Anyone else having problems sending emails via Blacknight Solutions today?
I had a desperate time trying to send mails this morning and I have three emails trying to get out now which can’t seem to send.
Normally they are reliable – ironically their support is via email so finding out what is causing this could be a problem!
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They also offer support by telephone afaik on 1850 927 280. It’s not like they only offer support via email.
If only they had a blog where they could put up posts when they are having problems.
Oh, hang on, they have a blog they just don’t use it as suggested above.
Have you been talking to them? Was it a recognised problem on their end?
And while they are getting that fixed (I was unable to send mail from about 4PM Irish time to about 10PM Irish time yesterday), can you ask them to sort out the spam problem?
ta!
bernard
What’s more, Blacknight has support forums too: were they used? What do you want posted on the blog?
“Have you been talking to them? Was it a recognised problem on their end?”
Sorry Anthony but that is a contradictory couple of statements. If you talk to them, there is never a recognised problem at their end.
Hi Keith – I forgot you started working for Blacknight. Congratulations on the new job. How is it going for you?
Tom
As has already been mentioned we provide multiple methods of contact – not only email.
At present your options are:
Locall 1850 927 280
International +353 (0)59 9183072
UK 0870 163 0607
Our support desk accepts tickets via email and via the web interface.
There is also our support forum which we tend to use for any service affecting announcements and where end users may contact us if they experience issues, though if it is important most people simply pick up the phone.
You also have the IM contact details of both myself and other members of my staff and my personal mobile number.
Would it have been that hard for you to contact us?
Michele
Not bad at all so far, and I’m kept pretty busy! The worst thing about it is getting up to Sligo; if I want to I have to take off from work pretty early and head up to Dublin.
Michele, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I checked the forums and there is no mention of any email issues yesterday.
The reason for the post was to try to ascertain if I was the only person having this problem (from Bernard’s response it appears I wasn’t).
Curiously, any time I do contact support I am the only person experiencing the reported problem.
Tom
If you had made any attempt to contact our support team they would have informed you of any issues with the server your site is on and also offered you a simple solution for sending mail.
Ah, but that doesn’t stop you from posting something up there, does it?
That’s not my experience of the service dept’s response Michele and we have had this discussion before.
True Keith but I was trying to ascertain if the problem was one others were experiencing and to be brutally frank, I suspect my blog has a higher readership than the Blacknight Support forums.
Tom … like hosting365status.com ??
You know, it’s ok if you’re the first to post up something. Nobody’ll bite unless you ask.
But your blog isn’t the Blacknight Support Forum, and I don’t think Michele would be too happy if everybody spent their whole time reading weblogs.
Tom
No matter what we say I have the strong feeling that you will not be satisfied.
As I’ve already told you we offer multiple points of contact. You chose not to avail of any of them and preferred to infer that we were difficult to contact.
If you have an issue with your hosting account you know how to contact us. If you choose not to do so then that is your prerogative, however I would appreciate it if you did not try to make out that we do not offer you ample avenues to contact us.
Regards
Michele
Michele
Would all of your customers have the same access to you and your staff that you extend to Tom? (IM contact details and your personal mobile number.)
You mentioned three numbers in your comment of 9.45am, yet I’ve just looked at the support page on the Blacknight site and only the 1850 number is on the page, in a strip along the bottom. Maybe you should list these numbers more prominently in the body of the page?
Gerry
No – With several thousand clients I’m not going to give out my mobile number to every single one of them
Even without my mobile and IM contact details we’re not a hard company to touch base with if there is an issue.
We list the 1850 number in the footer as it fits easily. There’s also a link to the “contact us” page where all the other numbers are listed. As we have several lines on the 1850 number and the bulk of our clients are based in Ireland the 1850 is the most popular option.
Regards
Michele
Michele
Of course not, and I admit that I was being a bit facetious in my question.
But it’s not that easy to find. My point is that the number should be more prominent in the page so that people don’t have to go hunting for it. I’d imagine that you have a fair few small businesses as customers, people whose computer skills are fairly limited, and would prefer to pick up the phone and speak to someone, rather than go through a ticket system if a problem arises.
Gerry
So something similar to what we have on the left of the main page might help?
Michele
Yes. I had spotted that, but my first impression was that this was a sales line only. If you displayed that number prominently in your support page, then it would be happy days all round for all concerned, imo.
regards
Gerry
As I said already Keith, my post wasn’t aimed at a readership within Blacknight, rather it was aimed at people using Blacknight’s services to see if anyone else was having a problem.
Change the attitude of your support personnel, Michele and that will go a long way to satisfying not just me but all of your customers.
As you well know Michele, I have been a strong champion of Blacknight – to the point that I have a reseller account with Blacknight.
However, of late, as I have said to you privately in emails, Blacknight’s support has been poor.
I can’t speak for him, but I think Michele’s beef is that you didn’t use the many channels available to contact support before posting this. It’s a matter of tact more than anything else.
Of course it’s going to be when you don’t get in contact with them. That said, I do agree with Gerry that it should probably be made explicit that the 1850 number can be used for support.
Keith
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
Michele
I didn’t contact support, Keith because I am tired of being told by Blacknight support, whenever I report an issue, that the fault is mine.
I decided it would be better to see if anyone else was having a problem. Then I would know that the problem wasn’t mine alone.
…or more precisely, not Blacknight’s fault. After all, all the Blacknight can fix is problems on their own side.
It seems something of an exaggeration to say that whenever you report an issue, you’re invariably told that it’s your fault. And even if that’s so, was support right (that it wasn’t Blacknight’s fault) or wrong?