emails with 'no reply' addresses grrr

brightonman123

WHY do firms do this?? so annoying, having to go through their website enquiry forms each time, to follow up a query..

should be outlawed!:mad:

custardy

brightonman123 wrote: »

WHY do firms do this?? so annoying, having to go through their website enquiry forms each time, to follow up a query..

should be outlawed!:mad:

because the contact us forms allow for a level of control on the content and layout of the information supplied.
random emails do not

geordieracer

And it also stops the email address from getting spammed to high heaven and filling up on useless junk which could lead to genuine queries being missed and upset customers.

madtrekker

In our company, it's to make sure you get a response.

For example, if you replied to a standard "order despatched" email, the emails come in to us with the subject header RE:Order Despatched X0700X. This looks like the multiple other emails with the same subject that arrive because they've either bounced due to customers giving the wrong email address or because there's an out-of-office reply or similar. If we get too many at once, the email system thinks they're spam and they get filtered.

However, if you use the "contact us" form on our website, we get a nice email with the subject "customer query" and it is prioritised for a response. Our email systems know it's come from our website so never mistake it for spam mail. By filling in the form on the website, we also have a database record of the enquiry as a backup in case the email gets lost in cyberspace or something!

Azari

geordieracer wrote: »

And it also stops the email address from getting spammed to high heaven and filling up on useless junk which could lead to genuine queries being missed and upset customers.

That, is a very good point.

I hadn't thought of that.

vikingaero

The cynic in me says that with a Contact Us form the customer finds it harder to save a copy of the communication and loses part of the paper trail if a complaint needs escalation...

brightonman123

vikingaero wrote: »

The cynic in me says that with a Contact Us form the customer finds it harder to save a copy of the communication and loses part of the paper trail if a complaint needs escalation...

my thoughts exactly. imagine if wikileaks had ALL the info..!:rotfl:

brightonman123

good point, re lack of proof on web contact pages..

it seems its ok for firms to spam the hell out of us though..? rather defeats wholwe point of email programs having a reply button..

RuthnJasper

vikingaero wrote: »

The cynic in me says that with a Contact Us form the customer finds it harder to save a copy of the communication and loses part of the paper trail if a complaint needs escalation...

If I'm ever filling in one of those forms and I need to save what I've sent, I either press the "Print Screen" button with the form completed and save the image in Paint, or I copy and paste the text in the boxes to a Word Document.

That might make me sound a bit paranoid - but with some issues, like contacting a financial institution or my Housing Association, I'd rather err on the side of caution!

custardy

RuthnJasper wrote: »

If I'm ever filling in one of those forms and I need to save what I've sent, I either press the "Print Screen" button with the form completed and save the image in Paint, or I copy and paste the text in the boxes to a Word Document.

That might make me sound a bit paranoid - but with some issues, like contacting a financial institution or my Housing Association, I'd rather err on the side of caution!

Vista and Windows 7 have a built in screen grab ' snipping' program

johnnyboyrebel

custardy wrote: »

Vista and Windows 7 have a built in screen grab ' snipping' program

So does every other version of Windows, its called "prtscr";)