FastCustomer
Consumer and social
customer service phone hold
SHOW HN2011
216points
83comments
#28of 1,097 in 2011
Top 3%of 2011 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
18 positive, 21 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 10 critical, out of 52 comments about the project. Thread score +0.23.
Idea: 9 for, 7 againstExecution: 2 for, 0 againstDesign: 1 for, 1 againstPricing: 1 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good execution and clean product
From 2 comments
my thoughts exactly. pre-mature optimization is the root of all evil. When I first heard of this idea I ran through a list of ways to abuse it and make you guys go bankrupt :),…
zippykid on HNNice product, will be bookmarking and using in the future. I sent you a bug report to your woodmill email, hopefully you got it. I agree that you need to verify requests in some…
supabill on HN
Objections
Companies could block or counter the service
From 1 comment
Interesting, but this doesn't address the fundamental problem. The main reason that companies make you wait on the line is to differentiate the customers who care a lot about…
zeteo on HN
Abuse via prank calls or fake numbers
From 2 comments
curious how you intend to handle abuse? Maybe have an sms sent to the recipient first and they must confirm? I was just able to enter the example number ("555-555-5555") and it…
citricsquid on HNI personally would be quite worried about it being used for prank calls. At the click of a couple buttons anyone can create a very awkward conversation between AT&T and a random…
qixxiq on HN
Existing services like Fonolo and callback systems already do this
From 4 comments
Fonolo has been offering this type of service for a while (http://fonolo.com).
markjheadd on HNThere are many SaaS companies which provide Call Center systems with the call back feature. It works just as you described. You call in and it asks for you phone number and calls…
vyrotek on HNDelta Skymiles customer support has been doing this for awhile now.
k33n on HNAmazon does it and has for a couple years.
sudoscience on HN
Requests
Support for more countries such as UK and Australia
From 3 comments
I'm interested to know what you plan on doing for revenue. I'm sure the cost of the calls will quickly outweigh the $.70 you're getting out of the app store. Other than that its…
qixxiq on HNMy ISP and phone provider iiNet (Based in Australia) do this. You call and chose the broad department you want to talk to (tech, sales, or billing), and you're told how long your…
mwill on HNThis is a great idea. Make sure you have the British Tax Offices on this list ;) Racked up a huge bill this month.
snack on HN
Fix search and keyword issues in the iPhone app
From 1 comment
Just bought your app for my IPhone. One comment: the app is not searchable on Fast Customer, only on FastCustomer (no space). If you just added Fast Customer to your description,…
capstone on HN
Detect when a call comes off hold
From 1 comment
Would be totally rad if it could detect when any call is off hold. I bet there's some magic DSP heuristic that could do it, maybe with some false positives e.g. "your call is…
extension on HN
Questions
How the system detects a live human operator
From 2 comments
Out of curiosity, how does your app know when a real human gets on the line...? Do you have a database of the automatic messages ("Please stay on the line while we sip Cognac and…
mcantor on HNHow do you tell the difference between hold music, and a representative?
clistctrl on HN
How the company plans to make revenue
From 1 comment
I'm interested to know what you plan on doing for revenue. I'm sure the cost of the calls will quickly outweigh the $.70 you're getting out of the app store. Other than that its…
qixxiq on HN
Alternatives named
Fonolo
From 1 comment
Fonolo has been offering this type of service for a while (http://fonolo.com).
markjheadd on HN
LucyPhone
From 1 comment
Fonolo is pretty cool. There's another similar service called LucyPhone. I'd say the main difference between those great services and ours is that with them you still have to be…
ekanes on HN
GetHuman
From 1 comment
We originally looked at GetHuman, who really pioneered this space a long time ago. Their database is copyright so we would have needed permission, but one downside to…
ekanes on HN
inContact and LiveOps callback systems
From 1 comment
There are many SaaS companies which provide Call Center systems with the call back feature. It works just as you described. You call in and it asks for you phone number and calls…
vyrotek on HN