BlykWatch - Servers down
Once again Ricky fills us in with the comings and goings of Blyk
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Blyk SMS Servers are currently down!
Let’s look at the issue of multiple messages, I can now tell you that this issue seems to be resolved for the time being. Over the last month I and the other member’s have had to endure this issue. If you check out last week’s podcast , Ewan talked to some people he knew and they thought they could solve the problems in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes and we have had to put a month with it, really bad customer service in my view.
The second issue of some messages not being delivered is still an issue! With no delivery reports and the messages being taken from your monthly allowance, there is no way to know if a message is delivered. Blyk SMS servers having being playing up over the last month, but I don’t think Blyk have realised the amount of damage it is doing to the reputation of its company. Yes they give me 217 free messages a month, but it’s no good if there service is not reliable, I would rather pay and be guaranteed that messages are being delivered. This is something I have raised on the forums, however the Blyk team are quick to tell me that this is the only service in the UK that gives free minutes and texts we no requirement to top up! Hmm I don’t think they quite understand the true issue! I mean look at 3 UK, they were looked upon as a joke for years and known for its bad reliability and issues, it has taken a lot of time and money to get them where they are today with a good reputation.
The third issue is about the dreaded communication error which is being received by some members when receiving MMS brand messages. If you read last week’s issue you will see the problems I had, which meant that I had to put my Blyk sim in a spare phone. Firstly thanks to all the advice I received on how to fix the problem, I did a full rest and did a sim reset and it worked! So for me it seems the issue is resolved, however I see regular posts on the forum with the same issue with all brads of phones. I have a feeling that this might be a major issue for Blyk, but as its not directly affecting me there is little more I can say about it, but it seems that the problems are not fixed for everyone.
The final issue that affected all Blyk Members was on Saturday 14th of June, where Blyk’s SMS Server was down for 24 hours. Firstly when trying to send a message I received the error message failed, fair enough understandable, but about 6pm on Saturday messages started to say sent as normal. However although they were saying sent they were not delivering, it was like this for another 15 hours! You can imagine the forum was full of posts asking why their texts were not being delivered. Now to be fair there were Blyk customer service reps answering posts until about 11pm, however all they were saying was that their sms server was having issues. No estimated time of being fixed or what was actually wrong with them. I even said to the customer support team they should close their SMSC whilst it was being fixed so people knew there were problems, because it would give an error message when trying to send a message. For the members who do not use the forum, they would have had no idea last night there messages were not being delivered. I think it’s very bad customer service! I discussed this with a Blyk member who replies Samantha occasionally on Blyk Watch posts! She told me that she had no idea about the SMS problems yesterday, but more interestingly in occurred last Monday as well!
I am writing this on Sunday 15th of June, and although the service was seemed to be fixed this morning, it again seems to be the case that messages are not being delivered again! It’s so annoying it’s like going to KFC and them having no chicken!
As you have read this week edition I am sure you have picked up my biggest issue customer service, I really wish that Blyk was more honest with its members so when they have issues its members know about them, and they are resolved as quickly as possible not over a month later!
Over the last week, it has really made me think who are Blyk’s customers? The obvious answer is of course its advertisers and members, but the way Blyk treats its members it feels like the advertisers are the most important to them. As long as there campaigns are successful, which they are trust me Blyk are getting impressive results it seems like the attitude is F*** the members. Although I am not paying for the minutes and calls on Blyk, I am indirectly by receiving and responding to the adverts. I think BLYK need to have a long hard think about the impression it is leaving on its members. Blyk does not advertise on television or radio, its key advertising method is us the members, something I think they seem to have forgotten.
I posed the following question to Samantha (a Blyk User); who do you think are Blyk customers? Advertisers or members?
Her response is below;
Well, the advertisers are the customers, we the members are consumers. The difference between the two? Well, the advertisers get paid to be listened to; they know straight off from the start that when they pay for their advertising through Blyk they will have the response they paid for. They know that they won’t have to wait for someone on a forum to respond to their concerns, and more importantly, they know because they have the money they are far more powerful than the Blyk CEO’s.
Whereas there is you and me, the average Blyk user. I don’t pay for the service, why should I? It’s advertised as a free Mobile Network, and that is exactly what it is. However, because of that, although I’m constantly told that “Blyk appreciates the positive criticism”, that really they know they have me. No matter how much I dislike the service, am I really going to go back and pay five pounds a month on Virgin Mobile, when I can have it all for free?
I’m the consumer, because I feed off of the freebies, which I’m guessing (and I hate generalisations such as this), but the Blyk target audience also love freebies.
Therefore, in short, the advertisers are the customers.
I know this week edition is very negative about Blyk, so therefore I will end on a positive point. I received a free album from Blyk on Saturday 15th June from The Envy Corps! Fantastic, how many of you out there have received an album from your mobile operator!? None, I bet unless you are on BLYK of course! I have enclosed a picture below!
All Blyk members who entered a competition were sent out a copy of the album, fantastic! I don’t remember entering a competition however it may have just been responding to one of their adverts! Either way I am extremely happy!
Blyk the innovation is there, now just don’t forget you are a mobile operator as well!
Blykwatch will resume hopefully normally next week! With info about the adverts I have received!
