Ask the teams who run a helpdesk what frustrates them and the complaints are mostly about what surrounds the ticket queue rather than the queue itself. The interface agents spend their day in is the most common: clunky, dated, slow to load. Then AI that answers less well than promised, reporting that has to be rebuilt elsewhere, workflows only an admin can change, integrations that need a custom build, and a bill that grows with tickets or licences. What differs is which platform draws which, and whether teams live with it or act. Most buyers discussing these operational complaints keep their helpdesk. Reporting limits come up most among those considering alternatives, while the broader switching interviews also show pricing and vendor support as reasons companies change platforms. For the ratings and the pre-purchase view, see what ecommerce CS-platform buyers wish they'd known.
The six complaints — graded
Each complaint is classified by how buyers in these interviews typically respond: tolerating the issue, working around it, waiting for the vendor, or reconsidering the contract. These are observed responses, not fixed severity ratings; the same limitation may be manageable for one team and unacceptable for another. Every platform here draws complaints, and the question is which of them matter for your team.
The agent interface is clunky
The most common complaint, and it lands on every platform here. Buyers describe the screen their agents work in all day as awkward or dated — “the UI/UX on Gorgias is clunky, and it doesn't load fast,” says one; a Salesforce Service Cloud user calls it “kind of clunky and outdated looking compared to other case management systems.” Most say it in the same breath as accepting it: “Weaknesses are that it's a bit clunky. It's not the sexiest program, but it's fine,” says a Zendesk user, and a Service Cloud user adds that “the user interface is a little clumsy, but that's not a big deal. It doesn't really impede the work that we need to do.” Nobody here leaves over it.
Named for this: Zendesk · Gorgias · Salesforce Service Cloud · Gladly · Kustomer · Intercom
AI and automation underdeliver
The complaint most tied to the moment. Buyers evaluating or using AI support features describe a gap between what they expect automation to handle and what their implementations deliver — responses that lack accuracy, too little flexibility, or pilots that did not work out. The experience varies by vendor, use case and setup: “I don't think the AI responses are there quite yet,” says a Gorgias user; another describes Gorgias's assistant as “really a chatbot; it's not an AI agent.” A Kustomer user reports “A lot of hallucinations and a lot of things that fall outside of the scope we trained it on,” and a Salesforce Service Cloud team “cancelled the POC because of a lack of support and because the tool was not very good.” In these interviews, buyers more often wait for improvements, cancel an AI add-on or evaluate a separate AI tool than replace their core helpdesk because of AI performance. Some Gorgias customers praise its AI, which underlines how much buyer experiences differ.
Named for this: Gorgias · Zendesk · Salesforce Service Cloud · Kustomer · Intercom
Reporting is weak
Teams that need to show what support is doing find the built-in reports thin. One Service Cloud user says “there is no real reporting in Salesforce. It's really not a reporting tool”; a Help Scout user says “The reporting is really not good. It's very basic.” Most work around it — “I do have to do a lot of manual reporting sometimes,” says a Gorgias user, and a Gladly team pulls the data out instead: “we leverage their APIs in order to pull their data into our data lakes and into other BI tools.” It is also the complaint most often behind the companies here that are weighing a move, from one consolidating onto a single reporting view to one looking at another vendor's service cloud.
Named for this: Zendesk · Salesforce Service Cloud · Gladly · Gorgias · Help Scout
Workflows and customization need a specialist
The complaint about who can change the setup. On Zendesk, one buyer says “you would need a dedicated person to do that. It's not like if I'm a rep I can just go in there and create workflows for myself,” and another that “you cannot create very sophisticated workflows among big teams.” A Gorgias user finds “it can be a little clunky with customization,” and a Gladly user is “very limited in how you can adjust the widget for the look and feel of it.” Teams answer it with a dedicated admin, consultants or custom builds. It concentrates on Zendesk among the platforms here.
Named for this: Zendesk · Gorgias · Gladly · Salesforce Service Cloud · Freshdesk
Integrations need custom work
Helpdesks sit between the store, the CRM, marketing tools and the phone system, and buyers describe joins that do not come ready. “Some integrations are still very custom, even with very prominent platforms like Braze, for example. So we have to build a custom integration,” says a Zendesk user. A Service Cloud team “had to have a third party build a special solution just to be able to expose our Marketing Cloud emails inside of the Service Cloud,” and a Gladly user finds it “quite slow to plug into a lot of Shopify apps that many other platforms already have connectors to.” Teams fill the gaps with custom builds rather than leave.
