where are my emails?

[aprilkay86]

i couldn’t access my email earlier today and when i checked it right now every message was gone where are my emails? why did they disappear i need them is there anyway they can be recovered? i need get this figured out ive had emails from 2 years ago in that account how could they just be gone?

[Jenn]

Same problem here. I can get into my address book, calendar, etc. But, when I try to "check mail" I am told that my mailbox is "temporarily unavailable". Well, it has been temporarily unavailable for at least 3 days now.

[eibgrad]

Holy cow, I thought it was just me!

I've been locked out of my account with the "temporary unavailable" message since 5:00PM on 6/21/06! A week w/o my email, I'm goin' nuts.

I've tried repeatedly to use the Yahoo email contact, but it's worthless. All I received back was the same stupid standard form response they initially send out to everyone w/ the same error message. I then responded to the email (which it says to do) if I still had problems. As of today, no further responses have been forthcoming. I then tried send another initial email request stating the problem again, twice, w/ no response AT ALL! Then the topper, I received today an email asking me to take a survey regarding their handling of my email inquiry!

Frustrating, incredibly frustrating, since NO ONE there apparently gives a damn about this problem.

I've tried everything imaginable, including different PCs, different OS's, deleting cookies, rebooting, different browsers (IE, FF, Opera), even tried the new beta release, you name it, nothing helps. And since I can't find a tech support phone #, what's left to do??

If someone finds some "magical" means to fix this problem, please post it! I suspect the mailbox is corrupted and will require a hard reset on the server side to get past this problem. Perhaps even the loss of existing email. I've been using Yahoo mail since 1999, never once had anything like this happen. I have had the "temp unavailable" error before, but it's always been easily correctable w/ a logout/login sequence. Never had it be out for a WEEK!

I'm at my wits end on this one.

[eibgrad]

What a totally worthless company this Yahoo is.

I decided to resend my initial inquiry regarding this "temporary access" problem since no one ever seems to respond to my responses to their initial replies.

Do ya know those damn fools sent me ANOTHER STANDARD FORM RESPONSE! And that's after a detailed PLEA to NOT send me a standard form response and full description of the problem. It's as if these people don't bother to read these inquires at all. They just find a few key words, find a standard response that seems to apply, and send it. It's like talking to a brick wall. All I can assume is these initial responses are computer generated, because no amount of pleading seems to matter.

You would AT LEAST expect someone to respond to your reply to their computer generated response after 7 days. So far, not a beep.

What a worthless company and tech support system. Utterly ridiculous. And they sent me yet another tech support survery to complete.

God help anyone who needs tech support from these ppl. As long as you don't need any help, even for problems THEY are responsible for, I suppose it works. But if you need real help, forget about it. You'll never want to rest your business or vital email on the shoulders of these guys. They will leave you high and dry.

After a WEEK without my email, I'm totally disgusted.

[thain]

When no human being ever answers it's usually because some more senior human being in the company has screwed up. A mere router failure or other hardwarefault fault would get fixed in a few hours, and you'd get a chipper response telling you how effective their technical backup was. But after all this time and still no data.... somebody at Yahoo has reasons for not saying anything. Maybe the manager whose job it was to ensure that the backups worked? Maybe the bean counter who ran out of beans to pay the server farm which hosted your emails. Who knows?

Yahoo is free to users. As we don't pay them anything we have no rights where our data are concerned, so it's safer for Yahoo never to say anything in a situation like this because anything they DID say could get pounced on by a lawyer as an admission of liability.

The hard lesson is this:- always make backups on your own PC of any data you entrust to Yahoo. It's boring and time consuming and a nuisance, but I'm afraid the alternative may be an exciting problem you can do without.

[eibgrad]

When no human being ever answers it's usually because some more senior human being in the company has screwed up. A mere router failure or other hardwarefault fault would get fixed in a few hours, and you'd get a chipper response telling you how effective their technical backup was. But after all this time and still no data.... somebody at Yahoo has reasons for not saying anything. Maybe the manager whose job it was to ensure that the backups worked? Maybe the bean counter who ran out of beans to pay the server farm which hosted your emails. Who knows?

Yahoo is free to users. As we don't pay them anything we have no rights where our data are concerned, so it's safer for Yahoo never to say anything in a situation like this because anything they DID say could get pounced on by a lawyer as an admission of liability.

