My Favorite Human Auto-Response From Support

[click]

You know guys, you can get support scripts that just look for keywords and auto-respond. They can spell better too. :rolleyes:

Just posting this to share my pain a bit, maybe give some people a chuckle.
Group hug with the victims of a company that uses 0th Level Support?

================================================
Hi,

Starting today my php scripts cannot connect to smtp.powweb.com on port 25.
No changes were made by me.

Our organisation relies heavily on email for order placement, payment
processing and many other functions. Please let me know what is going on.
eg.,

Warning: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to
smtp.powweb.com:25 in
/<removed>/pow.<user>/<path>/class.smtp.php
on line 105
================================================
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. In your e-mail you mentioned that php scripts cannot connct to your outgoing mail server smtp.powweg.com. It seems like your outlook settings may be correpted. Please check the outlook settigs. You can use following steps to set the outlook:

<snip>..instructions on configuring outlook..</snip>

If the issue still persists please get back to us with login information of your outlook, screenshot of the error message and screenshot of the outlook port settings.
================================================
> oh wow.
> this has nothing to do with outlook. As i said, it is my php scripts that
> cannot connect to your mail server smtp.powweb.com
> I don't use outlook, but my mail client connects fine. I've also never heard
> of outlook settings becoming corrupted, let alone correpted.
>
> It is the connection between php scripts on your web server:
> 65-254-250-110.yourhostingaccount.com
> and your mailserver: smtp.powweb.com (65.254.250.101)
> This was working fine up until today.
> I have managed to get it to work by pointing my scripts at
> mail.<domain>.com (xx.different.ip.xxx) but i want to know why it
> changed with no warning.
>
> If you do not understand what i am saying, please pass this ticket to
> someone who does.
================================================
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I have discussed with our engineers and they told that the scripts which you wish to have in the e-mails in the SMTP are third party scripts and you need to debug it on you end.
================================================
> That is unacceptable.
> I am not asking anything about my scripts, im asking about a socket
> connection to your mail server.
>
> The scripts were working fine. They connected to smtp.powweb.com:25 and
> sent email and have done so for years!
> Nothing was changed by me and suddenly last week they stopped working!
>
> Do not tell me this is not something you support. It has nothing to do
> with the scripts as they were not changed. Something on your end changed
> without warning and i would like to know why and whether it will happen
> again?
>
> If i had not found that mail.<domain>.com:25 worked instead
> (please? why is this?) we would have been out of business for almost a
> week now and all support can tell us is that because we use 3rd party
> scripts this means that powwebs mailservers dont have to work and can
> change without warning?
>
> Its not the scripts. ANY php script attempting to make a socket
> connection to smtp.powweb.com will fail.
================================================== =====
then finally
================================================== =====
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I have checked the URL http://<incorrecturl>/class.smtp.php and was unable to access the mailing interface of the Web site and received the error message ‘The page cannot be displayed’. Hence, please provide us with the scriptmailler URL of the Web site from where you are trying to send e-mails. Once you provide us with the requested information, we will check the functionality from our end.
================================================== =====


The last guy (I call 1st Level) seemed like he wanted to help but i was bored by then and had found a workaround.

[YvetteKuhns]

Forward your stupid email replies to Lisa or Joshua. They are trying to improve support communications. My emails have been stupid like that which is why I prefer to CALL support. I can hear the "what are you talking about" tone in their voices and I continue to explain until they appear to comprehend the problem.

[tpoynton]

I just come here :)

[YvetteKuhns]

If your problem requires PowWeb support, you should be able to get it. One client had a problem with her access files and no one on the forum could help with that! It took more than a week for them to do something that should have taken minutes! And I told my client that it wouldn't take long to fix it! :eek:

[tpoynton]

I did have a time when I had to contact support...and I'm sure there are plenty of times when it is necessary. It was just so long ago now that I cant remember it. There were times when I thought I needed to contact them, then ended up solving the issue either on my own or with help here...before the ticket was solved (I wont say closed, because that is different :) )

I'll follow your tact and call in the future, if needed!

[Doc C]

Sounds like what happened the other day at work. I had one of my techs call IBM to find out where a laptop sent in for service was. The call was outsourced to some call center in wherever. The IBM rep kept wanting reference numbers, tracking numbers, lottery numbers. After 30 minutes, I told my tech to give the guy 2 hours to find the laptop and call back.

About an hour later, the same tech called IBM for another laptop problem. He got IBM service in Atlanta, Georgia. The rep set up service for the next day. My guy asked the IBM guy if he could help locate the "missing" laptop. Thirty seconds after giving IBM the serial number, we had the current location of the laptop and ETA onsite.

The first IBM rep never called back.

Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with the first post, but it's a good story anyway. :)

[Capo]

I received a similar email from Powweb support recently. It had horrible grammar and was filled with spelling errors. I'm not usually one to worry about such things, but it was so bad I had to re-read the email about 5 times before I understood what I thought he was trying to say.

[linnetwoods]

Clearly then, the best support available at the moment is the Live Chat, or at least it has been for me on the last two or three occasions that I've had a problem...

[YvetteKuhns]

I usually do well with phone support but haven't tried Live Chat with PowWeb yet. I did okay with Live Chat with other companies (when it was working).

[patr547]

I'd say that 96% of the time I've used live chat my problems were solved nearly immediately. The once or twice I have contacted support over e-mail were horrendous. I only do e-mail if I'm experiencing a problem that isn't really specific to my account, but PowWeb in general, and the people get so confused and start asking me for my security answers, I have to repeat what my problem was a few times, explain the basics of how computers work... it's just a big mess, and I don't think I'll ever e-mail support again..

I've never tried calling, maybe I'll give it a whirl some day. :D

[YvetteKuhns]

Phone support will still ask for the answer of your security question. But after that, you can explain your problem and have an idea if the person seems to understand or not. Email support seems to make a quick response related to one word in the message and often give off-topic answers.

I love talking to the friendly, polite Canadian phone support. Sometimes I don't get them. When I get Manila, I often have to repeat myself. (The phone connection seems too far away!) Some people recognize me from the forum and feel more comfortable talking to me. I think that support must get some angry customers who may raise their voices in frustration!