It Really Pisses Me Off When…

I run a small web based business and one of the items I sell is an eBook. Once paid for a download link valid for 24 hours is provided by e-mail. I’ve sold several hundred of these eBooks and nobody has had a problem. Except Yahoo users.

It really pisses me off when I start to get snotty e-mails from a customer. The latest saga…

I get an e-mail in block capitals (something else that pisses me off lol) saying “I paid and I didn’t get a download link.” Oooooookay. I get the same receipt she does. Mine had the link in it. Hers apparently had magically disappeared. Anyway, I sent the link again and asked for confirmation of receipt. I didn’t hear a word until two days later.

I get another e-mail. “I paid for an eBook and I didn’t get it. I have paid. Where’s my eBook?” Well, I thought to myself, it’s probably sitting as an expired link in your frigging spam folder as that is pretty much where everything ends up when sent to a Yahoo e-mail address. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a friends list or not. If Yahoo accepts the e-mail (which it often doesn’t and I have to resend) into the jolly old spam folder it goes.

Taking my life in my hands I write to the dreaded Yahoo e-mail address again. This time I attach a copy of the eBook as a file. Once again I asked for confirmation of receipt. Once again I didn’t hear anything for two days.

I get a third e-mail. “I paid for an eBook and I haven’t got it. This is my third e-mail.” Yep. Mine too. The time I’ve wasted is worth more than the cost of the damn book. Instant messenger I thought to myself. File transfer. I wrote an e-mail to that effect and waited. And waited. And waited.

24 hours later still nothing. O.K. Let’s phone her I thought and tell her to look in the damn spam folder or go online if it’s already been deleted. I phoned. Guess what? The person who has that phone number not only isn’t her but denies all knowledge of her. And was really pissed off with me for daring to call his number.

If people are going to use a bloody awful web based e-mail service like Yahoo rather than the nice, safe and reliable e-mail account for use in Outlook Express that their ISP gives them then they shouldn’t come bitching to me if they can’t be bothered to look in their spam folder. I even have an FAQ section just for Yahoo on the web site because where e-mail is concerned it’s the pits.

Oh yeah… and I wish people wouldn’t lie about their phone numbers. How the fuck is a business supposed to follow up a problem with that attitude?

It’s worth noting that I am not the only one with major Yahoo issues. A world famous astrologer’s web site now warns that if people are going to purchase and give a Yahoo e-mail address that when they don’t receive their chart it’s down to them. Any e-mails relating to non-delivery caused by web based e-mail will be ignored.

While I remember… the customer is not always right. And Yahoo sucks.

One Response

  1. Ms. Sanity 03/07/2009

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