Dear AT&T Yahoo: Why I Really Really Hate You

Last year we received word that our internet service provider SBC was going to take the name of AT&T Yahoo.  We were assured it was just a formality, that we'd keep our old email address and nothing would really change.

Oh yeah?

First we received instructions about how we had to change some of our settings, etc. which we wanted to do but they were difficult to understand.  So we wanted to talk to someone.  That was not fun.  It was almost impossible to get a live human being but, eventually, we did and, with this tech support person on the phone, we dutifully fulfilled all their demands.

Okay, we thought, that was a hassle but now we're good to go.  Not so fast!

Maybe four months ago, we received this email with the slugline, "Message from Yahoo!"

Dear AT&T Yahoo! Customer:

We noticed that you are accessing email using non-secure settings in your email software.

We would like to ensure that your AT&T Yahoo! Member ID, password, and email messages are transmitted securely between your mail software (such as Outlook or Outlook Express) and the AT&T Yahoo! Mail servers. In order to meet this need, please enable SSL via the instructions that are available on the Help site.

Since multiple email notifications have already been sent out about this, we request that you please make the necessary changes immediately. Remember, you need to make these changes if you want to continue to send/receive email using a mail client.

Thank you for your cooperation,

AT&T Yahoo! Customer Support

Okay, maybe there's more here than we thought.  So we followed their links to their so-called "Help" page, followed the instructions to the infinite degree.  Done.  Okay, now we're ready to roll.

Again, not so fast.

We continued to receive this same email.  Every single day

We tracked someone down again with great difficulty. That person told us that the email was in error, that we've done everything right and the email should stop soon.

We continued to receive it.  Every single day.

After several months, we figured we were about to lose our service so we tracked another person down.  This one told us that, yes, we had done everything correctly but the problem was on their end.  Apparently, they could not stop sending us this email.  We should ignore it, this person said.

We continue to receive the email.  Every single day.

We try to ignore it, but with it coming like clockwork, it's just become irritating and, worse, it feels like a reminder of AT&T's and Yahoo's sheer mind-numbing incompetence.  Honestly, we have more service interruptions from them than you'd expect, too.

I still have that SBC account for continuity purposes but I'm switching over to my Mac email account.  I've just had it with AT&T Yahoo.  They are big, dumb, unresponsive and, given that they can't even stop sending me a daily erroneous email, completely helpless.  This gang can't shoot straight, they don't inspire confidence and they should be ashamed.  If they can't fix this, what can they fix?

In the meantime, we continue to receive the message.  Every single day.

Comments

[Simon Nicol]

Hello Bryce,

Sorry for this first contact not really being anything to do with your blog post, I have 'googled' my way here through a link from Wikipedia having searched for 'Dark Skies' I love that series.

Not wishing to seem too odd or say too much on a public blog at it would be a bit of a spoiler for the actual project, but let me put it this way.

I am a video games programmer and have been in the industry for over 16 years.

If you are responsible for writing the script for DS I am wondering if you would consider working together with me on a project that's rather groundbreaking.

This project would become a new genre in both script writing and video games and I'm hoping the idea would spread like wildfire - but in a covert way - lol.

I would love the opportunity to talk to you further about this idea, but would prefer to be able to contact you through direct email, so the content would not be 'searchable' through Google.

Very much looking forward to hearing from you,
Best wishes.

Simon Nicol.
simonnicol@gmail.com