Communication Difficulty

Several years ago I signed up as a “free” member on Classmates.com.  As a free member I was not able to contact other members, etc.  Finally, after numerous special offers, I signed up to become a “Gold Member” with all of the full benefits.  One of the first things I tried to do was send an email to several former classmates.  But, when I would check my account I found that other than 1 or 2 they were listed as “unread.”  The FAQ page indicated that when an email was sent to another member they would be notified.  So, I sent an inquiry to Classmates.com to try and find out what was happening.  That is when our “communication difficulty” started.

My inquiry I thought was simple enough.  I selected the subject of “Send or receive email from other members.”  I wrote,  “Are notifications being sent?  I tried sending one to someone close to me.  She has not received a notification that she has an email but is does show up on her message board but without notification she would not be checking her message board.”  The “someone” I had tried to email was my wife.  I got this reply.  “I understand that you would like to make changes to a Classmates membership, however, in order to protect our members, our Privacy Policy states that we must hear directly from the listed member before taking any action with a registration.  Please ask the member whose name appears on the  Classmates membership to contact us directly for assistance.”

Well, this had nothing to do with my question so I responded,  “I don’t think you get the picture.  I’m attempting to send emails and I do not believe any notification is being sent.  The individual I used as a test is my wife.  She never received a notification, although when she went to her message board the email was there.  My concern is that to those I’m sending emails may seldom if ever check their message boards and if a notification is not sent to them I might as well not have become a gold member.  According to the FAQ’s notification is supposed to be sent.  What is happening?”  I again received a response.  “If you’re having trouble receiving messages from Classmates.com, a filter may be sending them to your spam, bulk, or blocked email folders.  Please check with your email provider to determine if any adjustments are necessary to make sure that our messages are delivered to your inbox.”

As this answer had nothing to do with my question I responded once again.  “It seems that your responses are just ‘pat little notes’ that don’t fit the question.  According to your FAQ’s when I send an email to someone they are notified.  I assumed that this was by an email to them.  I know I get classmates emails telling me someone has signed my guestbook, etc.  Since I have sent numerous emails and they are not being received it appears that no notification is being sent.  To test this theory I sent my wife an email, just as I have done with the others.  She didn’t receive any notification.  After a few days she went to her account and it was there.  My question is: do you send notifications?  If you do then something is wrong in the system.  If you don’t then I wonder why should I even bother.”  Shortly I received another reply.  “We appreciate your interest in Classmates Guestbook!  Please use the link below to visit our online Help Center, where you’ll find answers to many commonly asked questions about this feature.  Simply click the link below—or copy and paste it into you browser—and you’ll be taken directly to the ‘Guestbook and profile visits’ topic on the Classmates Help Center.”  The link was given. 

By this time I was becoming a “bit frustrated.”  I sent another note.  “Please!  Can’t a real person answer a real question?  This reply has nothing to do with my question.”  After a few days I did get a reply from a real person.  “Thank you for your reply.  In order to provide you with the most prompt assistance, I’ve reviewed your previous correspondence with us and am happy to assist you further.  We do send email notifications.  However, members can alter how often they receive these notifications by going to the ‘Account’ settings.  Additionally, sometimes our notifications are filtered  to a member’s junk or spam folder if they have set that up in their personal email box.”    Although this isn’t getting my emails delivered I now have an answer as to why.

Communication shouldn’t be so difficult.  I suspect that the emails that Classmates routinely receive are scanned by some type of computer for key words and an automated reply is generated.  In my case that wasn’t working.