“Owning Up”: Bengaluru Founder Apologises After Company’s “Rude” Tweet To User

Fold Money co-founder Nash Vail has apologised after a tweet from his company’s official handle was criticised for being “rude” and “passive-aggressive”. On Monday, the startup founder acknowledged that the company did not handle the situation properly and they have learned from their mistakes.

It all started after a user pointed out a few flaws in the Fold Money app- which is currently in its beta stage. Responding to the post, the company wrote, “Maybe research a bit before signing up for an app that’s in beta?”

Along with the tweet, the company embedded a link to their blog post which talked about the challenges a user might face with the app’s beta version.

The user responded to the company’s tweet and wrote, “Aw shit I’m sorry I didn’t read your blog post before pressing the install button.”

Fold Money tweeted, “Yup dragging the hard work of a team in public, especially the one you didn’t pay for, without understanding how the product works is much easier than reading a blog post.”

See the post here:

Yup dragging the hard work of a team in public, especially the one you didn’t pay for, without understanding how the product works is much easier than reading a blog post.

— Fold (@foldmoney_) September 2, 2023

Soon after the tweet went viral, the post was labelled as “passive-aggressive”. Many social media users called out the company for its harsh response.

“Oh wow. @foldmoney_ is already showing its true colours. This attitude towards a user who is a beta tester for free doesn’t bode well for a company that intends to help you manage your money. Better now than later, I suppose,” a user wrote.

“Wow what arrogance. How (not) to do social media at its best,” another user commented.

“Was tremendously underwhelmed when I started using the app. There’s no novelty apart from the UX and design they keep boasting about. Every other fintech is offering an account aggregator on their platform now, and on top of it the entitlement with which you handle customer feedback is deplorable,” the third user wrote.

Responding to the criticism, Mr Vail wrote, “We have taken and responded to a lot of feedback. Most of the app what it is now has a direct connection to some feedback or request made on our discord/x. This was just poorly handled, we’re sorry about that.”

We have a whole channel with 100s of feedbacks. You’ve been in the design industry long enough to understand what a feedback is. Still we have apologised for handling it too harshly. pic.twitter.com/XSBxdFqFdZ

— Nash (@NashVail) September 3, 2023

In another tweet, he apologised. “Yes sir, we’re learning, growing, and owning up.”

Many users also asked the co-founder why he did not delete the offensive tweet, he added, “Deleting the tweet to get out of this is an easy way. We just want to acknowledge we f***ed up and not try to scurry away. If deleting them is the way to go we will.”