Pinterest unHELP, the Clueless Approach

Pinterest

We know; most days we've featured money-hungry halfwits who post misinformation, mangled instructions, or just plain stupidity to the internet solely for the purpose of lining their pockets. Yes, we occasionally snipe at a blithering idiot for living in a political bubble, but 99 times out of a hundred it's freelancing idiots. Well, today's a little different: see, we get tired of crappy "support" from websites, especially when the support crew are in some far-flung country but claim English-y names. Not long ago, a staffer tried to get help from Pinterest... and got stiffed.

Here's what happened:
The guy tried to pin a photo from a website, but it didn't show up when he provided the URL to Pinterest (their terminology is "Save from a website"). Nonplussed, he went to the help files looking for a clue. This is what he saw, copied directly from the help page:

To save a Pin without using the browser button:

1. Click + at the bottom right corner of Pinterest and choose Add from a website
2. Type in the website URL
3. Click Find Images
4. Find your favorite image and click Save
5. Add or edit the description
6. Pick the board you want to save to

Sounds straightforward, eh? Well, no: because there IS no "Find Images" link... so he contacted Pinterest Help, saying, "Your help file at https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/add-edit-or-delete-pin#Web instructs me to 'click Find Images' -- sorry, that link does not exist. Now what?" Pinterest, being a typical website, sent the help request to a self-described "expert user" named Darcie, who kindly cut-and-pasted the help file. Duh. Our guy "escalated" the useless answer to Pinterest support, from whom he received the following a few days later: "Thanks for surfacing this on the Help Center. The instructions Darcie gave you are correct."

At this point, our guy was – to be blunt – rather pissed off, because he'd had similar unHELP from Groupon just a few days before. His reply?

"Did anyone even READ what I asked? Try this: show me the link 'Find Images,' as referenced in the Pinterest help files at https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/add-edit-or-delete-pin#Web , within the body of the attached screen capture. Just draw a circle around the link mentioned in the help instructions and send the picture back, OK? Apparently I'm so stupid that someone will have to point it out."

Here's the image he sent – see if YOU see a link to "Find Images" anywhere in there...

Yeah, right: there's no link. And if you haven't downloaded the Pinterest button for your toolbar (a tool that we suspect tracks everything you do and sells the information), that's all you get...

Finally, our staffer received the following email from "Brannan" (whose real name is probably Kumar, Rajesh or Devi):

"Thanks for surfacing the help center content is out of date. I'll be letting the right people know about removing the 'find friends' section. The image you sent me is the correct way to choose an image to save to your account."

Uhhh, "Find friends"??? As for "the correct way," he still can't upload the image he wanted to use. And that's why Brannan at Pinterest is today's Dumbass of the Day – though in reality, we think the crown belongs to the people who outsourced support, support that took nine days to understand a simple question. Speaking of which, remind us to tell you about Groupon support some day...

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