Ok ok, we give up: We turned on Meh's order confirmation emails.
25We tried our best. We started out without any order confirmations - you could just go to meh.com/orders we reasoned. But enough people needed them here and there that we caved and made it an optional button on your order confirmation page.
Well, the customer support emails kept coming. So, in an effort to help keep at least a few people from writing us, asking if their order went through, or other things that are in that confirmation, we've turned them on for all orders.
We don't think they're necessary. We don't like it. But we also don't like the mountain of customer support emails we're still working through, and we hate thinking anyone's real concern is getting a delayed reply because we're having to answer basic order confirmation questions.
So that's where we're at.
- 52 comments, 148 replies
- Comment
"A common misconception when making something foolproof is underestimating the ingenuity of a total fool." ~~ Douglas Adams
@joedel263 That is perfect.
@joedel263 many (many*) years ago, one of my college computer science professors told the class, "there are three levels of programming: fool proof, damn fool proof and idiot proof. sadly, nothing is idiot proof." *(it was so long ago, the class was for COBOL!)
@ekw Way back when I was working on some software to teach math problems, the guy running the project told us all, "For every foolproof program, there is a bigger fool."
@joedel263 @ekw @2many2no
(you already know what he's sayin')
@joedel263 I'm "like" #69.
Boooooo
@Ignorant oooooooooo (Right there with you.)
@dave oooooooooooooooooooooo
@billymayfield -urns. I was saying Booo-urns.
Sorry Adam. We tried.
@shawn Aw man. :(
each confirmation email should blame the current scapegoat for the inbox clutter
@snapster "Don't like this email, blame @joelmw"
@snapster My name is Bogie, and I approve this message. addition to our confirmation emails.
@snapster Is there anyway to have multiple goats for February, because if so I need to head over to the nomination thread before it is too late.
@snapster We are going to need more than a goat for this development! I'll miss the simplicity of receiving no emails.
@snapster How about the current goat gets CC'd on every single order confirmation? That'll teach the damn goat!!
@kadagan Great Googly Moogly! Even a goat can't eat that much trash.
@2many2no Maybe CC the goat on all support request emails instead (or in addition!)?
@kadagan :-)
So is there a way to tell the site we don't want confirmation e-mails? The opposite of what you were doing?
@mediobarkre same thought - that feature has been requested but I think it's back to the end of the line to wait it's turn
@mediobarkre I came here to ask this! I want to save the bandwidth for meh.com, so it doesn't come screeching to a halt when a new item is listed. I want to do my part.
@mediobarkre @snapster Would also be good as an account setting, like the ATM cards which remember I hate receipts
@mediobarkre opt out! opt out! opt out!
@snapster I like the e-mails - I use them to forward to my SO so she knows what's what on the credit card statement. But I was perfectly happy clicking the send button too...
@mediobarkre you're onto something. A user specific setting would be nice. On by default, but able to be turned off, and even turned on for single orders like it was before.
@MrGlass I want your ATM card
@mediobarkre I second this
@fury Having the option was great since I could use it as a reminder to alert my neighbor that something would be coming while I was out of town.
@snapster It sounds like you're telling us, with a wink and a nod, that we should clutter the customer service email with requests to stop sending us emails until there's an opt-out? Or am I reading that wrong? I'm not very knowledgeable on how lines work. Or reading.
@mediobarkre For only $19, you too can opt out of the email confirmation. ...per month.
@fury ugh, more options = bad, both from the standpoint of the end user, and the support staff who have to deal with them. The best thing to do is what Meh did: look at the data, pick an option for everyone, and go with it.
@shawn: yep.
I could see emails being useful for when the green processing bar is stuck, and people don't know they actually got their order through until after trying to order 6 more times.
Does the order email also include a separate shipping email, or will it instruct people to check their order pages for updates?
@lichme "your order has shipped" emails should be coming next week if all goes to plan. Because people just have to have transactional emails for every. fucking. thing.
@shawn Will we be able to turn those off? Cause most of the time I don't give a shit when something from Meh shows up, it's not often that I need 10 neoprene sleeves immediately.
