Positive Support Experience

[impaler]

All,
with all the negative press Apple's received for its MobileMe launch, I wanted to try something different. Rather than venting my frustrations with the service, I wanted to share with you all a very positive experience I had yesterday with Rene, a chat support specialist, regarding three MM mail problems I've been having. The specialist was really great--helpful, patient, and friendly. Of course, so was I. I hear stories of people that do nothing but vent on these people, and I shake my head--they're really trying to help! Rene addressed three issues with me, even when I'm sure they're only supposed to work one issue, and as a result, got a couple problems elevated to engineers that they didn't know about before.

1) The "From" address in mail sent from the web interface shows "xxxx@me.com", not my name, even though I plugged my name into the mail preferences. That was elevated and I should receive a response today.

2) I don't use the preview pane in web mail. In the message list, when I delete a message using the delete button, and there's another message below the deleted message that is marked unread, when the cursor moves to that message it marks it as read without me opening it.

3) In Mail.app (on Mac OS X 10.5.4/Mail 3.4), when I create a MobileMe account, it defaults the IMAP server to "mail.mac.com", even though it should read "mail.me.com". I change it, save the account, and it changes back to "mail.mac.com". Normally not a big deal but it is relaying messages and then the "From" address shows "on behalf of". We figured out a way around this is to manually create a generic IMAP account with all the MobileMe settings, and you can control the IMAP server.

The bottom line is this: everyone up to the CEO of the company has admitted things haven't gone well. They're committed to fix it. They want to help people, and are providing additional resources to do so. I can tell by Rene's attitude and helpful nature that they feel bad about it and are working on solutions 24/7. What is required from us is to point them out in a respectful, helpful, and constructive way, so they can get documented and resolved. The anger expressed by everyone got their attention--you have their attention...now let's help Apple work toward a solution. We're essentially doing the beta testing work that should've been done before launch. They realize this. Keep helping them, bringing up issues, so the engineers can be made aware of them.

[i robot]

I've had great experiences with apple support in the past and I appreciate what your saying but when your dealing with people and the way they organize their lives you have to be spot on the mark. You either have an email or not, you're either due at an appointment or you're not. My life hasn't got a beta version.... If I miss a meeting (and in my case I did) due to a mobile me malfunction then you get understandablely frustrated. However I never take this out on helpline or helpful individuals as a rule.