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On which Stack Exchange site can I ask questions like

  • When will [some new feature] for [some product] be released?
  • Where can I download an update for [some product]?
  • I'm getting errors when accessing the customer portal for [some company] – how can I fix this?
  • Why was I banned for doing [some action] on [some platform]?
  • Why is [some company] discontinuing [some product]?
  • Why is [some company] giving away [some product] for free?
  • What's the price for [some product]?

or any other product support/customer service questions?

It's not a product related to programming (or I've read Why can't I ask customer service-related questions? on Meta Stack Overflow) so I know Stack Overflow isn't the right place. Which other site in the network will take these kind of questions?

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  • This question/answer was apparently crafted to mark that one as duplicate.
    – Greendrake
    Commented May 16, 2020 at 7:12
  • 4
    Not only that one, I've already found a couple of others and I'm sure there are more. All I did not find was a good canonical, so I attempted to write one.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Commented May 16, 2020 at 7:13

1 Answer 1

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Unfortunately, there is (usually) no site in the network for your question, for the simple reason that it can only be answered if you work for that company. While the Stack Exchange community has some very knowledgeable people, they don't have a crystal ball and can't look in a company's internal systems, policies or strategies. Also, the mostly asynchronous Question and Answer format doesn't lend it self to replace customer service.

None of the Stack Exchange sites cater for personal needs that are only of interest to the asker. Chances are your situation is unique and temporary; due to the locality of the problem in these service related questions, they won't add lasting value to the knowledge base Stack Exchange sites aim to be. It is no use to have content around about how your specific case was handled in 2016 with Acme Inc. Even things like providing ways to access the service channel of companies is time-bound and will go stale soon. That will neither attract nor retain future visitors.

It looks like you have to solve this problem on your own, with help of the customer service of the company involved. If that doesn't work and the company doesn't help you even though you're entitled to it, depending on the problem, you might be able to invoke the help of consumer organizations or even legal services. In some cases turning to Twitter or other social networks manages to get your case attended to. The Stack Exchange Network is not in that social network category.

Some problems of this kind might be able to be solved without such internal knowledge. You might want to try entering the product or company name in the global Stack Exchange search and see what questions and communities come up. Check the article What topics can I ask about here? (in the Help Center of that community, of course) to make sure your question is on-topic there. But chances are you have more luck using your favorite search engine. Sometimes, questions may be good, but not a good fit for Stack Exchange.

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  • "it can only be answered if you work for that company" This depends on the question. The one I was intending to ask has an answer that anyone could come up with: since the company requires you to log in to access their customer service, just create another account and reach out to them about the account you cannot log in to. For this reason I disagree with this answer, and that the question duplicates the one I asked, and so I respectfully downvote this.
    – Greendrake
    Commented May 17, 2020 at 2:59
  • @Greendrake that sounds like a decent hack; that's what the last paragraph aims to cover (perhaps it fails to do so properly right now - that's why this is a community wiki). We still don't have a Stack Exchange site for those kind of questions since they are few and far between; there's not enough volume to create a new site.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Commented May 17, 2020 at 9:06

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