@shawn Right. (Would you send me a confirmation for this conversation?)
@shawn booooooooooooo
@shawn Seems like you could do more. Separate emails: Your item has been placed in a shipping box. Your box has been taped. Your box has a label. ...
@medz Sadly, I would love this. I love tracking. It's like stalking my purchases. ;-)
@tomvarela is your account set up to receive emails when someone replies to you in the forums?
@medz They just need to make a meh ship meter. I want to know who is placing my item in a box and taping it shut, ala the Dominos pizza tracker.
@shawn Its because their parents didn't love them. They need constant confirmations and affirmations.
@G1 That was a joke for shawn. ("Because people just have to have transactional emails for every. fucking. thing.")
@lichme @shawn Looking forward to the shipped notifications that is actually more important to me than the purchased. But I also LIKE the purchase confirmation. I file them in my email archive (OCD) and it's easier to search for them there than trying to remember where I bought some stupid thing and logging in to every shopping site for warranties etc. <Plays a tiny violin for you people that don't know how to set up email filters> I'd probably vote for a profile setting though on whether you want it.
I think this is kinda sad. The lack of email confirmations is one of the things that makes Meh, truly meh. It's unique. I guess pressure to conform has been to great.
What will be next? Forum police?
@Teripie
Fuckheck no.EDITED FOR CONTENT BY FORUM POLICE
@Teripie *too :)
@hart Don't you motherfuckers start fucking censoring my fucking posts. 'Cause then I'll get really fucking pissed.
@joelmw
Hey, shut the fuck up.Thank you for being a loyal customer. Your opinion matters to us and we take your comments very seriously. Have a nice day.EDITED FOR CONTENT BY FORUM POLICE
@nedreck the forum police aren't here, but the grammar police are out in full force.
How am I supposed to keep my secret purchases secret when you're leaving this document trail?
@billymayfield like SnapChat, but for ecommerce.
@shawn hey @snapster - now here is a use for the vanishing emails - people who don't want others to see what they have purchased LOL
@shawn you do realize what an absolutely golden idea that is, right???
Confirmation emails FTW!!! One simple gmail rule and it goes sorted in with the rest! WELL DONE MEH!
@unixrab You DON'T order anything, so how hard is it to keep track of your Meh purchases?
@dashcloud I think he secretly does. I'm getting this guy figured out and I think he's nicer than he lets on.
@MsELizardBeth @dashcloud
@MsELizardBeth ... I'm nice! I'm a cuddly Brown bear!
@unixrab like this guy?
@MsELizardBeth @unixrab Or, uh, like this guy?
@MsELizardBeth @unixrab No like this guy… RIght?
Or maybe this guy? 
@MsELizardBeth @unixrab or...
@MsELizardBeth @kidsandliz @cinoclav Yes, yes,... yes... and ... uh. Yes?
@MsELizardBeth
@erlarson85
@j_sh A new staffer!
What's with all the giving up around here lately? Buncha quitters.
@pitamuffin Maybe they are hoping that a high percentage of their customer support issues will be non issues if they sent them? (just guessing)...
@pitamuffin The post kinda sums up this give up: CS emails. It costs time and money to answer those. Sending out emails will reduce emails to CS.
@Ignorant But you get a nice email.
@TheCO2 I hope it is not nice. Something like "Hey, loser, here's the info you couldn't look up by yourself. Dumby."
@chellemonkey That would be perfect.
@chellemonkey or nothing but a link to the order page.
@gspitman hahaha awesome
I'm sadly relieved. Relieved that with the addition of confirmation and shipping emails, the forums will have a few less posts accusing mediocre of stealing from them.
Sad because it shouldn't be that damned hard. Unfortunately, the online consumer is no longer just the web savvy person; but the luddites, grandparents, and the people who depend having things shoved down their throats, instead of seeking out only what they want/need.
@Thumperchick
@unixrab I don't get this one.
@Thumperchick
@Thumperchick 's'okay ... others do !
@unixrab but...but... I gotsta know
@Thumperchick I believe that's mildly impressed and amused. He agrees and enjoyed your articulate comment.
