Telecom Xtra - Should not be doing this. Nasty business practice! Forcing customers to use only their email service. An open letter from my accounting software people. Dear Sir / Madam, New Requirement for Xtra / Telecom Customers Most Cashbook customers using Xtra / Telecom (which we will now only refer to as Xtra) are being given a rude awakening by requiring that their emailing software encrypts the emails (using TLS / SSL) before sending them. It appears that it is a slow rollout, so some people have already run into this problem, and others will find out at some point in the future. How We Attempted to Resolve This New Requirement We provided our own email servers which were independant of the Xtra network so that Xtra customers could use our SMTP servers instead. We found however that not only was Xtra requiring a secure connection to their email servers but they were blocking access to all third party email servers (even with the Port 25 filter disabled). Our solution therfore didnt work. Xtra Overstepping the Mark We feel that Xtra has overstepped the mark in blocking customers from accessing other peoples email services. Just as it is not their right to block their customers from visiting certain websites, it is also not their right to effectively block their customers from using third party emailing programs. Cashbook Complete works throughout the World and Xtra is the only ISP that we know of that requires TLS / SSL. If You ARE With Xtra (Telecom) There are two ways you can move forward:- The first way is to switch ISPs to another one The second way is to install Primo PDF on your computer so that you can send your email as a PDF. Although this involves a few more steps than clicking an Email button, it will get the job done. (more) Switching to another accounting package is probably not going to solve the problem either, as we have heard that other software companies are experiencing the same problem with their products (including the ones that support SSL / TLS). If you have sent email invoices or statements, you may want to check that they have been recieved. If You Are NOT With Xtra (Telecom) If you are not with Xtra, this problem wont affect you, but if you are considering switching to Xtra, you need to take into account that you wont be able to email Invoices and Statements from Cashbook Complete. Our Communication With Xtra We spoke to Xtra about these problems and were passed up the chain to more senior people. We wanted to write them a letter explaining the situation, but none of the more senior managers would give their name, and none of the more junior tech support people would give the names of any of their managers. The senior tech support manager asked how many people would be affected, we told them that it would be several thousand, but he didnt seem to consider that a high enough number for them to take action in resolving the problem. It was as if Xtra had accepted that they would lose some customers, and were not phased by that number. One person said that he would try and get someone to ring us back, but as yet, we havent heard back. We dont think that it is wise for any business to shut down avenues for written complaints. We apologise for the inconvenience. We have done what we thought would resolve the problem, but didnt know that Xtras email blocking would be so comprehensive. From the Acclaim Software Team. Eric Schwerzel Founder and CEO of Cashbook Complete
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 05:02:07 +0000
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