this is feedback i attempted to provide when a modal prompted me for it in the shopify help center. submitting the feedback apparently failed, but since I already had this post open due to my attempt to understand why shopify is such a bad system, i decided to add it here.
shopify support is a mess. this feedback form is even messed up–the text field i’m typing in right now is cut off at the margins so I can’t see the entire sentences I’ve typed.
i’m a shopify plus customer but i’m starting to plan our departure because we’ve been struggling with shopify’s lack of basic features and slow-to-develop basic features for years and now the customer support has gotten so poor–they don’t seem to train their staff anymore; when we first upgraded to shopify plus in 2019, the staff knew what they were doing and that was a great experience; but now they are usually just searching for answers because they don’t know enough about shopify to help.
i was looking for documentation and ended up in the virtual help center assistant. several times in a 5-minute chat, i got an unexpected server error.
When it didn’t have server failures, the most promising link it provided was incorrect or redirected to the wrong page, and it couldn’t direct me to the correct documentation. i decided to stop wasting time with virtual and started a chat.
i got the normal screen after the recaptcha that said a chat agent would be with me shortly, but one never appeared. i’ve had this problem in the past and i’ve told shopify about it in the past. the chat widget never opens and if i open it manually, it has some message and a green button that says END CHAT. after a few minutes that message changes to: Chat ended due to inactivity, and the green button says CLOSE.
with this string of problems, i checked shopify status and it said there were no problems, no admin issues, no support issues.
so i decided to call shopify and i got the PIN to call in with. when prompted by the phone automation, i entered the PIN correctly 3 times and was told it was an invalid PIN all three times. then was transferred to a person. that person entered the PIN and it was valid for them. i now have multiple issues to relay to the shopfy support: 1. unexpected server error with intermittent connection and bad links in the virtual help center, 2. chat failing to initiate, 3. phone PIN malfunctioning when calling in, 4. shopify status not indicating any problems 5. the documentation i needed which started the whole time-wasting process. why doesn’t shopify have a central location for shopify documentation so i can find what i need using keyword search?
The phone agent told me he gets that unexpected server error throughout the day while helping customers and that’s just normal. he said shopify status may or may not show known problems. his solution for chat not working was to use chrome instead of firefox. no answer for the PIN failure. and he suggested doing a google search instead of using shopify help because it’s better at providing useful information.
this is so frustrating i’m starting the process of leaving shopify asap. why am i paying $2k/month for shopify and hundreds more for the apps to make shopify reasonably functional for so much time-wasting and hassles? i don’t have time or resources to fight with the systems that are supposed to be making my business more efficient.
when i asked virtual help center where the shopify user manual is, it replied:
The Shopify user manual isn’t in one specific location. Instead, it’s spread across multiple help articles. For setup checklists, visit the “New to Shopify checklists” article. For Shop related queries, refer to the “Shop FAQ” page. For international shipping, check out the “International shipping with Shopify services” article. For theme documentation, visit the Shopify Theme Store. For information on Shopify Markets, Shopify Flow, building on Shopify, and Shopify Scripts, refer to their respective sections in the Shopify manual.
!! so within the same reply, it said the shopify user manual isn’t in one specific location and also told me to refer to the shopify manual!
when i asked for the specific info i needed, it gave a promising response, but the link it gave me redirected to an unrelated page. you can see why i then tried to chat with a real person.
so I take the time to provide this feedback when asked, and when I submit i get this:
then I try to submit this discussion comment and get this:
try again and get this:
what a joke.