@RedHot That's what I was leaning towards, but sometimes with @unixrab, you have to assume the worst. ;)
@RedHot @thumperchick
"....That's what she said"
@unixrab she said "sometimes with @unixrab, you have to assume the worst. ;)" ?
@RedHot
I'm fine with the emails. Just sayin.
@jsh139 bonus points
Seems like another example of people just not reading
anymore. The concept was just fine if you read your screen.
@speediedelivery tl;dr
@dave I notice that clicking the tracking number now bypasses the Google page and goes directly to FedEx.
Another change for us luddites?
If you make this too easy, you'll attract even more nincompoops, thus creating a downward spiral... every improvement will create more bitching for the next simplification.
How about "1-click" buys? Even better, voice activated forums (you talk, it types.)
@2many2no Nice catch on the tracking number change!
@2many2no
Saints be praised!!!
@2many2no SWEET
Can you just mail me a printed receipt instead?
@shawn Wow! For the record I'm all for no email. But do whatever makes your lives easier.
@thrashsoundly I would like my receipt handwritten using a Kuretake No. 13 calligraphy brush on Legion Parchtone paper, gently folded and sealed with the Meh insignia pressed into J. Herbin /70 purple sealing wax.
@parodymandotcom they'd need to add at least $0.50 to the VMP price to afford that much class.
When I make my next purchase I will without a doubt be sending an email to costumer service about the confirmation email. What happened to going green?!?! I tend to make my purchases in the middle of my sleep, I do not wish to be reminded about what crap I bought when I check my email in the morning.
@bruinscbr "costumer service" are these the people who support those who create the fun wardrobes of film and stage actors?
I would like 30 of them, please.
I have to admit, I was one of those "luddites" that initially preferred a confirmation email, so I checked the box.
However, I eventually saw the light and my last *cough*several*cough* orders I haven't bothered to check that box.
And I'm still alive.
And I didn't have an order ship for several weeks before contacting support (which got worked out).
Somehow.
Perhaps a vote of confidence for those who would just turn them back off, early notifications? Hem...
How about sending out fresh baked cookies with the tracking numbers iced on top?
One more step towards normalcy. That is not what I expect from meh or mediocre. I thought we were reimagining commerce here. Next thing you know will have real order numbers because folks don't like phrases. It is a slippery slope you are heading down @dave.
@readnj Bite your tongue! One of the best things about buying speaker docks and everything else I don't need is the bizarre phrase I get at the end. It's like a fortune in my fortune cookie!
How about making the auto-reply CS email to everybody say, "we got your email about not receiving a confirmation email. Click here to resolve this" with a link to a site explaining why no confirmation email and when it's clicked it's logs the issue as resolved. After that the msg says, if this doesn't apply to you, we'll get back soon.
Email confirmations are reasonably reliably, reasonably instantaneous method saying Something Happened. Given the free flowing, chaotic nature of the Internet, that's kinda important.
It's all fun and games until some script kiddie tries to buy a couple hundred bucks of junk on some forgotten account with stored CC information. Never happened to me, nope. And I was totally not thankful that I got an email notification and got the purchase reversed within a few hours, rather than having to pick a fight with my bank.
So yeah, I think they are necessary. And I like them. Add an option to disable notifications, but I'm keeping them on.
@sirnuke Which is why we all had the option to choose whether we wanted confirmation emails by clicking one simple button after making a purchase. It's not that damn hard. I did it for every order I made after it was introduced. I like the emails, but I feel like it's a shame that they had to change the way they wanted to run their business because people are too damn stupid to click a button. What I can't figure out is how these idiots managed to find the support link and/or email but not the order page.
@PurplePawprints really?
@unixrab Wait, so are you agreeing or disagreeing with me here? It's 1:00 AM here and I can't make my brain work this late (which is why Meh gets my money tonight after my husband specifically told me not to buy anything for the next two weeks.)
@PurplePawprints That logic doesn't hold water. The person who makes a fraudulent purchase on your account isn't going to request a confirmation email.
