Actually, reading the thread on the Android subreddit one of the affected developers said he filed complaints over a week ago with no reponse nor action taken. That is until it reached the (Android sub?)reddit-frontpage.
Google doesn't really do as much customer-service as it does PR-management, and that seems to be the way Google usually handles these things. Very few problems are addressed before they turn into high-profile cases of bad publicity. And really: That is pretty bad.
Let's not let Google-fanboyism blind us from the facts: Google is one of the worst companies on the planet when it comes to customer-service.
Good question. If I should answer it 100% honestly, I would say I've reached that conclusion trough very unscientific means: personal experience and a possible "postive" conformational bias.
Examples of this would be me having issues with Google services or applications, Googling for answers and then finding forum-posts on the Google forums discussing the problem.
These posts would mainly consist of 3 things: 1. Original poster asking for advice on a problem he has. 2. Other people experiencing the same problem, stating so and in some cases offering workarounds of various quality and reliability. 3. A complete lack of response from Google's end. No confirmation that it is a known bug with or without workarounds or a confirmation that this is a bug and that it is being investigated. Nothing.
These threads, when I find them, tends to be at least a year old if not more, with a staggering amount of people experiencing the same problem and all this with the issue at hand remaining unfixed. To quote a comment I read in one of those threads: "It's pretty obvious that Google doesn't listen and Google doesn't care".
Moving back to your question: "How would you tell if that wasn't true?". I guess in these cases I actually wouldn't, so it is indeed a good question.
But I know that for all the issues I've had, I still have them and they are still entirely unadressed by Google. Reporting problems to Google feels like showeling data into a write-only device and I can't think of any company I've dealt with which has had such a complete absence from its customers when it comes the products and services it offers. None.
Things like reliable customer service is why companies likes to send their money towards Microsoft: With Microsoft you may have Microsoft-costs, Microsoft-problems and Microsoft-quirks, but there is a huge support-apparatus ready 24/7/365 to help you get your problems solved. To put it bluntly: Customer support is not a "I'm feeling lucky"-button.
> Actually, reading the thread on the Android subreddit one of the affected developers said he filed complaints over a week ago with no reponse nor action taken. That is until it reached the (Android sub?)reddit-frontpage.
Well, he complained about copyright infringement of his app, not that the app was malware. I think if anything it commends Google that they obviously have a way to immediately sort and expedite high priority issues.
Google doesn't really do as much customer-service as it does PR-management, and that seems to be the way Google usually handles these things. Very few problems are addressed before they turn into high-profile cases of bad publicity. And really: That is pretty bad.
Let's not let Google-fanboyism blind us from the facts: Google is one of the worst companies on the planet when it comes to customer-service.