Stop Trying to Schedule a Call with Me

LLMs and Automated Outreach

• Several commenters report getting obviously AI-generated sales or support emails: long, slightly wrong answers, invented words, awkward personalization.
• Reactions split: some advocate giving negative feedback scores to influence internal metrics; others say this wastes victims’ time and that only money (or boycotts) is meaningful feedback.
• There’s concern about LLMs replacing already-indifferent reps with agents that “literally can’t care,” and calls for mandatory disclosure when AI is used.
• A few would opt into AI calls or support if it’s faster and less scripted than low-tier human support.

Frustration with Sales-Driven B2B SaaS

• Many describe sales outreach as harassment: repeated “let’s hop on a call” emails, aggressive follow-ups, endless demos unrelated to the one feature they care about.
• Some vendors keep pinging prospects or former users for years, or aggressively upsell existing customers via rotating account reps.
• There’s strong dislike of being trapped on mailing lists and difficulty unsubscribing; several people auto-mark such vendors as spam.

Pricing, “Enterprise” Features, and Market Segmentation

• Debate around charging extra for SSO and strict SLAs.
• One view: SSO has near-zero marginal cost and paywalling it harms security; such upcharges are abusive.
• Counterview: enterprise features (SSO, SLAs) are priced for less price‑sensitive customers; this is classic market segmentation, not cost‑plus pricing.
• Some argue high-touch sales is necessary to sell 5–6‑figure contracts and support expectations; others see it as pure rent‑seeking.

Docs, Support, and Product-Led Growth

• Several advocate product-led growth: self-service trials, good docs, transparent pricing, easy onboarding, honest communication of weaknesses.
• Pushback: many customers don’t read docs, require heavy handholding, and will still demand calls; some big buyers judge “maturity” by traditional sales process.
• Good docs are seen as essential for reducing support load and enabling community support, even if only a minority read them.

Open Source vs Commercial Tools

• Many engineers end up preferring open-source tools over painful SaaS sales cycles, despite internal resistance (compliance, “how can it be good if it’s free?”, support burden).
• Commenters lament how rarely companies fund OSS they rely on; anecdotes show bureaucratic obstacles even when maintainers threaten to abandon projects.
• Some suggest that for niche tools with missing features or abandoned maintainers, paying a developer to fix bugs can beat buying commercial alternatives.

Enterprise Purchasing and Procurement Pain

• Multiple stories from both buyer and vendor sides highlight months-long procurement, security questionnaires, and multi‑stakeholder politics, even for trivial purchases.
• This environment incentivizes vendors optimized for process compliance and aggressive enterprise sales, not necessarily for having the best product.
• Small startups describe being used as pricing leverage against incumbents, long payment delays, and deciding to refuse custom forms and only accept card payments to stay sane.

Coping Strategies and User Behavior

• Many engineers avoid unknown calls entirely, keep phones on silent/DND, and rely on voicemail or written communication to dodge spammy outreach.
• Techniques mentioned include disposable/alias emails, GDPR deletion requests, and “watermarking” LinkedIn profiles to detect automated personalization.
• A recurring theme: people who refuse to engage with “contact us for a quote” funnels see themselves as intentionally opting out of that customer segment.