Missing emails?

[worldwarix]

For the second time in the few months I have been with HostPC my site was shut down because I did not recieve warning emails from HostPC about changing my nameservers.

I have used Yahoo email for at least the past 5 years, and in no other personal or business transaction has someone claimed to send me email that I did not recieve. Occassionally a message goes into my "bulk mail" (spam) folder, but I check there every day. I get a fair amount of other, non-vital, emails from HostPC announcing new reseller plans and other things I do not care about and they end up in my inbox, not my spam folder.

Is there anything that can be done to rectify this situation short of taking my business elsewhere?

Michael

[admin]

Provide an address other than yahoo? (since you know it's problematic)?

If you'd like to email me, tell me the domain name, I can pull the mail server logs for that day to prove it was sent / accepted at Yahoo (i've done this several times for other customers - so I'm confident it's in there) however yahoo didn't deliver it.

This is precisely why we dont accept Yahoo! email adddresses for signups ... If you need a gmail invite, please let me know, I've got a couple hundred left to give out.

Joe

[worldwarix]

Joe, the domain is worldwarix.com. I would appreciate seeing the logs as you suggested. Like I said, I never have had a problem with yahoo as my sole email address in many years, and I am reluctant to get another email account just to take care of one piece of business that should occupy only 30 minutes of my time per year. But if you show that Yahoo is at fault, it is obviously time for me to get a new email provider.

Thanks,
Michael

[worldwarix]

If you'd like to email me, tell me the domain name, I can pull the mail server logs for that day to prove it was sent / accepted at Yahoo (i've done this several times for other customers - so I'm confident it's in there) however yahoo didn't deliver it.


Joe, it has been approximately 1 month and I still haven't heard from you in response to the my post and my email requesting to see these logs...

Michael

[worldwarix]

Joe, it has been approximately 1 month and I still haven't heard from you in response to the my post and my email requesting to see these logs...

Michael

Getting close to 3 months now with no answer...

[eugene]

I know there is something funny about yahoo. I have a website that requires email verification for registration. Several yahoo.com users swear they never got the registration emails. However, it is not always the case. A few people have received their emails. We haven't been able to pin down why this happens. Also, those that don't get the messages say they have checked spam boxes without any luck.
Who knows?

[Nick]

Can you really expect anything from a 'free' service?
All the problems mostly from Yahoo, Hotmail, Netzero, etc. All 'free' services

[tonydi]

I know there is something funny about yahoo. I have a website that requires email verification for registration. Several yahoo.com users swear they never got the registration emails. However, it is not always the case. A few people have received their emails. We haven't been able to pin down why this happens. Also, those that don't get the messages say they have checked spam boxes without any luck.
Who knows?
I know someone who works on the Hotmail team at MS. With the massive spam loads their servers see (routinely over 90% of their total email volume) there are times when the servers just can't handle it. My contact said during those times they often drop some incoming mail. They know it happens (but they're not going to admit that publicly) and have made a decision that this is just the nature of the beast, it's not worth trying to fix it. I would presume Yahoo is in a similar situation and these MIA emails just happened to arrive during one of those high load periods.

Nick's point is quite valid. While MS sees their free service as an enticement to attract customers to some of their paid services (I personally think that's very wishful thinking on their part), it's still a huge cost to them and throwing more hardware at it must not seem like a good deal to the beancounters.

[worldwarix]

Hmmm. I pay Yahoo $20 or $30 a year for my email (since before Gmail bumped the storage standards up). I would hope it is better than their free service, but you're probably right.

However, it is too big of a coincidence that in the 6 years or so I have had my Yahoo account, I have lost only two emails and they were both from Hostpc telling me my site would be shut down if I didn't do something before a certain date. I've received tens of thousands of messages, from individuals, from companies, listservs, mass mailings, and a fair share of spam. Sure, once in a while something ends up in my spam folder, but I find it. And many other emails from Hostpc have found their way to my inbox.

And then there's the fact that they said they would send the server logs proving the email had been sent but then ignored me for 3 months.

[eugene]

Perhaps you should use the helpdesk for this complaint and not the forum.

[worldwarix]

Perhaps you should use the helpdesk for this complaint and not the forum.

Why I Haven't Opened a Helpdesk Ticket for This Issue

1. Because it has been very difficult to get answers about why something went wrong from the helpdesk. Once they consider something to be fixed, they close the ticket. Then if you reopen it to ask a question about what went wrong or what you can do to avoid the problem in the future, they give a brief answer and close the ticket again. (By the way, I understand why they might work this way: they prioritize taking care of mission-critical technical problems, as they should.)

