Shopify Phone Support has been removed!

[CandiceMBN]

I have just tried to contact Shopify support and they have removed phone support! Considering they just upped the monthly hosting fees substantially i find this appalling. I spent more than 3 hours on their long winded and frankly infuriating 'chat support' and I use the term 'support' very loosely trying to resolve an issue that would have been resolved in 5mins via a phone call? 

When I complained about this I was fed this ole' chestnut:

"I see you are looking to receive a callback. Through testing we have determined that our Support inbox and live chats are the most efficient channels for quickly and effectively providing support to merchants. While I will not be able to help you schedule a callback, I’m confident that in using these channels we can quickly get your issue resolved for you here. I entirely understand and empathize with you and others on these types of situations and I will share your feedback with my team as I understand the need to be properly supported across all channels, I appreciate the time you took to share your experience with us.

With that being said, I am confident we can assist you quickly and remedy any issues you are experience. Can you kindly provide us with context on what you would like to be looked at, whatever form that works for you (bullet points, paragraph etc):"

who has 3 hours to resolve an issue via a chat system with screenshots and bullet points that would otherwise be resolved in a matter of minutes via a call back? Is this frustrating and infuriating anyone else? Fair enough if they reduced the monthly fee and removed phone support I'd understand but how do they justify a price increase with reduced support. And this whole 'we've tested the support chat box and its been the most efficient'  has to be the most blatant avoidance of responsibility I have ever heard. 

And when I searched other posts on this same issue shopify have archived and resolved them so they aren't front and center on the discussion boards. 

Any other shopify users experiencing the same frustrations?

[jhsnyc1]

I so agree.  this is a true game changer . I had chat support , waste of time.

[livia-rose]

Chat support is clueless 

[heatherwetherel]

I 100% agree with you. My store is at a stand still as I have spent countless hours on chat with nothing resoved. I don't know how they can possibly think merchants will stay with their platform. Wix has phone support!!!

[thepinkduchess]

I am so pissed. I spent over 30 minutes trying to get someone to talk to me. The ridiculous back and fort chat begging for a live person, caused me to forget why I was trying to reach support. I signed up with Shopify because they offered phone support. Now it’s gown. How can they justify a rate increase and a service decrease?

I’ll be checking out WIX. I don’t want to move, but no phone support is a game changer for me.

[tpregon]

DITTO

[tpregon]

Def checking out other platforms that offer true customer support.

[davidlong]

Now imagine what YOUR customers have to go through.  You can't even get into the Shopify website. 

[Mike226]

Good to know about WIX! thanks

[davidlong]

I will never buy anything from any merchant that uses Shopify.  It tells your customers that you are not a series business that people should trust.  Shopify bars customers from seeing their shipping; thus, your customers have no idea if their order was ever placed and when it will arrive.  Just an awful company that will be bankrupt soon (they lose money every quarter).

[livia-rose]

My store also!  

[99PrintsNYC]

Same experience alas. Very complicated chat response not everybody is so “techy” to follow/execute Shopify’s detailed how to diagrams. No phone support means hiring Shopify experts? Looking into that too.

[DanielBillings]

Shopify Chat and Email support is really worthless. It takes way to long to get anywhere.

[Vcobb12]

Agree 100%. You simply can’t offer quality support with only chat. I just got off of chat, which took 45 minutes to resolve a relatively simple issue, except it was hard to explain and resolve via chat box. We did our best to explain the problem, and the agent their best to do the solution. Chat was the limiter. Via phone we could’ve resolve this in 10 minutes.

Technical issues can be too nuanced for chat to be efficient or effective.

This is a very bad move by Shopify. Don’t stoop to the low support standards many other tech companies have gone to. Chat can be horribly inefficient for resolving certain issues (many issues)— that’s why the gold standard is to offer chat, mail, and phone support. Like Apple still does. 

Could also think about it this way. My guess is a good support agent gets paid around $30/hour. Assuming a support ticket took 15 minutes to resolve that costs Shopify a mere $7.50. I guess on average we contact Shopify support via phone 1 to 2 times per month that’s additional cost to Shopify of $15. BFD.

Options for Shopify?

1. Build phone support cost into monthly cost.

2. Offer a reasonable per ticket charge. Ala cart.

3. Offer a slightly tiered service for support that offers phone.

4. offer built into the service a maximum of say 60 minutes of phone support per month that rolls over.

