Treasured Chests - Antique Trunk Restoration, Yours or Ours

E-Mail Tips

We receive a lot of e-mail almost every day and we respond to all of it as soon as possible. We enjoy doing this but there are many ways you can help us serve you better. Most of the following tips apply to e-mail in general, not just your e-mail to us. Here are some ways to make your e-mail more efficient and easier for those of us on the other end to respond to. You probably would be very surprised to know how many people don't think of these things.

1. What is your name?

We try to respond in a courteous and personal manner. Please "sign" your e-mail with at least your first name. This is just simply "netiquette" and has nothing whatsoever to do with Internet security. It is much more pleasant to feel like we are responding to a message from you than to feel like we are responding to your computer.

2. Where are you?

If you are asking for a quote on a restoration or a shipping quote then please tell us, at least generally, where you are. At this point we probably won't need your exact postal address but to answer your questions we need to know what city you are in (or near) and your state and/or country.

3. "Quoting" messages:

When we respond to your e-mail we use the "Reply" function in our e-mail. Your original message will then appear at the bottom of our response and each line of it will begin with the > symbol, or a vertical bar will appear to the left of your original message. This is called "quoting" your original message. When you receive a response from us and you want to reply then please "quote" our original message by using your "Reply" function or button (if your software doesn't do this already then set it so that it will "include message in reply". For instructions for setting up e-mail software, go to E-mail Setup). You can usually tell if this is happening by looking at the bottom of your e-mail dialogue box that opens up when you press the "Reply" button (some older e-mail software may put the quote at the top of the message). Your original message should appear at the bottom and each line should start with the > or some other symbol or a vertical bar to the left of your message. This saves our having to find your original message to us and opening it up. This in turn, saves an enormous amount of time for us (please remember that this is a free service!) and you will benefit by not having to type in our e-mail address, the "Reply" function should insert it automatically. We continually ask that this be done but many people ignore our requests. If this continues..........

Example:

Now we don't have to search for Michelle's original e-mail to know what type of trunk she has. (Note how an extra > or vertical bar is added to each subsequent reply.)

4. Please put something in the subject line.

I'm not composing all of this just to express my pet peeves, there are reasons for these tips. We, like most businesses archive our email periodically. The amount of email usually demands this. Presently we are archiving our email at least once a week onto CD-ROM. When we do this the subject line ends up being the file name for each email. If we must go back into this archive (usually because tip #3 was not honored) then the file names can be very useful. For example you have a trunk made by Acme Trunks then make your subject line Acme Trunks.

In my opinion, the Internet/World Wide Web is the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel. I'm not the first to make that statement nor am I exaggerating. Email is the next best thing. We can improve this wonderful facility by learning and abiding by some simple rules and thereby making reading and handling of your email much more pleasant for the person on the receiving end. By the way (or BTW), I've taken the liberty of spelling email the way I do because it's much easier than typing e-mail which I think is accepted by most authorities to be correct.

5. If you send us photos..................

We continually plead for people to help us with this but still seem to be ignored. If you send us photos then Please size your photos to no more than 600 pixels (or 6 to 8") wide.

Finally, and very important: we consider your email to/from us private and confidential so you don't have to worry about your address being sold or abused in any way. Read our Privacy Statement for more information on that.

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