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Recently Ally posted a blog about an amazing customer service experience she received. She explained how well the situation was handled by the company and how they kept her best interest as a customer in mind. The story I'm about to share is the exact opposite of that.

I have been shopping at a well known nationwide video game retail establishment for years. I have never run into any significant problems until recently. Last year about this time, they implemented power up cards for an annual fee of 15 dollars. These cards consist of a way to earn points by trading in games, buying games, etc... These points can be used to receive discounts when you make purchases as well. I purchased one of the cards.

Towards the end of the year, after my purchase, I started to become inundated with emails on a daily basis from this retailer. At first, I figured it'd just be easy enough to delete them each day and be done with it. A couple weeks later I got tired of dealing with it so I decided to unsubscribe from their mailings. The first thing that should be noted is nowhere in their mailings does it give you the option to unsubscribe. The only option it provides is to change your preferences. Working in e-mail marketing on a daily basis, this immediately threw up a red flag. I clicked on the preferences link but found no option to completely unsubscribe from their mailings. After digging a little deeper into the preferences, I finally found an option to fully unsubscribe. When I selected this option, I received a message stating it will more than likely take up to 2 weeks to fully unsubscribe me. I'm was not happy with this response but at least the mailings would stop.

The time comes when my card expires and I'm asked if I want to renew by the store manager. I decided to go ahead and renew because I think everything is fine until I go to use the renewed card. I'm told by the in store manager my card is not being accepted by their system. They provide me with a customer service number to call and tell me it should be an easy fix and they probably just have some incorrect information in their computers.

I call the customer service line and after waiting almost 45 minutes, I get through to a representative and tell him what is going on. He proceeds to put me on hold for another 15 minutes and then comes back to tell me he realizes what happened. He tells me I chose to unsubscribe from all of their mailings which in turn apparently cancelled my card...a card which I paid for and has absolutely nothing to do with the mailings they send me. I don't agree with the situation but tell him to opt me back in so my card can be reactivated. He says that's not an option and the only way I can activate my card is to purchase a new one. WHAT?! I ask nicely to speak with a manager and he lets me know none are available at this time so I was sent to a voicemail where I left my number...no call back.

After all this has taken place, I decide to go to the retail store and talk to the manager who I've known for many years. He is shocked by what I've been told and is kind of enough to give me a card for free and also took the time to call customer service while I was in the store(they have a direct line with no wait time.) The customer service rep relays the same information to the manager and informs him that even though they have activated a new card for me, I've lost ALL my points I have earned over the years, and they had no way of getting them back. The manager assured me he will be emailing their district manager about my situation, but I have no faith anything positive will come out of it.

I am extremely grateful for the extra steps the store manager took. He went above and beyond his responsibilities to assist me in any way possible. From a corporate standpoint however, never in my life have I felt so insignificant or helpless as a customer. I will never purchase anything from this company again. Had they just handled this situation in a professional manner, I wouldn't be writing this blog and they wouldn't be losing business from a faithful customer who has been purchasing from them for years.

At Delivra we strive to provide the best customer service possible to our clients. We will always take into account the issues you are experiencing and will do our best to go above and beyond to satisfy your needs and provide you with a prompt and satisfactory resolution. And if you're looking for help with issues such as setting the right expectations, monitoring engagement/complaints for burn-out, or providing recipients with an easy and friendly method of controlling their email preferences, just let us know. We're glad to help.

Many of our clients ask what they should include in their requests when they have a question for Support. Listed below is the ideal information we would prefer to be included in your request:

List name - This is located in the top right hand corner of our website. You will see 'List' and then your list name.

Content name - If this is a question regarding a piece of your content, please provide the exact name of the content. If it's located in a folder, please also provide the name of the folder where it's located

Screenshots - If at all possible, always include screen shots of the issue you may be experiencing. The easiest way to do this is to use the print screen key located on your keyboard, pull up Microsoft Word, and paste it into the Word document and attach it to your request.

NOTE: If you are using dual monitors, hold down the alt key when pressing the print screen key to get a screen shot that shows what is occurring on just the one monitor.

Detail - Please be extremely detailed on exactly what is taking place when writing your request.

Video - If this is something not easily described, we recommend using a free video program called Jing. It's located at the following site: http://www.techsmith.com/jing/

This allows you to record your screen and the exact steps you're taking, you can then upload it and provide us the link to view the video. The program does require a download to your desktop in order to utilize it. If you need help using it, they have great tutorials on their website. I recommend checking out http://www.techsmith.com/learn/jing/.

Providing this information in your initial request not only gives us a better path to begin researching the issue but it also allows us to provide a prompt resolution from the Support team.

I would say that is my most frequently asked question as a Support Analyst, so I'd like to take some time and explain the difference between the two.

Segments

Segments are used to group members together based on a certain demographic(s) they have in common. A demographic can be anything from a city to a state to a zipcode. We also offer text and comment demographic fields you can choose to input any data into the field.

For example, if you wanted to send an email invitation to anyone within a 20 mile radius of your event, then you could set up a segment based on that demographic field. As long as the email address has a zip code associated with that member's record in the database, then you can easily create the segment. 

Categories

Categories are also used to group members together, but they do not have to be based on a specific demographic. This can be any group of members you would like to generate a mailing to regardless of demographic fields. Once the category is created, you can continually update your category by importing new members. 

As you can see, though both serve the same purpose, there are some significant differences between segments and categories and the process of utilizing each of them. In the end, it all comes down to what is best and most efficient for you and your business.

The Support Team at Delivra thrives on assisting our clients in an accurate and timely manner. That is our primary responsibility and we address each phone call/e-mail with the utmost importance. Another responsibility of the Support Team is not only assisting, but also teaching our clients about the software. Listed below are some of the more commonly asked questions we receive from clients.

1. Where do I find my list name?

A. Your list name is located in the top right hand corner of the Delivra website. The actual name is located next to 'List.'

2. Why does my HTML content look different when pasting into the editor from another program?

A. If you choose to paste the information by using ctrl+v or right clicking and choosing paste, there is a good chance the HTML content may look drastically different. To resolve this, always make sure to choose 'Paste as plain text' in the editor. This will eliminate a lot of those issues with content looking incorrect.

3. I've edited my content and now it's completely incorrect, how can I get it back to how it was?

A. If you've made a numerous amount of changes, there's a good chance you will not be able to click the undo button to resolve every change. Support recommends before making big changes within your content that you create a copy.  The following steps will allow you to do this:

• Click Content
• Click View Content
• Click Copy next to your file name
• Name the content whatever you would like

B. You should now see a copy of your current content. Open that copy and make any changes that you would like and you will still have the original with no changes made.

4. What is the difference between a soft bounce and a hard bounce?

A. Soft is a temporary failure being reported by the recipient's server (example: mailbox full or out of office).

B. Hard is a permanent failure being reported by the recipient's server (example: recipient's mailing address is no longer valid).

• NOTE: If a member hard bounces on 3 consecutive emails, that member will be changed to a held status. That means any future mailings will not be sent to that member.

5. What is the maximum size for images?

A. 600 pixels

If you have any questions or need assistance, please do not ever hesitate to contact us. You can reach us by e-mail at support@delivra.com or by phone at 1-866-915-9465.

Chris Sapp | Support