The hard lesson is this:- always make backups on your own PC of any data you entrust to Yahoo. It's boring and time consuming and a nuisance, but I'm afraid the alternative may be an exciting problem you can do without.

While I'll understand what you're saying, that doesn't fully explain what's happening here. It's one thing to lose my current data, it's quite another to NEVER give me access to the account again!

Hell, I can live w/ data loss. I'm under no illusions when it comes to the distinct possibility that Yahoo or any other web-based email system could suffer data loss. But that's a risk I'm willing to take for the convenience of having them manage the data and having access from anywhere in the world.

Even if such data loss occurs, it's totally ridiculous to prevent all FURTHER access from now and forever! I've certainly been sent numerous emails since. And I have numerous accounts linked to that email address. For the sake of a single data loss event, Yahoo will now deny all future access to that email account?! That's rational behavior?

You may ultimately be proven right, but I find it hard to believe this would be Yahoo's reasoning. That's quite a draconian response to a rather straighforward problem. I also can't believe that their terms of service doesn't already provide them more than enough protection against liability for free services.

[thain]

I agree with you that it's hard to know anything for sure in the face of a total silence. It could be a matter of corporate policy, or it could be that they no longer even have any record that your account ever existed, in which case they wouldn't be able to let you back into it even if they wanted to.

It's cold comfort, but all of us out here feel your pain and sympathise with you. It sucks.

[eibgrad]

Hmm..., had an idea. What if I subscribed to Yahoo Email Plus. It's priced @ $20/yr, but the fine print says I can cancel and receive a prorated refund of the balance. If I upgrade, then presumably I can call in for support should the problem continue (for all I know, maybe the upgrade will "fix" the problem). But at worst, I'm thinking maybe it costs me a month's service charge ($1.67). Heck, maybe I'll even like it and keep it. But at worst, it's like paying $1.67 for tech support.

My only concerns is if Yahoo proves to be as unresponsive to Mail Plus customers as free service customers. I'd hate to have upgraded and still be stuck w/ the same problem and no support! I assume as well that if I cancel the Plus upgrade, my account returns to the free service, not a complete deletion. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this approach?

[kimrrobinson]

thought I would tell you that I cannot get into my premium email - I cannot even get past their first basic help page - their servers, routers or switches are having issue is the only thing I can figure out. what is so stupid is that I can get into my free email just fine (probably in a different location).

this is not the first time I have had similar issues, but not for much length of time.

To my knowledge the help system for premium email support is the same as it is for the free. so don't switch to premium. just switch to Google emai= gmail.

if you need an invite, let me know and I will invite you = I have about 100 user invites if anyone wants one.

[the_blackswan]

:( Dear People,

I have had mailbox access problems now for over a week. I have sent out numerous "error reports" for all the good it did me. I have had this email since 1996! My virtual life revolves around it. The thought of never being able to use it again induces a near nervous breakdown... However, reading your posts.... hope fails me and I now fear I will have to come to terms with the looming fact that I will have to kiss it goodbye. Curse you Yahoo!

please post help if you can people.

Ps: 1-408-349-1572

Apparently that's the number for ahoo customer services.

Feedback any success and let hope be kindled again.

[eibgrad]

:( Dear People,

I have had mailbox access problems now for over a week. I have sent out numerous "error reports" for all the good it did me. I have had this email since 1996! My virtual life revolves around it. The thought of never being able to use it again induces a near nervous breakdown... However, reading your posts.... hope fails me and I now fear I will have to come to terms with the looming fact that I will have to kiss it goodbye. Curse you Yahoo!

please post help if you can people.

Ps: 1-408-349-1572

Apparently that's the number for ahoo customer services.

Feedback any success and let hope be kindled again.

If you're having the same problem as me ("temporarily unavailable" message), the situtation is a lot worse than you can imagine.

I've now been w/o my Yahoo mail account for SIX WEEKS! After trying repeatedly to reach Yahoo via email and phone, nothing has worked. But out of the blue last week, my gazillionth email seems to have finally reached someone at Yahoo, a real person!, who then indicated they could only help me if I answered the following questions correctly:

Hello XXX,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

We realize that you have been greatly inconvenienced by this situation.
However, before proceeding, we would like to verify your account
information so we can confirm your account ownership. We take this
precaution to ensure the security of your account.