5. keep things as is with no more phone support and lose enormous amounts of Goodwill, frustrate the hell out of your customers, lose your reputation as an outstanding service and lose customers overtime.

Eliminating phone support is just an astoundingly bad move for the kind of service that an e-commerce platform needs to offer its customers. It’s careless, especially when you consider. There are smart, nuanced options that could be rolled out and offered versus just cutting it off. Dumb move.

Last note, we are also shareholders of Shopify. This both gives us pause as investors, and eliminates my recommendation to others to consider investing in the company.

Shopify has always been a very, very good company. And this is not what good companies do.

From and seasoned business professional, and entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience.

[heatherwetherel]

Well said and I completely agree!

[GT10]

I agree. The chat support is hopelessly inefficient. There are long delays between replies from shopify support staff, to say nothing of the absurdity of trying to explain complex issues over chat. We are a reasonably large organisation and will be switching to competitors as the outstanding support that used to be offered, was one of key reasons for using shopify. 
I have explained to Shopify that our online sales between our different platforms is circa £4m which is a lot of merchant services commission for them but they were  unconcerned. 
As new sites need building or existing ones updating, we will migrate to alternatives. There appear to be so many more developers familiar with other platforms that the issue of support becomes redundant. 

[Karelia]

I have had my store for 5 years and I am also very angry and disappointed in Shopify and getting rid of their customer support call back. 😠

In the past, I have always had GREAT things to say about their customer support and we would get things resolved quickly. Last week I had 4 situations I needed to resolve with their useless chat. Each situation was "sent to a specific team" and then the "team" would call or email me for resolution. After wasting 4 hours of time on the chat, it's been over a week and I have NEVER received one call back or email from them. 😵

I am ready to pull my store and go elsewhere. There is NO AI or CHAT service that can take place of one on one customer service. For the MILLIONS of dollars Shopify makes from us AND the billions of dollars of revenue that all of their Shopify customers bring in for revenue, there is NO reason why they dropped live customer support unless you are getting ready to sell the company so it looks good on the books. 

How can we run our E-commerce company or even scale it without customer service help? The more money we make , the more money YOU make Shopify. Shame on you Shopify, for pulling live customer support/call back feature!!!

This is very unprofessional and a horrible move for smart business. In the past I have recommended Shopify platform and stock investments to my peers and fellow entrepreneurs. I am pulling my stock from your company and unless you bring live customer service back, next year I will be looking at a new platform for my store. 
And, I am sure I won't be the only one. 
It's sad to see you go down this road, Shopify. Don't be greedy or stupid. Do the right thing and bring your call back support back. 

[CandiceMBN]

Honestly each time I have to contact chat support my heart sinks because I know i am going to spend hours trying to resolve an issue that would take 5 minutes with a phone call. I had to contact shopify today to amend bank details because I couldn't do it myself for some reason it was greyed out with a message saying 'To do this you need to contact support' I spent about 15 minutes going round in circles because each time I clicked the link to contact support it sent me to a page with youtube style how to videos in the community support section. For the life of me I couldn't find the support chat. I had to access it via my settings, it then opened a new page and then I had to log in again so by the time I finally reached customer support I was furious. I then had to explain to the CS agent THREE TIMES that it wouldn't allow me to update the information myself because he kept asking me if I had tried to do it??? Like seriously...would I be contacting CS if I was able to easily go in and change it? I then spent another 30 minutes back and forth only to be told he had to contact the billing department who would then email me with further information. As someone who has ADD and finds it extremely challenging to have to explain in detail through a chat, only then to have to re - explain 3 more times before they understood a simple task, this 'chat support' (I use the term support very loosely) is not only frustrating but it is utterly useless and a massive waste of everyone's time. I am pushed to the brink of tears out of frustration when I have to deal with chat 'support' 

The audacity of shopify to remove phone support but increase monthly subscription fees is mind boggling. They are on the fast track to becoming an eBay, Paypal, Amazon conglomerate with ZERO interest in customer support and corporate greed as their primary value and ethos.

