##Why can't I ask customer service-related questions?
Why can't I ask customer service-related questions?
Because we don't know the answer.
Oh sure, there might be some intrepid soul who has sailed these waters before, and come out alive. They might even be able to offer some insight. There might even be the occasional employee wandering these hallowed halls. But here's the problem:
We're not Google, Facebook, Microsoft, or Apple Customer Service.
We don't set policy for these companies. We don't have telephone lines, confirmation code generators, or any authority to make decisions on your behalf. We don't track changes to policy, except by anecdote and hearsay, so any answer we give you today is going to be wrong tomorrow, if it isn't already wrong.
Here's the other problem:
We're not here to act as customer support on any company's behalf.
That's not our mission. We're here to help you with your challenges writing code. If that code involves some company's API, fine. We're more than happy to help you with that. But we don't know if your app will be approved. We can't give you a confirmation code. We don't know how long it will take for Microsoft to release that shiny new thing.
We just don't know. All we can do is refer you to customer support.
##But this service is on topic! My login/API credentials just don't work
But this service is on topic! My login/API credentials just don't work
Questions where you're getting some sort of bad credential response (i.e. "This account can't login" or "Your password is incorrect"), or a general login error (i.e. "An error occurred, try again later"), will need direct customer support from that company, as the error is either on their end, or you need something fixed with your account. We cannot debug an external service for you.
##But I was referred here by [company] for support!
But I was referred here by [company] for support!
Yes. For your on-topic, programming-related questions. For your questions having specifically to do with writing code for their API. But for questions that involve customer service issues, you need to contact the company directly.
If the referring company did not give you clear guidance as to what types of questions would be a good fit for Stack Overflow, or just told you to ask on Stack Overflow without giving you a way to reach them directly, contact the community team and let them know; they might be able to reach out to the company and help them establish better guidance to avoid confusion for everyone.
Further Reading
