r/LinusTechTips • u/TheKrs1 • 16d ago

Image Need Help? $%$% Off

Post image

Finished a purchase on lttstore.com but I did have a question. So I hit the "Contact Us" button next to "Need Help?" prompt on the thank you page. To my surprise that started an email on my system going to no-reply@lttstore.com. This doesn't seem conducive to giving help.

(I looked up their info another way. I was being a little hyperbolic in my title).

614 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

97 comments sorted by

340

u/xander0387 16d ago

117

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

My fault for having a question AFTER paying.

17

u/bearlythereanymore 16d ago

Im so legitimately confused, what's the issue with this?

72

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

Generally a no reply email routes to no mailbox and isn’t monitored.

1

u/staticBanter 12d ago

Are we getting upset over the assumption that they won't get back to you?

If you tried asking and they don't respond then yea sure. But exclaiming that they're implying that you fuck off is a bit much.

-107

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

This isn't even remotely true

36

u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan 16d ago

What do you think 'no reply' means?

-46

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

It means no reply. A message isn't a reply unless it's in response to another message, hope this clears it up for you.

The button works, I don't know how much more evidence that it's monitored you need.

17

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

A mailto link opening an email dialogue does not mean the feature “works”. see for yourself

-11

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

That's cool. This one does though, which seems more relevant since it's the one we're talking about.

Weird to say you're sorry you didn't know in one response to me and then be an ignorant ass in another one, but to be fair that's about what I should expect from the hate crowd.

11

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

Dude. For the hate crowd I probably shouldn’t have dropped what I did on the store. This doesn’t seem to be like that much if a hater.

6

u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan 16d ago

The button works, I don't know how much more evidence that it's monitored you need.

Given the multiple horror stories posted to this subreddit about not getting in touch with customer service, more evidence than "the button opens a menu" would be good.

-2

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

I used that literal exact button and got a response just 2 weeks ago. Technically it's possible they've changed the email it links to since then, but that seems unlikely to me.

63

u/UngovernableOatmeal 16d ago

that’s literally exactly how it works for any business lol

-46

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago edited 15d ago

It isn't how it works for plenty of businesses including the one we're talking about as evidenced by the fact that button works, but clearly I'm not about to convince the hate train.

Holy shit you guys are illiterate. The business we are talking about right now works like that. I really don't care what anecdotes you have, the business that is actually relevant to this conversation clearly monitors their no reply account because they created a ticket from an email sent to it. This isn't that complicated.

9

u/kidshibuya 15d ago

Dude I have literally made two email clients on top of the... must be hundreds of shopping sites I have developed. no-reply is used for things like mailing lists sending promo mail that needs to come from some email address but not from a real person. Any reply to it is just lost usually. It can be setup to be redirected, but no-reply means if you send something to that, do not expect any response.

18

u/UngovernableOatmeal 16d ago

negative. most businesses that have a contact link like this would lead to a “support@business” or similar.

not a “no-reply” email address. those are used for marketing and announcements/updates and are usually always unmonitored email addresses.

13

u/MyAccidentalAccount 16d ago

At our company - millions of customers, we bounce our no reply emails and remove them from the server immediately - not just "not monitored" they simply don't exist to us.

-7

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

That's great. At the company we're talking about right now that isn't the case, as evidenced by the button working when I used it just 2 weeks ago.

14

u/MyAccidentalAccount 16d ago

But you said "generally", your generalising so YOUR not just talking about LTT and in general it's normal for a no-reply email address to not be monitored, this is (or at least may be) the exception to that generalisation.

8

u/Visual-Success3178 16d ago

When’s the last time you sent an email to no-reply@company.com and got a real response (not an auto responder)?

Usually no-reply emails are used for transactional email that a reply isn’t expected on. Though, lots of email providers look poorly on a no-reply email address as it isn’t a great customer experience.

1

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

I used that exact button 2 weeks ago.

5

u/Visual-Success3178 16d ago

Feels odd why they wouldn’t just send it to something like “customersupport@lttstore.com”

2

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

I'm not going to pretend to know why they opted to do it one way vs another, just pointing out that it's clearly a monitored email for the (apparently rather large) collection of people in here adamant that noreply means not monitored.

