talkbin1Three years after acquiring Talkbin, Google is now shutting the customer feedback platform down.

Emails sent to the Talkbin support account are receiving an auto-reply message noting that the service will be shutting down next month.

“TalkBin usage has dwindled over the past 2 years, and we have decided to shut down the service on July 31st, 2014,” the email reads. “Effective immediately, all billing has stopped for your existing locations in Talkbin. Talkbin will be completely shut down on July 31st, and all account data will be deleted shortly afterwards.”

Talk to the Manager CEO John Washam.
Talk to the Manager CEO John Washam.

Google acquired Talkbin in 2011, just five months after the startup had launched. The company’s software let customers at restaurants and retailers send emails and text messages on dedicated numbers to businesses for feedback.

Talkbin’s auto-reply message recommends other similar platforms to use, including OwnerListens and Quibble. Another is Bellevue-based Talk to the Manager, whose CEO John Washam penned this blog post about the Talkbin shutdown.

“A few months ago, we got word that Google would be shutting down Talkbin, a customer feedback service similar to ours,” Washam wrote. “Talkbin customers started migrating to our service, and we knew the time would come sometime this summer that the service would cease operations.”

Washam told GeekWire that his company is working with Talkbin to port the phone numbers of its customers to Talk to the Manager.

Talkbin, which was originally just a mobile app for anonymous feedback, was part of the Google Local offering. It’s one of several startups that Google has shut down after acquiring, a group that includes companies like Bump, Schemer, Alfred, and AdWhirl.

Related: Watch out, Yelp: Google acquires restaurant website builder Appetas

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