I asked someone at the sc aquarium if their blackbaud payment software works well and he said it breaks when they need it most.
Make sure to keep working hard though. Do good. More like do bad worse.
All to line the pockets of Mike G.
26 replies (most recent on top)
@573 I was the one who wrote the first response to this thread and really don't want to engage with this thread outside of what I said in my comment but I think it's important for me to speak up here because this thread is getting out of control and you are making a lot of unfounded and disrespectful accusations.
Nobody even knew what issue you're actively experiencing because you just now decided to clarify your issue. Your use of the word "competently" leads me to think that either you're experiencing a bug that is specific to your organization, or you just don't like the current functionality. If it is the latter, you not liking the current functionality is not a bug; that's product feedback. Product feedback should go to the Ideas page of the Blackbaud user community, which is what the Product Management team refers to for user feedback and requested features. If it's true that no users with permission to refund transactions are able to do so based on how the product documentation says refunds should function, or donors aren't receiving their refunds, then I agree that you're experiencing a critical bug. That doesn't mean your critical bug is an incident though. Incidents are service-wide. I'm an independent contractor and I've successfully refunded transactions for many clients since July, there isn't a trend of users reporting issues with refunding transactions on social media or on the sites you've mentioned and I just successfully refunded a transaction for a client this morning. This proves there isn't an active incident with refunding transactions through Blackbaud Merchant Services.
This is an anonymous form regarding LAYOFFS, not a forum for disgruntled users to complain about their support and/or user experience. If you're posting here with the expectation that someone at Blackbaud is going to see this thread and take action to address your issue, it's not going to happen because this forum is ANONYMOUS. They have no clue who you are, what organization you represent, or what case you're referring to in this thread. What you're doing is not productive if you're trying to resolve your issue. If you're truly experiencing issues refunding transactions, then, per Blackbaud's support agreement (which someone previously provided you), Blackbaud Support should be providing you with hourly updates regarding the issue until it is resolved because it is considered a critical bug. If they aren't providing hourly updates regarding your case, then I highly encourage you to demand this from the support agent who owns your case and I recommend requesting to have your case further escalated. You shouldn't have to do any of this if the case is correctly managed by Blackbaud Support but if necessary, try posting on the Blackbaud Community forums. Their community managers monitor those forums and from personal experience, they forward those posts to the appropriate audience. You mentioned Todd Lant - if all else fails, email him. I've heard form other orgs that he's very responsive.
While I don't agree with the tone of the people you're engaging with, there is nothing outrageous about the information you've been provided in this thread and I can guarantee you that the people you've interacted with in this thread are not current Blackbaud employees. As a recentlyish-departed Blackbaud employee and current Blackbaud user, I know for a fact that it's in their employment agreements with HR that employees cannot engage with Blackbaud customers on public forums like this and HR will gladly use that clause as a means for terminating their employment if the employee is caught. Considering Blackbuad's two-year workforce offshoring plan and the current state of the economy and the job market, do you really think current Blackbaud employees are going to risk their livelihood or waste their weekend over a flame war you? No, they're not. They're already over-worked, under-paid, and incredibly stressed just like you. Unless they're members of the C-suite or executive teams (who wouldn't be caught dead reading the posts on this forum), Blackbaud employees are not significant shareholders of Blackbaud stock. Most of them aren't even receiving stock benefits and the ones who receive stock benefits are not going to waste their time participating in flame wars with disgruntled customers. If they are terminated, they lose their unvested shares. Blackbaud employees are just as disgruntled as (if not more than) you are because they're about to lose their jobs and a significant portion of them have never been employed outside of Blackbaud in their adult life. Trust me, they wouldn't be caught dead defending Blackbaud right now.
Furthermore, the majority of the shareholders of Blackbaud stock are institutions and let me tell you, those people are so rich, they don't even care if you exist, so the notion that the people who are engaging with you and disagree with you are stakeholders is factually untrue and unfathomable.
You just don't like what's been communicated to you and that's perfectly fine if you feel that way, but it doesn't change the reality of the situation or the terms of the support agreement, which your organization agreed to when you signed your contract with Blackbaud. Move on from this thread and work directly with Blackbaud. You will not solve your issue here and you will not catch your desired audience's attention here. You're just attracting trolls at this point.
@572 Yes, my bad. They must be unique people; they just all share the same outrageous indignation when mentioning payment services. However, having an excellent response time when updating their status page is not the win you think it is if the software cannot process refunds even slightly competently. Well, at least they told me they can take money very efficiently on their status page, so that must be a win.
@56v Hexowatxh isn’t Blackbaud. And even StatusGator shows that Blackbaud’s status page and response times with updating their status page is excellent. Nothing you’re saying proves your argument. Pseudonyms are optional with this site and everybody by default has “Anonymous” as their pseudonym, so the notion that all these new comments are the same person/people because people aren’t adding custom pseudonyms is unfounded. Maybe learn how these websites operate before making judgements as a matter of fact. Have the day you deserve, lady.
@55j Well if you track Hexowatch you may be pleasantly surprised. What we need now is your 8 imaginary friends to also respond and it does get better. Its very interesting why you are getting so invested in a complaint but you don't manage to change the persona.
@53c You’re the joke, lady. Like everyone else has told you already, you’re not accomplishing anything from this. Nobody cares. Everyone is losing their jobs in 2 years and the OG response is correct. Payment Services rarely has incidents.
@517 Right? Its hilarious how vociferously he was defending them with his cheap stock options unless he is shorting them in which case he is a genius. Or maybe he works for Tod Lant who knows. Good thing is that the more messages that appear here the more the crawlers pick this up. Maybe they will do something about it now with when this gets picked up. Blackbaud works great with events taking money but as soon as you clients want a refund crickets over and over for months. Its supposed to be a five day hold then 24 hours possibly at the bank. Forces fundraisers to pay out of their pockets to cover while process gets worked out. Well, as long as you are not American Heart, that lady is scary but she does get her way.
