Tiscali rained off in marathon email snafu

Enraged punters slam ISP

Tiscali subscribers have been unable to send emails since last Monday, and the ISP has given no word of when it will fix the cockup.

The problem has blocked SMTP outgoing mail, though Tiscali's service status message was not updated to reflect the seriousness of the problem until yesterday. The number of complaints on its own contact forum has steadily increased in number and anger throughout the past week.

At time of writing on Tuesday afternoon, Tiscali had no explanation for the disruption. It sent us this statement:

We are aware that we are currently experiencing problems with some customer outbound email. We are working on the problem and apologise to customers affected for any inconvenience. We will continue to update our online service status page as we have further information regarding resolution. The next update will be this afternoon.

In response to a hail of angry messages, a Tiscali employee calling himself Mr Tibbs told users in the firm's official forums on Thursday that "due to the nature of the problem, we do not expect it to be fully resolved for another few days".

One customer, set to exchange contracts on a house purchase today, responded: "Total Bo**ocks, Tiscali. You have a big problem and you don't have the decency to admit it. This is not just a small problem for those of us relying on you to provide the service you are paid for." ®