Notice for bounced email

Aziz

Hi There,

Is there way you may add a notice for bounced emails?

In many occasions when we make a reservation for a customer and click to send an email we then go to another screen, until a customer calls with a complaint that he never received an email. Unfortunately it is only then we are able to see that by going into his reservation and see a notice with bounced notification. Is there a way you can add a notice for bounced emails in the main screen? 

Regards 
Aziz

Ben

I have also requested this. On several occasions the customer has booked elsewhere in the meantime as they didn't receive their booking confirmation email due to their email address being incorrect and the notification bouncing. By the time we find out its too late. Regarding your answer Angela, this is useful but would be more beneficial if provided as a scheduled report - another feature request which has been out there for a while.

Thanks

Ben

parawing742

I miss seeing these several times a year and since it's a rather important alert, we should be able to be notified when it happens. I don't get enough to warrant a dashboard widget, but if Checkfront would just send me an email when there is a bounce that would be a useful option as well.

Brittany

Hi Ben and Parawing!

Thank you for your contributions to this discussion.

These are some great points that I have raised to our Product team in addition to the existing feature request for email bounce notifications.

We really appreciate this feedback! You can read more about how we handle feature requests here.

Warm regards,

Brittany
Checkfront Support Team

parawing742

Is the current recommend method to ensure bounced emails are found and corrected to manually run that report Angela suggested on a daily basis?

Brett

Hi Parawing,

Thank you for your question.

Yes, that is the best way to track bounces currently. If you are receiving enough bounced emails that it is an issue, there might be an underlying cause that could be worth investigating. Occasionally, the subject or body of the email can cause a higher bounce rate, so something as simple as modifying your wording can improve deliverability. For more information, I would recommend reading Postmark's best practices guide which can be found here: https://postmarkapp.com/guides/transactional-email-bounce-handling-best-practices

I hope this helps, but if you have any other questions or would like help investigating the bounce issue, feel free to reach out to us at support@checkfront.com.

Best Regards,
Brett
Checkfront Support Team

parawing742

The problem is that there isn't any way to know when there is a bounced email without running a report. I don't get many bounced emails, but when I do it's usually because the customer entered their address incorrectly. Since there's no way to tell when this happens without running a report every day, I almost always miss them and either lose the booking or make the customer unhappy because they wonder why they never received a confirmation. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's a huge problem. This really should have been fixed years ago.

TurismoCaNica

ditto

parawing742

The part that is shocking to me is this problem actively hurts Checkfront client's business and nothing is being done about it. I've lost several bookings over the years from the email bounce issue which cost me hundreds of dollars. Want to ensure a customer's booking has gone through to them? You're going to have to run a daily report or you'll never know about the error. The is a real world problem. Why isn't it being fixed?

Ben

I echo parawing742's experience. It mostly occurs due to a typo in the email address and it doesn't happen very often but when it does occur there is a real risk I will lose the customers booking and they will go elsewhere - forever. To manually run a report each day is possible but as Checkfront already issues a notification in red against the booking when the email bounces, why not simply make this notification a pop up and the issue is solved - no?  

parawing742

Is there a way to get this prioritized as a bug instead of a feature request? We lose hundreds of dollars on every failed booking that the customer thought didn't go through because of a misspelled email address.

checkfront_laura

Thank you for your feedback, TurismoCaNica and Ben, and thanks for the providing additional context, Parawing742. I understand why adding this additional automation for bounced emails would be really helpful. I have included this information in the existing request for the review of our Product and Development teams. 

Laura 
Customer Support Manager 

parawing742

Is there any update on this? I almost lost another booking due to this bug and it's just not realistic to ask people to run a daily report for an infrequent (yet critical) error. Customers sometimes enter their email wrong and there isn't any way to prevent this. The best we could hope for is to be notified when there is an error.

checkfront_laura

No update at this time, Parawing742. I'm sorry to hear this happened, and I understand why adding a notification for bounced emails would solve a pain point for you. As soon as there's an update, I'll be sure to post in this thread and let everyone know. Thanks again for reaching out! 

TurismoCaNica

So Laura...all that talk about posting a road map and letting us know what your are working on was basically crap. You are providing the same standard "gee that's a really good idea and we will get back to you someday in the future" answer that is of absolutely no value to us because we have no idea where our ideas end up.

Apologies for the directness but we are running out of patience.

parawing742

It's not a pain point, Laura. It's a major, critical error in how the software operates. When an major error such as a bounced email happens, we should be notified. The fact that this error is being completely ignored by Checkfront is telling. Overall, Checkfront saves me tons of time, but over the years it has also cost me hundreds of dollars in lost rentals due to this error. I'd be happy to share a detailed list of bookings/customers that I have lost due to this error if you'd like proof. Yet here we are years later with no indication if/when this error will ever be fixed.

parawing742

Can we please have a conversation why this error is being ignored and/or not prioritized as a bug? A quick search of the forums shows that it's been known to Checkfront for over six years (thread here: https://www.checkfront.com/forum/discussion/comment/964/). I've asked support directly and they say it's not a priority and there is no ETA for a fix.

Am I the only business owner on here who has lost revenue/customers over this simple issue?

checkfront_laura

Hi @parawing742 and @TurismoCaNica - please keep an eye out for an email from our team. Thanks! 

Ben

Hi, Has anything been done about this requirement yet? Anything you wish to share with the rest of us?

checkfront_laura

Hi there @Ben! While I don't have an update at this time, I'd love to chat further about your specific requirements, as well as learn more about your experience with Checkfront so far. Please check your inbox for an email from me. Thanks! 

Ben

Hi Laura, I think the thread provides a clear understanding what the issue is. It's not something that happens frequently, maybe once every few months if that, but it is something that has a potentially large impact in losing the sale and customer for good. An instantaneous alert is required, as I have stated before, you already write an error log message saying its bounced, just make that more visible so the user can act on it immediately. It should be a simple fix that closes a potential revenue loss loophole for your customers that has been on this thread for almost a year with no action! @parawing742 @TurismoCaNica ; and I have provided examples how this oversight can have a huge impact - we are the vocal ones, how many more customers are saying nothing? I think its a shame that Checkfront deem feedback regarding their software (regardless if its a bug or an enhancement) from users who have actually lost money AND customers as not being important enough to correct within a 12 month period. 

Ben

to add. I use a few workarounds in Checkfront as I understand its not perfect and doesn't do everything out of the box I want. I accept that but I do find it frustrating that a reasonable request, identified by several of your customers as having an impact gets fobbed off for so long. Is the request that obscure? I await your response but I won't hold my breath for any fix.