****** how do I handle a situation like this..

[hightechrex]

So, I go to this business establishment on Friday, the 1st at around 3:30. Off the bat, the guy comes like 15-20minutes late. He explains to me that he's been sending out what he calls a "blast." I assumed he means a "bulk mailing" campaign. In this campaign he mails out his specials and menu to all his clients. He claims that it doesn't send.

What I Did
Created a new email and sent it directly to me and only me from his outlook it worked and I got the email. So I established that there was nothing wrong on the networking side of things. I then checked his Inbox and saw about 12,000 emails marked as "undelivered." Half of the emails he sent out were incorrect. He also had 22 distribution list created for only God knows what reason. He had been sending them out daily and had basically made a huge mess of everything. I told him, I could take it back and if he gave me a couple days I could sort everything out. He refused to let me do that, fair enough. To make it worst I spent over 2 hours there and he spent over an hour of that time on the phone.. After doing my best to fix this "mess" I bulked them into one list and asked him to show me what he usually does when sending out emails. Because I didn't understand why his clients weren't receiving them. From what I saw, everything was fine.. outside of the completely messy structure. He shows me what he does, creates the email, and incorrectly BCCs the addresses. So his customers email addresses all show up in the email header. He gets upset, writes me a check, and I leave. I attempt to cash the check on monday; bank says that a stop payment was placed.. so I call him back and now he's real upset and wants to take me to court for "lost clients". Because his customers called him back upset at the whole debacle. From emails that HE sent out.

WTF?

 

[14049752]

He shows me what he does, sends out emails, and incorrectly BCCs the email. So his customers email addresses all show up in the email header. He gets upset, writes me a check, and I leave.

So...I'm not exactly sure what's happening here. He's showing you what he does.....then just gets upset? What happened between those two things to cause him to get upset?
Why would you combine his distribution lists? What was the point of that...doesn't make sense to me how that would have any effect.

It sounds like the obvious problem he initially had was that he was trying to bulk e-mail just using outlook...probably getting marked as a spammer and having e-mails rejected. He needs to be advised on how to do it right, and that's not just changing the CC/BCC stuff.


Also, I know I'm not touching on what to do next. Part of it depends on why he's upset at you and placing blame.

 

[hightechrex]

So...I'm not exactly sure what's happening here. He's showing you what he does.....then just gets upset? What happened between those two things to cause him to get upset?
Why would you combine his distribution lists? What was the point of that...doesn't make sense to me how that would have any effect.

It sounds like the obvious problem he initially had was that he was trying to bulk e-mail just using outlook...probably getting marked as a spammer and having e-mails rejected. He needs to be advised on how to do it right, and that's not just changing the CC/BCC stuff.

He had them split into 22 list.. because he claimed it only worked when he split up the list. I explained to him that using JUST outlook was not the way to go. I even gave him names of a few programs and even companies that would take care of that for him. He didnt want to spend the money and he insisted on only using outlook.

 

[14049752]

So, he was upset that you combined his lists? So, just split them up again for him. Let him know that the main problem is very likely that he's being marked as a spammer (and that's why he can't send them all at once, to begin with).

He needs to be aware that most ISPs are going to monitor that kind of mass mailing and actively block it.... exactly why your one e-mail sent and his mass mailings don't. It doesn't matter if they worked for him previously. A phone call to his ISP support (to a knowledgeable tech support person) could probably confirm that for you.


If you're up to it, you can contact him and tell him the situation. Tell him that you're goal is to help him, but you also have to work within the limitations he's placed on you....meaning that he might have to send far less e-mails out per day or pay something minimal to cover it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

He didnt want to spend the money and he insisted on only using outlook.

Then you walk away. Sure some cheap users may try to cheat the system and it may work for a couple of campaigns. But they will eventually get on the **** lists...I mean..black lists, and their SMTP server of the week will block them. They can try to sneak around that and use some other SMTP service...only to get canned again. Wash...rinse...repeat.

ISPs clamp down on spamming IP addresses pretty quickly these days.
As do mail filtering services for the recipients.

And Outlook can't deal with large volumes of recipients very well...we can fill this forum with pages on this subject....but it's best to just say "use a real mail blast service!"

 

[altrenda]

He doesn't seem like the type of client you're looking for.
He's already proved he's a time suck and unreasonable.

Move on and find other clients.

 

[lan101]

I think I would just mark it down as a loss and move on. If he's aware of better options and doesn't want to spend the money, I'd say his own fault. If he stopped payment on a check and not even telling you why he was so upset to do that, that's just bad business in my opinion. I don't think I would be comfortable working for someone like that in the future.

 

[hightechrex]

So, he was upset that you combined his lists? So, just split them up again for him. Let him know that the main problem is very likely that he's being marked as a spammer (and that's why he can't send them all at once, to begin with).

He needs to be aware that most ISPs are going to monitor that kind of mass mailing and actively block it.... exactly why your one e-mail sent and his mass mailings don't. It doesn't matter if they worked for him previously. A phone call to his ISP support (to a knowledgeable tech support person) could probably confirm that for you.


