WTF - What A Headache Shit can Be Sometime
 

I fucking hate email and electronic communication.

never in my life have I ever had so many problems with just day to day crap.

I send out emails with urls of orders when they are done so people can download zips from my server, no one ever has a problem with this.

For some reason, the past week or more, people have just not been getting emails, and emailing me back...

"Wheres my galleries?????????????"

im like, i sent them out a week ago.

this shit makes me look bad, and i have no clue why its happeneing.

i send out an email, get no reply, continue dealing with other clients, meanwhile some client has not gotten their email with download details and are boiling waiting for it?

WTF?

Im going to start sending double emails, from multiple accounts if this continues.

i am getting tired of this "WHERE IS MY WORK" shitr, when I sent it out a week ago!!!

sorry for the rant.

i just got a bunch of emails that should have went out last week, and people asking me whats up.... kinda irritated, so theres my rant for today

Happens all the time now, my family sends me an email, it never gets to me. People send me emails, they never come, I email people, they never get it. Email is turning to complete shit with all the spam filters and rules and shit.

Hire a rep that can be contacted via ICQ for customer inquiries.:thumbsup

I refuse to use icq for business.

people think they can hit you up with a message and expect the order to start.

i have had nothing but headaches with icq and havent been using it for awhile now, removed it from my site and business has increased, no need to go back to it.

its like using a CB for business, I need a copy I can look at, not ICQ history.

email me, I dont need icq for business, its kinda silly in my opinion.

I had the same shit on icq, some guy hits me up with a message, i dont check icq tonight, message gets lost, guy thinks im an asshole.

fuck icq.

e-mail has been fucked up lately, with all the virus shit going on now. I bet the clients just deleted the e-mails you sent - either mixed in among 3000 garbage mails, or their spma filters deleted incoming mail with attached files.

Well, u could use trillian or whatnot - the point is to have someone filter out the inquiries for you.

May be worth it. You never know.

I HAD someone doing that, I think I will start again.

I have a machine set up to monitor my email, looks like Ill need to get icq on it and have it set up, although its hard to deal with clients when youre not the one talking to them.

I have made it this far, because its a one man show and everyone deals with ME, thats how I prefer it.

but fuck it, ill get my secretary back in action.

Its simply too much to do alone anymore.

I cant manage it all when things like this go astray. I get TONS of emails and TONS of icq messages, I need a secretary damnit!

:thumbsup

hey fletch just relax ur a good guy

have one on me :glugglug

Let me know if you decide to start looking for a rep.

there's a cool new invention called a telephone.... works great & usually goes a long way to clearing up issues like you've described. :)

I hope it wasn't from me, my server burped out some old e-mails yesterday, but I did get the galleries last week... great stuff.

Maybe you have the MyDoom virus... amongst other things, I heard it fucks up your email sending somewhat....

i am having the same problems, getting emails dated a week old, people saying they've emailed me and i never received it. etc.

i attributed these issues to the worms bogging down all the mail servers, though standard surfing was spotty for me up until yesterday.

That has been happing to me as well, so What I do is send them the email with the links and then send them another email asking if they got the email with the links in them *shrugs*

TOM

so I am supposed to call everyone I email and give them the url over the phone?

c'mon man, I talk to many of my clients on the phone, but this has nothing to do with emails showing up a week late, or never getting there, It has all to do with this virus and its fucking up people mail.

I sent a mail to Donny before I went get tacos, came home and he has replied, so its clearly not on my end.

Its people saying they are not getting emails.

I will begin sending out ccs to another email addrss so I can make sure mine are going out, and will be setting up a machine for icq later today.

I try my best to stay in contact with everyone, but havenhad to get away from icq because like 1000 people have me on their damn list and all i get is birthday announcements and crap I dont care about.

shit I get about 30 icqs a day just about BOARD DRAMA, this is why I am getting a new number for business only.

its quite hectic running a one man show, as you should know.

:glugglug

That true. I shut my icq of for a hour or 2 then turn it back on and it's lit up like a xmas tree. And some ofthe orders are gone or what ever.
Pain in the ass but that's how we do it!

no, I'm saying give your clients the OPTION to call YOU. If they have your number, and are stewing in hatred & frustration for 2 weeks because they haven't gotten something (and assuming you've sent it via email), then it's really not your fault or problem. All they gotta do is pick up the phone and ask you what's up.

Example 1:

You: (send out email with client links)

Client: (project is "overdue") (doesn't get email) (thinks violent thoughts and ponders a good location to dump Fletch's body)

You: (get no reply, assume everything is groovy)

[time passes here]

Client: (finally gets and email off to you and threatens your existence for lack of delivery)

---------------------------------------------------

Example 2:

You: (send out email with client links)

Client: (project is "overdue") (doesn't get email) (makes phone call to see what's up)

You: (explain to client that you sent out email months ago)

Issue: is resolved by either communicating the url over the phone or by some other means)

and everyone goes home happy.

I see your point.

good idea.

or there are always more professional alternatives:

Create a protected client area complete with logins for each client, so that you can give your clients ONE url ONE time. From that point they are able to login and check progress, download shit, and click their project urls to their hearts desire.

Simple. No more emailing links around the globe, no more miscommunications, and they have 24 hour access to their stuff.

:)

Now that's a good idea.:thumbsup

:winkwink:

Yeah it is.

The only difference between what I do and that, is that its protected by a login, otherwise, I do send out a url where the client can download all zips regarding their project, and sometimes view it as well,.. and thats the url that some havent recieved heh. maybe I should set it up BEFORE i do thwe work to make sure they have the url heheh

All in all, its just a matter of miscommunication, and trying to manage hundreds of emails, icq messages, while trying to focus on pumping out work.

I have to turn icq off to get work done, youd be surprised how many people hit me up in a day just to "chat"

i love all of you, but I dont really have time to chat.

I put in over 10 hours a day on adult stuff, and try to work in my other projects afterwards, it gets tough to manage it all.

And I dont have a desire for employees, at all.

so Ill just have to tighten up the operations.

Thanks for the advice aMP.

One of my guys has that setup for me. It's actually pretty slick. I can download past work, new work, old invoices, new invoices, etc. Extremely simple setup but works very nicely. Fletch, you should definitely look into this. Would be a great solution.

I have never trusted email or ICQ. I always cross-reference them... "did you get my email?" "Did you get my ICQ?"

At Phat Servers we don't offer ICQ technical support, only email and phone. ICQ is just too unreliable and untrackable. Giving ICQ the axe eliminated all of the "why didn't you add my new domain?" hate messages.

It's pretty sad when you think about it.

I cant even manage the

"are you there?"'s

hehehe

i get about 50 a day



:1orglaugh

mine has evolved quite a bit over the years, but yeah... if you have more than one project under your belt, it's the only good acceptable way to operate and still keep your sanity. Very organized and eliminates all the problems. :)

Or how about the guys that ask question after question after question. Don't get me wrong, I'm available to answer questions, but it would be great if I could get all questions at once so I can spend 10 minutes on a good email per person instead of an hour over ICQ per person and questions still aren't answered!

Argh. Might go to a phone only policy soon. I hate email. :)