Send a notecard?

[Sassy Romano]

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Dresden Ceriano wrote:

You mean to tell me that you would honestly delete a person's notecard without even reading it, then turn around and expect them to retype everything again just because you didn't feel like reading it in a notecard?  How is that good for your customer?  If you IMed me with that attitude, I'd type it out again, sure... but I'd also never buy anything from you ever again.  And you have the nerve to speculate on other merchants attitudes?  Pfft.

...Dres

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commenting from the sideline, they wouldn't have to retype it all again, they'd just have to copy and paste from that notecard that they'd just spent time composing and now sits in their inventory

What I don't find helpful is merchants who ask for Notecards "because their IM's are capped" (and they can't be bothered/find out how to send IM's to email) so I send a notecard and in that notecard put clearly PLEASE DO NOT SEND *ME* A NOTECARD BUT REPLY BY IM ONLY, BECAUSE I *DO* HAVE IM'S TO EMAIL.

Then I get back an offline email saying I have been sent notecard inventory as a response.

I will reply to my customers with at least the method they contacted me with.  If they send a notecard, they'll get that back because I assume they've been brainwashed into thinking it's the only way, plus i'll send an IM.  If they send an IM, I generally assume they're enligthened and also have their IM's going to email so won't miss that reply.

For me, I do understand that some merchants organise their life via notecards and are only interested in responding when they log in.  If that's in their profile, that's fine.  "I log in once a month, notecards only if you have a problem" gives me a big clue where to shop.

My issue around this as a customer, lies with those merchants who appear to imply that because their IM's are capped, there is no way they could have seen your little IM asking for help.

Point being, regardless of whether a merchant prefers IM's or notecards as a form of contact, there really is little reason to state that their IM's get lost when such a trivial step would permit them to be received, albeit not inworld.  Is that too much to ask?

[Medhue Simoni]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I just went on vacation (to lovely chilly San Francisco) and handled all my customers service through email on my iPad -- I only logged in briefly (on a dinky laptop) so that as many of my IMs as possible would not cap (and would get into the IM log).  I put the IM log in Dropbox so whichever computer I am on, the messages get logged there.

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I recently got an android phone, only cause I left my old phone on the bumper of my car, lol. Yeah, my bill is a bit more now, but I love that I can log in with my phone and handle 90% of the support situations that I get. I will log in with my phone while I"m working on animation or mesh too, which can go on for hours without me noticing. I love that I can be right there for customers while still working on things outside SL. Plus, the main pc that I'm working on is not running SL while I'm running other numerous programs.

Oh, and I can go to my son's softball games or take my son out golfing without compromising the kind of support that I like to give. Usually tho, like I've said before, my products don't really require much support, especially if you take away failed deliveries. Once deliveries are taken out of the equation, I'm left with mostly questions or requests.

[Medhue Simoni]

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Sassy Romano wrote:

I will reply to my customers with at least the method they contacted me with.

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Not me. I always respond with IM, unless this is another merchant who I know would prefer a notecard. I have yet to ever receive a negative comment about sending some1 an IM, and from then on, that person will more likely, just IM me. I do not like to perpetuate the notecard sending. It soaks up time, and the conversations are not logged on my PC, for future reference.

I've actually failed to respond to a few notecards, because I tend to forget about them, if I have numerous other support issues when i log in.

[Sassy Romano]

I should clarify, i'm with you on all that you said about an Android phone.  If i'm inworld, I will IM first, if there's no response then i'll NC too but yes, I loathe the perpetuation of NC's because if I reply and am not online when they NC back *sighs* then I can't reply by email effectively.

So, if they send a NC and they're offline when I reply, they'll get an IM plus the NC, but it'll be a copy and paste of the IM that I  sent which will restate that it's easier to just IM me.

[Dresden Ceriano]

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VonGklugelstein Alter wrote:

its not an attitude, but I make it pretty clear on my profile to only send IM's and if people refuse to read the top line of a profile I wonder what their attitude is if they do the exact opposite of what I requested.. lol

 

and I do not clear trash at that point so if I really wanted to I could read it ..

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You have a point, I don't believe you mentioned that was in your profile.  As I said before, that's what merchants have to do in order to receive the type of communication they prefer. 

Of course there are still going to be people that don't bother reading a merchant's profile and yes, I can see how that can be aggravating.  But I still don't see the logic in not reading a customer's notecard in the first place... just seems like that would just be making things more difficult for the both of you.

...Dres

[Mickey Vandeverre]

I'm not really sure how to tell if a merchant or a customer has their IMs sent to email, so I will send a notecard just to be safe.  I don't think there is a way to tell that from their profile...is there?

One of the reasons that I moved to preferring a notecard is that when I read their profiles, the majority of my customers have the statement in their profiles that their messages get capped - send a notecard.  I have no way of knowing if their IMs are sent to email or not, so sending a notecard as they requested should meet the needs.  Since they are not necessarily business owners there might be a reason that they do not want IMs sent to email.

As far as only being interested only when logging in....not exactly.  I can log in when the notecard is received - usually.  So the response time is the same, whether an IM is sent or a notecard.  Same response time, so some of the comments on that are incorrect.

