37 Signals On Get Satisfaction

I have to agree with 37 Signals that Get Satisfaction is over the top with its assertion that those companies that have not claimed their accounts there are not committed to an open interaction with clients:

Get Satisfaction, Or Else… - (37signals)

We shouldn’t be forced to scour the internet finding sites that claim they are doing support for us when they’re not. It’s not fair to us and it’s not fair to customers to make something look like an official support site when it’s not. This should be entirely opt-in for a company and it’s not. In fact, it’s worse than that because if you don’t opt-in, they make negative claims about your company’s commitment to customers.

The implication here is that the only place to get support is on Get Satisfaction’s site. How is that a “commitment to open conversations”? Their brand of “open” means “only on Get Satisfaction.” It’s like saying we’re not committed to giving out ice cream just because we offer chocolate instead of vanilla. Trust me, we’re giving out plenty of ice cream every day.

Here’s what was displayed that annoyed the 37 Signals guys:

get sat, originally uploaded by Stowe Boyd.

Get Satisfaction scrambled with a conference call (which I missed), and has revised the working on the 37 Signals page, and I presume on other unclaimed pages:

Unofficial customer service & support for 37signals on Get Satisfaction, originally uploaded by Stowe Boyd.