Is your MobileMe working?
By Will Park on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 2:23 PM PST In Announcements, Apple, Applications, Services, iPhone, iPhone OS
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s problem-prone MobileMe launch is apparently still experiencing growing-pains. My MobileMe email still isn’t pushing correctly. It’s a hit or miss proposition at this point. Strangely, my push email was working just fine last week.
And, apparently, I’m not alone, CNN Money is reporting that some MobileMe users are still out of luck with their push email service.
The Cupertino, Calif., company has been migrating its .Mac pay email service to an upgraded version, called MobileMe. But in doing so, it has run into problems including service outages and customers losing access to their accounts. It’s the latest in a string of issues that have cropped up since the launch of the latest iPhone, an unusual turn for a company known for its attention to detail in its products and services.
And, the MobileMe support site shows that 1% of u
sers are still in the dark for MobileMe push email.
Combined with Apple’s iPhone 3G stock running dry in the US (let alone globally), it seems Apple’s having serious issues keeping up with rampant demand for both the new iPhone 3G and the push email service.
So, are you part of that 1% without a working MobileMe push email account? Sound off in the comments section.
Update
Wouldn’t you know it? As soon as I posted this, my MobileMe push email went from non-working status to a full push-email greenlight.
So, I am, fortunately, not a part of this 1% debacle. I did make a post this morning that got taken down though, with a small veiled threat from the forum people at Apple. Basically, I ask how long they were going to let this go on or what it would take to make them acknowledge this.
I promptly got a message telling me that my comments were inappropriate… hmm…
This is bull crap. I have had no mail since Friday. All Apple is doing is giving us 30 days of service. What is that going to do. I expect to have my email working when I need since I am paying $99.99. This is simply ridiculous. Apple is the next Microsoft.
I am one of the lucky, happy “1%ers”, as we start calling ourselves… Stuck under the “cloud”… No email access since Friday afternoon. And no information from Apple beyond the repetitive “your account is stored on a server that is down”. There is no estimate of ETA so far. Or they said to some people “By the end of the day”… Saturday, and Sunday, and today again! But helloooo there is still nothing on my webpage!
Well, I’m not an IT guy, but that seems to be a little weird, a server down for 4 days and they still don’t know when it will be back on line? I’ve seen posts of people on the forums explaining that for them, when they finally had access to their email, actually there were no emails anymore! All erased, lost. As they complained to Apple, the answer came in the form of a citation of the EULA saying “you are responsible for your data” The same for people who depend on MobileMe (lame name…) for their jobs. Apple answered by quoting the EULA stating that MobileMe is not for professional use. Well, well, well…. I can understand that they cover their a**** with legal stuff, but at least don’t answer that right away, only if people threaten to sue!
Apparently, from reading the posts extensively to detect even a little ray of light in the middle of that “cloud”, most affected people seem to be previous .Mac users. Dunno if it’s because not many new iPhone 3G people are on board yet, or because this is a server with older accounts from .Mac… One thing is sure: it is a question that Apple moderators do not want to see in the forums; my new thread asking to people if they were .Mac subscribers was never published…
Also a 1%er!
Have been using .mac for about 3 years now, but signed up for a gmail account today. I have been without email for 4 days. This is the most frustrating thing that i have ever beeen through with apple. Even more so than my run-ins at the idiot bar in the stores.
But come on Apple, reassure us that you give a crap about the customer. At least make us warm and fuzzy and tell us you’re on it. Instead you are acting like the freak who has been on a 3 day coke binge and wont answer the door or pick up a phone.
Looks like Apple has peaked boys, start shorting that stock.
BTW – I too have been banned for life on the discussion forums! (happened when i voiced my opinion about apples policy of charging more than 9.99 for top hit CD’s)
I have been without email for 5 days. No way to contact Apple except through chat, and then after an hour wait Upkar simply says I apologize for the inconvenience. No other information provided. This has caused me serious work issues. I am going to ditch .mac and go back to a free emai service….as soon as I can get to my Address book. Apple needs to be honest about what is really going on here. I cannot tout this product as great anymore.
Another “lucky 1%er” here. No new emails received on my machine since late Thursday 7/17/08. No access to any email (even old ones) from the web-based interface.
It does seem that it’s totally a matter of luck, whether one ended up on the server(s) that went to the Twilight Zone.
What makes no sense to me is that Apple hasn’t been able to provide any resolution to this problem. This isn’t a matter of intermittent service degrdation — this is full outage for (at least an admitted) 1% of the customers of an established, paid service. I’m extremely curious how many users are actually affected by this.
I have no interest in any of the features of the new MobileMe. I didn’t have a chance to opt out of (or defer) the “upgrade”. And I feel like I’ve been left flapping in the breeze.
Totally agree with Emma. I also had no interest in new MobileMe (what a terrible name – is this a kids’ product?) features. And now – on my ancient machine at work – I will no longer be able to access my personal e-mail account. That’s if it ever works again – I’ve not had any kind of access since Friday. Stupefyingly poor customer service. Gmail here I come.
taken from an apple discussion board before it was deleted:
I have now been without mail since Friday July 18 10:38am. The one and only support contact available to Mobile Me issues is no longer available. The online chat is now “Unavailable due to popular demand”.
With this one and only “life line” severed, I have now picked up the phone calling the Apple Switch board on 408.996.1010. Ask for a customer relations representative. Long wait, but if every single call coming into this department is regarding Mobile Me being down some attention must be raised were someone will actually do something about it.
With the risk of this post being deleted I hope enough of you see it and actually call before it is deleted. In fact the time it will take for this to disappear from the forums will be a good metric on how much effort is spent on monitoring these forums rather than supporting customers.
Come on people, pick up the phone! Make some trouble. About a month ago I had some issues with my Webgallery, and for 5 WEEKS I was told that they were working on it. Not until I started making threats about phone calls, emails, repeated new support issues opened every day did I actually get the issue resolved. I pains me to twice in a row now encounter un-reasonably slow customer support from Apple.
I think I may be experiencing a new one. My service was working on and off, but just about bearable. I logged onto my machines this morning to find that mobile me had deleted from each of the machines all of the emails! Not only that but the .mac email address that they promised would remain active has been deleted. This is obviously the problem with the missing emails.
It is so frustrating, I have noticed a gradual trend starting with apples push into the mass market and Intel chips of the quality of products and services going down rather than up.
My macbook pro has been back twice in quick succession, mobile me not working, iMovie 08 not being up to scratch. Anyone see a trend emerging? When companies rest on their laurels and produce flash machines that look good but don’t necessarily perform things start to go bad for them. I have seen it so many times before.
It just works does it? Really!
P.S. The most reliable machine I have is the old Powerbook. I will never be getting rid of that one.