An employee here recently quit and I disabled his account. A manager asked if we could turn on his Out of Office Attendant with a message about the email being invalid.
I found this to be a very interesting question. Why don't companies do this already? Why don't I try to contact vendors who go through sales people like water and get an Out of Office message like "Joe Smith is not available. Please contact Jane Doe at 1-800-555-5555 x5555 for inquiries and to places orders. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Notice I simply put a name and a phone number and not an email address to avoid spammers.
There is no way this hasn't been thought up before. So why isn't it a common practice? What is the negative side effect that overrides possibly losing a customer due to a breakdown in communications?
Out of Office question
Isn't there a setting in most email servers that one can forward all invalid/disabled emails that hit a domain to an account that does get monitored, and can then be forwarded to the appropriate person?
Yes, and I've done that.
I'm beginning to assume that it simply boils down to the company wanting the news to come from a person, and not an automated message.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
If you wanted to cover all your bases you could set up an Out of Office response saying "Joe is no longer with Company, Inc, however your email has been forwarded to an appropriate representative who will contact you shortly." Then set it up with a forward rule as well, of course. Then they'll know to be looking for a response from someone else.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
I've been forwarding the guy's emails and on a totally different note, it might have turned up something interesting. Stay tuned.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
I'm waiting to see, but right now I'm thinking industrial espionage. The guy who had this account came from a competitor, and ironically, one of our biggest clients. Anyway, he was here for two weeks before quitting claiming he couldn't be a road warrior and went back to his old company.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
WOW that sounds fishy.Leisher wrote:I'm waiting to see, but right now I'm thinking industrial espionage. The guy who had this account came from a competitor, and ironically, one of our biggest clients. Anyway, he was here for two weeks before quitting claiming he couldn't be a road warrior and went back to his old company.
It's not me, it's someone else.
I went through his emails a bit this morning, and it seems a lot less fishy. He had conversations with old co-workers that seemed legit about them trying to find a replacement for him, and how his new job is going, etc.
However, you want to talk fishy? He got an email from his old/new boss yesterday (he's been gone since this last weekend) containing a PowerPoint presentation with pricing information. Not our pricing, their pricing.
Makes me wonder if that was an accident or intentional because it talks about price hikes.
However, you want to talk fishy? He got an email from his old/new boss yesterday (he's been gone since this last weekend) containing a PowerPoint presentation with pricing information. Not our pricing, their pricing.
Makes me wonder if that was an accident or intentional because it talks about price hikes.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." Isolated weird things are usually explainable by mundane circumstances going slightly wonky. Consistent, repeated weird things often serve as tips of icebergs.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."