Folks, I cannot begin to even tell you how frustrating it is for me that I spend hours and hours and hours, and thousands and thousands of dollars, trying to stay on the bleeding edge of technology, JUST SO YOU WON’T HAVE TO, but then, when it comes to me condensing everything for you in to simple blog posts, over 75% of you won’t take the time to read and keep up.
Trust me… I KNOW everyone is busy (at least most of you want people to THINK you are)… however, what I bring you here at this blog is as condensed and up to date as I can bring it to you, and it’s not like I’m asking you to read a novel every day. Yet, some consider it too much of a burden on their precious time to take a few minutes (sometimes not even that long) to stay current on things here.
Case in point (TWICE THIS WEEK), we had technical issues to deal with. One we are STILL dealing with at the time of this post (The AOL Email Problem). In BOTH Cases, I posted information at this blog explaining (to the best of my ability) what was (and is) going on, what was being done to correct the problem, and what you should and could expect. Yet, even posting updates here to the blog, our phones still rang off the hook (IN BOTH INSTANCES) from people calling here wanting to know what was going on, why they couldn’t send or receive email, etc., when all of the answers I could give you were posted RIGHT HERE!!
Same goes for the AOL problem STILL GOING ON at this hour. I’ve had numerous email’s and phone calls today, wanting to know why AOL was bouncing all of their email… thinking “well… this MUST have something to do with the email problem EBAWebs had the other day.
Had you just come here FIRST and checked this blog, you would have seen exactly why some (if not all) of your email to AOL, Netscape, and cs.com subscribers, was bouncing.
Folks, I don’t post to this blog just because I have nothing better to do with my time… it’s PURELY for YOUR BENEFIT… and if you’re choosing not to monitor things that affect your business, then SHAME ON YOU!!
And please understand, when we have issues going on that involve ANY technical glitch or aspect of your web site and / or email…. we already know the issue exists LONG before you notice. We have alarms in place… we have bells and whistles that go off.. etc… so trust me… if you are having a problem… WE KNOW ABOUT IT.
If you are experiencing ANY problem with your site or email… come here… check the blog. If you don’t see anything posted here… the procedure is… FILL OUT A SUPPORT TICKET. Please do NOT call our office, or just send an email (if your email is working) because that defeats the whole purpose of having this blog and our support ticket system in place for you.
As much as you may think I sit in front of the computer 24/7, or sit by my phone ’round the clock, that’s just not possible. Therefore… the systems that are in place to monitor your site and your email, are there for a reason. You calling here, and emailing me… does not accomplish a whole lot…. other than to tie up our lines and manpower that we need to be using to focus on the problem at hand to get it fixed for you as quickly as humanly possible.
If a technical issue has been raised that affects everyone, a post will be put up RIGHT HERE at this blog addressing the issue, and what is being done about it. Calling our office to tell us you can’t send email… and sending faxes, etc., only takes away precious time we need to be dealing with your issue.
I can very much appreciate everyone wanting to know what’s going on… but please try to understand that you are not our only client… and if everyone picks up the phone and calls here to tell us you’re having a problem, without first checking here… and without first completing a trouble ticket, only serves to slow down our main task, and that is, to restore your service to 100% effectiveness as quickly as we can. Taking 5 minutes to answer questions on the phone may not seem like a big deal to you… but multiply that times 100 people calling, and look what it does.
So, please, in the future…. check the blog first. If you don’t see anything here that addresses any issue you may be having, DON’T SEND ME AN EMAIL. Use the TROUBLE TICKET form (there is a link from this blog just above the RSS Reader ICONS that says “Submit a Trouble Ticket”…. USE IT if you’re having problems.
As a reminder… the TROUBLE TICKET system is for JUST THAT… T-R-O-U-B-L-E…. not for things like “Would you please set up an email address for Joe Schmuck… he just joined our team….. Trouble tickets go to me… they also go to my 24/7 tech support guys and gals… so therefore… if you send me an email… and you tell me in that email that you are having a problem… our tech people will not see that. At the same time, if you call our office, leave a voice mail message saying you’re having a problem receiving email…. I may not get that message for hours… whereas submitting that trouble ticket will get your issue to me and our support staff almost immediately.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m ranting and raving here, because that is not my intention. However, this past week, based on the volume of calls we received about email issues, and the number of email’s (not support tickets) that I received, it spoke VOLUMES to me about how FEW OF YOU are bothering to follow the systems we have put in place for you.
Check the blog FIRST. If you don’t see anything concerning your issue (if it IS a technical issue) then SUBMIT A TROUBLE TICKET. Calling and emailing should be the LAST THING you do… and if everyone would PLEASE follow this system, it will make everyone’s life and job a lot simpler.
Thank you for your cooperation. Have a good weekend!
Ed