I've decided the ATTBI e-mail support is run by a 'bot. There is no other explanation for the lame cut n' paste "answers" I get to serious concerns, like (a) my mail.attbi.com mail service isn't working and (b) the Web-based mail doesn't know my account exists.

I get back a generic "this is how Web-based mail works" note from the friendly, helpful support staff.

I know how Web-based mail works. I used it while my cable modem connection was unusable through December 27th. This afternoon, sometime between 12:30P when I went down to the main house for a cold lamb sandwich and 1:15P when I returned, their mail got screwed.

Luckily, my e-mail to most towse.com addresses in existence redirects to both attbi.com and mindspring.com, so I spent the afternoon using mindspring.com's Web mail to access my VERY IMPORTANT EMAIL ON VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.

After I sent back a "did you even read what I said?" note and then sent another note explaining the problem in different terms, I got a mail back the following day (05 Jan) telling me (in response to my "did you even read" note) that I should try their online support chat for help using my mail.

Next mail in from attbi in response to my second note, following closely on the heels of the "use chat" mail said, "On 01/04/2002 there was an issue on the mail servers preventing most users from logging onto the mail server to retrieve their email, Please try again, and if you are still getting an error reply to this message."

"Preventing most users?" Oh, please.

You have to wonder how much support time was spent sending 'bot messages and using staff time to answer a question that could've been easily handled by putting something on their support Web site saying, "We're having problems with our mail servers. We hope to have them functioning again soon. Please be patient."