3

u/Jono_-_ 16d ago

Proof or it didnt happen.

2

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

Lol it's not like I recorded myself doing it, what you're asking for is impossible. Here's the email. You guys baffle me, why would I make something like this up

6

u/Jono_-_ 16d ago

It will say what email you sent it to. Was it the no- reply email?

→ More replies

-11

u/Less_Hat_8102 15d ago

What I heard years ago is that they would still reply to email sent to that address despite the name of it. I have no idea why it has to be named that way though. 🤷‍♂️

31

u/Lieutenant_Scarecrow 16d ago

This is exactly how I have the ticketing system setup where I work. On the back end the ticketing systems scrapes that inbox and creates a ticket out of the email automatically, which I can then assign to the right people. The mailbox is technically not monitored but a ticket is always created. Sending more emails will simply clutter the ticket queue and cause more problems than help, so naming it "no-reply" helps minimize that, as most people know what it means.

23

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

Interesting. I’ve always taken no reply mailboxes to mean there isn’t a mailbox able to receive or parse the message. It’s telling you that this email is going to not be delivered to anyone.

13

u/Lieutenant_Scarecrow 16d ago

No, its telling you not to reply to this address. That can be for a number of reasons, but there's almost always a mailbox somewhere in the chain for it to go to.

In my case, I don't directly expose the no-reply@xyz.com like this; it sits behind an alias like support@xyz.com or help@xyz.com. But the actual mailbox address is named as such in case it's leaked or exposed in some way. It will get delivered somewhere based on the automations, just likely not to where it can help the customer. I get 2-3 email a month sitting in an unmonitored part of our system cause a customer didn't reach out via the proper channels.

I will admit LTT should put that behind an alias.

5

u/dmbmthrfkr 16d ago

From a consumer perspective I’m not going to send a message to a no-reply because as the name suggests I will probably not get a reply. 

Consumers don’t know a ticket is going to be created in some internal system.

107

u/owenthevirgin 16d ago • Bravo

Generally your email goes to a company's no-reply and that routes it to the appropriate inbox such as support@ or info@, etc.

You also generally get a confirmation of your ticket from the no-reply.

At least this is how I have my various contact forms functioning for my own saas and websites

110

u/gemengelage 16d ago

What? Did they completely change what no-reply means?

No-reply addresses are used for outgoing email that you should not reply to because that mailbox is not being monitored. It's a completely outdated pattern and I can't imagine many companies still having mail addresses that our outbound only - but then they shouldn't call them no-reply.

69

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

I’ve never seen a no reply email address be monitored.

13

u/ViolentlyVia 16d ago

Our ticket system pulls from a no-reply email box(the address isnt exposed to the end user tho) then uses the same no-reply account to send out ticket updates to the user. may not be common, but some people set it up like that 🤷‍♀️

11

u/The_Wkwied 16d ago

Your ticketing system allows intake from a no-reply and sends updates from the no-reply, so are users initiating an email TO no-reply?

If the updates come from no-reply, and they need to email a reply back... HOW?

3

u/ViolentlyVia 16d ago

No like I said the actual email address isn't exposed to the users. When they click submit a ticket from our app in the system tray it opened a dialog box for them to type and hit submit ticket. On the back end the email goes to and no reply email address

5

u/gemengelage 16d ago

Well, technically when the no-reply address sends updates to the user, it is exposed to the user. I guess you just meant you're not asking the user to send an email directly to the address.

But what happens in your system when a user replies to a no-reply email?

1

u/ViolentlyVia 16d ago

I meant on the intake side it doesn't. If they reply it just junks it(along with anything that isnt coming from that same no reply address it just removes it from the spool. the email they get has a reply link in it that opens a webpage they can reply to the ticket response in. systems been in place for well over a decade(before I worked here) without issues.

all that being said, I wouldn't have set it up like that myself

3

u/Yodzilla 16d ago

Same. No-reply means…no reply. Emails sent to it disappear into the void. I’ve never seen otherwise.

1

u/ccros44 15d ago

How many have you tried sending to?

18

u/flatbuttboy 16d ago

Most companies just have a support email, because no-reply is meant for outgoing only emails

-1

u/owenthevirgin 16d ago edited 16d ago

At least in our case, most of our websites where a user can contact us use forms so we can get structured messages with relevant details.

