Loss of "catch all" facility with 365 upgrade

[MalcolmJarrett]

With the old email system, we regularly caught wrongly addressed emails that were important to us.

People regularly misspell my name (Malcolm, often spelt Malcom, Malcomb, Malcome, and even Graham).

Only yesterday we picked up two such emails, one from somebody who was not a native English speaker, and one from an elderly person unfamilier with a keyboard.

With 365 we're going to lose this facility because Microsoft and BT are getting into bed together.

I called the help desk, who repeatedly talked over me and failed to grasp what I said. Thier suggestion is that I create an alias for every misspelling I can think of. Given that my surname is even more prone to errors, this is unworkable.

BT, why not use Linux. Microsoft is dying.

[DaveA]

Hi,

That is correct, the catch all is disappearing.  I don't know why specifically, but it definitely is going.  Someone obviously decided that the upsides of Office 365 were greater than the downsides.

All I can suggest is what I've suggested for others who haven't been happy with the functionality of the new platform (or the old one for that matter) - move your email to a provider that gives you what you want, or set up your own mail server.

People jump broadband/electricity/gas/insurance providers all the time, so why not email?

Dave

[Rank_Outsider]

Hi Dave,

Not wanting to argue for arguments sake (as you do try to help people out a lot on these forums), but I think that the analogy with switching gas supplier etc doesn't quite hold - when I switch gas supplier I'm not left without a gas supply for several days, with a blizzard raging outside (or the gas doesn't burn colder than it did before or isn't compatible with our cooker)!

Of course, I'm taking the analogy to the extreme, as when properly handled a change in email supplier shouldn't be a disruption - however my main problem with the way the upgrade has been handled is that with the scarcity of the (often conflicting) detailed information available (on what the changes mean for existing customers), we've been unable to properly evaluate the business impact and prepare for the changes.  Waiting to see what fails and then finding a work around or alternative is not a good option for us.

At some point the hours I'm spending on this already on this will outweigh the unknown risks of transferring to another provider - however a similar problem may also apply to allternative providers, as it can be quite difficult to find out the necessary level of detailed info I would like to know before I commit to changing email provider.

[DaveA]

Hi,

To be fair changing email providers is actually a lot more difficult that change utility ones, so apologies for making that not seem the case.

When you change utilitiy suppliers all that happens is that the billing is shifted from one company to another.  Changing email providers is equivalent to them rewiring your house and the poles/pipes all the way back to the supplier.

With the best will in the world, changing email providers is always going to be a disruption.  Even changing email platforms is a pain in the backside, as you'll read from the forums here in regard to Office 365.

In the end the important question is - does the system absolutely 100% do what I need?  If not then I don't think you've got much option.

Dave

[Rank_Outsider]

Fair enough.

The problem for me (and I supose a lot of other users) is understanding whether any system will give us 100% of what we need before we go through the disruptive process of changing supplier and comitting to a minimum term (i.e. will it be out of the pan and into the fire).

Had I known in advance how painful this upgrade process would be (and how incorrect some of the information I was given is) I would have changed supplier much earlier as it probably would have saved me some time & hassle (since it looks like I might have to do that anyway).

[DaveA]

Hi,

No that's very true.

To be honest I think a lot of people were surpised at the situation regarding the Office 365 migration  It's taken far longer and caused far more problems than anyone actually expected.

Unless of course you count the more cynical of us on the Helpdesks.  🙂

Dave