[theresabp]

Just waisted an hour and a half with the support chat. I actually used to enjoy calling Shopify for help. It was generally a pleasant experience and this chat today was hellish and a total waste of time. It would have been laughable if I didn't have so much other work to do. I can't imagine how we'll be able to continue having our site through Shopify, if this is the kind of useless support that we're going to be thrown.

[FairplayPuzzles]

I’m in the same boat. I just found out there’s no more phone support, which is the actual reason I decided to go with Shopify. Phone support was amazingly helpful and were great to talk to.

When I’m able, certainly after the holidays, I’m going to look at other platforms. I’ll certainly look at Square, which I use for POS ( their hardware is much better. I can take all payments directly from the stand/tablet without needing a stand and separate card reader), and other options, as I’d like to be able to make more modifications to the very limiting themes.

[sophia-wallace]

I am having a ton of issues after following the recommendation to install "Markets Pro" to my site. Many of my sales are international, so it seemed like a good idea.  Once the installation was complete, my international sales went to zero.  I received emails from customers that the links to my products showed as 404 errors and that products were out of stock.  The response from Shopify Chat support assured me that my ticket was "receiving priority and has been escalated to our Market specialists. Please keep an eye on that thread for any updates regarding your request." Nothing was done until I followed up with multiple support agents. The problem is still not resolved, more than a week later. I can't get over how customer support went from the best part of using Shopify, to its rock bottom feature, just like that.  I am typing this while waiting in the support chat queue.  I keep having to start my place in line again, as Shopify's Help Center page crashes.  

Where is everyone taking their e-commerce business?

[CandiceMBN]

I have an issue with my website currently and honestly can't bring myself to contacting chat support because I know its going to be pointless. What beggars belief is that there are over 500 yep, let me repeat that FIVE HUNDRED COMPLAINTS about no longer having shopify phone support yet shopify are doing nothing about it. 

I feel like Shopify have a monopoly on the competition because I have looked at alternative services and they all offer phone support except a move over to those services it is a costly and time consuming exercise so you're forced to stick with shopify until you're in a position to move. I feel like they are taking advantage of us smaller businesses who don't have the means to move. Shopify is 🚮

[Karelia]

That is horrible regarding your International sales and I hope you unistalled the Marketplace Pro. Did Shopify ever get back to you?
Sadly, at this point, I haven't seen any other platform comparable to Shopify. Wix doesn't come close, MAYBE Square depending on if you connect and use the larger selling platforms and I also found something called BigCommerce that actually seemed pretty good and even less expensive because everything is inclusive with connecting to other platforms like Amazon, Walmart, etc and you don't pay for extra apps. 

However, if you are a small business, like most of us - the learning curve is a time waster and many of us don't have time for that.  And, right before the holidays is not even an option.
If Shopify would even charge us a little extra for phone support we would pay. Just give us a CHOICE for goodness sake, Shopify. Don't abandon us like this.
Grrrrrrrrr!!!!😵

[livia-rose]

please let me know where others are taking their business

[Hilary4]

We too have just had our first experience trying to get to the phone support we have very happily used for the last two years and now have found only chat.  It took me 30 minutes to type everything back and forth and still not get any useful answer.  The quality of Shopify without phone support and callback is a mere shadow of what it used to be as a company.  They make it hard to switch since we use their Shopify Payments, Shopify Shipping, Shopify POS and Shopify online.  How could they do this and not even announce it?  This is truly unconscionable and seemingly different from their image as a company that exists to support the enterpreneurs.  We are really upset and draw small comfort from this community conversation which tells us we are not alone in our reaction.  How can Shopify not respond?

[tpregon]

Not sure but I'm still waiting for them to make things right!

[interionline]

Agreed - I  absolutely hate the change. Not only has live chat not been able to resolve the issues we've had but it's caused completely different issues that didn't exist before and our questions haven't been answered. When we were able to call before, our issues were always resolved or at least our questions were answered quickly with no misunderstanding. It feels like I'm talking to AI which is a major loss for Shopify. We may be switching elsewhere if the callback feature doesn't return as this chatbox is a waste of time and is super unhelpful and unhuman. 

[Michele113]

I am surprised no one else has commented here. Yes, totally frustrated. Do you have another web builder site to recommend? I am ready to change.

[Michele113]

i see there are other replies, did not seem to do any good, this is October, I have been stuck with them all day. looking for a change, quickly.