Please provide all of the following information:

1. Your Yahoo! ID;

2. Your zip or postal code, and the alternate email address you
specified when you registered your Yahoo! ID;

3. Either the secret question and answer you set up when you registered
your Yahoo! ID, or your date of birth.

We will be happy to assist you after matching this info with our
records.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,

Ashley

Yahoo! Customer Care

At this point I'm thinking *maybe* I'm finally going to get somewhere. But then I look more closely at the questions and realize it present yet more hurdles.

As far the postal code I used when I signed up, if they mean this literally (which I asked and they wouldn't answer), well I've moved 6-7 times since opening my account and have updated the zip every time (no one indicated this would be necessary at the time I signed up!). And I frankly don't know which zip code was the *original* zip at that time. Anyway, having no other choice I sent them the current zip (which is currently on my profile page). As a precaution, I included every other zip I've had since signing up as well (all accurate).

As far as my birth date, here too, I could very well have lied (wanting to protect my privacy). Again, no one indicated this would be necessary at the time I signed up! Frankly, I'd be inclined to do this w/ the zip code too, but probably didn't because I used the Yahoo Wallet back then and needed accurate info.

I fortunately had written down my secret question and answer and provide it in my response.

That was some 4-5 days ago, since then, no word. Apparently I didn't provide perfect information!

What's so annoying w/ this current situation is, WHY IS ALL THIS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION NECESSSARY IN THE FIRST PLACE?! When I signed up w/ Yahoo many years ago, ONLY the security question was indicated as necessary, and even then, ONLY to recover a password. Well, I *have* the password (which I told them I'd be more than happy to provide as well). At no time did Yahoo indicate back then that all this additional information would be NECESSARY to address any issues that may arise. Now all of a sudden, if you don't have a bunch of other info, you're SOL! EVEN HAVING AND PROVIDING YOUR PASSWORD IS OF NO HELP!

I've just never had so many problems w/ a company's tech support as I have w/ this Yahoo email. Sorry to bring you such bad news, but realize a LOT of us are in the same boat. And frankly, I have no idea how to fix the situation from here. If having my own password, providing the correct security question/answer (I know it's correct because I recently used it to change my password hoping it might fix my mailbox, which it didn't), and current zip code (as indicated in my current profile page, which I converted to a PDF to show them I had access) doesn't help, well.... then I give up. Yahoo has created a situation apparently only Houdini could master.

It's just ridiculuous to NOW be adding requirements to gain help that no one indicated were necessary at sign up (not back then anyway). Obviously I would have maintained a detailed record of all that information at that time had I known Yahoo would eventual change its requirements and create all these additional hurdles. So the older your account, the more likely you'll find it IMPOSSIBLE to comply. I maintained the secret question/answer assuming it was only necessary for password recovery, and that if I had the password, that was sufficient to prove ownership. Apparently I am sadly mistaken, they've since moved the goal posts.

The situation is horrible, and as I said, a lot worse than most people can imagine until a Yahoo created problem arises and you need help. This should come as a warning to all Yahoo users that you better start considering another email service, or even Yahoo Plus so you can at least download you email over POP to your favorite client software (e.g., Outlook Express) before something befalls your account. There's no way on earth I'd ever trust any business or otherwise critical email usage to Yahoo at this point. Way way too risky. Even if by some miracle you got help, who can reasonably be expected to wait WEEKS AND WEEKS to have it addressed. For occasional, expendable correspondence between friends, it's probably fine. For business or critical email, either use your own email client, or find a smaller, more responsive email service provider. Yahoo is just too big, and for the small fry freebies like us, doesn't give a crap. I've had better responsiveness from the DMV and IRS.

[Mlbs2002]

They suck more than the old yahoo.

[randy12085]

I am a victim of Yahoo customer non-care also. Its gotten to the point where I do not even expect a reply anymore unless it is a canned auto-crap reply.

I have started sending snot-o-grams to Yahoo company officials voicing my feedback re: their service. I have to agree with one writer who suggests addressing this problem with the open media. If Yahoo gets enough bad press either the problems will get fixed or they will lose market ground to other providers.

In the end one caveat holds true - "You get what you pay for" and in this case this free service is proving to be worthless.