I can honestly say I haven’t
gotten any helpful support from any organization in a long time. Sometimes it’s worse then bad. Here’s my current battle to get a
knowledgeable support person.
Okay I'm pissed at Interland. Interland is a hosting company in CA. that
hosts a number of sites I maintain.
alntricia.net being one of them.
Recently service has dropped off considerably - email has been up and
down, web sites have been up and down, when they are up they are slow etc etc.
Support at Interland has always been bad.
Every time I have had an issue it's taken a long time till I finally get
someone with enough intelligence that I can get the problem resolved. This RANT is to get some bad publicity out
on the net about Interland, and in the search engines, because INTERLAND PISSES
ME OFF!
One of the web sites has an simple application that uses a modified version of formail to add to a database and email the results. On 4/21/03 I noticed I wasn't getting emails from it. Upon further investigation I found it hadn't been working since 4/17/03. Following are transactions with Interland trying to get it fixed. Red text is comments by me, or changes I made to protect the innocent.
4/21/2003 10:12:17 PM: I open this call...
I am, and have been, using a modified version of formmail to
send information from a form. Recently (I believe on or about (4/17) it stopped
working. All logs that I can view seem to suggest that the email was
successfully sent, however it never arrives and I have no way of checking the
actual mail logs.
Has something changed? Can someone check the mail logs to see what is happening? Is there anyway in the future I can see these logs or get more information as to what is happening?
Thanks in advance,
Alan
4/23/2003 3:01:55 PM: There response and they
closed the call.
Thank you for contacting technical services. The issue was that you must force a valid from address at the $mailprog variable for authentication reasons for our relay server. I have adjusted the script and your form is working properly now: $mailprog = 'c:/winnt/system32/mail.exe -e someuser@somewhere.com; Again, thank you for contacting Technical Services. We appreciate your business. Sincerely Joseph A. Owens Systems Administrator Interland, Inc. Got Questions? Get Answers: http://answers.interland.com
So I check and it does appear to be working. However, I'm concerned because in looking at the modification times on the file it appears this started working an hour before they made the change. Unfortunately I don't believe in magic so I send the following email...
To: <Support@Interland.com>
Subject: Re: Interland Customer Support for Ticket#: 1645785
(Web/Other)
Cc:
Did this change?
This had been working for over a year.
Additionally it started working again yesterday 4/22 at about 1:45pm
EST. It appears your change wasn't made
till today 4/23 around 2:50pm so I'm slightly concerned that this was actually
the problem I was seeing.
Are there any logs that I can access in the future if this
stops working again to see why it has stopped?
Cheers,
Alan Brenden
To which I never hear anything back and life just goes on. That is until 5/6/03 when again I notice I’m not getting emails from the application. I get back on and try and re-open the ticket Interland closed but it says it’s closed more the 24 hours and I need to open a new one. Sooo….
5/6/2003 4:11:20 PM: I open a new ticket.
Please see 1645785 for
history. Again formmail is not working.
Previous solution was 'The
issue was that you must force a valid from address at the $mailprog variable
for authentication reasons for our relay server. I have adjusted the script and
your form is working properly now: $mailprog = 'c:/winnt/system32/mail.exe -e someuser@somewhere.com’;'
Which I questioned on
4/23/03 but never got a response...
'Did this change? This had
been working for over a year. Additionally it started working again yesterday
4/22 at about 1:45pm EST. It appears your change wasn't made till today 4/23
around 2:50pm so I'm slightly concerned that this was actually the problem I
was seeing.
Are there any logs that I
can access in the future if this stops working again to see why it has
stopped?'
This is a business critical
application and we cannot afford to have failures to the service like this.
Alan Brenden
5/7/2003 8:57:01 AM: There response and they
closed the ticket again!