2. Because Joe publically offered to personally investigate this issue here in this forum. I also emailed him directly, as he invited me to. I think it would be nice if Joe and Hostpc were accountable for their promises to their customers. Instead, I get the feeling that their attitude is if you ignore a problem, it will go away.

I hope this explains why I don't think opening a helpdesk ticket will be helpful or appropriate for this issue.

Michael

[worldwarix]

PS:

I am a little annoyed about this issue, but I hope I don't come off as rude or antagonistic toward those of you who have commented or offered your advice in this thread. That is not my intention.

Michael

[dbmasters]

I have one single client that is also complaining of missing emails, and this isn't to Yahoo or anything, this is email coming to his domain...can't be narrowed down to certain ISP's, users or anything...they just never get delivered...

And it started after a server move...whats the differecne between www5 and server 91? Cuz that is when their trouble started.

[Sean]

Worldwarix...

Our answer is very simple. Provide an alternate email address other then Yahoo. Yahoo is simply the worst service going. We will not look into any issues with lost notification emails with Yahoo email address because, to put it simply, it's a waste of time. They will NOT answer our questions on what happens to the emails. Some go thru, others do not...they don't even bounce back..they simply vanish.

So that being said, open a Gmail account (We've had good luck there) or use your ISP's email account.

That's all we can tell you. That and watch the forums for server shutdown notices..they are ALWAYS posted here first.

[worldwarix]

We will not look into any issues with lost notification emails with Yahoo email address because, to put it simply, it's a waste of time.

Except Joe *did* offer to personally investigate this lost email notification.

I don't think he intentionally lied, but maybe it was convenient for him to say it when he didn't believe I would follow up on it. Either way, it is a very bad way to treat your customers, stringing them on for months under the belief that you will investigate their problem when you don't intend to. If you (Hostpc, not you personally) were simply straightforward with me and said you wouldn't investigate it from the beginning, I wouldn't still be pursuing this issue.

Anyway, I've changed my notification address to a gmail address. To put it simply, it is a waste of my time trying to get you to follow through with your promises.

[admin]

I asked you to email me ...I didn't re-read this thread until your last post was just pointed out to me. I never received an email from you, but I can tell you I've investigated over 100 similar reports... ALL show sucessful delivery to Yahoo - yet the client never gets them.

Several even gave me their logins at yahoo - I looked everywhere in their account - nothing to be found.

This isn't something that's unique to HostPC - the entire industry is screaming about it - and Yahoo! refuses to do anything about it.

[worldwarix]

I asked you to email me ...I didn't re-read this thread until your last post was just pointed out to me. I never received an email from you, but I can tell you I've investigated over 100 similar reports... ALL show sucessful delivery to Yahoo - yet the client never gets them.

Several even gave me their logins at yahoo - I looked everywhere in their account - nothing to be found.

This isn't something that's unique to HostPC - the entire industry is screaming about it - and Yahoo! refuses to do anything about it.

I did email you. See below.

I didn't receive a reply or a bounce. Maybe things look differently to an industry insider like yourself, but in all my years at yahoo, no one has complained of not receiving an email of mine, nor have I been made aware that someone sent me an email I didn't receive. The only problem has been with Hostpc, with two emails that were supposedly sent to me and now another that I sent.

Should I assume from this message that you have rescinded your offer to investigate this issue for me?

Michael

cc joe@hostpc.com

Received: from [140.163.254.129] by web30808.mail.mud.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:45:03 PST
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 09:45:01 -0800 (PST)
From: "Michael McGregor" <mmcg47@yahoo.com> Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: mail question
To: joe@hostpc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Length: 884


Joe, the domain is worldwarix.com. I would appreciate
seeing the logs as you suggested. Like I said, I never
have had a problem with yahoo as my sole email address
in many years, and I am reluctant to get another email
account just to take care of one piece of business
that should occupy only 30 minutes of my time per
year. But if you show that Yahoo is at fault, it is
obviously time for me to get a new email provider.

Thanks,
Michael

>>>>>>>>>>

If you'd like to email me, tell me the domain name, I
can pull the mail server logs for that day to prove it
was sent / accepted at Yahoo (i've done this several
times for other customers - so I'm confident it's in
there) however yahoo didn't deliver it.

This is precisely why we dont accept Yahoo! email
adddresses for signups ... If you need a gmail invite,
please let me know, I've got a couple hundred left to
give out.

Joe

[admin]

3 months later is a little too late - I have logs back 60 days, not 90+, sorry.

[worldwarix]

3 months later is a little too late - I have logs back 60 days, not 90+, sorry.

I hate to drag this up again, but I just saw this response, which makes it seem like I waited 3 months to ask to see the logs. In fact I emailed you 3 *days* after you offered to look up these logs (Dec 5 - Dec 8, see email copied above) and received no reply.