Afrihost spam and broken unsubscribe link

[AfriFella]

I also received two SMS'es (I think) from AH, but deleted it. Spam just doesn't tick me off as usual, I just block or delete it.

Now I'll have to check my AH cpanel to see if I'm subscribed to spam or not....

edit : a lot of boxes was ticked, which I unticked for now.

I wouldn't call what you're referring to being "subscribed to spam". I presume the boxes that you unchecked were usage notification messages that alert you after a certain percentage of your data is used up. A lot of clients find these super useful.

 

[AfriFella]

Don't forget to report as spam first! Enough of those and that's what Gmail starts flagging it as.

In case you missed my first post, which the AfriMods conveniently deleted.

We can't stop you from taking that route, but I do think it's a little bit unfair. The unsubscribe e-mail bug and the wrongly addressed SMSes were both caused by an unfortunate error in our system (coincidentally in the same time-frame) which we identified and addressed.

I think it's pretty safe to say that our communications in the past have only ever be sincere and most of the time relating to awesome promotions, new product launches and even free data! All of which are aimed at the benefit of our clients. If this latest error has caused you to attach this stigma to us, it's really disappointing.

Your previous post was removed by a forum mod, not an Afrihost Rep.

 

[AfriFella]

I got two mails from Gian. I've never had an Afrihost account. Wtf

That is a strange one to hear... :/

Please PM me your email address and I'll take a look at what could have happened, as well as remove you from our mailing list.

 

[AfriFella]

A glitch would indicate a mistake or logic fault.

I have several email from support going back months stating that my email address was removed from all systems/mailing lists etc and still keep getting spammed.

That means you are either dishonest or do not care about spamming.

Which is it?

Absolutely it's a mistake. I don't think a glitch could mean anything else?

If you are a client, we have your details captured. A glitch would have caused comms to be sent to your primary contact address even after you un-subscribed. I'm sorry if this alarmed you, but we'll be taking every measure to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

 

[AfriFella]

You are dodging the question

Which is it?

I answered your question.

 

[OCP]

Absolutely it's a mistake. I don't think a glitch could mean anything else?

If you are a client, we have your details captured. A glitch would have caused comms to be sent to your primary contact address even after you un-subscribed. I'm sorry if this alarmed you, but we'll be taking every measure to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

I am NOT a client!!!

Various people from AH have promised/confirmed in writing that my email address has been removed from all your systems yet i am still getting spam.

That is not a mistake but dishonesty.

 

[AfriFella]

Doesn't work as pointed out by magicdude and numerous members on this forum so why are you outright lying?

Gian, I took a screenshot just incase this gets deleted too.

Other's pointed it out too and we reported the error to the developers in charge of the logic behind the mails. Genie is quite right in saying that it should be working and he offered his support.

As I've mentioned before, this forum has been put in place to offer support, discuss Afrihost related products and to get issues resolved. This sub-forum is called the "Afrihost Support Forum" after all. I personally posted welcome posts on each of the main, pinned, discussion threads with a link to our community guidelines in order to make engaging on this platform safe, efficient and useful for everyone involved. Further, we do indeed have mod rights, which we rarely use. All problem posts are still forwarded to the official MyBB mods for proper recourse before action is taken. All other, non-Afrihost related topics of discussion are always welcome to be placed on the main forums.

 

[AfriFella]

I am NOT a client!!!

Various people from AH have promised/confirmed in writing that my email address has been removed from all your systems yet i am still getting spam.

That is not a mistake but dishonesty.

I'm sorry to hear that you feel this is dishonesty. I don't think we would have singled you out on purpose just to send promotional mails. I'd love to take a look at what could be causing this. Please PM me the ticket reference numbers pertaining to your chats with our Support Team, as well as the email address you're receiving the message on and I'll pass it onto our developers.

 

[RedViking]

I still would like to know who doesn't use any formatting or pictures in their marketing emails?

What they did was probably gonna be a clever marketing scheme, but everything about the email was screaming SPAM, from the formatting, the 400px width columns, the 'do not use that link but rather this one' to the unsubscribe button and the tons of white space and no Afrihost logo or even professional personalised signature. "Thanks! Gian" Gian who? Gian who was never invited. Okay maybe that is a bit harsh.

I still say, if you want to send Spam / Advertising, call it what you want, then at least make sure it doesn't look like Spam.

If it wasn't for this thread I would never have gone back to read that...... uhm.... private invitation to get a discount on something that doesn't exist (in my world anyways).

 

[AfriFella]

Is that your email address you use everywhere, is that the email address you use here too?

Not sure what you're trying to say here?

 

[Thor]

Not sure what you're trying to say here?

That you are lying and you have a history of lying, I will refer you to this: https://www.naschenweng.info/2016/06/14/afrihost-pay-fine-adsl-network-problems/

 

[AfriFella]

Also got emails from Mr. Gian the great. "Save up to R4,000" and "Re: Save up to R4,000." .

First thought it was spam as the format looked like one of those emails from India (who the hell doesn't use any formatting or pictures in their marketing emails?). Also checked my Client Zone, can confirm that none of the promotions boxes are checked. Then there is also this
"If you know anyone who'd also like to save up to R4k on Fibre please feel free to share this with them".
Why would anyone want to share an email without formatting or pictures.
Not even an Afrihost LOGO?

