iPhone and e-mail problem

[BecauseImWorthIt]

We have just heard today that we have lost the chance to pitch for a project that would have been worth a huge amount of money - because we didn't reply to a key e-mail.

Actually, I did reply - using my iPhone, as I was away from the office - but the client never received the e-mail.

On the same day I sent my DH an e-mail and also my business partner.

All three of these e-mails are in my 'sent' box - none of them was received.

Has anyone ever had this/know what I can do?

I really need to be able to rely on the phone to send e-mails, both personally and professionally, and this has left me feeling very alarmed.

Not heard of that problem particularly affecting iPhones....

Who provides the the email account that you were sending with? The nature of email is that there is no guarantee that just because your gadget is told that the email has been sent that it really has been.

The internet in general works on a kind of hot potato system with messages being passed from one server to another all the time.

So your email server told your phone that it has got the message you are sending and as far as your phone is concerned that's the end of the story. Your email server then should have passed that email on to another server and told you if it had a problem. And that server should then have done the same. And so on until the email gets to the target destination.

Maybe on the day in question your email provider was having a flaky day and dropped the emails after telling your phone that it had sent them.

The only real fix for that is to find a more reliable email provider...

Have never had this problem before, and have used the same e-mail provider for years! I had a BlackBerry before, and all was fine.

I'm starting to dislike my iPhone - it seems to be the weak link in the chain.

I don't think it's your iPhones fault.

It contacted your email provider and said "send this email", your email provider said back "OK, that's fine" and your phone presumed, as it should, that everything was OK and moved the email into the "Sent" folder.

How did the Blackberry do it's email with the same provider? Did it have SMTP set up or was it all the automated "push" type of email that a Blackberry specialises in?

I have no idea, BP - that's far too technical a question! I presume it was automated push, but I don't know.

(Office manager/PA normally deals with phones rather than me, which is why I'm so clueless about it)

It might be worth asking your office manager if there was a difference as to how the BlackBerry and the iPhone connect to their email provider. A BlackBerry offers email functionality that an iPhone doesn't but it can also connect in the same standard way that an iPhone does.

Who is the email provider?

If I had to point the finger anywhere it would be at that provider....

Thanks for your help, BP. I will c+p this and show it to her.