"I log in once a month...."  that is your interpretation or that is what is posted in their profile?

There is no way they could see their little IM....?  that is your interpretation?

I can see IMs...probably.  But it's not a guarantee.  If they send an IM, fine...we can respond to it.  A notecard request does not cancel out reading IMs.  I see IMs...just not sure if they all got through. 

Here's an example of an IM.

Bob:  hi

Merchant email response 1:  hi Bob...can I help you with something?

Bob: yes

Merchant email response 2: what may I help you with Bob?

Bob: I bought a sofa 2 years ago, and just lost it

Merchant email response 3: ok Bob...can you tell me which set that sofa goes with so I know which one to send?

Bob: it was a brown set.

Merchant email response 4: ok Bob...I've got several brown sets, can you be more specific?

Bob:  well I can't right now, I'm at a club.  it was a brown sofa.

Merchant email response 5:  ok Bob...when you get back home will you send me that info?

Bob:  ok

The above did not accomplish much.

Bob gets back home later that hour, later that day, the next day whatever and sends a notecard:

Title on notecard says:  missing sofa from tuscan set - Bob Smith

Hi Mickey -

I purchased the tuscan living room set a few years ago, and for some reason the sofa is missing - can you replace it?

Thanks,

Bob

Go in....send sofa.  Bob is not online. He logged off within 10 minutes of sending notecard.  While Bob's profile is pulled up it says "my IMs get capped"

So instead of sending an IM telling Bob that sofa has been sent - simply type into the notecard that he sent, that is already pulled up on screen,  and tell him that sofa was sent, be sure to make sure he receives it...send notecard.

That step takes same amount of time as sending back an IM....and probably takes one quarter of the time that responding back and forth to emails took.

As far as IMs getting lost...not sure why that happens. 

Perhaps it is the same reason that items do not get delivered from marketplace.

Perhaps it is the same reason that inventory suddenly disappears.

Perhaps it is the same reason that inventory rarely loads to the max.

Perhaps it is the same reason that we don't receive emails from LL anymore.

 

 

 

[Mylar]

I have had situations in the past where some one sent an IM, which went to my email. I log in and my IMs have been capped so that IM is not there. I then get the persons name from the email and search it, only to find that they've hidden their profile from the search. So at that point there's no way to contact that person.

Still, between notecards and IMs I prefer IMs, but I have no problems with either. Which ever way is easier for the customer.

[Darren Scorpio]

Mylar, you can reply to the person directly from the email, so even if they have chosen to hide their profile (a situation that has been fixed on the latest viewers) you can still reply to their IM.

[Sassy Romano]

 

No Mickey, there's no way to tell from a profile if they have IM's to email (unfortunately) which is why I will reply at least in the manner they contacted me but ALWAYS by IM in addition to responding to their notecard unless they answer an IM because I reply when they're online.

As for logging in as soon as a NC is received, many of us can't but can reply by email pretty much anytime and control a vending system to redeliver without logging in to do it from inventory.  Given those options, there's no need to "log in".

Yes there are plenty of merchants whose profile says "I log in rarely", "I'm not in SL often" and similar.  I've seen one that said "send a NC, if you send it by Sunday, i'll aim to respond by the following Sunday" or something like that, i forget the exact text.  Maybe it's just me but I don't have any difficulty finding such statements in profiles

On the long winded IM to emails, if someone sends me a "hi", I respond with "i'm offline, IM's go to email, if you need help, please supply full details stating which product you have, what is happening/not happening and what you want to happen".  That usually takes care of that.

Mickey, I know you handle responses in a suitable manner, i've referred to your picks entry before as a model, I just don't understand the many merchants that state "My IM's are capped, your message will NOT be received" when a very simple process means that it will be.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Well I removed that particular entry from the pics because it was snotty and unfair.  Learned some stuff since then.

I had the snotty message because I had chip on shoulder based on two particular merchants responses to a request for service.  One merchant did not respond for a week, and on the other one...I sent an IM with every single tidbit of info in the IM.  They sent IM back saying...You will have to put that info into a notecard.  And I'm like HUH?  they got the info in the IM, or they wouldn't be responding back!

But that was just 2 merchants.  Was unfair to make judgment call on entire population that asking for a notecard automatically means that you are a crappy merchant.  Might mean that one is a very organized and efficient merchant.

Now....most of the people that I respond to have that message that IMs get capped.  When I posted that message...it's simply a memo for them to be aware that a notecard is preferred.  That's all.  Unfair to read much more into that.

[Mylar]

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Darren Scorpio wrote:

Mylar, you can reply to the person directly from the email, so even if they have chosen to hide their profile (a situation that has been fixed on the latest viewers) you can still reply to their IM.

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I was not aware of this. Thank you :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

[Ciaran Laval]

Am i the only one who was a victim of the stuck im's fiasco that resulted in the arrival of im's that were months out of date a while back? Many a confused conversation when that happened.

I prefer notecards, as others have pointed out notecards help people get to the point, they are easy to organise, if you prefer im's then that's your preference, there's nothing at all wrong with asking people to fill in a notecard, some merchants even have a set notecard that has sections for asking your question to enable them to give you the right support.