HTC Admits Phone Deletes Emails in Error

[mlsouth]

I recently updated my phone (a MyTouch 4G, had it for about a year) to Android 2.3.4, and afterward I checked my email using the standard email app. I had all accounts set 'NOT to delete from server' when deleting from phone.

As I accessed the email app, the email header listed 23 emails, but the reading pane showed 'no mail.' After a moment, the header refreshed and showed 0 messages. I assumed that the upgrade had hosed my email settings, and I would just need to set them up again - a small hassle. So imagine my surprise when I logged into webmail to find ALL THREE of my email inboxes completely empty! Three mailboxes, three different providers, none of which had been logged in at the time.

And no, please don't give me any BS about this setting or that setting or user error - not the case, and HTC as much as admitted this when I reported the issue. Here is the response I received:

"I am sorry to hear that you had a poor experience with the phone. I know how it would be to loose all of the emails in my inbox, as I often have important emails. I really wish that there was something that we could do to recover your lost email. I am sorry that in your case the "do not delete from server" checkbox appears to have malfunctioned.
If you plan on continuing to use your MyTouch 4G, you could try the K9 mail application from the Google play store, as it also has that option, but the application works differently than our HTC mail application and so you may not run into that problem again."

I'm going to call that an admission of guilt, how about you? And actually, a few weeks ago, I noticed that all the emails in one of my inboxes had gone missing, but I actually thought it was my web hosting company's fault - sorry GoDaddy, guess it wasn't you after all!

Prior to purchasing an Android phone, I had kept up with my email for years using my iPod Touch - never a problem. Guess this will be my first and last Android purchase. Sad.

Just wanted to share my experience so anyone else who has this happen will know that no, it isn't you, it's the phone!

 

[AngryHatter]

Loose? when they meant 'lose?'
Either their CS is in Cebu or you are paraphrasing...loosely, at that.

And no, it is you since you'll notice no other threads with this error?
Go back to Apple if that makes you happy, but blaming them for a setting you neglected to check is weak sauce.


You have had the phone for a year and the update caused this?
You gotta be kidding me.
It may have reset setting to the default?

 

[mlsouth]

AngryHatter: Yes, the email said 'loose' rather than 'lose,' and I noticed that myself, but I have a degree in Communications, which is maybe why I wasn't so astounded to see that someone made a typographical error. Or perhaps with the trend toward outsourcing CS, their help desk actually IS in Cebu? Forgive me for focusing on the content of the message rather than a single typo.

And actually, I did notice other threads with this error, and if you would dig a little further, you would as well - I just noticed that most of them were included along with a tangle of other issues, so I felt a new thread was in order.

Finally, please explain to me how 'resetting the setting to the default' would have caused emails to be deleted while my only interaction with the phone was holding it? Again, I went from 23 emails to zero, and my only action was tapping the email icon. Perhaps my error was holding the phone incorrectly after a system update?

It's a sad commentary on humanity that because something didn't happen to you directly, that you must immediately dismiss it as fiction or user error. Last I checked, all of the technology we rely on is developed and programmed by people. Planes can crash due to a technological error, but an email deletion MUST be user error?

Just want to be sure I'm clear on your position.

Cheers.

 

[AngryHatter]

My position?
You were ranting. I was having popcorn. You misquoted something, had the error been yours alone it wouldn't have been as significant. I thought that perhaps you were not quoting at all and were then paraphrasing the response. Then you asked for opinions.

No, most aircraft issues are user error.

"I had all accounts set 'NOT to delete from server' when deleting from phone." is the default setting I was referring to.

If your intention was to have us steer clear of HTC phones - mission accomplished.

 

[mlsouth]

AngryHatter: No, I didn't misquote anything; I quoted CS directly, thus the use of QUOTATION MARKS. I just wasn't as shocked as you that someone in CS had made a typographical error. I actually considered adding [sic] after the typo, but I thought it seemed a little pretentious. Guess next time I will go with pretension rather than risk derision.

And yes, I knew what setting you were referring to. And I'm still waiting for your explanation on how that setting - default or not - would have played a role in deleting all emails from all inboxes with NO user interaction? I didn't click on any of the emails to select them - heck, I couldn't - they were gone before I got a chance.

I noticed you said 'most' - but not 'all' - aircraft issues are caused by user error. Thank you for clarifying your position, which seems to be that SOME planes may crash due to a technological issue, but ALL email deletions must be user error. Yep, we're all with you now.

Of course, your comment at the end that my intention might have been to 'have us steer clear of HTC phones' would seem to open the door to the possibility that this might actually have been a technological - rather than a user - issue? Wow, I'm touched. Glad you've seen the light.

Because those same humans that sometimes cause 'aircraft issues?' Those are the same humans who sometimes develop software/hardware that has issues.

And please, before you come back ranting about my heritage and how my mother smelled of elderberries and all that, take a moment to consider this fact: Rather than even considering the possibility for a moment that the issue I reported might in fact me a bug, you immediately flamed me, saying this must be user error. How would you like it if you encountered a bug, reported it so that if it happened to someone else, at least they would know they weren't alone, and the first response you got was that no, it must be your fault?

So please take the time you would spend crafting a clever response, and devote it instead to considering why your immediate response to a fellow human - who's trying to muddle through, just like you - would be to insult them? And if your answer is that you didn't insult me, then I guess my question would be: If something bad happened to you that was beyond your control, and you told someone else about it, and their reaction was that it was your fault, you wouldn't be insulted by that? I doubt it. And if you say that it wouldn't bother you? Well, I doubt that, too.

So please, spare me your reply and follow your mother's advice, which would have been useful when crafting your first response to my post: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

 

[AngryHatter]

I wouldn't come complaining about something to people I do not know where there is zero chance of resolution.
You have a nice life.

 

[mlsouth]

Have a nice life? I will, and I do. Thank you!

And that crack about "complaining about something to people I do not know where there is zero chance of resolution?" Yeah, might want to rethink that. Wouldn't want everyone here to think you're implying that none of them is smart enough to actually help someone else with a problem, lol. :icon_eek:

Well, goodbye. I'm unsubscribing from this thread now.

It's been fun!

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

I'm sure it sucks for the phone setting not to work correctly, but wouldn't the deleted messages be in the deleted items folder on your mail server (and therefore the phone)? Hopefully you found them. I've always just had the phone delete the messages on my work mail server too, whenever I've used the email app (versus gmail, which is my main account) so I've never noticed if this was a 2.3.4 issue in general, or just with the My Touch.