Dear Mr. Brenden, The reason why your script may
have stopped working is because there is a new version of the script that is
more secure than the script that you have. The new script can be found at
http://www.scriptarchive.com/formmail. All you have to do is replace your
existing formmail script with this new version 1.92. Place the IP and domain in
the @referers field as you did previously. The only thing that will need to
change with this new script is the fact that the on your HTML form that is
posting to this script, the emailaddress that is listed as the recipient you
will have to add the IP and the domainname in the @referers field of the
formmail script. If you need documentation please see this URL
http://www.scriptarchive.com/readme/formmail.html. If you have any further
questions or concerns please contact our Technical Support Department. Regards,
Lincoln Lincoln P. Advanced Delivery Technical Support Got Questions? Get
Answers: http://answers.interland.com
5/7/2003 10:06:39 AM: I REOPEN the call again
This is not a valid response. Did anyone try and
figure out why this isn't working? Did anyone look at the mail logs? A valid email
is being given to the mail program. It is being dropped after that. I have no
way of looking any further then that. Someone needs to look at the mail logs on
the server.
This has worked for over a year the changes in
the new formail application shouldn't effect the way this one works. (I
went and checked what had changed in the new formmail and nothing changed that
would make any difference in the email the application was handing off to the
mail servers)
Someone please trouble shoot this problem rather
then taking guesses as to possible causes and offering suggestions. This only
lengthens the amount of time this problem continues. This is a business
critical application.
Alan Brenden
5/7/2003 7:52:52 PM: They respond and CLOSE the call again!
I apologize that you have been having trouble
with your formmail script, but the upgrade of the formmail.pl file to 1.92 is
not a request. It is a mandatory upgrade. Any version before 1.92 will not
work. You will need to upgrade to 1.92 if you want your forms to use
formmail.pl to send mail. I apologize that this comes as an inconvience to you,
but for security reasons, we cannot allow you to use 1.9a any longer. If you
have any other questions or concerns, please let us know. Joey Horne Interland
Technical Support Got Questions? Get Answers http://answers.interland.com
This is total bullcrap. 1st off if it was true I’d be pissed that they made a
change that breaks peoples web sites without any notification beforehand. Secondly, the new script isn’t going to
change what is sent to the mail server.
But Alas I want this fixed and I can see I’m getting no where. I download the new script, modify it and do
some testing. As I suspected it does
exactly the same thing. Two hours of waisted time.
5/8/2003 10:52:04 AM: I REOPEN the call again!
I have upgraded a test forum to formmail Version
1.92. The form can be called at http://Somewhere.com/test2.htm
and uses FormMail3.pl in the cgi-bin directory. As I suspected, this did not
resolve the problem. Could someone now please check the mail logs to see where
and why these emails are not being delivered.
Also, I would like a support manager to call me
at 978-640-0222.
Please do not close this ticket until this issue
is resolved!
Alan Brenden
5/8/2003 4:35:55 PM: They respond and CLOSE THE CALL! No one called!
Thank you for contacting technical support. When
tested, I received the confirmation page. However, there was an access denied
line. I have edited version 1.92 (FormMail1.pl), and received a successful
response when called from sampleform.htm I did not edit your order form to call
FormMail1.pl I have listed the primary lines in FormMail1.pl below:
=====================================================================================
$mailprog = 'c:/winnt/system32/mail.exe –e someone@somewhere.com;
@referers = ('123.23.45.67', 'somewhere.com',
'www.somewhere.com'); @recipients = ('someone\@somewhere\.com');
Please see link below for additional Information: Select: Specific Article >
Article# 14563
=====================================================================================
Regards, Ruel Ruel S. Interland, Inc. - Advanced Delivery Services Group Got
Questions? Get Answers:
Hmmmm, I go look and see his test files. I run them, and like mine, it works to the point it accepted the information but I never get an email. I do some more testing and then check the mailbox of where he sent his test. There isn’t ANY email – hear that? See that? NO EMAIL! THIS IS THE PROBLEM YOU MORON! The email correctly gets generated and passed off into Interlands mail routing where something happens to it. What I don’t know I can’t look at the logs, but if someone there doesn’t soon I’m going to explode!
