Unknown Contact (API Handshake or Webhook Issue)

Hey ​@rahulkamra you seem to have done all the necessary troubleshooting steps. And when support tells you they’re investigating, it’s usually because they found something different with your account that they haven’t seen before, or that they need to report to Meta.

It could be the case that Meta is sending Manychat some type of error for example.

Keep the conversation going with support, they’ll be in the best position to help you.

If you want, share your ticket id here, sometimes we can bump the ticket priority inside Manychat ;)

Hey ​@Gustavo Boregio 

I appreciate your attention here.

The support case ID is - #370201 

They have asked me to wait till they investigate and this issue has been persistent, I also tried connecting with a few peeps at Manychat on LinkedIn, they have been helpful too, but all of them are just asking me to wait. 

I am hopefully and patiently waiting. 

Hey ​@Gustavo Boregio 

Thank you for your help. 

This a context of the reply I received:

“I have reproduced the issue on multiple Accounts with some inconsistencies; it seems that some Contacts' messages get through, but for others, the automated response doesn't fire. From what we investigated, there is a clear lack of webhooks being sent from Meta's end after the connected IG Page gets a DM, be it a button click, quick reply, or a manually sent message.
The same issue causes the lack of messages in the Live Chat history, and the fact that the users stay in the "Visitor" status instead of becoming Contacts that you can message from your end on Live Chat.
 
At the moment, we are gathering all the relevant cases, running multiple tests on each page, and preparing an escalation to the Meta team. This takes time because we have to make sure the report is thorough and includes cases that are all, without a doubt, relevant to the potential main issue. Test runs, communication with affected users, and cross-team reports to the Meta team all take certain time, which is also multiplied by the scale of the issue. 
I hope that clarifies the matter of how our team approaches the matter.”

Simply put, they may take weeks or months solving this, which gets me to a question.

While they sort these issues, can I explore other platforms?, alternatives to ManyChat and help my business continuity not get affected.

Please let me know if you have any inputs for the same

Thanks,

Rahul

Hey ​@rahulkamra you can explore, nobody is going to stop you…

However, note that the issue here is not Manychat, but Meta.

Meta is not sending the information to Manychat. So Manychat can’t do anything about it until Meta sorts it out.

If you do go exploring, it’s almost certain that other platforms will also experience the same issue (since the issue is with Meta, not Manychat).

The advantage you have being with Manychat vs other platforms is that Manychat is by far the platform with the most users with Meta. So, for Manychat, it’s easier to compile cases and evidence, and they have closer contact with Meta’s development teams. Other platforms with less scale will be slower and have less contact with Meta…

Also, regarding this comment you make:

Simply put, they may take weeks or months solving this, which gets me to a question.

Yes, and that has been the case with Meta since the beginning!

The weeks it may take to solve are 100% due to how Meta works, and not because of Manychat.

Unfortunately, both Manychat and many of us depend on Meta for our business. And if Meta has a hiccup, we have to accept and adapt. As long as we’re on their rented property, we have to play according to whatever they throw at us.

That’s the #1 reason I always suggest my clients have a multi-channel strategy.

Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Email, TikTok, etc.

And yes, email does not convert as well, and SMS is expensive. However, having these alternate channels of communication means that we can continue to do business even when Meta decides to break something. :)

Hey ​@Gustavo Boregio 

Thanks for the support, it certainly feels somewhat relaxed, however not completely when I tried another platform and realise that this ain’t a Manychat issue, this is purely meta. 

The feeling is when you know who to pin point, I am going full guns blazing on meta in all the possible ways I can. 

Thanks for your prompt replies and advice, this has been really helpful. However I was really curious to still try it out. But no luck.

Appreciate your advice to also explore other ways to reach out people. I’ll certainly experiment this too.

I’ll keep this thread updated with what and how I do things moving forward for others to learn at the community.

Hi Rahul.  I’m experiencing much the same issue and reading the conversation between you and Gustavo has helped immensely.  It seems there is nothing we can do about this at this time and our hands are tied until Meta fixes this...but I do think this is negligent on Manychat’s part to not send out a broadcast message to all of us, their users, letting us know that this is an issue and that an attempt at fixing it is in the works.

Hey ​@thesonofkrypton it all depends on how big the issue is.

For example, I haven’t had reports with my accounts yet.

So, this may be an issue affecting only a few accounts, and if that’s the case, then it doesn’t make sense to cause panic across all Manychat users...