Just an unhappy Polarismail experience

[zinneken]

BACKGROUND:
I've been with tuffmail for longer then I can remember. Almost 2 years ago I began searching for an IMAP service that could host my GGGGG+B email archive online (thousands of messages in hundreds of folders, some with +50mb attachments, not an easy thing to find and tuffmail doesn't do this service).

So I've been in the market for a good IMAP service for a while and back in March decided after long hesitation and email discussion with George to give Polarismail a try.

I must say polarismail has been a disappointment.

EXPERIENCE:
My experience has been that when I send polarismail/George an email, they hardly ever respond to the first email that I send. I have to resend the mail at least once (like a week later) saying "hello, you got this email? Didn't see your reply".

I've already posted about this here in the forums before. It is not that I look for a 24 hour answer, I usually wait several days before ping-ing that I have not received an answer.

When I ultimately do get a reply, I always receive an excuse. I've had (resuming in my own wording):
- got your email, wanted to reply to it, but got stuck in upgrade work and forgot about it. sorry.
- never got your email, sorry.
- yes, we're still working on that, it is easy to do, but we're in the middle of a new big thing and I think in a month time we'll be ready with your request.

It has come on 3 occasions that I had to contact polarismail through the online chat, wait for a while for George to be available because the chat person could not respond for George's engagement, and then receive a promise George would reply to the emails, ultimately yielding one of the above replies.

I'ts been ongoing since March, my account can still not be fully used, and as such I have still not directed my domains from Tuffmail to polarismail. Luckily, polarismail are also still not charging me for their service despite my numerous requests.

CONCLUSION:
So, since March:
- the "simple" features promised (several times) have not been implemented
- average response time is 2 weeks going through the online chat and then receiving a reply by email after that. I'll have to do that again later today ...
- my polarismail account is still not fully functional
- hence I am still with reliable tuffmail, and again looking for an IMAP service that can host my archive.

My experience with Polarismail: friendly people who promise "easy things" (I wouldn't know, they say) which they don't get done and leave a customer standing in the cold for 6 months and counting.

Felt with all the positives about polarismail on this forum a sharing of a less positive experience could be useful.

[soromak]

Originally Posted by zinneken

BACKGROUND:
I've been with tuffmail for longer then I can remember. Almost 2 years ago I began searching for an IMAP service that could host my GGGGG+B email archive online (thousands of messages in hundreds of folders, some with +50mb attachments, not an easy thing to find and tuffmail doesn't do this service).

So I've been in the market for a good IMAP service for a while and back in March decided after long hesitation and email discussion with George to give Polarismail a try.

I must say polarismail has been a disappointment.

EXPERIENCE:
My experience has been that when I send polarismail/George an email, they hardly ever respond to the first email that I send. I have to resend the mail at least once (like a week later) saying "hello, you got this email? Didn't see your reply".

I've already posted about this here in the forums before. It is not that I look for a 24 hour answer, I usually wait several days before ping-ing that I have not received an answer.

When I ultimately do get a reply, I always receive an excuse. I've had (resuming in my own wording):
- got your email, wanted to reply to it, but got stuck in upgrade work and forgot about it. sorry.
- never got your email, sorry.
- yes, we're still working on that, it is easy to do, but we're in the middle of a new big thing and I think in a month time we'll be ready with your request.

It has come on 3 occasions that I had to contact polarismail through the online chat, wait for a while for George to be available because the chat person could not respond for George's engagement, and then receive a promise George would reply to the emails, ultimately yielding one of the above replies.

I'ts been ongoing since March, my account can still not be fully used, and as such I have still not directed my domains from Tuffmail to polarismail. Luckily, polarismail are also still not charging me for their service despite my numerous requests.

CONCLUSION:
So, since March:
- the "simple" features promised (several times) have not been implemented
- average response time is 2 weeks going through the online chat and then receiving a reply by email after that. I'll have to do that again later today ...
- my polarismail account is still not fully functional
- hence I am still with reliable tuffmail, and again looking for an IMAP service that can host my archive.

My experience with Polarismail: friendly people who promise "easy things" (I wouldn't know, they say) which they don't get done and leave a customer standing in the cold for 6 months and counting.

Felt with all the positives about polarismail on this forum a sharing of a less positive experience could be useful.

Hm, never had problems with Polarismail and George although it is not my primary account. I wonder which features are not working for you...I will give a chance to George to explain...
If you look for an alternative (assuming that you do not want to use your Polarismail account any longer), I would give EuMX a try (currently my main account). You can always expect polite and quick e-mail response from them, and they are very reliable, with blazing fast IMAP and large attachments and can accomodate to even not very usual requests.

[George_B]

Hi,

Despite not having a name, I believe I know who you are so I will go ahead and apologize directly for the lack of communication.

We are offering 'zinneken' our full Enhanced service but he was requiring a few more features which were not available. We developed one of them ( monthly PDF reports of all outbound e-mails ) but didn't complete two others I believe.

Due to these missing features we never took the account out of Trial or requested payment. It makes no sense to pay for a service that doesn't fully deliver what you need.

