[mgkimsal]

The customers are testers, especially in "break early, break often" scenarios. I wouldn't call them testers to their face, but... operationally, they're part of the loop. Treat them as such. If you're not going to pay for much testing up front, at least treat the real testers (customers/endusers) as part of a process, not as part of a problem.

If, when I reported an issue, and it was determined not to be PEBKAC... loop me in on updates, or followup with questions. I'm happy to try to reproduce issues, or give more details, or whatnot. I'm a user/customer - I want the product/service, and I want it to be better.