5/9/2003 2:20:51 PM: I REOPEN the call. Apparently they missed the fact I asked them not to close it.
If someone would actually
look at the mail logs we'd be able to hurry this along a little bit by knowing
why these are being dropped. What are the mail logs complaining about? I have
valid $mailprogram, @referers, and @receipients lines. And have tried various
combinations of such.
In your test, using
sampleform.htm and formmail1.pl, I changed...
$mailprog =
'c:/winnt/system32/mail.exe –e someone@somewhere.com; @referers = ('123.23.45.67', 'somewhere.com',
'www.somewhere.com'); @recipients = ('someone\@somewhere\.com');
to...
$mailprog =
'c:/winnt/system32/mail.exe –e somebody@somewhere.com; @referers = ('123.23.45.67', 'somewhere.com',
'www.somewhere.com'); @recipients = ('somebody\@somewhere\.com');
The only thing I changed was
someone to somebody (which is a valid address) And this does not work!
This worked for over a year.
It stopped working on April 17th and miraculously started working again on the
23rd, then stopped again on May 5th. Your statement that 1.92 of formmail was a
mandatory update indicates to me that you believe changes on your side have been
made. If that is the case it would of been helpful to be informed of these
before they took place and took down the application running there.
As I have asked before.
PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE THIS CALL TILL THIS IS RESOLVED! Additionally, I would like
a support manager to call me at 978-640-0222. I believe this call history needs
to be reviewed.
Alan Brenden
5/9/2003 2:24:30 PM: I updated the call again to
point out that even HIS test didn’t work!
I should also note, that I checked usr028017
mailbox and there isn't any mail their either. So it appears even your test
didn't even work.
I haven’t heard anything back yet. It still is not working; I’ll update this when I hear anything.
5/11/2003 9:13 AM: - Took them long enough but
today I got this email…
Thank you for
your patience as we work to resolve your Interland support ticket. We have escalated your issue to a
specialized group, and they will notify you once the situation has been
addressed. Please reference the following information for questions or updates
regarding your ticket:
Ticket Number:
1692090
Looks like
someone may finally have really looked at the mail logs and said “D’oh, oh yeah
there is a problem. Frigging idiots.
5/12/2003
4:33 PM: Maybe not. Today I got an exact copy of the email I got
yesterday am. I do wonder what a
“specialized group” is. Hopefully it’s
someone that can actually trouble shoot.
Tomorrow this problem will have existed one week. This is what Interland calls customer
service.
Thank you for
your patience as we work to resolve your Interland support ticket. We have escalated your issue to a
specialized group, and they will notify you once the situation has been
addressed. Please reference the following information for questions or updates
regarding your ticket:
Ticket Number:
1692090
I guess
what’s really got my goat here is that if someone looks at the mail logs we can
see why this isn’t being routed and then correct the problem. Troubleshooting 101 if you ask me. The fact that I have a business critical
application down for an entire week (so far) is just not acceptable at
all. Oh, I put the domain name transfer
in today for alntricia.net. By weeks end I will be ending my first Interland
account with the others to follow. Not
that this will hurt them, but I’ll feel better and I KNOW I can’t get worse
service!
Here's the
latest. This morning I get this...
5/13/2003
8:47:33 AM
Thank
you for contacting technical services. I have installed version 1.9a and
corrected the from address and all is working properly now. You may want to
consider using a cdo or jmail script as they are much easier to maintain.
Again, thank you for contacting Technical Services. We appreciate your
business.
Sincerely
Joseph
A. Owens
Systems
Administrator
Interland,
Inc.
Got Questions?
