Navigating a Maze of Frustration: My Grievances with Magic's Services
Raising $80MM to shit the bed
3-min read
In the tech world, we often hear stories of seamless integrations (Stripe), stellar customer service (Stripe), and products that seem almost magical in their efficiency (Stripe). Unfortunately, my recent experience with Magic, a third-party provider, starkly contrasts these ideals. I'm writing this post to share the myriad of issues we've faced, highlighting the significant impact on our business and the lessons learned along the way.
Unanticipated Service Downgrades and Billing Confusion: Our journey into the abyss began with an unexpected downgrade in our Pro Bundle Plan. No communication, no email alerts – just a sudden change that we stumbled upon. This wasn't just an oversight; it reflected a deeper problem in transparency and customer communication within Magic.
The Domino Effect on Our Services: This downgrade triggered a loss of auto-refresh magic sessions. Imagine our shock when this led to a month-long (and counting) disruption of service for all our users. An app-breaking issue, stemming from a change we weren't even informed about!
Quick Fixes, Lingering Problems: Magic's response, while prompt, was akin to placing a band-aid on a gaping wound. The fixes resolved nothing substantial, leaving us to grapple with TypeScript issues and untested Expo packages. Our engineering team spent precious time scouring GitHub issues, trying to discern if the problem was on our end or Magic's. Spoiler alert: it was on Magic's.
Wasted Resources and Stalled Development: The fallout was immense. We burned through a long weekend and three full working days, troubleshooting, attending calls, and reporting issues – all to no avail. Our development cycle ground to a halt, as Magic's issues blocked us from pushing out new builds.
Reluctance to Change, Despite Discontent: Staying with Magic wasn’t a choice driven by satisfaction but a lack of bandwidth to switch providers or develop our own authentication solution. This is a crucial point for startups to consider – sometimes the devil you know seems better than the devil you don't.
Support Channels: A Labyrinthine Endeavor: Seeking support from Magic turned into a Herculean task. Immediate help was a myth; we were funneled into scheduled calls and endless back-and-forths, leading nowhere but to increased frustration.
A Broken Website Experience: To add insult to injury, Magic's website was a nightmare. A non-functional search feature, a user export request that took months to implement (and still underperforms), and the inability to perform basic sorting – it was less magic and more tragic.
Conclusion: A Call for Accountability and Change: This post isn't just a venting session but a call to action. Service providers like Magic must understand the gravity of their shortcomings and the ripple effect on their clients' businesses. As for fellow entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts, let this be a reminder to continuously evaluate your service providers, demand transparency, and always have a contingency plan.
In the end, the magic we seek in technology services lies not in grand promises but in reliability, effective communication, and a commitment to problem-solving. It's time for Magic to step up their game or step aside.