March 03, 2017

Spark (aka Telecom NZ) and Email Migration

Spark (aka Telecom NZ) have announced they're moving email from the Yahoo platform to one located in New Zealand. Warning: it's worse than Yahoo. I suggest anyone reading this and also using Spark webmail, start using Gmail. Make a note of your contacts and let them know what's up, that you're now using Gmail.

I've now migrated to the new platform and it's rubbish. For instance, I get hundreds of Spam messages a day, which previously were all neatly stacked away in the Spam folder. Not now with the new Spark service, all Spam messages go to the Inbox, and there is no way to select these messages and mark them as Spam. To deal with each message you have to open each and every one. And then I have to actually look at each Spam message and create a file rule diverting this unwanted message. Seriously, this is so farcical I doubt anyone could make this up. It would take me half the day every day. The alternative is to blacklist, even though I don't necessarily want to do that. Again, this process would take a month maybe more.

What you cannot do is tick each message and then click "Mark as Spam' or some such. Then if you make a mistake, go into the Spam folder and click 'Not Spam'. Oh no, Spark wouldn't think of that, they're that stupid.

Who knows what else is wrong, I won't be staying around to find out as I now use Gmail for just about everything. The only times I use Spark webmail now is when it is an old contact for whom it would be too hard to get them to change.

The thing to think about here, if you are overseas and thinking about moving to New Zealand, is you have to deal with this kind of thing all the time in NZ. Spark (aka Telecom NZ) is a large company by NZ standards but they do as they like, the problem with that being they're idiots. They do stuff half-arsed. As customers we've been putting up with this shit for more than 10 years. It's a downhill slide, we started out with a useful webmail and anti-spam detection that worked. Then they moved onto the Yahoo platform and their anti-spam was worse, but now with the latest change, we get nothing, they've thrown in the towel altogether.


1 comment:

  1. After migration in 2016, all went reasonable ok with my account, (but mail was so bad with searching keywords, spam, drafts etc etc), but my main complaint now - SPARK LOST ALL MY EMAILS AND FOLDERS with the most valuable contents, all the notes and references of my studies and research etc..too much to mention that's simply GONE, and they just wipe their hands. Can't we take them to FairGo, or court?? I will certainly change ISP now, but the hassle of it, changing email address after twenty years?

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