that there had been problems.
3. Apologize
It sounds simple. However, many companies hide behind 51 kinds of “the dog ate my homework”. In SEOMoz’s case, they didn’t try to dodge the issue. They just said sorry simply and clearly in the second sentence.
"We want to first apologize for any inconveniences or problems that these issues caused you."
They followed that up with another apology at the end of their statement.
You will find that if you apologize for what is your fault, clearly and sincerely, you will eliminate 90% of the customer anger. Everyone makes mistakes and customers accept that sometimes, things do happen. If you are sincere in the apology, you will find that they are much more likely to forgive you than if you find reasons why it wasn’t really your fault, even if it wasn’t.
The worst mistake companies make in this area is to find fault with the customer at this point: “you didn’t log in properly”, may be a reason but not an excuse. It’s your job to make sure that customers do log in properly.
But remember, if you make a similar mistake two, three or four times, customers will consider that you are not serious about your apology and this will turn against you.
4. Clearly state what happened and why
Get to the root of what caused the customer problem, clearly explain what happened and why it happened. In the case of SEOMoz, they have broken the issue down into multiple lines of sub-issues. This “Issue” list clearly identifies what when wrong and why.
If you have not already corrected the immediate issue, let customers know when it will be resolved. Resist the urge to give a better ETA on the fix that you can reliably deliver.
Telling a customer the fix will be completed on Wednesday and delivering it in Thursday just makes things worse. However, telling them the fix will be sorted by Friday and delivering on Thursday will get you points. Same delivery time, very different outcomes.
Many years ago someone told me:
"Customers like good news, they dislike bad news but they really hate surprises."
It’s a good motto to live by.
5. Fix it
Seems like this should go without saying, but get on your bike and fix the problem as fast as possible.
6. Tell customers why it will not happen again
Most companies breath a sigh of relief when the “Fix it” element is done but it is not enough; you need to go on and tell customers why they will not experience this problem again. Closing the loop like this demonstrates to them that you are serious about resolving the problem and preventing it from occurring again.
In the customer feedback research that we have performed into identifying what drives customer loyalty in IT companies, we have found that this closing the loop process is often more important than solving the problem the first place. Your customers have been inconvenienced and they want to be reassured that it will not happen again.
[removed]
So? Is it your job to correct everyone who leaves a negative comment that you're right and they're wrong?
THATS WHAT I JUST SAID
gah nevermind
[removed]
Yes, companies with good customer service DO apologize for someone else's mistakes, as long as the mistake has inconvenienced their customers. It's called professionalism.
I'm not looking for a refund. I'm not looking for them to beg forgiveness.
Is it really too much to ask that they acknowledge the inconvenience and apologize that it upset many us?
Even if it's not their fault, it's just an empathetic thing they can do that COSTS THEM NOTHING (and gains them much)!
Edit to add: And a simple apology doesn't require them to "publicly out their partners"...
I'm sorry that I'm not grateful that a company took my money and then refused to comment when asked what was going on with their product for months on end.
my bad
Nope, it's called "customer service" and operating a business in the real world.
I'm glad to hear about the release for Ep 2! That's great news.
I wonder when we'll be getting any news about TWAU's Vita release?
because they don't know ?
and when they do they post it.
simple.
At this rate we'll have episode 5 new years 2015.
This is alot more reasonable then your previous
:"well they owe us an apology because they do" logic
However as you stated we dont know if its for legal reasons or not
I can understand people wanting them to "dive into the details" but if it was something they Could do they probably would have
Personally I trust telltale but I can reasonably imagine the amount of doubt that you all have in them at this point
An apology did not seem necessary here in my humble (shitty to most) opinion as it wasn't really telltale's Fault (as far as we know) taht this delay happend
Telltale did assure in the post that this will not be happening again
Honestly if Telltale "fessed up early" there would be much more rage than acceptance
As far as we know the "problem" has been fixed
Look I can actually make a semi constructive post when I try!
If you're going to quote me, quote what I actually say, not a distortion of it.
Let's see where I ever once said "they owe us an apology because they do"....
So the killer in wolf among us lives on!!!!