Recently Blackwell notified me that there was " unusual spider activity"
on one of our IPs.  Sure enough, there were firewall problems which were
fixed in two days.

Blackwell requested an e-mail response.  I replied that the situation
was corrected on our end and asked them to confirm the IP was no longer
blocked.  I also asked a few questions  for which my director wanted
answers.  I got an automated response that they had received my e-mail.
Then nothing. E-mailed again, same thing, And again. No human response.
  Finally, I contacted my Ebsco rep, who had a "source" at Blackwell,
and I finally got confirmation, thru Ebsco,  that the IP was no longer
blocked.

The e-mail from Blackwell's had no phone number or contact info.  I
couldn't find any U.S. phone number for technical issues, just sales,
which was my next step if Ebsco couldn't help me.  And as far as I know,
I have no sales rep - in my two years here, Blackwells is the only major
publisher I have who has never contacted me.

What do you have to do to talk to a human about technical problems at
Blackwell?

Cindy Swope
Himmelfarb Library
George Washington University
Washingto, DC
202-994-9756