"In today’s computing world, most online services/apps are free. Put simply, users get what they want, while companies monetize the popularity. Simple relationship. But now, there appears to be a tribe of people bearing arms, bludgeoning anyone who dares to speak out about lousy service quality, bad uptime, bad customer support etc all under the blanket “Its free, what you got to complain about”. What happens if Google stops showing search results for companies and products they don’t like. It is a free service, no one can complain, but you bet that those companies are going to die pretty soon. Or what happens if Gmail loses all your incoming emails and you learn about it a couple of months later. No big deal if you are Grandma. Pretty big deal if you run a small business using Google Domains. (Which is free btw) Or what happens if Google Docs swallows many of your documents ? Maybe you will say, “Its a free service. Stop complaining”" - AJ Batac (/-_-) from Bookmarklet

Nothing is "free" every user in some sense is paying maybe just with attention or mindwidth but still payment is rendered. - Brian Sullivan

I'm sorry, you can't get support and have apps be free, I'm not buying it. The old adage still holds true, you get what you pay for. When companies monetize via indirect means, the user's best interests are no longer necessarily aligned with the companies. - mikepk

You can complain all you want. However, I would expect to get the support I pay for. - caj

I pay for gmail and the like with my attention and occasional ad clicks and therefore have a reasonable expectation of service. Now if someone writes a little app or script for themselves and then shares it for free then I don't think you can expect support. Scale, intent, and, to a lesser degree, monetization are the determining factors here. - David Knight

David, with conversion ratios of user attention vs ad clicks, just what do you think your attention is worth (in monetary terms) to Google? If you work the equation out, I'd be surprised if you were worth more than a few cents a month. How much of that goes to maintaining the service? Do you know how expensive support is? Major issues that affect millions of people, sure (the aggregate benefit justifies the cost). Your particular issue/beef is irrelevant. - mikepk

Second unbreakable rule -- you can pay in more ways than supplying money. - Brian Sullivan

gmail has a support staff that will help with individual issues - David Knight