my girl carrie got a little cranky about this
FOR ALL COX USERS OR THOSE WHO EMAIL US WITH COX ACCOUNTS!
I didn't realize this would paste in such big font - but this is a copy of my "live chat" with tech support for your information and possible entertainment and definitely to save you the time and pain and energy of having to go through what I went through - I just thought I'd pass on the message. Feel free to forward this (minus my email address) to anyone you care to. However, this message serves many purposes and is relevant to all, I promise.
(And to my long lost friend Chad who is employed at Cox in a position that may have some influence in this area - I'm sorry darling, but I had to... I can't get things done and I am not happy about it at all!)
1) For those of you that have cox email (and hopefully you recieve and may not be active on the webmail (or even if you are) - you may have noticed that you aren't getting as much email as normal. It seems I'm still getting all of my subscription lists - but very little personal, IMPORTANT email. Cox implemented a FABULOUS new upgrade to their webmail and spam filtering features and now we are no longer recieving most of our regular email... and no, your regular email is not in the webmail spam folder either... it's just hanging out on the cox server in cybespace indefinitely. Apparently this is for all states as well and is not limited to Oklahoma.
2) Obviously those of you that aren't on cox - but SEND email to many of us who are - just thought I'd let you know that we aren't recieving your emails and they don't have an ETA on when they'll release all of our mail off the server so we can be bombarded with out-of-date email.
What really irks me is that I spent all of this time with two different techs for them to tell me, yes Carrie - you were right, your mail is hung up on our server... but instead... the first one tried to tell me I was SOL because they don't support Outlook... Now THAT is customer service 101...
This is the site where you can go to get techinical updates and you should see the below info if you click on this link (but how many of us know to go there, right?) Well - now you know!
http://support.cox.com/sdcxuser/asp/cox_networkstatus.asp?showloc=true
Some customers may be experiencing connectivity issues, missing address books, missing e-mail, missing folders, non compatibility with non IE browsers (Safari, Firefox), non functional links, and difficulty opening and forwarding e-mail on the webmail system. Our technicians are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible. Currently, there is no estimated time of repair. 4/26/2006 11:41:15 AM
Online Chat Support:
user Carrie has entered room
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
analyst richard has entered room
richard>
Welcome to Cox High Speed Internet Service Online Technical Support.
richard>
I understand that you are experiencing difficulties in WebMail, is that correct?
Carrie>
no - my home mail
Carrie>
I'm wondering if it has something to do with webmail
Carrie>
because I check my messages at work and since this new browner - I'm losing emails that people have sent... they aren't in either webmail or my outlook
richard>
May I have access to your account information in my system?
Carrie>
yes
richard>
Thank you for the information. This will take me a moment while I look up your account information.
richard>
Are you using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express?
Carrie>
Outlook
richard>
Unfortunately, Cox does not offer support or assistance for the e-mail account in Microsoft Outlook, since we do not have a valid license to support this application, but we support Outlook Express.
(REALLY???? THIS IS YOUR ATTEMPT AT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECH SUPPORT????)
Carrie> (FOR THE ONE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION....)
if the messages never reached my Outlook - they should still be on the server, shouldn't they?
richard>
Do you have a spam folder in Outlook ?
Carrie>
yes, and they aren't in there either
richard>
Do you have a spam filter program?
Carrie>
I have whatever cox does that flags the subject line with the line --Spam-- and I have created a rule to send anything with that subject line into the spam folder that I created
Carrie>
I'm not the only person that this is happening to either... I mentioned it to someone today who asked about another email I didn't receive - and he mentioned that someone else had told him the same thing - they aren't receiving all of their email
richard>
The problem should be that the option to flag spam is no longer available in Internet Tools and probably there is a conflict .
richard>
I am going to transfer you to a higher level technician. Just one moment, please.
Carrie>
thank you
richard>
However, if Spam Blocker identifies an e-mail as "Spam" but you believe it is not, you can submit this to Cox as well. We will then work with our vendors to ensure that this type of e-mail is not flagged in the future. This is known as a "false positive".
To submit a false positive, send it to '
[email protected]'.
Carrie>
I CAN NOT find my messages. They should not be flagged as spam - this is NOT my problem. I am not receiving them AT ALL
Carrie>
They are not in my spam folder in my webmail either
Carrie>
and these are from people in my contacts
Carrie>
I'm sorry - this is just frustrating and I know you are limited with the information you have from me
richard>
Your ticket number is , please write it down so you can use it as reference. In a moment, a higher level technician will continue to assist you with your inquiry. If, for any reason, you are unable to contact the next agent, please call 1-800-234-3993 for assistance with this matter.
analyst Daniel has entered room
richard>
Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst
analyst richard has left room
Daniel>
I apologize you are having this problem and would be happy to help you with this. One moment while I look over the notes from the last technician. Thank you for your patience.
Daniel>
I see you are having trouble with your e-mail, is this correct?
Carrie>
yes
Daniel>
I apologize you are having this problem and I would be happy to help you with this. This problem started yesterday, correct?
Carrie>
from what I can tell...
Carrie>
I checked my webmail while at work and since then, my messages are few and far between
Carrie>
and then I've had a couple of people ask me about emails they've sent that I've never received
Daniel>
We are having some troubles with messages being delivered since the Webmail site has been upgraded and the maintenance that is currently going on
Daniel>
These messages are not lost, and should be delivered, as the problems are resolved and the queues start emptying and sending the messages. I do apologize for the inconvenience this causes, and we are doing our best to get this resolved quickly.
Carrie>
Okay, that is what I figured, but it would probably save your techs and people like me a whole lot of time if they were aware of that situation and could communicate that.
Carrie>
I specifically asked if they were on the server since they'd never been in my outlook
Carrie>
after recieving the very helpful response of - we don't support outlook, just outlook express... as in I really don't know what to tell you, but you probably won't get your email
Daniel>
I do apologize for this. Also, we do have a way you can check on your own to find out the status of any of our Internet services, at your Network Status page:
http://support.cox.com/sdcxuser/asp/cox_networkstatus.asp?showloc=true
Daniel>
I am sorry for that, but yes they would be at on the server if they were not downloaded.
Carrie>
do you have a timeline on when we might receive them? I do a lot of work from home and this is a pretty significant problem for me
Daniel>
Unfortunately, there is no estimated time of repair that we have been told at the moment. Just that the technicians are getting these problems resolved as quickly as possible.
Carrie>
does it have anything to do with me using webmail? If I don't use it, will there be the potential for less of a "conflict"
Daniel>
The Webmail site should not change how your mail works as far as Outlook Express or Outlook would be concerned. However, the work being done on Webmail, as well as some problems we have seen over the last day or two, are all done on the server, which is why there is a delay no matter how the mail is checked.
Carrie>
okay, well I guess I just don't have any options then - just sit and wait for my inbox to be blasted with old email? I know it's not your fault, but geez... I've rolled out technology several times and I would hope Cox would be a little less trigger happy and would pilot test better before implementation. This is ridiculous. Product improvement is great - but not if it starts out as chaos.
Carrie>
Thanks for your help - at least I know what the problem is.
Daniel>
I do apologize for the inconvenience, and the updates did undergo much testing before the roll-out, but unfortunately this does not always work the same as when it goes live. You are welcome. Thank you for choosing Cox Communications as your friend in the Digital Age. Have a wonderful evening!