DNAmail: Another Example of a Good Product With Lousy Support.

Gary North

March 3, 2009

I am trying to sign up for email services with a company called DNA Mail.

Yesterday, I filled in an on-line form. The form rejected me. It said that I had not filled in my website's address correctly. I had not put in www. But I had.

I looked again. There were two boxes. Both were filled in correctly. I tried again. I was rejected.

I made a GIF to prove my point. I posted it on a site page closed to the public. It showed that the form was filled in correctly. I then sent an email to the sales department.

Your system rejects me, saying I have not given my web site. I have, in both boxes.

I have prepared a page showing my problem:

//www.garynorth.com/public/[page ID]

The next morning, I received this reply:

Hello.

All you need to do is type in garynorth.com now www.garynorth.com.

Regards,

Frederick G.
DNA Mail Support and Sales
(800)628-3204
support@dnamail.com

Frederick has not answered my question. He sent me a meaningless, grammatically incorrect, one-line reply. Does it mean that I should remove www? The error message told me I had to include www.

The order form should accept the site's address with or without www. The idea is to generate sales, not confusion. No one told the person who designed the order form, "Make it so that it accrpts both forms of website address."

I also received this automated reply.

Dear valued DNAMail Client:

A few days ago your customer support ticket with us was closed. This is a courtesy email to make sure your issue has been resolved. If your issue hasn't been resolved please call the respective department below to report that the issue was not resolved.

Technical Support: (800) 628-3204
Billing/Service: (800) 628-3204

Ticket ID: 3426372
Ticket Date: Mar 2 2009 3:56PM
Completed by:
Customer: (#) Issue: Subject: I can't buy

Name: Gary North

Phone: --

Your system rejects me, saying I have not given my web site. I have, in both boxes.

I have prepared a page showing my problem:

//www.garynorth.com/public/[page ID]

Created from I
Solution: replied.

Thank You
DNAMail

First, I had not contacted support. I had contacted sales. Second, I had done so the day before, not "a few days ago." Third, the issue had not been resolved.

So, I sent a reply, using the REPLY button.

Since I sent this request in last night, this automated response is idiotic.

I instantly got back my letter.

Your message has encountered delivery problems to the following recipient(s):

support@exchangcarrier.net
(Was addressed to support@exchangcarrier.net)
Delivery failed after 1 attempts within 0 minutes

Destination domain does not exist.

The support staff had cleverly inserted a fake reply address that will bounce back all replies from recipients. "Get those complainers off our backs!"

Here is a company run by and for the support staff. It is not run for the benefit of customers. This is typical of high-tech companies.

In this economy, customers' money is important. The goal should be to get lots of customers.

I tried to sign up again. I gave them the required information: no www. This would make them $155.40/year. I clicked ORDER. A box popped up: I had not selected anything in the form on how I heard about the company.

So, they want information -- which I am tempted to fake -- and if I don't supply it, they don't want my money.

I make a lot of money with my on-line business. I assure you, I want my customers' monthly money. I do what I can to make it easy for customers to send me money. But I am in marketing. I am not a programmer.

The CEO needs to set up a system to monitor sales and support. Without monitoring, feedback, and sanctions, every system breaks down.

This company's systems have broken down.

We see this continually. The recession will eliminate companies that are not customer-friendly. In a depression, customer service goes up. For customers who don't lose their jobs, depressions offer real advantages.

P.S. I finally signed up. I took out the www. I thought I needed www. The pop-up box seemed to indicate this. I was wrong. I hope the company is technologically on top of things. Its marketing division surely isn't.