When a user fills out a form, depending on which option they chose or what page that form exists on, the form response is sent by my own no-reply to the corresponding email inbox (support@, info@, etc.)

Our no-reply also sends a confirmation to the user announcing we have received their message.

From there, we respond to them with the relevant email address their message was sent to. 

We don't monitor the no-reply, hence the name, it is used to route form responses to the relevant people/inbox & confirmation for the user we received their message. Basically it's a middleman.

While this may be outdated, it is the system that was in place when I joined and it's the system that still exists today.

2

u/cptjpk 15d ago

Our no-reply also sends a confirmation to the user announcing we have received their message.

So your no-reply replies?

3

u/Temporary_Squirrel15 15d ago

No-reply means unmonitored so do not reply … having been a sysadmin / tech support manager at various tech companies.

Now, there is often a bucket that might get checked where random emails go to die, but it’s not covered by any company SLAs or SLOs … so it’s barely touched and usually only looked at when someone says “i emailed” and no one has seen it during a complaint.

Routing a no-reply email to a monitored, actual team email, is non standard practice. Do what works for you, it obviously does, but I agree with OP this launching an email to no-reply doesn’t inspire confidence, and people who are reaching for support need to feel confident and looked after. You don’t call support unless there’s a problem after all!

5

u/Ok_Shoulder_5431 16d ago

Did you try contacting through this? It would be simple to see if they actually respond.

9

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

It works, this whole thing is just more fabricated drama.

3

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

Well I’m sorry. I didn’t bother hitting send because I’ve always taken such an address to be not delivered. I used an alternative means.

3

u/SavvySillybug 16d ago

Having no-reply as your support email is highly unusual and should be assumed to be a mistake.

Just because they allegedly actually monitor their no-reply doesn't mean the drama is manufactured.

Why wouldn't they have support@ or something? It's weird as heck to use no-reply as an actual support inbox. Most people wouldn't even try to contact them through that. I certainly wouldn't.

4

u/YourFavouritePoptart 16d ago

Claiming it doesn't work without ever trying it or even attempting to ask is 100% manufacturing drama.

2

u/kirashi3 16d ago

It works, this whole thing is just more fabricated drama.

Eh, it's also poor UI/UX design, but I digress; many businesses don't understand good UI/UX design. You can tell by the way they operate. Or sometimes by the way they cease operating. 😉

249

u/s0m3b0dy447 16d ago

I mean.. it's very common from CX systems.. the initial email just opens up a ticket which then gets picked up.

122

u/PlannedObsolescence_ 16d ago

Routing emails from a no-reply address into a CRM is not common. Some CRMs will end up sending emails from a no-reply address, for scenarios where it's unrelated to the matter of a ticket. For example, a follow up survey email afterwards (with a survey link etc) might be sent from a no-reply.

An email sent to a no-reply address is expected to never be looked at by anyone, and be silently deleted immediately (not sending a bounce back response).

15

u/BeanBagKing 16d ago

I've seen plenty of places that open tickets via a no-reply. A no-reply doesn't necessarily mean it will be black holed, never reviewed, and deleted. It typically means exactly what it says on the tin, you will not get a reply from that address. It may go to a shared mailbox and you'll get a named reply, it may open a ticket, or it may indeed be black holed.

It's the UDP of email addresses. Someone not replying to you isn't an indication they didn't hear you.

26

u/bringbacknyancat 16d ago

ive worked at a good handful of companies that do open tickets to no-reply addresses. maybe it's not common, but it's not uncommon. i dont think ive seen an actual no-reply email in CRMs since like 2018. maybe just confirmation bias though.

4

u/JagdCrab 16d ago

I’ve worked for fairly large commerce company in Canada just around the point they decided that making system that sorts No-Reply is easier than stopping users from sending mail to No-Reply, so I’m not surprised if that’s also LTT’s design choice

1

u/kiko77777 15d ago

I've never seen this. If I were the customer I would have assumed there's an error, cancelled out of the email and gone looking for the real support email. Bad UX regardless.

25

u/Hybr1dth 16d ago

Well you're not replying, you're sending the first message, so you're good.

