The High Cost of Free Toggle navigation

This article is about the relationship between free products and customer service experience. It mentions free customer service help via phone and such not living up to the expectations
of consumers. Harris Interactive conducted a stud that said that, “60% of consumers said that speaking with a live customer service agent via the telephone is the number one way in which they want to interact with a company, and only 25% said they prefer email.” Even companies such as Google that offers a great free product, their customer service, however, is another story altogether. The point the article makes is that if you’re offering a free service/product, your customer service should be up to par as well. I always love a good free product and I completely disagree with this article. Sure, it would be nice if the customer service of a good product matched the quality of this product, that would be great, but they’re usually not, and THAT is the true cost of free. But, this cost I am very willing to pay. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, so it is perfectly understandable for these well-known complimentary products to come with a price tag. As long as that price tag isn’t physically taking money from my pocket, I am all for it.