@SSteve If someone is making fraudulent account purchases by accessing my account, I'm going to assume they'd be smart enough to also change the account's email address and login info. Also, log out and keep your passwords safe.
@sirnuke I agree. Confirmation emails are great.
@PurplePawprints yes
God, people are stupid. Ruining what was a reliably meh ordering system into what is "normal" for all the other websites.
Meh. Meh. Double Meh.
buy:receive receipt:done deal:responsibility_covered
This is worse than pagination, yet, we still don't get that. Racism at it's finest.
I don't understand all the rending of garments over a confirmation email. The delete button is easy to hit and the bandwidth is less than a single "deal with it" gif. The fact that not sending them resulted in extra work for CS is a pretty good indication that it was a flawed approach. If you only wanted to be selling to smart, tech-savvy people you should have bought Think Geek or Adafruit. But now you're stuck with us.
@dave @shawn just so ya know...
I don't know when this starts, but I ordered the oh-so-l33t 2-way radios tonight. The option to receive a confirmation email was gone, but I did not receive an email. (Unless they are delayed, it's been almost 2 hours.)
@2many2no You should shoot an email to CS. Hee hee hee hee
@SSteve
@2many2no They're being sent. Check your spam folder, check you inbound email rules, check your email address in your account settings, yada yada.
Right here is another reason I fucking hate transactional email. We setup DKIM settings, SPF settings, monitor outbound SMTP reputations and we still have a successful deliveryabiltiy percentage of 99.8%. It's just never going to be 100%.
Here's some other fun facts. When we had the button option to send order confirmation emails about 30% remained unopened.
But what really blows my mind is the 0.25% that reported the order confirmation email that we didn't want to send in the first place as spam. WTF?
@shawn I'm one of those who requests the email and never opens it. I request it so that it's in my inbox as a visible reminder that I've ordered something. I order so much from Meh I'd forget what I ordered otherwise. Once the item comes in the mail, I mark it as read without ever opening it. So yeah, that could be why some aren't opened. The ones marking it as spam are either assholes or idiots, though.
@shawn Reporting as spam might not be intentional… if your mail client is also filtering for spam on top of the filtering in gmail (or whatever), and you have IMAP properly set up, that message may be considered spam by the client software, and then gmail sees that it has been moved to spam and acts accordingly. Which, of course, begins sealing the fate for future confirmations as well…
@shawn OK, still no confirmation email yet, but I did get the email about your post. Nothing in spam or trash either, so it didn't get filtered.
I don't care if I get the email (although I do file confirmation emails old-skool style) but I figured you would want to know it didn't happen.
@shawn Fixed! Hit inbox @ 10:30AM.
Awesome. I love watching you guys work in real-time.
@2many2no awesome, but we didn't do anything over here
@shawn
@shawn What technology do you use to verify that someone has opened the email up? I have gMail set up to not download images unless asked.
@dave, Well typically after I hit the buy button I have a moment of regret but it very quickly subsides. Now I have the opportunity to relive that regret a second time while checking my email. Then I have to contemplate should I save or delete this email with all the other online transaction receipts. BTW how many emails are required to place an order these days?
Thanks meh. Thanks alot for adding to the clutter in my inbox. Just another reason NOT to order. For the record it's all @joelmw s fault!!!!
I <3 U meh!
@jimmyd103
@jimmyd103
@jimmyd103 Brought to you of course by
@joelmw Nice!
I understand that you guys get a lot of e-mails... Not complaining but could some of it be due to we get order has shipped then check and only label has been created for a while. But I'd much rather that then... FedEx shipping my package from TX, get to West Virginia, then Leave West Virginia on Saturday on it's way to Mass... and it getting lost in the storm that we didn't get much snow... like at all. In Vermont, (yes depending on their route they could have had a lot). Good news, they found it yesterday. :)
Edit
Bad news... Was just told it's delayed due to extreme weather conditions... again
We're all sad about it too, but @hollboll and @mehcus are virtually buried in CS requests. I'm glad there's at least something we can do to mitigate that. Mostly because I'm selfish and I miss talking to @hollboll while sipping my afternoon coffee.