The email does end with 100 lines of white space. Probably the first email I have ever received with so much white space.

How many friends do you know that is in an area that can get fibre?

Okay it really isn't that bad in an age where we get flooded with spam. At least my name was spelled correctly. Next time please use some typography and a picture or something, at least it will then feel less like spam and more like...uhm.. nice looking spam.

I still would like to know who doesn't use any formatting or pictures in their marketing emails?

What they did was probably gonna be a clever marketing scheme, but everything about the email was screaming SPAM, from the formatting, the 400px width columns, the 'do not use that link but rather this one' to the unsubscribe button and the tons of white space and no Afrihost logo or even professional personalised signature. "Thanks! Gian" Gian who? Gian who was never invited. Okay maybe that is a bit harsh.

I still say, if you want to send Spam / Advertising, call it what you want, then at least make sure it doesn't look like Spam.

If it wasn't for this thread I would never have gone back to read that...... uhm.... private invitation to get a discount on something that doesn't exist (in my world anyways).

These messages are sent from Gian personally and have always looked the way they do. Part of the idea behind the lack of formatting is to have the email look less corporate and more conversational. Another part is to have it be friendlier on Mobile devices and less data intensive. Gian has always done things his own way, and people have loved him for it. I think it's a little unfair to immediately disregard all Afrihost emails as spam from now on. Sure, the error caused a lot of people to feel offended and upset and I think we have really tried to be as apologetic as possible. But, disregarding all mails where most of them involve benefiting our clients might cause you to miss out on some really awesome things going forward.

 

[AfriFella]

That you are lying and you have a history of lying, I will refer you to this: https://www.naschenweng.info/2016/06/14/afrihost-pay-fine-adsl-network-problems/

I'm sorry you feel that way.

 

[AfriFella]

I thought it was spam initially or a phishing attempt as they tell you to click on a very dogdy link to get "r4000. And I've never signed up with Afrihost before

I can officially tell you that it isn't. Do you have active fibre in your area? The R4000 credit is a real thing.

 

[AfriFella]

Does Afrihost do their own bulk mailing or do they make use of a company like Everlytic, Mad Mimi etc. who handles the unsubscribing etc?

As far as I know, the mails we send out are not managed by a 3rd party company. The buggy un-subscribe code was reported to our developers to investigate last week.

 

[AfriFella]

Considering MyBB is now allowing AH to censor their threads in their subforum, I think it's of significant importance that MyBB and AH disclose their relationship. AH is clearly not just another ISP making use of MyBB and it's important that users know the extent of this business relationship.

MyBB offered the Support Sub Forum to us as they saw that the traffic volumes were high enough to warrant a sub-forum. This also allowed the main forum to be less clogged up with Afrihost related queries and to even out the experience for other forumites.

We do have mod rights, but as I have mentioned a couple of times before, we did not censor your post. Your post was deleted by MyBB mods, not Afrihost reps.

 

[Zoopy]

Further, we do indeed have mod rights, which we rarely use. All problem posts are still forwarded to the official MyBB mods for proper recourse before action is taken.

So just to confirm, Magic4Eva's read rights for this topic were removed by the MyBB mods and not the AH mods?

While you're answering questions, would you also mind letting me know who was responsible for my gag order in September 2016? I somehow doubt that one was on the MyBB mods alone.

 

[Hamster]

As far as I know, the mails we send out are not managed by a 3rd party company. The buggy un-subscribe code was reported to our developers to investigate last week.

Maybe worth considering making use of a 3rd party that specialises in these things.

 

[RedViking]

These messages are sent from Gian personally and have always looked the way they do. Part of the idea behind the lack of formatting is to have the email look less corporate and more conversational. Another part is to have it be friendlier on Mobile devices and less data intensive. Gian has always done things his own way, and people have loved him for it. I think it's a little unfair to immediately disregard all Afrihost emails as spam from now on. Sure, the error caused a lot of people to feel offended and upset and I think we have really tried to be as apologetic as possible. But, disregarding all mails where most of them involve benefiting our clients might cause you to miss out on some really awesome things going forward.

I agree, there is no need to disregard all Afrishost emails, unless of cause you have nothing to do with Afrihost. To the clients those other emails are important, unless they opted NOT to receive promotional emails, then it is only the important emails that are important.

I also now understand that this specific spammy email was supposed to look personalised, unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that it looked 100% like spam, even if this was not the intention. Maybe just give the author of the email a crash course in marketing, you can make something look professional and still personal. Take it or leave it. Do with it whatever you want to.

Lets just say that I have this thing they call Fibre in my area, getting a R4000 discount (after some research) will be really great. But I would never have read that email and would have missed out on, what might have been, a great deal.

 

[AfriFella]

So just to confirm, Magic4Eva's read rights for this topic were removed by the MyBB mods and not the AH mods?

While you're answering questions, would you also mind letting me know who was responsible for my gag order in September 2016? I somehow doubt that one was on the MyBB mods alone.

I can't comment on what happened between MD4E and the MyBB mods as I don't want to speculate.

Whatever happened between yourself, MyBB and AH back in 2016 was probably before my time here on the forums and frankly, not relevant to this discussion.