@4vh I think it’s funny how you’re accusing someone of owning Blackbaud stock over their comments in this thread. Yeah, this person must be some tech overlord who’s out to get you and your organization. They must be swimming in dough with that $49 Blackbaud stock. 😆
@4xs And you were being disrespectful them. You’re not innocent. You knew what you were doing when you responded to their original comment. If you want respect, treat people with respect. Don’t cry wolf when you get dishes back the same energy you served. You’re a great example of “The customer isn’t always right.”
@4xn That's interesting. They just spent their time insulting me and then I get a copy of the support agreement and I am supposed to interact with them why? I am just venting and agreeing with the original post. This person somehow knows there are no reported incidents and I am supposed to get off my a they say and stop biting. Sure they are going to be helpful.
@4vh Considering you stopped engaging with this post when help was offered leads me to think you don’t actually want help; you just want to complain. If you’re complaining here because you think it’s going to get your issue attention or make Blackbaud look bad, it isn’t. You’ve proven the person you’re arguing with’s point. You’re fishing for attention.
@4vh Okay, my bad for being a di-k then. Let me try to help. Look at the definitions in the chart on pages 2-3 of this document: https://www.blackbaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2022-us_blackbaud-scope-of-customer-support.pdf
Which of them best describes your issue?
@4vg I did and then I went to BBB after 30 days and now its 90. Looks like you got some BB stock though, such blind loyalty and standing up for them should be rewarded at least.
@4vf There are more reactions because I shared the post and brought engagement to it. I’m not an employee. I am just a longtime Blackbaud customer who complies with their terms of service regarding how to report product issues to Blackbaud. Report your issues to Blackbaud. Stop expecting to get your sh-t resolved on an anonymous forum that has no affiliation with Blackbaud.
@4vd Oh. Yeah. Nobody is following this thread for weeks and when you respond 8 reactions go up in one day. All you need is a brower to climb up the ranks so get over yourself. I can't report to Status Gator that comes from Blackbaud itself but that is the best thing we have given the info provided. I reported to the BBB but they don't even have to acknowledge it or fix it. Its been there for 3 months, though. Since you sound like an employee maybe you can point somebody here.
@4tz Yeah. Good thing is that with all your spamming and fake reactions, this may actually get some traction on it. Maybe you can create more accounts, those 8 may not have been enough to get picked up. Its going up in trends though. If we were American Heart or Salvation Army they probably will do something about it. BBB is the best I can do. You do you though.
@4te LMAOOOOO!! Oh no! An anonymous person on the Internet called me triggered! Whatever shall I do?!
@4te 😂😂😂😂😂
@4st wow. Somebody is really getting triggered.
@4sm I don’t work at Blackbaud. Blackbaud isn’t maliciously not resolving or neglecting Payment Services issues. I report my issues and they typically get resolved within a business day…maybe a week for more complex issues. I checked the status history. There have been 7 Payment Services incidents in the last year. Not every little issue you have is an incident. Read your terms of service. Instead of bi--hing on the Internet and referring to StatusGator, a third-party platform that has no access to Blackbaud’s servers and isn’t a point of truth for active incidents, maybe report your issues to Blackbaud, Karen.
@4rr so you have had zero issues? Wow. I must be making stuff up then. Besides. Attention from where, this is not the most popular site in the world based on reactions. My only response in this thread previously is the @4mc one responding to your request to give a list of every Payment Services incident from the last year etc... whichi is funny. You seem to be getting extra triggered with your responses. Blackbaud loves to escalate and do nothing for months, not the best way to treat non-profits.
@4pd And yet there have been no reported incidents…if you’re so worried about potential incidents, get off your a-s and report them instead of bi--hing on the Internet. I’ve had zero issues working with Payment Services features. Me thinks you are making stuff up for attention.
@4mc I guess that is why things don't get fixed. July through today it has had issues every single day. Their records don't match statusgator either.
@44h Give a list of every Payment Services incident from the last year, the impacted customer count, and explain the customer impact from the incident.
Sit down. You have no clue what you’re talking about. Payment Services incidents are not common.
Payment Service incidents not common? Ha! Maybe with a skewed definition of incidents.
Just ask the big customers what they think. They hate it.
If you’re a current Blackbaud employee, this is a very unwise decision you’ve made by telling the Internet that you had a recent conversation with South Carolina Aquarium. They track your inbound/outbound call history and customers’ account teams are easy to lookup in Salesforce. They can easily figure out who this is. Even if you had the conversation through your personal phone/device, I’m pretty sure it’s a violation of your employment agreement, a corpIT violation, and a security risk to conduct business outside of your company-issued laptop. Also, I’m sure South Carolina Aquarium wouldn’t be thrilled having their name dropped on the internet like this, so you’re also putting the business relationship between the customer, yourself, and Blackbaud at risk. Yikes!
I am a huge fan of nailing Blackbaud to the wall for product quality when it’s warranted, but I don’t think this is one of those circumstances. Based off the information provided, this is not a fair criticism. When something breaks, do they report it to Blackbaud Support? Are they using the software during scheduled maintenance windows (which Blackbaud notified customers at least 2 weeks in advance, with the exception of emergencies)? Is it really Payment Services, or is it the consuming application? How often have they had issues with payment processing and the issue was rooted in something on Blackbaud’s end? Payment Services incidents are not common and when there is one, Blackbaud is pretty quick to react…because it is revenue-impacting to the non-profit and Blackbaud.