It’s not always easy to get support from Google (just ask anybody who ever had his AdSense account suspended for nebulous reasons), but over the course of the last few years, the company has slowly expanded its customer support programs, especially for its paid productivity services. More than two years ago, for example, the company launched 24/7 phone support for Google Apps subscribers.
Today, it’s expanding its support options for Google for Work admins with chat support and it’s making it easier for Google Apps users to contact the company with questions.
Google says that it tested chat support for admins with a small group of users over the last few months. Based on their feedback, it is now rolling this service out to all English-language Apps admins, with support for other languages coming in the next few months.
For Google Apps users, the company is now making it easier to find support documentation and to contact support when all else fails. When you are signed in to a Google Apps service like Gmail or Drive, you can now find a “Contact Us” link right from the Help menu. That’s a small change, but for a company that often seemed to do its best to avoid direct contact with customers, these new options are a huge step forward.
All of these new options — as well as the 24/7 phone support and moderated help forums — are now codified as part of the company’s Technical Support Service Guideline, which is getting an update today.
Google itself seems pretty happy with its progress in this arena. The company boasts that it now has a 95 percent customer satisfaction rating for Google Apps, for example.