Named for this: Zendesk · Salesforce Service Cloud · Gladly · Gorgias
Cost and the billing model
The complaint takes the shape of the billing model. On Salesforce Service Cloud it is licences and renewals: “every time we have to negotiate for renewals, it is always a challenge because of the expense,” and “there is usually a solution that includes a higher fee or more license cost.” On Gorgias, where billing follows ticket volume, one team keeps a channel switched off to control it — “if we open it up for emails, we will get a lot of tickets instantly, and then we will get charged extra a lot” — and another says “They keep having hidden charges, which are not great.” Pricing creates friction at renewal and can change how teams use the platform. In the complaint accounts here, buyers mostly tolerate the cost or renegotiate; the broader switching interviews also include companies that left their helpdesk partly to save money, covered on the pricing page. For the mechanics, see what buyers actually pay for a customer service platform.
Named for this: Salesforce Service Cloud · Gorgias · Zendesk · Kustomer
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The counter-current: what helpdesk users don't complain about
The ticketing at the core is rarely the problem: “it does everything we need,” says a Salesforce Service Cloud user. Ease of use dominates the praise, especially for Gorgias — “The agents find it easy to use,” says one team — and Zendesk draws it too: “it's very easy to use and very easy to comprehend.” Outages almost never come up, and Service Cloud's users praise its stability: “the uptime has been great.” Gorgias is praised for how it works with Shopify, and Gladly for its people — “all of our customer service agents who have used all of the other platforms, they all like Gladly the best.” Few buyers raise missing channels or data security. Among the completed departures in these complaint interviews tied clearly to dissatisfaction, one involved vendor support: a team left Freshdesk for Gorgias after struggling to get help with product changes. Support is not one of the six recurring product complaints above, but the example shows how a service problem can turn frustration into a replacement decision. Before you conclude the platform is the problem, separate what the vendor controls — AI, support, pricing — from what depends on your setup and admin time; the second is often fixable without a switch.
What this means — whether you run one or you're buying one
If you already run a helpdesk, the common complaints are mostly lived with: buyers accept a clunky interface, wait for AI to improve, export data to report elsewhere, and add an admin or a custom integration to fill gaps. Most of these operational complaints lead buyers to work around limitations rather than replace their helpdesk. Reporting gaps appear among companies evaluating alternatives, one completed complaint-driven departure was attributed to inadequate vendor support, and pricing drives some of the moves in the broader switching interviews. If you're evaluating one, our recommendations — not practices buyers describe — are to have the agents who will use it test the interface on real tickets, to run the AI on your own past conversations before paying for it, to check that the reports you need exist out of the box rather than assuming you can build them, and to model the bill at the ticket volume and seat count you expect at peak. For what triggers a move, see why brands switch helpdesk platforms.
Common questions
What are the most common complaints about helpdesk software?
Six recur across Zendesk, Gorgias, Salesforce Service Cloud, Gladly and others. The most common is an agent interface buyers call clunky or dated. Next come AI and automation that underdeliver, weak built-in reporting, limits on customizing workflows, integrations that need custom builds, and costs or billing models that create friction at renewal. Core ticketing itself rarely draws complaints, and most buyers live with these issues rather than switch.
What are the biggest complaints about Zendesk?
Zendesk users in these interviews most often describe an interface they find clunky, workflows that take a dedicated admin to build, weak reporting, integrations that need custom work, and AI features that are not yet where they want them. Others praise it as easy to use, and few describe leaving over these complaints.
What are the biggest complaints about Gorgias?
Gorgias users in these interviews most often say its AI is not yet as capable as they want — one calls its virtual assistant a chatbot rather than an AI agent — and some describe a clunky interface, charges they did not expect, and rationing channels to control per-ticket costs. Its AI also draws praise from other users, and Gorgias is praised more than any other platform here for being easy to use and for working well with Shopify.
Why do companies leave their helpdesk platform?
Few do for a stated complaint. In these interviews one company left Freshdesk for Gorgias after product changes and weak vendor support, and another moved from Gorgias to Zendesk to scale a distributed team. Among companies weighing a move, reporting is the most common reason. The interface and AI complaints are mostly lived with, and in the broader switching interviews some companies also left their helpdesk partly to save money.
Are these complaints reasons to switch helpdesks?
Mostly not, in how existing customers respond. Buyers tolerate a clunky interface, wait for AI to improve, export data to report elsewhere, and hire admins or build integrations to fill gaps. Reporting gaps appear most among companies evaluating alternatives, one completed complaint-driven departure was attributed to vendor support, and pricing drives some moves in the broader switching interviews. That is how current customers behave, not a judgment that these limitations are acceptable for a new buyer.
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