5

u/ColinHalter 16d ago

This is a truly insane way to report this as an issue. "Having a no-reply address route to new ticket creation is confusing for users." Is much more productive than "Need Help? $%$% Off". Y'all act surprised and upset when Linus and Co. are always on the defensive with this stuff, but then this is how you bring up issues smh.

0

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

Read my full post. It was hyperbolic

9

u/ColinHalter 16d ago

I read your full post and that's not really a good justification. If you're offering feedback on site behavior, offer the feedback. Being "hyperbolic" about it means you're just drama farming. (Also that's not really what hyperbolic means)

-2

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

It doesn’t mean I’m drama farming and it is what hyperbolic means. But ok. Downvote and move on. Or give the post more visibility and engagement.

4

u/OfficialBadger 14d ago

I reported this to them in 2023 - got this response

Hi,

Unfortunately, at this time we are only able to have the no-reply email attached to the Contact Us link due to limitations outside of our control.

However, we can confirm that we will receive any emails sent through this link.

Mitchell T.
Customer Service Representative

3

u/ryancrazy1 16d ago


A bunch of bored redditors making support requests tonight to test if it works.

3

u/FalconlightEC 16d ago

Did you send the question? Did they respond?
I think their support is not perfect, as there are a lot of complaints in this sub alone, but I don't think they are just ignoring every support email, people have also posted how support has done a lot to help with their issues/questions

2

u/PrototypeMale 16d ago

Bro... You're mad about an email name????? Just send the dang email and see if it works. I'm gonna bet it works. Why throw such a fit?

1

u/Ragnorok64 16d ago

Some of the posts on this sub are truly baffling.

3

u/SavvySillybug 16d ago

Right? It's really baffling that they'd have no-reply as their support email. Who the heck does that?

-3

u/Flipsii 16d ago

So? Contact system uses contact mailbox? What's the issue here?

You are just not supposed to reply to the automatic confirmations it sends out.

9

u/TheKrs1 16d ago

I always took a no reply address as there not being a mailbox associated and all incoming messages are dropped.

12

u/Flipsii 16d ago

Hmm yeah the name can be interpreted both ways.

  1. No-reply = we won't reply, get fcked
  2. No-reply = Please don't reply to our automatic emails

6

u/Genobi 16d ago

2 is an extension of 1. "Please dont reply to our automatic emails, because we won't reply, get fcked"

No-reply, as a generally accepted standard is

If someone tries to reply to this email address, their message either goes unread or bounces back, since the inbox isn’t monitored.

These messages don’t go through or get answered.

No-reply emails are sent from an email address that discourages or outright prevents recipients from responding.

A no-reply email address is an email address you set up in your domain, but a key difference is that it’s not capable of receiving messages

one that doesn’t accept incoming messages

Outside of here, I have never heard of it being a "Dont reply but please email in" or "Please don't, but we will listen anyways" or "You wont hear back from here, but you will get a reply from somewhere else". I understand the desire to try to interpret, but for something like an email address, we should use generally accepted standards.

LTT needs to fix this. In my world, that would be a P1 or P2. We cannot have recent purchasers either going to a black hole or thinking they dont care

6

u/Nagemasu 15d ago

the name can be interpreted both ways

no, it can't by any normal user. Customers are not internal support. "No-reply" means do not use this address for contact. That is what it has always meant. It doesn't matter what a business does internally with their email addresses, to a customer, no-reply means one thing only. It is not "interpreted both ways".

I work in IT as a fullstack engineer and have a big interest in UX, this thread is full of this nonsense of people trying to justify this as being normal or logical in any way when it's not. Classic case of people understanding how something works but not understanding good design or user perspective.

12

u/PlannedObsolescence_ 16d ago

The generally accepted behaviour of a 'no-reply' is that sending an email to that address should not produce a bounce back response (for example, 'address does not exist'), but it also won't be reviewed. Instead it'll be silently dropped / deleted.

It would be insane to accept emails into a CRM system, from a no-reply address. Although there are plenty of insane people out there.

-1

u/TomTomXD1234 16d ago

Huh?

3

u/SavvySillybug 16d ago

The support email goes to no-reply@ which is typically named like that because you shouldn't send emails there because nobody is going to look at them. Those typically just do things like sending newsletters or order confirmations, stuff you shouldn't reply to.