Comments on: On offering support for free

By: Customer Support for Free | HomeStars Blog

Customer Support for Free | HomeStars Blog — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:07:56 +0000

[...] McDerment of Freshbooks has a great post on his blog about offering customer support for free. At FreshBooks, customer service and support are included [...]

By: What to Look For In 2009…or What Companies Will Survive the Coming “Economic Storm” | The BeenVerified.com Blog

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:01:43 +0000

[...] 5 million, what we call the Fortune 25 million, and Freshbooks has now upped the ante to the Fortune 50 million. Basically, that small to medium enterprises will become the new force in the global economy. [...]

By: FreshBooks API Blog - Dan is on the scene

FreshBooks API Blog - Dan is on the scene — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:53:59 +0000

[...] I’m new developer on the API team! I’ve been lurking in the shadows, answering your support questions, getting up to speed on the back-end here at [...]

By: SLA's

SLA's — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:36:46 +0000

Interesting. It’s this attitude that keeps FreshBooks small and in their niche – “just another web-based service” comes to mind.

Charging for support allows you to scale – obviously you’re happy being a small timer with a few thousand customers, but remember most people expect to get what they pay for and “free” support could very well be driving away a lot of potential customers.

Think about that one for a bit.

By: It's Really All About Service | CloudAve

It's Really All About Service | CloudAve — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:21:38 +0000

[...] I had with another SaaS vendor – this time payroll provider iPayroll. I was also stoked to see this post from CEO of Freshbooks Mike McDerment – Freshbooks is a very cool company and Mike is a heck of a [...]

By: Brian Sharwood

Brian Sharwood — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:17:38 +0000

We also offer free tech support to our customers working through their issues. And it really pays off. We gain all sorts of insight.

And, being a Freshbooks customer, your support is simply outstanding.

By: Free Support as R&D Investment | Venture Chronicles

Free Support as R&D Investment | Venture Chronicles — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:00:56 +0000

[...] and gives you ideas about what to do next. In all seriousness, I would pay for this service.[From On offering support for free] addthis_url = [...]

By: Arron Lorenz

Arron Lorenz — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:24:10 +0000

I think it is that simple. If you provide a product then you should support the product. I can tell you this much if I’m having trouble with a service, and I don’t get a satisfying result quickly I drop them without issue. I forget about them just as quickly as they shrugged me off. So far this week I have had 2 great customer service experiences, and 1 bad one.

I am no longer using the bad one. I have upgraded my subscription on one that provided great service.
At RadioShack we used to have a motto on all of our training literature. “Customers First.” Ever try to call the 800 number for support?

Thanks again Freshbooks for looking out for your customers.

By: Jonas Brandon

Jonas Brandon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:11:39 +0000

While I think this issue is not *quite* as simple as you make it seem above… it was certainly a thought provoking post!

By: Rayanne Langdon

Rayanne Langdon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:34:10 +0000

Good stuff, Mike. I’m glad you posted this.

I stumbled upon a new service last night that provides “Full Support” with only the most costly package (more than $100 a month!). I tweeted that it makes me sad. It really does.