Get Answers:
http://answers.interland.com
ARRRRGGGGGGGG
- First off they told me that it was mandatory I upgrade the script to 1.92 and
here we are 2 weeks into this and they are installing 1.9a (The version I was
using) Secondly, when I went to try his
fix it DID NOT WORK! Thirdly, and the most damaging... The moron installed his test over the
production script. The production
script not only emails that an order has been placed but it adds the order to a
database. Now email isn't working (THIS
IS THE PROBLEM) and the script he replaced the production one with doesn't
update the database. So in short any orders that were placed between 8am and
11am (the time I happen to notice it) didn't get recorded. Fortunately I do log things and was able to
at least recover the email of people that ordered with-in that time frame and
send them an apology "please resubmit your order".
Can you
see the veins popping out of my neck and forehead? I grabbed the phone, then put it down and waited 1/2 hour to call
them because I don't think they would of understood me through my crazed
screaming.
After the
obligatory press 1 for this and 2 for this and 2 for this and 100 numbers I was
put on hold for the "next available support person" Who I briefly explained the issue to, asked
to speak to a support manager. 1st
problem? He had to open another call
because THEY CLOSED THE OTHER ONE! (3 calls now exist for this problem) Second
issue, he wants to trouble shoot it. After his 10 minutes of plodding through
the basic sh*t of "Is it plugged in" I lost it and told him I wanted
to speak to a support manager NOW! Back
on hold for 10 minutes till a Bernedette politely answers the phone. I explain I want to review the call to which
she tells me she isn't technical and is only a facilitator, to which I tell her
how bad their support is and ramble for the next 10 minutes about all that has
happen. Never once an apology, she
eventually told me she was going to give me the "Interland Guru" but
he's not available and he will have to call me back.
1 1/2
hours later he calls back and makes me again go through the "Is it plugged
it?" the whole while I'm yelling at him to trouble shoot the problem and
stop guessing at solutions! After an hour on the phone with him he's
confused. "It appears it doesn't
work" NO FRIGGING SH*T, YA
MORON! "Perhaps it's a permission
problem, that's an area I will have to get one of the web guys to help
with. I'll have one of them call you
back" <Insert my mouth agape here>
So here I
sit 2 hours later, no ones called, and it still doesn't work!
5/13/2003 11:45:11
PM This morning I got this…
Dear Valued Interland Customer,
We have fixed the issue. TEST.htm
is now working with formmail.pl (the original) with the user Someone@someplace.com. We have tested this with an
account here and then changed back to your user. We have left all the other
files as is since we do not want to accidentally delete anything you need.
Everything appears to be functioning correctly at this time.
If we can be of further assistance please don't hesitate to contact us via
phone or through our online ticketing system.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience,
Thank you for choosing Interland as your web presence provider,
TS System Administration Group
Interland, Inc.
So it’s working. I should point out that the original
application is emailing again and no changes have been done to it. Still running based on 1.9a, still
configured exactly as it has been for the last year. I sent an email asking what the problem was but I don’t really
expect an answer. This case provides an
example of the majority of support services today…
1) Training these days involves procedures and scripted
answers. Procedures are fine for end
users. Ie; To install push this button,
then this button, etc. but it should
never be used for training support personnel.
Support people should be taught theory of operations (How it works) so
that they can trouble shoot. Granted I
bet a lot of problems are solved with the scripts “Is it plugged in?” “ooooooo, no it isn’t.. thanks!” but if it is plugged in your in for a long
haul.
2) Because you’ve seen the problem 9 times before, don’t assume
the 10th time you see it that it’s the same cause.
3) Be aware of customer satisfaction. The fact they closed the call a half dozen times and never
answered my questions or had a support manager call me is unacceptable. This isn’t a free service I pay money for
it, at least make me feel like I’m getting something for my money.
4) Have some pride in your work. Multiple times during this call the support person working it
said it was fixed without ever actually making sure it was fixed.
I’m still moving my site. Perhaps I’m jumping from the frying pan into
the fire but I feel I need to do something and this is my only course of
action.