I need help and can not post online the issue due to email confidentially.

I just need to send them an email and ask for possible help on an account i lost my password and which email could have been closed by now. (however telling me which one was used, imight be able to dig up old archives- i have a number of emails.. grrr) i never got the re-set email after checking all of them and now its took so long. still hoping to contact them.

I need help and can not post online the issue due to email confidentially.

I just need to send them an email and ask for possible help on an account i lost my password and which email could have been closed by now. (however telling me which one was used, imight be able to dig up old archives- i have a number of emails.. grrr) i never got the re-set email after checking all of them and now its took so long. still hoping to contact them.

I need help and can not post online the issue due to email confidentially.

I just need to send them an email and ask for possible help on an account i lost my password and which email could have been closed by now. (however telling me which one was used, imight be able to dig up old archives- i have a number of emails.. grrr) i never got the re-set email after checking all of them and now its took so long. still hoping to contact them.

With all due respect, though, I'm confused as to how a company that doesn't have time to respond to customer service requests has time to defend its reputation online.

It's easy to say “customer service doesn't scale as well as machine power.” Maybe. But that's also a reflection of YouTube's values. Other big companies have managed to make customer service a priority, even in the face of complex business operations. Southwest Air's use of Twitter is a good example.

Call me naive, but telling your customers to help each other seems like a cop out. Yeah, you're busy, we get it. Want less work? Slow down. Quit being The All Powerful YouTube. Worry less about boosting your Alexa ranking and more about satisfying your users.

My goal isn't just to bash YouTube for bashing's sake. And I'm not the first to air frustration with the company's customer care: http://tinyurl.com/59xnmr</p>
Again, I'm pleased YouTube employee has engaged in the conversation. But building relationships with your customers is about more than setting up GoogleAlerts for your name and leaping to the company's defense when you're criticized. It's about hearing complaints and improving your business. And so far, YouTube has a long way to go.

With all due respect, though, I'm confused as to how a company that doesn't have time to respond to customer service requests has time to defend its reputation online.

It's easy to say “customer service doesn't scale as well as machine power.” Maybe. But that's also a reflection of YouTube's values. Other big companies have managed to make customer service a priority, even in the face of complex business operations. Southwest Air's use of Twitter is a good example.

Call me naive, but telling your customers to help each other seems like a cop out. Yeah, you're busy, we get it. Want less work? Slow down. Quit being The All Powerful YouTube. Worry less about boosting your Alexa ranking and more about satisfying your users.

My goal isn't just to bash YouTube for bashing's sake. And I'm not the first to air frustration with the company's customer care: http://tinyurl.com/59xnmr</p>
Again, I'm pleased YouTube employee has engaged in the conversation. But building relationships with your customers is about more than setting up GoogleAlerts for your name and leaping to the company's defense when you're criticized. It's about hearing complaints and improving your business. And so far, YouTube has a long way to go.

Also, appreciate the insights about your role at YouTube. Does the company have anyone in PR/communications who follows the company’s reputation online, too?

As for my thoughts about slowing down to take care of customers…I hope I didn’t imply that taking care of customers would CAUSE a slowdown. What I meant is that YouTube should have done a better job of building a user support strategy into its growth plans. If it wasn’t prepared to handle customer concerns, maybe the company wasn’t ready for the big stage. Google is now a public company, which shareholders to answer to, and “we can’t help you” is probably NOT the message shareholders want the company to send to its users.

Sorry to be directing all of this criticism toward you, Phil. I realize you’re trying to help. I just hope the higher-ups are listening, too.

If you want help unblocking your account etc that’s clearly not my responsibility as a developer. YouTube isn’t a one man operation right? Customer support can’t fix bugs and developers can’t fix accounts. Don’t be angry if I try though ;)

@Scott: You can’t slow down growth by satisfying customers. Doesn’t high satisfaction lead to more business (generally)? You talk like YouTube and Google aren’t hiring but that doesn’t sound right either. I’m not going to speculate… these key business decisions are bigger than either of us.

With all due respect, though, I’m confused as to how a company that doesn’t have time to respond to customer service requests has time to defend its reputation online.

It’s easy to say “customer service doesn’t scale as well as machine power.” Maybe. But that’s also a reflection of YouTube’s values. Other big companies have managed to make customer service a priority, even in the face of complex business operations. Southwest Air’s use of Twitter is a good example.

Call me naive, but telling your customers to help each other seems like a cop out. Yeah, you’re busy, we get it. Want less work? Slow down. Quit being The All Powerful YouTube. Worry less about boosting your Alexa ranking and more about satisfying your users.

My goal isn’t just to bash YouTube for bashing’s sake. And I’m not the first to air frustration with the company’s customer care: http://tinyurl.com/59xnmr

Again, I’m pleased YouTube employee has engaged in the conversation. But building relationships with your customers is about more than setting up GoogleAlerts for your name and leaping to the company’s defense when you’re criticized. It’s about hearing complaints and improving your business. And so far, YouTube has a long way to go.