Moving Emails

Over the weekend, I ended up moving a lot of my email processing over to Amazon’s “Workmail” product. So far, it’s gone pretty well, but we’ll see what happens over time.

The email server/service I was using (via a company I do a lot of my hosting with) was generally OK, but had some significant issues which they didn’t appear to be able (or willing) to fix. The main one was that emails with attached files – particularly PDF and Word documents – would occasionally disappear. They wouldn’t bounce back to the sender, and they wouldn’t tell me (the recipient) that something had gone wrong, they’d just disappear with no notice to anyone.

Generally it’s been survivable, but last week there were things for HMRC and others that didn’t make it – things that were, safe to say, bloody important.

So I’ve moved the primary accounts over to Workmail, and it’s been quite smooth.  The setup didn’t take long, and while there were a couple of teething errors when it came to migrating the emails from Old to New, it all worked pretty nicely.  Once I knew what the hell I was doing (and/or looking for) it became even easier/better.

After that, the main ball-ache has been putting the new accounts onto all my devices, and getting everything to syncronise properly again. It’d be nice if you could just push the new account to your devices, but that’s a level of tech that’s above and beyond what we’ve currently got, sadly.

Still, it’s all worked, I’m fully moved over with all my key accounts, and it hasn’t made me want to throw computers through windows. Even that is pretty noteworthy, I think.


ReKindled (Again)

Just to top off a pretty expensive fortnight, while I was away over the weekend the Kindle broke. As with previous ones, the screen film cracked, so half of it is working and the other half isn’t. In short, fucked.

As it turns out though, I can’t be too annoyed (annoyed, sure, but not too annoyed) as it turns out I’ve had this one just short of three years. Considering that before that I had a spate of broken screens in less than a year, it could’ve lasted a lot less time.

Yes, I’d rather these things were more resilient, were designed to last longer than 18 months.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how things have progressed with Kindles, and whether they’ve improved the ways to reload content onto a new device. It was horrific three years ago, so I’m hoping for improvements, it’s fair to say. (And if that doesn’t happen, I’ve got a backup from the old device – so maybe I’ll just be able to roll that onto the new one.)

We’ll see.


Collect Plus

Collect PlusFor returning the broken Kindle, this time Amazon made me use a new (to me) service called CollectPlus. (or Collect+, depending on whether you believe the URL or the logo)

Collect Plus have created a network of locations – usually corner-shops, garages/filling stations, newsagents and the like – where you can drop off a parcel for delivery. It is – I assume – a kind of private mail/courier company, the sort of thing that’s risen from the ashes of Royal Mail’s service (or lack thereof)

So far, from my side, it’s been a pretty positive experience. I went over to the local(ish) collection/drop-off point on Sunday – yes! getting a parcel sent on a Sunday! – and went through the necessary bits. I’d printed off the label from Amazon, stuck it to the box, and all was prepared.  Then I simply gave it over to the person on the till, got my receipt, and job done.

I got the email today from Amazon to say that the parcel has been delivered to them – not the world’s fastest process, but it’s cost me nothing to do, and it’s all run pretty smoothly so far. It’s also been a lot quicker, easier, more effective and less painful than anything Royal Mail ever managed…