[thepinkduchess]

Hi, I haven’t found an alternate option yet, but I’m looking.

[Michele113]

I'm thinking get through the Christmas season and then form a plan. Wordpress maybe? I have found that contacting some of the POD dropshippers directly will get you better deals. I think it will take some work to forge out on my own but I am over this mess. 

[livia-rose]

Me too

[tpregon]

I hear Wix is really good, many of the people I know have changed to that platform and it even offers other items that Shopify does not like building a community directly on your website so you keep people there instead of sending to FB for things like community chats.  I need to do more research as well for my business and am really hoping Shopify brings the proper customer service with a live HUMAN available to SPEAK to us over the phone back. 

[FairplayPuzzles]

I already called them out about this on X (Twitter). I really think everyone should do this. The complaints should be out there for everyone to see.

[J_S_L]

AGREED. I am completely furious. I have no technical issues. They have locked me out of my account from receiving my funds. This is MY money I have earned through services and products already delivered; I’m talking about over a thousand dollars. The first time I had to deal with talking to these chat boxes this month, it was carried over days with multiple “people” and for over $10 thousand dollars. I don’t even feel like I’m talking to a real person. The intonation is flat in the dialogue, the questions given and screen shots asked for are clearly without the author having read what I wrote. I think it’s either AI responses or bots. If it is a person on the other line, I for sure do not have their undivided attention. I’m called to think that their version of customer service is an oxymoronic construct. How can they hold my money for my delivered work with no disputes and my clients verifying the transactions then tell me their costumer service is not equipped to help me transfer my funds?! I’m soooo beyond furious. I’m paying for this service and platform to keep records for my business and allow for smooth transactions for my clients yet they’re asking me to send screen shots because they don’t have their records in order?! This is a  disaster. If I didn’t have the understanding that this was an established company, would totally suggest they’re running under unfair trade practices.

[TrueGrit]

Shame on Shopify. Tens of thousands of dollars paid in subscription and transaction fees per year and Phone support has been value managed out of your offering. 

Now looking for a new platform that cares about its users. 

[tpregon]

After just spending 2 hours or more trying to resolve a billing issue I completely AGREE with you.  I am beyond FRUSTRATED with Shopify and you are right that they TAKE AWAY services but INCREASE FEES and it's wrong!!!  When you are on chat it seems like these representatives are helping multiple people at the same time because it takes them forever to respond and they also ask questions that do not pertain as if delaying the conversation longer than needed.  It's either that or a language barrier.  Either way it is horrible customer service and something they need to correct SOON!!!

[ZerosRevival]

I am beyond annoyed, frustrated and livid!  I just spent an hour and half on chat support and got absolutely no where!   spent the entire time trying to figure how to communicate w this support person.  Its the simplest issue that would of been resolved within minutes over a call.  BUT NOPE!  2 hours and nothing got resolved!   I can't grow my store/business due to this lack of service.  what the hell, Shopify!!????  can't wait for a new platform to pop up as I will gladly move my business elsewhere. 

[Mike226]

YEP, YEP, YEP!! Shopify sux now! One of the main reasons I went with Shopify over 7 years ago was there great phone support. Now they removed it and expect evryone to spend massive Typing time on each and every issue. I know they know of this giant problem they created, but they KEEP ON BLOWING EVERYONE OFF! as this thread will atest. Its just horrible support now! They officialy are get the nix soon.  Can anyone tell me who the next Ecommerce platform should be?

[tpregon]

Wix, although I'm still on Shopify.....for now.  I would prefer to stay and am hoping they change back and begin offering phone support again.  I didn't even use it that often but I like to know that I can call and speak with an exert HUMAN when I have an issue and need assistance, especially when I am paying them monthly for a service.

[davidlong]

I bought a product from a website.  Then I found out they use Shopify.  They have no help, no service, and I felt that the company I bought the product from is a scam (using Shopify lets customers know you are a joke website).  Shopify seems like a hack account.  I am trying to cancel my credit card purchase and will NEVER use ANY company that uses Shopify because you can't track your order status or have any clue when your package might arrive.  If you want to have your customers never use your website, then use Shopify and let your customers know how little you think of them.  Worse idea ever if you are a small business.

[FairplayPuzzles]

That’s completely ridiculous. My customers receive a tracking number as soon as an item ships. 

