Blank email messages not sending

[Leanne_T]

Morning @John_ 

Our email team have come back to us and asked if you can try again throughout the day and let us know if this is happens again? 

Thanks very much. 

Leanne.

[Kimberlin]

@John_  I've read through your thread and it isn't difficult to see from your content, that you are not happy with BT's email service. You mentioned it has given you grief, that you've had to resort to subscibing to a back up email address and yet, you persist with BT's email service. Can you explain why you maintain BT's email service if it angsts you so much?  I'm genuinely curious.

[John_]

Good question.

Myself and my wife have been users of BT services for over 45 years and were early adopters of their broadband offering (and ADSL before that). We had family that worked for BT and would have uncomplaining customers if they had not continually degraded their services.

Today (09June26) we've been told that (i) sending emails to more than 10 addresses risks the account being blocked as considered as a spam risk; (ii) using bcc function  to retain privacy of group email risks the account being blocked as spammer; (iii) forgetting to fill in the subject line of an email risks the account being blocked as a spammer.

So, the message I take from that is not safe nor practical to used BT mail if you are a volunteer involved in organising charitable or community activities involving groups of volunteers and sponsors and vulnerable communities with all the considerations for managing safeguarding and sensitivities around data protection.

The fact that a 45+ year history as a customer (and BT knowing were you live) you are treated the same as hot house West African scamming criminal gang does not exactly reinforce brand loyalty.  I struggle understanding why BT do this?  Do you know why?  Just curious. 

[gg30340]

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@John_wrote:

Today (09June26) we've been told that (i) sending emails to more than 10 addresses risks the account being blocked as considered as a spam risk; Who told you that. The limit of recipients of a single email is 49 not 10. If you want to send the email to more than that you do another Group of recipients to a max of 49  (ii) using bcc function  to retain privacy of group email risks the account being blocked as spammer; Who told you that. You can send BCC to the recipients of an email however for some unknown reason some people have found there can be a problem if you include your own email address in the BCC  (iii) forgetting to fill in the subject line of an email risks the account being blocked as a spammer. Who told you that. You will get a reminder that there is no subject line but the email will still send.

So, the message I take from that is not safe nor practical to used BT mail if you are a volunteer involved in organising charitable or community activities involving groups of volunteers and sponsors and vulnerable communities with all the considerations for managing safeguarding and sensitivities around data protection. BTMail is a residential customer email service.  If you want to send a large number of emails in excess of 49 recipients you would be better to use an email service that is designed for this such as  Mailchimp which offers its Essentials plan for about £10 per month for up to 100 recipients.

The fact that a 45+ year history as a customer (and BT knowing were you live) you are treated the same as hot house West African scamming criminal gang does not exactly reinforce brand loyalty. There is no such thing as "Brand Loyalty" with any company. You are just a paying customer. Some companies may fool you into thinking they reward your loyalty but  most only discount when they are asked for it and that discount was already added to your bill in the expectation that you would ask for it.  The only companies that honour "loyalty" are the ones that charge the same price for it products to all its customer regardless of how long you have been a customer and make no exceptions to that.   I struggle understanding why BT do this?  Do you know why?  Just curious. 

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[John_]

Who told me about the practical limitation on email recipients?  That would be the BT representative managing the complaint I logged regarding the latest period of denial of service and not being able to send emails.  I requested an explanation as to the reasons for my experiences of the frequent denial of the outgoing email service. The BT representative relayed what he was provided with from the “technical team” based in the USA.  Notwithstanding the T&Cs in the BT contract and whether an email message can be sent to 49 emails addresses,  the feedback conveyed was 10 was the safest number of email addresses in any one message to avoid tripping the spam protections and being denied service for a period (sometimes several days).  I have experienced such denial multiple times over recent years. Previously, by the time I had summoned the will to complain to BT the service became restored. Then it falls over again after few further sessions later. The cycle continues. Similarly, the BT representative relayed from the technical team that the use of the BCC’ing recipients risks triggering “spam protections” and denying me service for outgoing emails.  

The disappointing thing is that such feedback plays into the pattern of BT blaming its customers. If you have better insights as to the reasons why it has been problematic for me, I would welcome hearing them.  I would be interest to know your view as to whether the 49 recipients limit is a contractual commitment from BT, or just an aspirational target.

As a private person it is not unreasonable to expect the BT email service should support the needs of individuals when they communicate on private matters.  Tens of thousands of BT email customers will be – in a private capacity – be dealing with family bereavements, managing long-term illnesses, being involved in civic society in charities and various amateur interest groups, clubs etc.  There are many occasions when you need to communicate with 10 or more people in a single message such as the extended family and members of organising committees.  The thread of such email exchanges allows for the evolution of discussions be followed.

I would agree when needing the send a message to many recipients (e.g. the membership list of a sports club) services like Mail Chimp would be a better tool and I have used it for mass mailing. It is fine for dissemination of information, but not conducive to exchanges within a closed group.

I think you may be conflating two concepts, brand loyalty and customer loyalty. “Brand loyalty” is rooted in a customer’s perception and emotional attachment.  “Customer loyalty” is mainly driven by incentives e.g. discounts or promotions.  Brand loyalty is enduring and is a tangible strategic asset for businesses.  I have family that worked for BT. I have watched BT make multiple mis-steps (e.g. sale of Cellnet mobile phone businesses) and have some triumphs (e.g. initial rollout of first generation of broadband). I want BT to succeed and be a UK champion in telecoms. Not be reduced to an ineffective shell.  Solving customer problems should be a high priority for BT.