Substack's customer service was so bad that I wrote a blog called '3 Reasons Why Substack Sucks'.It's Tim Denning's fault. I love the guy; his emails are the only ones I always read, his work ethic is inspirational, and he shares tip top advice… except with his recommendation of joining Substack. This company may help Tim grow his readership and put a few more Ozzie dollars in his pocket, but they lack the most important part of a business: Good customer service.Notice how I used a simple adjective to describe what they're lacking. Not 'exceptional', 'incredible', or 'mind-boggingly magnificient'. Businesses that offer that type of customer service are rare oddities. So rare that they deserve a blog all of their own, which I will write and add a link to it here once it's complete. No, Substack is quite the opposite, and are definitely in my top 5 businesses with the worst customer service (this will be a link too).I don't ask for much, just simple good manners and being there for your customers when they need help. Do Substack offer that? Not even close. Quite the opposite. They take abysmal customer service to a whole new level.But it's not just one reason this shambles of a company suck. There are three. And I call them a shambles despite their success. Me harping on about their ineptitude will hardly bring them to their knees. If anything, people reading this might not know about Substack and join them! Alas, as we all know, the most powerful companies in the world are the most unethical, unscrupulous, vile behemoths, with so much control it can be depressing. However, all we can do is spread the word, as many have done recently concerning companies supporting Israel, and it has made a small dent in their income and customer loyalty.So, here are the 3 reasons why Substack sucks:Banned without telling me whyI joined Substack earlier this year and added my blog posts that I started in December 2023. I added many and scheduled them for weeks into the future. I also added my email subscribers list.Not long after I received an email from Substack saying that my account had been deactivated. All of the blogs I scheduled were gone. They didn't explain why. I appealed this decision. This is the reply I got:Hi there,Tex here from Substack Trust & Safety. Thanks for submitting this appeal.Upon additional review we've determined that your publication is in violation of Substack's Content Guidelines and will not be reactivated.Best,Tex @ SubstackRight. Thanks 'Tex'. I replied asking 'How is my publication in violation of Substack's Content Guidelines?'This brings me to my second reason to why Substack sucks…2. No responseTheir customer service is so knuckle-bitingly bad that not only do they deactivate your account without telling you why. They also don't respond to your emails asking them to explain why they deactivated it. This is lazy, unethical, and ruddy rude!However, they did send an email asking me how I rated the support I received. Two options: 'Good, I'm satisfied.' and 'Bad, I'm dissatisfied.'Here's the chance I've been waiting for. An opportunity to tell them what I really think about their so called 'support'. I clicked my knuckles and wrote the most stinking report about their shocking service. Which brings me to the third reason…Rant into the abyss.You know the question 'if a tree falls and nobody's there, does it make a sound?'. Well, a similar question could be made about Substack's support. I tapped the hell outta my keyboard, ranting and raving about their non-existent support, that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable from any company. I spent a good 20 minutes giving it my all and working myself up again about their disgraceful non-support.SEND!Ahh, that's told them. It felt satisfying; a weight off my shoulders.I imagined it would be sent straight to the CEO and they'll be left with no choice but to buck up their ideas and start treating their customers with more respect. Customers, in fact, that are the lifeblood of the business. Without us writers there would be nothing on Substack.So, I wait for their response.In fact, I've been waiting for it since 10th February.So thanks Tim. And thanks to myself, for wasting my time and expending my energy writing to an irritatingly successful business with atrocious customer service. Maybe the clue is in their name. They announced it to the word that they're a SUB business. A SUBstantial waste of time. A SUBstandard excuse for a platform. What a STACK of s**t. Avoid.
