Jan. 03, 2012
Why call an e-mail address 'service' when you don't actually provide any service via that address? Just use the noreply address you use in other communication and let your customer know onbeforehand that you don't want their feedback.
Over the course of the past month we switched energy and gas providers for our house. We went to the Dutch Essent company, which seemed to be the cheapest choice this year. To transfer smoothly, Essent asked us to provide our current usage numbers. This could be done via a straightforward process using a simple web form. I didn't even need to log in. This worked perfectly. Kudos!
Then I noticed that the form allowed me to only enter the gas usage, whereas I expected to have to enter energy usage as well. So I returned to the form via a different route, which was easy to find and specified in their e-mail. Again, straightforward, does what it is supposed to do. But also no way to enter my energy usage.
I receive the confirmation e-mail for entering our gas usage, which they let me request. That e-mail contains the usage numbers I provided and my account identification. Good information to have on hand. I see that the return address on that message isn't a 'noreply' address, but a 'service' address. So I respond to that address with my question: how is it that you don't have me provide my energy usage?
And what I receive in turn is a response indicating that they don't want to help me, because this e-mail address isn't monitored. Please provide feedback via their web site's customer service desk.
Touch the image to download a larger version (92KB)
Now, the good thing about this is that they did respond and told me where to go next. The bad thing is that this response comes from a 'service' address. That is totally unexpected. It is the kind of response you'd expect from a 'noreply' address instead.
What could Essent have done?
Good: Essent could have included the address for their web site customer service desk in the confirmation e-mail about my usage numbers.
They also could have sent that confirmation e-mail from the 'noreply' address.
Best: Essent could have accepted my inquiry to their 'service' address, instead of requiring me to take another step, sending me to another station.
So how do we categorize this?
We've created a new category for this bad behaviour:
"dead end coming up, but we won't tell you".
Then I noticed that the form allowed me to only enter the gas usage, whereas I expected to have to enter energy usage as well. So I returned to the form via a different route, which was easy to find and specified in their e-mail. Again, straightforward, does what it is supposed to do. But also no way to enter my energy usage.
I receive the confirmation e-mail for entering our gas usage, which they let me request. That e-mail contains the usage numbers I provided and my account identification. Good information to have on hand. I see that the return address on that message isn't a 'noreply' address, but a 'service' address. So I respond to that address with my question: how is it that you don't have me provide my energy usage?
And what I receive in turn is a response indicating that they don't want to help me, because this e-mail address isn't monitored. Please provide feedback via their web site's customer service desk.
Touch the image to download a larger version (92KB)
Now, the good thing about this is that they did respond and told me where to go next. The bad thing is that this response comes from a 'service' address. That is totally unexpected. It is the kind of response you'd expect from a 'noreply' address instead.
What could Essent have done?
Good: Essent could have included the address for their web site customer service desk in the confirmation e-mail about my usage numbers.
They also could have sent that confirmation e-mail from the 'noreply' address.
Best: Essent could have accepted my inquiry to their 'service' address, instead of requiring me to take another step, sending me to another station.
So how do we categorize this?
We've created a new category for this bad behaviour:
"dead end coming up, but we won't tell you".
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