email deleted without being read

By Gina
@Gina145 (3949)
Johannesburg, South Africa
March 20, 2017 3:42pm CST
When I opened my mailbox a little while ago I was surprised to see a notification of an email which was deleted without being read by my service provider. Something seemed a bit odd about it because I haven't had reason to send them any mail for as long as I can remember. Was this a scam email? Looking closer I saw that the subject related to an upgrade to my account, and was one I sent on 04 January 2012. That's over five years ago! I have no recollection of that email, but I guess I must have sent it because my internet connection has been upgraded once or twice over the years. And whatever the problem was, it must have been sorted out at some stage so I'm really not sure what happened there. Have you ever had such a delayed reaction to an email you sent?
9 people like this
9 responses
@LadyDuck (454915)
• Switzerland
21 Mar 17
I check my email messages every day and I cannot remember I ever missed an email for so long.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Mar 17
@LadyDuck It's the only thing I can think of. I just don't understand why it took five years.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Mar 17
@LadyDuck I hope I've never missed an email for that long either. I'm convinced that the problem was that I sent my reply to their email to the wrong address - one that's a machine sending out forms with no human there to take replies. If that's the case I just don't understand how it took five years for them to clear out that mailbox. Unfortunately there's no way for me to prove or disprove this theory as I no longer have the deleted email on my computer. Your comment has got me thinking though because I tend to scan through my emails, open those that interest me and just hoard the rest in my inbox. It's really time for me to clear out the garbage and start checking all my new messages every day. If only I hadn't subscribed to so many newsletters that I don't have time to read.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (454915)
• Switzerland
22 Mar 17
@Gina145 Sometimes we receive mails from machine and if we reply the message comes back. It is very possible that this is what happened to you.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (67002)
• United States
20 Mar 17
Never. But I usually dont send emails either lol
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@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
20 Mar 17
@Courtlynn I don't send a lot of emails either, and very rarely to my service provider, so this was a big surprise.
@Courtlynn (67002)
• United States
20 Mar 17
@Gina145 yeah sounds weird to me
1 person likes this
• Philippines
22 Mar 17
When I am filtering and screening my email, I check it. I know if it is a spam emails and if I was the one who sent the emails, I also remember why I send it. However, sometimes I just delete without reading too because it requires too many effort, too tedious when I am busy. It happens to me too.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Mar 17
@grecychunny26 From the title I can see in what connection I sent the email, but after five years I can't remember the details. However it was important enough for me to be sure that the issue was sorted out so I must have contacted them again.
@jobelbojel (34731)
• Philippines
29 Mar 17
If it is a delayed response from a service provider, that is just a poor customer service.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
29 Mar 17
@jobelbojel That's exactly what it is, but I suspect that I sent the email to an unmanned email address. If that's the case I have no one to blame but myself.
@BelleStarr (61050)
• United States
21 Mar 17
That is a serious delay and no I can't say that I ever have.
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@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Mar 17
@BelleStarr I'm glad to hear that you haven't. This is ridiculous.
1 person likes this
• Trinidad And Tobago
22 Mar 17
Well that's a really REALLY late response. And almost unbelievable. What do you supposed caused that? Did you inquired? And if it was sent the time you sent it...where was it till now? How intriguing.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Mar 17
@Gita17112016 There's no point in inquiring now. The only possible explanation I can think of it that I accidentally replied to an email which said not to reply to that address because there was only a machine there. I'm guessing I must have contacted them at another address afterwards. I just don't understand why it took so long for that email to be deleted.
@topffer (42156)
• France
20 Mar 17
It happened to a friend a few months ago. The mailer of his provider stopped to work a few days, and when it worked again there were among the delayed emails some 2 or 3 years old spam emails.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
20 Mar 17
@topffer That's not much fun either. I think something similar happened to me a few years ago because I tend to hoard old email messages. One day I really need to delete most of them, but it will take ages and I've got more interesting things to do with my time.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (203666)
• Walnut Creek, California
20 Mar 17
Can't say that I have. But if an email looks at all suspicious to me, I just delete it.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
20 Mar 17
@TheHorse So do I, but I don't think there's anything particularly suspicious about this one as it comes from a legitimate sender. I'm just shocked that my service provider works this way. Of course the mistake may have been mine as the subject starts with 'Re:', meaning I was replying to something they sent. Maybe I replied to something which said not to reply as there was no human at that address. I've changed computers since then and accidentally deleted some important emails at the time, so there's probably no way of finding out what really happened.
@JudyEv (323672)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Mar 17
I don't recall this ever happening to me.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Mar 17
@JudyEv I'm not surprised. Things like this shouldn't happen to anyone. Certainly not when there's a business involved.
1 person likes this