BTW, Mattel ( makes Barbie)is built on Shopify, and Taylor Swift has a Shopify site selling merch. No matter the customer service complaints that website owners have, Shopify has nothing to do with customers of the businesses that build websites on their platform. The specific businesses handles all of that.

[tpregon]

I have a small business on Shopify and when you use the shopify tracking the customer automatically gets emailed the tracking number when the order is fulfilled.  When you use another carrier to ship, UPS or FedEX the shop owner needs to manually enter the tracking number into the order which then prompts an email to the customer with the tracking information.  Additionally, Customer Service, in this sense is the responsibility of the shop owner, not Shopify.  What merchants are complaining about here is that WE shop owners are NOT receiving customer service help from Shopify for which we Pay them a monthly fee for using the Shopify platform to run our small businesses.  So, you experienced 1 shop with bad customer service but I and I am sure most other small businesses absolutely provide customer service for our customers.  Hope this clarifies for you a bit.

[livia-rose]

This makes me sooo mad.  Bring back Phone Support.  You up the monthly fees, now give us the support we need!

[CandiceMBN]

The saga continues, Shopify Chat support is exhausting! I realised none of my websites variants were showing for some reason. I contacted 'chat support' and after spending 30 mins trying to explain the issue I was told it was the fault of my theme because there were theme updates. I checked the updates and nothing in there said anything about removing variants and it was a list of upgrades and more features. So I told the advisor it was not the theme as it was working fine until just recently. I was then told my store was 'heavily coded' which is another croc of BS because I built my entire store myself and I don't know how to code so how is there heavy coding in my theme? She then proceeded to fob me off and tell me I needed to hire a 'shopify expert' to help me? She sent me screenshots of all the 'heavily coded updates'  I got into a flat panic thinking my store had been accessed and edited by someone, only to realise these edits were just me working in the front end of my theme customising it? Not coding, just me customising the theme editor by adding content boxes etc. I eventually disconnected the chat because this advisor clearly didn't have a clue what they were talking about and it was just easier to point fingers at everything else other than doing a simple trouble shooting run. I eventually figured out the variants content block had been hidden at some point (which I obviously did in error without realising it!!) Clearly my own fault but had I not gone into my theme editor and checked this I'd have spent the next few hours trying to contact the theme publishers and had to pay a 'shopify expert' to tell me this? Now, I totally get this was an error on my part but how on earth can a support advisor not even be able to figure out the very basics, its troubleshooting 101 no? Every advisor I have spoken to in the last few months is so quick to fob me off to hire a shopify expert to figure out something that is easily fixable and should have to cost an arm and a leg? 

Shopify's  subscription solutions revenue jumped by 37% to $336.2 million yet they can't even provide the absolute basic phone support for store owners who are instead fobbed off and told to fork out money unnecessarily on their so called 'shopify experts' who, I can say from experience, charge you the earth for the most basic of website edits.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying 'shopify experts' shouldn't charge their going rates I'm just saying for basics like content blocks in a theme editor I should not be referred to a coding expert when I don't need it!!

Another afternoon wasted by a useless 'chat support' advisor who can't even troubleshoot the very basics. 

[CarolineJones]

Absolutely. So infuriating. I've just had a "chat" with a "Support advisor" and I use that term loosely about the plan we're on and needing VAT/Tax advise and they advised me firstly to use the Professional Plan. When I asked what this included as i couldn't find anything on it, they came back and told it was no longer available, then told me to downgrade to the basic plan after me telling them we're already on a higher plan. In what world do you get more features when you downgrade! I had to end the chat before I let rip!  Get people back on the phones Shopify, this is NOT the way to deal with customers and provide service. 

[heatherwetherel]

Absolutley agree with you! Shopify is doing what's best for their bottom line not what's best for us paying merchants.

[CarolineJones]

Very true. It's always the customer that gets the raw end of the deal when costs are cut!

[dianedale]

• They have NO customer support anymore!!!! We are all on our own!!!! Unless someone who barely speaks English that is servicing 4 people at once counts as support. It is an absolute DISGRACE!!!! Unheard of. All they care about is money. Terrible. 

[dianedale]

After rereading your message I am even angrier. Even horrible companies offer some support!!!! This is our livelihood for some of us!