We've made some other changes to prevent voided tracking numbers from being displayed, which should help them out a lot too.
I don't want more email either, but hopefully next time you need to contact support you'll get a reply sooner.
@katylava So far, every time CS has worked their magic, even when someone has inflicted some major bitchin', everything has worked out well and quite quickly.
If things like this improve your workload, bring it. I have always thought that one of the pillars of meh was to have fun (Cheer up, sucka!), so @hollboll and @mehcus, I hope this gives you a little break.
After all, everyone needs time to dick around at work.
Bath!
@TheCO2 Congratulations! You've posted the secret word -- for this you get a free email.
@katylava bath
@katylava
While I know that this is all my fault and I did in fact get unreasonably anxious upon first realization that I wouldn't be receiving a redundancy of affirming email messages with every order, I have to say that I had gotten quite used to the efficiency of the erstwhile superior meh system. It made me feel better than others, yaknow, like the way I feel saving my recyclables for recycling or taking my reusable bags into the grocery store (especially before it became law). Now we're stupid like everyone else. What the fuck was I thinking?
Bad goat.
@joelmw You're still better than everyone else.
I'd give you a black square if I could.
@2many2no Aw shucks.
@snapster
I like conformation emails. They get sorted, and I don't even notice them unless I need to look at them.
@Fen_Star I also perfer otder numbers to order phrases. That being said, with meh I never really cared enough. meh
I'm glad the Mediocre 500 Club has another thing that marks the Good Old Days we can all complain about.
But more seriously, anything that lets @hollboll and @mehcus manage their staggering workload better is OK here.
(Honestly, I'm always amused by people who can't handle e-mail. I've had it since 1981 and have every e-mail I've received since 1989*, and people who weren't even born then complain about how e-mail is just stupid and inboxes are impossible to manage. Losers, all of them.)
(* Hard drive crashes over the decades make some of that rather theoretical, but technically, they're still there.)
@editorkid Love the scathing rebuke followed by parenthetical disclaimer. I approve. :-D
@joelmw I admit to a natural advantage, being so old that what were we talking about?
@snapster @Bogie @MsELizardBeth @jimmyd103
Y'all are missing an obvious opportunity here. Goats are well-known garbage eaters.
Here's a famous cousin eating some kid's junk. He (the goat, not the human) was actually the star of the '74 World's Fair. I was there. I saw him. I heard him (he not only eats garbage, he talks).
Here's a less famous cousin working his way through the morning paper.
And behold, some civic-minded distant relatives cleaning up the streets of Cairo.
I know. Awesome, right? I myself specialize in repurposing post-consumer digital content. Why just the other day I reconstituted some crap I'd picked up at HuffPost and Salon into a rambling diatribe about, fittingly enough, the ignorance and gullibility of the American electorate. The downside here is that several of the variables involved in the remanufacture process are "charmingly" unsusceptible to control: in other words, you never know what you're gonna get. In fact, I feel a treatise on the sacerdotal significance of Super Bowl celebrations burbling in the bowels even now.
And, btw, those who think I have a potty mouth are under some serious fucking delusions about the orifices when this shit comes forth.
Realize, of course, that forwarding the emails will only multiply our collective problem. You'll need to send along those email accounts and passwords so I can start on the cleanup. Go ahead and send your banking account numbers as well. Just because.
You're welcome.
This is the most disappointing thing in my life all week.
Yeah, I live a pretty charmed life.
/me sets up filter to immediately trash all order emails from meh
@pwinn mine forward to meh
@Ignorant Aw, that just seems mean to their C/S people. It's clear they would rather not have done this. I blame the losers who send email to meh. >_>
@pwinn don't worry I don't really.
@Dave @Snapster allow people to, after reading a short little something about not asking stupid questions to CS, optionally not receive order confirmations.
@er1c Holy crap, a meh EULA!
Yeah, I would read that.
@2many2no @er1c @snapster @JonT But I'd probably be disappointed if it weren't profanity-laced and, like you've already implied, verbally abusive.
@2many2no @dave Not even a EULA, rather just a, on good faith that you reading this will (hopefully...wishfully) make you not waste resources with a stupid question kind of text.
