Item: GrooveHQ
Rating: 3
Author: Leslie Nicole

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I used Groove for around 9 months for my customer service of my small business. I used it for answering customer emails and also for general business email. I used to use Desk.com and I was looking for a simpler solution.

Pros and Cons

Groove is pretty well organized.
They have a good knowledge base.
The support is usually pretty fast.

The email is extremely slow. It became unbearable. It did get better when they made some changes for me, but it was still slow. I've used other services and this was the slowest I've ever experienced. I wouldn't recommend it if you get a lot of HTML. They admitted they don't do well if you get a lot of HTML.
Very bad customer service if there is a problem or dispute. They sent out ONE email to say they were raising their rates the next month. I never saw the email. I didn't realize my rates had been raised until I went to cancel my account (due to being unhappy with how slow it was) They had raised my rate 3 times from $22 to $68! When I complained, they just replied that they sent out one email and left it at that. They stopped answering my emails. Wow. As someone in customer service, if I had a client who complained, I would bend over backwards to make them happy.
For what you pay with Groove, I would expect better service and features.

Return on Investment

I can only say that I started to dread doing my emails because it worked so slowly.

Usability

It's well organized, but slow.

Support Rating

I'm giving them a 3 for the really great support they gave for general questions. They also have a good knowledge base. I'm giving them only a 3 though because of my last customer service when I need a billing resolution. I was very disappointed in how they handled that. I also find it very bad practice to send out ONE email notice that they were raising my rate three times as much at the end of the month. When I was with Desk.com, I had numerous emails over months letting me know their billing plans were changing. Even worse than refusing to refund me the difference was that they just stopped responding to me.

Alternatives Considered

Desk.com

I chose GrooveHQ after using Desk.com for many years. I have no complaints about Desk.com, I just wanted something simpler and more like email and Groove did match that. I liked Groove at first, but I grew frustrated with how slow it was.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have customer service that is mostly text based, GrooveHQ isn't bad, but if you handle emails in HTML, it is way too slow. The customer service is good - until it isn't. I left with a very bad feeling towards them. It's too bad, too because it was avoidable. With better customer care resolution, I would have left feeling much better towards them.

Unhappy Ex-Customer

Overall Satisfaction with GrooveHQ