If you're up to it, you can contact him and tell him the situation. Tell him that you're goal is to help him, but you also have to work within the limitations he's placed on you....meaning that he might have to send far less e-mails out per day or pay something minimal to cover it.

I explained that to him and also told him that his ISP "time warner" was limiting the activity. Again explained that he needed to use a "true" bulk mailing program or company. He declined all my advice, wanted it done his way, and then got upset. ON top of that, he spent most of the time on the phone. Which made it even more difficult to explain things to him, because I'd be interrupted halfway through.

 

[phaZed]

Ditch that customer. If you feel like it you can send him a collections letter for the money owed. In a court of law, if you had your TOS/agreement signed, he is still liable for payment. In court, the stop payment is proof that he agreed to pay you, you left, and he then "tricks" you.

 

[14049752]

I explained that to him and also told him that his ISP "time warner" was limiting the activity. Again explained that he needed to use a "true" bulk mailing program or company. He declined all my advice, wanted it done his way, and then got upset. ON top of that, he spent most of the time on the phone. Which made it even more difficult to explain things to him, because I'd be interrupted halfway through.

Yeah, so exactly what others have said: Forget him and move on. You can't please him.

Assuming you have a signed work order and written advice to him to change how he does his mailings (because it won't work that way), you're probably not going to have any problems from him.

 

[hightechrex]

Ditch that customer. If you feel like it you can send him a collections letter for the money owed. In a court of law, if you had your TOS/agreement signed, he is still liable for payment. In court, the stop payment is proof that he agreed to pay you, you left, and he then "tricks" you.

Thank god, i had that signed and have a copy of it.

 

[JustInspired]

I've come across a few customers who were doing the same sort of thing with Outlook; spending hours and hours sending to a few addresses, then another few etc etc. Some do it to 'save money' and some don't know any better. How do you save money doing it that way if your time is worth money?

I have converted all of them to MailChimp and they LOVE it. Both my wife and I use it to send out newsletters and special offers for our two businesses.

"You can send 12,000 emails a month to a list of up to 2,000 subscribers with MailChimp’s Forever Free plan, though a few features are only available to paying users. "

Anyhoo, I agree 100% that you need to ditch that customer.

 

[hightechrex]

and also..

Kinda random, but why in the world do I have a red dot? Someone has nothing better to do it seems..

 

[Xander]

Kinda random, but why in the world do I have a red dot? Someone has nothing better to do it seems..

Takes more than someONE to achieve that. Under the old system, I think it was five. Since it's been revised, I'm not sure how many it takes.

 

[Knightsman]

I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you. Its uneeded stress from a jerk.

let this be your start to learning the signs of good and bad customers. Him not wanting to spend the money on a system that works, is a bad sign. Don't ever try to make a system that you know isnt setup right...work. Thats where you get yourself in trouble, because then the client will blame you for it continuing to not work. I hate these types of customers.

Some may disagree with this, and I may be wrong, but it sounds like your still new to this, and ive gone through the same silly stuff, and im sure a bunch on here has.

As you grow, you will learn to spot the signs, but I would love to help as much as possible for not to learn the hard way like I did, dealing with dead beat customers.

 

[nesrinamb]

1. He is probably on the spam list so he definitely lost customers for doing the most annoying thing in the world that everyone hates. (his fault not yours)

2. unless its a lot leave it

3. If he takes you to court counter sue for the money he cost you going to court and any expenses you incurred

4. He doesn't have a case.

 

[bits-n-bytes]

There is a line item on your taxes for deadbeats.. put him on that list

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I explained that to him and also told him that his ISP "time warner" was limiting the activity. Again explained that he needed to use a "true" bulk mailing program or company. He declined all my advice, wanted it done his way, .

You will run into "clients" like this.

The way I look at it....you explain how you can help him, by setting them up with standardized "best practices". They can either accept your help, or refuse your help.

What I will not do...ever....is setup something that I don't believe in, that I know is wrong, that is below my standards, ...you get my drift. I know some people would just take the money and run. I would rather walk away than stamp my name on a piss poor setup.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Kinda random, but why in the world do I have a red dot? Someone has nothing better to do it seems..

A thread you started that I and probably a few others reported and the thread was deleted. Can't remember what it was about since I tend not to dwell, but it was well deserved. If you look in your stats or somewhere in the user control panel, there will be comments associated to why it was given to you.

Takes more than someONE to achieve that. Under the old system, I think it was five. Since it's been revised, I'm not sure how many it takes.

Definitely still takes more than one. And considering it was a thread the OP started and got deleted, the mods didn't approve either...

 

[hightechrex]

A thread you started that I and probably a few others reported and the thread was deleted. Can't remember what it was about since I tend not to dwell, but it was well deserved. If you look in your stats or somewhere in the user control panel, there will be comments associated to why it was given to you.



Definitely still takes more than one. And considering it was a thread the OP started and got deleted, the mods didn't approve either...

Alright, there are quite a few grey areas present in all this. All of which I'm no longer immediately concerned with. Back to the original topic, sorry for the interruption. With that being said, I am new to all this and I do agree that I should of walked away when the client exhibited signs of being "shady." I have learned from this and will be better prepared for a similar situation.