It's like a burlap & felt blanket. Cozy, painful, and totally useless.
Can we turn Order Confirmations Off for individual users? I hate them. Why not make it an option in our profile like with the "Get E-mails when someone @ replies you". That way, I can choose to Opt Out.
@BillLehecka As @snapster said, this was requested (by us) but is hard to put in as a high priority feature over other issues, so not sure if/when it'll happen.
@dave What if I slipped you a cool, crisp 20 dollar bill... Would that make it High Priority?
@BillLehecka
These are sad, sad times we live in.
My only solace is the beautifully bizarro order confirmation phrase in place of the craptastic numbers I get everywhere else. If you ditch those, it's gonna be really painful to say "Yes, fine!" ;)
@modmamajama First it's forced emails confirmations. Next, it'll be order numbers. Where, oh where will it end?
@katblue http://www.woot.com/ (I kid.)
@joelmw Been there, done that. Bought the T shirt that was too baggy. Never again.
@joelmw As a goat, I wish that this was just a bad pun that you kid. Unfortunately I fear that it will soon go that way when people start demanding things that are on other sites and a revenue stream has to be created to support it all. I wonder if that is what lead to the downfall of Woot, even though they were able to disguise it and keep it fun for as long as possible.
@wisenekt Worthy wonderings; and it's pretty clear that you're not alone in those fears. I don't think that the absence of confirmation emails was what made meh meh, but I do think that it's good that we express our discontent with the possible trend, kid though I did. As @modmamajama alludes to, the "bizarro order confirmation phrase" seems far more intrinsic--and I have to say, I do have a much harder time even imagining a valid rationale for abandoning them. If anything, it would appear to be a larger trend. https://meh.com/forum/topics/what3words
@joelmw You forgot the 'beautifully' before my 'bizarro' -- as in, I heart them & will cry if they change because my life is just that Meh. :)
(Loving that link, btw)
@joelmw Not that I am trying to be one of those "The End is Near" guys from the movies, but I do express concern. Email systems cost money, both in setting up and maintaining and I have to imagine that it was a cost they seriously looked at. Since they just have two people, it was an investment they decided to make but the excess expenses have to be covered somehow, esp when Speaker Dock Friday doesn't hit the selling goals.
@modmamajama The subject line of the confirmation email should be the confirmation phrase.
@wisenekt Who told you they only have two people? They already had an email system set up, it just wouldn't dispatch emails unless you expressly confirmed wanting an email dispatched.
@er1c Mediocre told us. There are 2 people in the customer support department.
@Thumperchick The way she referred to the setup of email systems, email systems doesn't really allude to a CS team but rather a mail server, I thought she was referring to meh as being made up of two people, which we know is not true
@modmamajama You're right: beautiful they are.
Time to create a email filter directly to the Trash folder.
@grum That's thinkin positive! Lemons right into lemonade!
You know, if Meh gets any more sophisticated, they will have to change their name from Meh to Boooo.
@TheCO2 hmmmm
@unixrab No, not that Boo.
@TheCO2
@joelmw
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4592227
@unixrab DAMN you beat me to this one. Here is your receipt for beating me to this one.
And here is my receipt for your receipt.
@curtise Not too many Brazil fans nowadays ;-)
I like asking for the emails anyways, so this is nice
@hart I got one of these new emails (yuck) just wanted to give you a heads up that it looks like address line 2 is possibly printing as "null". In my email where it says street address for example "123 Sesame St null"
@chellemonkey Weird. I've let our dev team know about it.
back when i started shopping at meh, there were no confirmaiton emails... damn kids GET ORF MAH LAWN
I hate order confirmation emails.
They're as bad as the drug store that insists on handing me five feet of register tape every time I buy a single bottle of Coca-Cola.
One day I'll buy something and not be given pages of paperwork I'll never read.
One day.
@apLundell good luck with that! Sadly you are the outlier here, it seems that almost everyone would rather be handed something they never read when they buy stuff than deal with the ever so slight possibility of one day needing that thing and not having it.