Sherlock Holmes needed for this one - notification error?

This is an ongoing problem and workaround issue but now I am stumped. I will tell this story through a total of 4 CUSTOMERS. Here's the summary starting April 22, 2007 to today, April 29, 2007:

1. In the create account welcome letter I sent a coupon for a free product for signup. It was a dollar value and I was using the discount coupon method. Total was for 1.57 (which allowed for the tax my cart was going to add) and added a free shipping option. For some reason upon test driving, every single time the total upon checkout would sum up to me owing the customer a penny.

2. Workaround - instead included a gift certificate in the welcome letter. Posted info on homepage and then had the customer come back to the site and input their gift code.

Tested and it worked great to me. Upon investigation starting yesterday, April 28th, 2007:

CUSTOMER 1 - Signed up April 22, 2007
a - I received NO create account copy of the welcome letter
b - upon db investigation I see customer was somehow able to create an account without listing their required telephone number (which I cannot replicate myself)
c - it does not appear they have tried to redeem their gift certificate, but then again, did they receive a letter at all? (As of today I turned on the email archive, thanks!)

CUSTOMER 2 - Signed up April 23, 2007
a - I received create account copy of the welcome letter
c - db investigation indicated all their information (required) was entered
b - I can see in the gift certificates sent records that this customer redeemed their gift certificate April 23, 2007. I received no letter or order information via email so though I know what 'product' they ordered, I have no idea what scent.

CUSTOMER 3 - Signed up April 27, 2007
a - I received create account copy of the welcome letter
c - db investigation indicated all their information (required) was entered
b - I can see in the gift certificates sent records that this customer redeemed their gift certificate April 23, 2007. I received no letter or order information via email so though I know what 'product' they ordered, I have no idea what scent.

So, upon discovery of this yesterday, April 28, 2007 I did away with the gift certificate offer in my welcome letter and instructed the new signup to return to the site and either read the freebie details on the homepage and steps to receive or, basically, select RoomEssence Melt, pick your scent and select "new customer" promo in the dropdown (I added an attribute for the new customer promo, 0 cost) and to select the new customer promo shipping option (again, 0 cost). This actually works perfect. I test drove and not only rec'd my welcome letter but also my order confirmation email.

CUSTOMER 4 - Signed up today, April 28, 2007
a - I received NO create account copy of the welcome letter
b - upon db investigation I see customer was somehow able to create an account without listing their required telephone number (which I cannot replicate myself)
c - no gift certificate to redeem, so only notification I SHOULD have is an email confirming their 'order'.

Again, back to the database to investigate anything in common:

CUSTOMERS 2 & 3 - I intend to just follow up with another email to them and ask them what they ordered. Not much else to do since I am no longer using that method.

CUSTOMER 1 & 4 what they have in common - They were both able to sign up without a required phone number. In the db there is a field called CUSTOMERS_PAYPAL_PAYERID and in that field there is a long number.

CUSTOMERS 2 & 3 - This same field is blank for them (as it is for the rest of my customers).

I DID have a successful signup and email notification Friday April 27, 2007 (copy of welcome email, copy of order confirmation from my cart AND paypal).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I know it is alot of writing here but I am stumped.

TIA

1.) That's fantastic, not only does the customer get a discount for signing up, but they get a pennys worth of credit on their second time in the store. Great idea! Maybe you should make it more than a penny though. hehe.

I think what you need to do is revise the 1.579 or 1.59 or whatever would remove that penny credit. It's probably less than a penny that is actually left over, its just being rounded up.

2. Workaround - instead included a gift certificate in the welcome letter. Posted info on homepage and then had the customer come back to the site and input their gift code.

That's probably the best idea. We have a similar system in place in our ebay store using mystorerewards.com. It gives the customer a 5% discount on their second purchase. Brings them back often enough to makeup for the 5% off.

I like this post. Really shows that your using your head to solve problems. Thanks!!!

JP

Excellent advice regarding the roundup penny! Where were you two weeks ago lolol... could have saved some hair...

And thank you for the compliments about brain power. I try not to go wild with posts and save the best for those that really love a mystery.

I guess at this point I am really looking to see if anyone has thoughts as to:

1. How did my 2 customers get through signup without a phone number

2. What is the long line in the PayPal field I mentioned above? They have purchased NOTHING, not even their freebie, so,?

3. Is there a connection between these two anomalies that result in no email copy to me regarding their create account activities...

It's a toughie...

1. How did my 2 customers get through sign-up without a phone number

*I have to test this on the form, but I understand that it's possible to just add spaces to get past some form of required system.

There is also the possibility that the customer did place the number in the form and it simply didn't get recorded, for some reason.*

2. What is the long line in the PayPal field I mentioned above? They have purchased NOTHING, not even their freebie, so,?

That's hard to say without see int. Can you post a screen-shot?

3. Is there a connection between these two anomalies that result in no email copy to me regarding their create account activities...

Question to those smarter than I, is it possible that the fact that the required phone number isn't there for whatever reason keeps the email from being sent?

Most excellent insight.

Screenshot is available... just tell me which one exactly...

Thank you so much for your engagement...

I feel like I am becoming the master of workarounds lol.

Don't yet know what the issue is but, found a way to deal with it. I installed the Master Password mod and then logged into each questionable account.

1 customer had not ordered anything.

2 customers had the wrong freebie in their cart so I just switched out the items for the correct items and used the scents they had chosen originally. I let them know what I had done in the Customer Comment section.

And the 4th customer (I think) just got confused as to how to redeem the gift certificate. Lots of folks simply don't read and on the gift certificate you have to enter the amount manually that you want to redeem early in the checkout process.

Setting up my New Customer First One Free promo as an attribute with a value of $0.00 keeps things nice and simple...

Thanks for everyone's thoughts though and if anyone can figure out the real problem as described in my first post, lemme know!

I have it, my dear Watson.

I tried the spaces in the required phone number, but that only resulted in an error. The error stated that the phone number required a minimum of 3 characters.

I don't know about you but there should be more than 3 characters, especially if your credit card processor checks the phone number for validation.

Also, much to my surprise, when my info is displayed, it doesn't show a phone number. can you check the mysql database and see if the 3 numbers I entered into the phone number field were recorded. the numbers were 509.

That's the answer to one of the problems. The phone number required field needs to require at least 10 numbers, and should also post format it with dashes, or slashes, however you want it formated.

JP

Geez bird... now go back and buy your pineapple upsidedown cake tea lights... I was so excited for my 'new customer' lolol...

Thanks for your sleuthing regarding the phone. Yes, your 509 showed up and I can change that to 10 numbers. Any luck on the other pieces?

You are the best... thanks again.

I haven't gotten to the others yet, cause I'm working on a dns problem with birdoasis. the www still is sporadic in showing up. Thankfully all of the products I uploaded to google base are going to http:// instead of http://www.

It's almost as if you fix one thing and then find several other things that need fixing. Sounds like y honey-doo list.

I was thinking about the pineapple upsidedown cake tea lights, but then I realized it wasn't edible. :unsure:

However I may want to sell some of these for you. Do you sell on ebay?

JP

eBay. Geez. I'm sorry, I have to punish myself now.

I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay. I no longer sell only on ebay.

Ok, that's enough. whew.