The development work you requested is not that complicated but it's also a bit unique, in the sense that no other customers have requested it. We've had our suggestions box pretty much full with various requests from other customers and we had to prioritize them. For example, at the moment my programmers are working ( in this order ) on :

1. two-factor authentication.
2. pop3 account retrieval
3. feasibility of adding HTML e-mails through Activesync with IMAP backend

I've kept on forwarding your e-mails to my lead programmer but he hasn't had the time to work on those new features.

I understand your frustration and will take this up today with my programmers in a meeting. I'll make sure to get a definite timeline for you.

Cheers,
George

[davy51]

Personally I've never had a problem getting a fast reply even on weekends and holidays

But things do happen and cant be avoided

[digp]

Originally Posted by zinneken

So, since March:
- the "simple" features promised (several times) have not been implemented
- average response time is 2 weeks going through the online chat and then receiving a reply by email after that. I'll have to do that again later today ...
- my polarismail account is still not fully functional
- hence I am still with reliable tuffmail, and again looking for an IMAP service that can host my archive.

It seems to me that you are being unreasonable:
1) clearly almost no one or possibly no one offers the features you require or not at the price you are willing to pay
2) have you tried emailing hotmail or some other provider to ask for features to be implemented? if you have or did you would meet deafening silence
3) your account is functional just not the way you want it which isn't the same thing
4) apparent delay is hardly in response to proper support emails

Suggestion: have you tried Luxsci?

[FredOnline]

For the larger picture, it is interesting to look at other posts, for example:

http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...53&postcount=3

[George_B]

Guys, if you don't mind I would prefer to resolve this matter privately.

Taking sides is the last thing I would like to see happening in this thread.

[zinneken]

Originally Posted by digp

It seems to me that you are being unreasonable:
1) clearly almost no one or possibly no one offers the features you require or not at the price you are willing to pay
2) have you tried emailing hotmail or some other provider to ask for features to be implemented? if you have or did you would meet deafening silence
3) your account is functional just not the way you want it which isn't the same thing
4) apparent delay is hardly in response to proper support emails

Suggestion: have you tried Luxsci?

Thanks for your comments, but I feel you're trying to pick a fight to justify Luxsci?
1) please list the features you think this is about. I'm quite confident you do not know the features this is about, and by the way, several providers do offer the features you clearly don't know about.
2) I'm not interested in hotmail and the likes, and I think putting polarismail in the same category is seriously wrong.
3) account is not functional as per discussed/contracted. I am sure given your tone you'd be having a bigger argument then I am if you take a service which does not deliver its promise.
4) How would you know what the support emails look like?

Sorry, don't think there is any justification for your comment.

[zinneken]

Originally Posted by George_B

Guys, if you don't mind I would prefer to resolve this matter privately.

Taking sides is the last thing I would like to see happening in this thread.

It does indeed seem there is no place on the forums for a legitimate less then wonderful Polarismail experience.

George, I hear your apology, looking forward to your promised definitive timeline. Maybe you can share that timeline here so critics can judge for themselves if the features are finally delivered or not.

[David]

Originally Posted by zinneken

Maybe you can share that timeline here so critics can judge for themselves if the features are finally delivered or not.

IMHO: it is not really fair that an unpaid (trial) account holder make repeated demands (for extra features) to any email provider.

Though I do not have a Polaris mail account (currently) I have used the service in the past and found it to be very excellent.

[zinneken]

Originally Posted by David

IMHO: it is not really fair that an unpaid (trial) account holder make repeated demands (for extra features) to any email provider.

I have requested on numerous occasions to be able to pay for service.
As per George's message:
Due to these missing features we never took the account out of Trial or requested payment. It makes no sense to pay for a service that doesn't fully deliver what you need.

It shows Polarismail is a respectable company, pity so far they don't keep their repeat engagement, but I await to be proven wrong and seeing George keep a new date that he's due to announce...

[17pm]

Originally Posted by George_B

Hi,

The development work you requested is not that complicated but it's also a bit unique, in the sense that no other customers have requested it. We've had our suggestions box pretty much full with various requests from other customers and we had to prioritize them. For example, at the moment my programmers are working ( in this order ) on :

1. two-factor authentication.
2. pop3 account retrieval
3. feasibility of adding HTML e-mails through Activesync with IMAP backend

I've kept on forwarding your e-mails to my lead programmer but he hasn't had the time to work on those new features.

I understand your frustration and will take this up today with my programmers in a meeting. I'll make sure to get a definite timeline for you.

Cheers,
George

Bringing this from the dead!

Hi George... What about that Two-Factor-Authentication? Your programmers were working on it more than 2-years ago.. Are you any closer to supporting 2FA? Do you've any ETA? This would be a game changer..

There are some providers that implement 2FA quite fast (posteo, mailbox.org) and others that take forever..

[17pm]

Guess there's no good news about PolarisMail's 2FA...

[digp]

i guess polarismail is no longer interested in email?

[George_B]

Hello,

we are definitely still doing e-mail!

We have had quite a bit of growth in the past year and we are working very hard to maintain our quality of service and even improve it.

Although two-factor authentication does work as a proof of concept we never got around to fully releasing it as it kept getting left behind by other new requirements: expanding our server-base, expanding into a new DC, etc.

Rest assured, I am fully aware that this is a much-wanted feature and we are doing all we can to bring it live without compromising the stability of our service.

I will be checking in this thread regularly to update you guys on our progress.