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This was a customer service fail, in that they didn't notify him. But this isn't a cloud or enterprise EMC fail at all. I think blaming all of EMC for this is

by mbreese 16y ago

This was a customer service fail, in that they didn't notify him. But this isn't a cloud or enterprise EMC fail at all. I think blaming all of EMC for this is a little over the top.

SpikeGronim 16y ago
If your backup provider elects to delete your data due to an obscure ToS clause then it is their fault for sure. The article does not say anything new about cloud providers - you have to trust their competence. But this is a critical failure by EMC / Mozy and is nobody's fault but theirs.
geuis 16y ago
He wasn't a customer. He was using a free service. Unless you're paying someone money, you're not a customer. If you live next to a coffee shop and use their wifi without ever buying coffee, do you expect the shop to help you reconnect if their internet goes down? So no, it has nothing to do with customer service. Its someone who A) was using a free service and B) never bothered logging in to make sure his data was still being hosted by said free service.
- Klinky 16y ago
  Even free service customers are still "customers". Mozy could have even spun this warning e-mail off as a promo for their Pro service. Send out an e-mail saying "Warning, your data will be deleted in x days", then the body can say something like "Mozy Free customers need login at least once every 30 days to keep their account active. Please click the link below and login to let us know you're still using our service. If you do not respond your data will be deleted. You can remove this restriction by upgrading to Mozy Pro, for only $9.95/month." Wham. Informs the customers, let's them fix their problem & gives them an alternative if they don't want to do this every 30 days. Instead they elected to delete his data w/o giving a warning besides something deep in their ToS. There was a failure with him getting back into his account. When he finally got in and found out his data was gone, they basically sent him canned responses from customer service reps who obviously don't have the power to help customers. The only thing that saved his data was being able to write a angry blog post which caught the attention of Mozy PR. Surprise! Surprise! The data actually wasn't deleted after all. Needless to say, if they really didn't have the data, then that would make them seem better in my eyes. The fact that they did have the data, but their customer service rep didn't have the power or the training to find it - or maybe he did but was not allowed to divulge it to a non-paying customer just reeks of mismanagement.
danielsoneg 16y ago
His argument, though, isn't about the core technology or the viability of the 'cloud', it's about trust. He makes clear in the beginning that the primary reason he chose EMC was because he trusted them not to lose or do something stupid with his data - and they did just that. A Customer Service fail, in this case, is identical to a technical fail - his data is Gone, Gone, Gone, and all he's got for it is platitudes.

by mbreese 16y ago

This was a customer service fail, in that they didn't notify him. But this isn't a cloud or enterprise EMC fail at all. I think blaming all of EMC for this is a little over the top.

SpikeGronim 16y ago

If your backup provider elects to delete your data due to an obscure ToS clause then it is their fault for sure. The article does not say anything new about cloud providers - you have to trust their competence. But this is a critical failure by EMC / Mozy and is nobody's fault but theirs.

geuis 16y ago

He wasn't a customer. He was using a free service. Unless you're paying someone money, you're not a customer. If you live next to a coffee shop and use their wifi without ever buying coffee, do you expect the shop to help you reconnect if their internet goes down? So no, it has nothing to do with customer service. Its someone who A) was using a free service and B) never bothered logging in to make sure his data was still being hosted by said free service.

Klinky 16y ago
Even free service customers are still "customers". Mozy could have even spun this warning e-mail off as a promo for their Pro service. Send out an e-mail saying "Warning, your data will be deleted in x days", then the body can say something like "Mozy Free customers need login at least once every 30 days to keep their account active. Please click the link below and login to let us know you're still using our service. If you do not respond your data will be deleted. You can remove this restriction by upgrading to Mozy Pro, for only $9.95/month." Wham. Informs the customers, let's them fix their problem & gives them an alternative if they don't want to do this every 30 days. Instead they elected to delete his data w/o giving a warning besides something deep in their ToS. There was a failure with him getting back into his account. When he finally got in and found out his data was gone, they basically sent him canned responses from customer service reps who obviously don't have the power to help customers. The only thing that saved his data was being able to write a angry blog post which caught the attention of Mozy PR. Surprise! Surprise! The data actually wasn't deleted after all. Needless to say, if they really didn't have the data, then that would make them seem better in my eyes. The fact that they did have the data, but their customer service rep didn't have the power or the training to find it - or maybe he did but was not allowed to divulge it to a non-paying customer just reeks of mismanagement.

danielsoneg 16y ago

His argument, though, isn't about the core technology or the viability of the 'cloud', it's about trust. He makes clear in the beginning that the primary reason he chose EMC was because he trusted them not to lose or do something stupid with his data - and they did just that. A Customer Service fail, in this case, is identical to a technical fail - his data is Gone, Gone, Gone, and all he's got for it is platitudes.