Google has been in the news again.

Although, they usually are.

This is an interesting situation to look at, though.

Geeks are getting upset with the service that they are getting with their Android phones, especially the Nexus One. There is no one place to talk to, people are getting the run around, and the separate versions of Android are all getting under people’s skin.

Google posted for jobs in their Mountain View office to do “Nexus One Phone Support”.

We all rejoiced.

Then we realized that the phone support was NOT tech support, but shipping/sales support. All tech support would still be handled online or via email.

How can a company like Google get away with this?

How can a company have such little CS infastructure?

Simple: This is their first paid consumer product.

Sure, they have paid Apps for Domains, and paid storage. The Nexus One is their first super public facing good.

Can Google fail at customer service, and still be the behemoth that it currently is?

I think they cannot. In the past, their biggest customer service woes were GMail outages. Now they are dealing with phones, in people’s pockets, that they really rely on. I think that this could cause a big shift within Google, who may need to build out a support department. This could lead to better CS for all Google products.

The Nexus One is the straw that will break the camels back. It has, for the first time, put the woes that us Google power users have been dealing with-slightly below average support, and only via email. (Is there even a phone in Mountain Valley?)

Now, the real value of this battle is not inside Google. A war is brewing between Google and Apple, and the customer service issues are a major difference. Apple is known for their service, while Google is not known at all. Will this cause people to pick the iPhone over an Android phone? It might, and unless Google fixes the customer issues, they may see their image tarnished.

I can see why Google is not doing it. Google is an ad an search company. They are not a web tool company. They are releasing their internal tools to everyone, but that is because there is no additional cost to them. They are not really viewed as “products”, more like tools. There is no need, and no expectation, of support for them.

However, Google, you are a consumer device company now. Deal with it, and improve your service.

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