Telephone Number field

[oldhasbeen]

Hi all

Just read the thread regarding the email confirmation tweak (we also get many bounce backs of customer email receipts because they've input the details incorrectly - which apparently is our fault as once they've completed their order they then can't go back into it to correct their details!).

Is there something similar for the telephone number field?

At the moment, although it's a required field, people can put anything (like ex-dir or just a goobeldy gook number) and it's not queried.

Not only is it a pain if we need to contact a customer with a stock query as we have to do it by email (and sometimes because people don't always check their mail very often, we get a barking "where's my order" telephone call.....well, derrr!!!) but also it would be handy for security checks.

Recently got stung with our first chargeback in nearly 3 years trading (which I don't believe is fraudulent but not worth the time fighting over £11!) so trying to ensure that we've not left any possible doors open without getting ridiculously paranoid over it.

TIA

Helen

[James Gladwin]

Hi - just a quickie - there are PHP scripts for verifying emails, phone nos etc but phone numbers are tricky as there are different formats, national codes etc. Whether it can be embedded within Actinic I'm not sure. Sorry to be less than helpful - Best - James

[george]

Slightly off-topic but I have changed the `Fax` field on our order details to `Mobile Number` but customers still put their mobile number in the usual space. Only getting a mobile number makes you a little wary sometimes.

[cdicken]

I can't think of a way you might do this.

I get stuck so many times when buying from the US because the phone number I give is not in a US format. It is really annoying. There just isn't a realistic way you could do this - other than maybe not allowing anything but numbers in the field - but even then you may want to allow hyphens and plus signs.

Anyone else got any thoughts?

[oldhasbeen]

Thanks for the input.

To simplify matters, we only ship to UK mainland (international customers are asked to telephone or email first) so I don't know if that makes it simpler.

I know when I set up an Access customer management database many moons ago, that you could format the telephone number entry box so that it appeared as (*****) ****** on the form and when you input the number, it automatically overwrote the symbols.

Yesterday I purchased an item from a large e-commerce electrical outlet, and on their telephone number box it insists on a landline number only, so there are places that won't accept mobile numbers (although I can see that they would be more open to fraud than me with me wee craft products!).

Hopefully Actinic will come up with a solution - it seems bizarre to have fields that you can mark as "required" but then no kind of verification for what the punter puts in.

Thanks for giving it some thought though.

Regards

Helen

[brian.mc]

Don't have an answer for the telephone number validation problem, but on our site we have included in our terms & conditions and in our "how to order" info page (in bold block capitals!) a paragraph explaining the order process, including the automatic issue of an e-mail confirmation of order. We advise customers to check their incoming emails after placing the order, and if they don't receive this confirmation within a short time, to telephone us to confirm we have received it. If they have given a wrong email address they won't receive a confirmation so they will hopefully phone. We also have separate fields on the order form for day and night phone numbers. Again our T&C emphasize that it is important they enter contact info correctly, as failure to do so may delay their order. We also have a link to T&C next to our ORDER NOW Buttons for each product with the text "Please read our terms & conditions before placing your order". This works most of the time.

Regards
Brian

[oldhasbeen]

Hi Brian

Some good ideas.

We do already have links on every Act page to T&C's and FAQ's - not that anybody ever reads them! I don't want to force people to click a box saying that they've read the T&C's (which they won't have - they'll just click the box and input rubbish anyway).

I'll implement Norman's tweak for the email confirmation box (which will hopefully go a long way to curing that problem) and I have added after Phone number the words "Required in case of query" which might help.

Having a "How To Order" page is a good idea and as I'm going to be tweaking my NAV buttons shortly I'll make sure this page is included. Would you mind if I took a look at your page?

I don't suppose at the end of the day that there's any real way of stopping the fraudulent or the less able of brain from inputting incorrect information though.

Thanks

Helen