Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Yahoo Rant - Serendipity - and Economy

You all know, we are an online business. So we communicate online. That would seem really apparent.

We contact clients via E-mail if there are problems with an order. People contact us, daily, with questions, problems they think we might solve, whatever. We get, and send, a LOT of Email.

But, not to Yahoo.

Two typical situations this week, the saving grace being that the second had a wonderfully delightful serendipitous ending.

A health care professional faxed us her license, so that we could email her the Promotional code for the discount. I promptly sent it. A week later she faxed it again. I re-sent the code. Three days later, she emailed, really irritated. I replied, again.

I have no other way to contact her. She has a Yahoo address. She thinks we ignored her. This happens a lot. People write with rather complicated questions, we spend a lot of time and effort answering. They think we don't bother to reply.


but... the good part of the story:

A client had placed his first order. Was very pleased, planned a second BIG order, but had some questions. I answered the questions as fully as possible. Two or three days later, he wrote again, asking the same questions. I answered them. Friday he emailed for the third time wondering if he had the wrong email address (he tried them all.) This time he left a phone number. I called him. We chatted for a long time (yes, I can talk about the oils for a LONG time, are you surprised?)

He mentioned our description of our Hay Absolute, where I wrote:

My dad was born, at the turn of the last century, on a farm in Economy Point, a little village in Nova Scotia. His father died before I was born, and my Uncle Fred took over the farm. Several summers in my childhood we drove from Boston to Economy, and spent a week visiting my Grannie, and Uncle Fred and Aunt Ella. It was an old fashioned farm. A team of draft horses pulled the equipment, and the huge hay wagons at harvest time. I remember the smell of that barn piled high with the dried hay, and riding on the wagon oh so high off the ground. When we sampled this lovely absolute, it brought back those memories."



And he shared that, a few months ago, he had been traveling across Nova Scotia, and spent the night at Economy.

Now, according to Spiritus-temporis Economy is a village of about 200 people. Economy is considered by most locally not only to consist of the village centre, Central Economy , but the areas to the east - Upper Economy, Brown Road, and Cove Road; south - Economy Point; north - Economy River Road and River Philip Road; and west - Carrs Brook and Lower Economy (the later including 'Soley Town').




My dad grew up in Economy point, on the Economy River,over a century ago.


What are the odds that a man interested in perfumery would spend the night there, and a few months later, Google for an oil, and connect with a daughter of Economy Point?


Meanwhile, I am VERY frustrated with YAHOO for refusing to deliver mail. We are not talking spam, here; we are talking responses to mail that their users send.


If you have a Yahoo email address, PLEASE either white list us, or at least check your spam folder regularly. And you might complain to them. We can't!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How about adding a little note next to the email address on the site and stating that if the sender is using a Yahoo mailbox, s/he should check the spam folder for your reply or whitelist you beforehand, and maybe suggesting getting a gmail?

Precaution should definitely help, I think.