We sent you an email last year. Why didn't you read it?
A client of mine uses a catalog service from someone else. The catalog guys changed the format of the link slightly & sent out an email to all their customers at the end of last year. Apparently, my client didn’t see the email so, for the last 9 months, all of their customers have been going to the wrong catalog.
My client happens to notice something’s wrong and emails Customer (Dis)Service. Instead of simply replying with the correct link, Customer (Dis)Service responds with a slightly chastising “we sent you an email last year” and an unclear explanation of what the correct link should be. Not content with just confusing someone who’s not HTML literate, they implied that part of the link had been changed to include a customer code like “XXXX”, and then didn’t supply the code.
My gripe? Answer the customer’s question completely the first time and save everyone time and money! But more importantly, if you’re sharp enough to write an online catalog app you’ve got to be smart enough to write a one-liner that makes sure all your customers changed their links and another one-liner to email those that didn’t.