The wrong kind of 1%

MobileMe account holders trying to contact Apple's email outage chat support service have been promptly and brutally cut off if they're not on Apple's list of the "1%" of users affected -- and in one case, even if they are.

Some TUAW readers have been in touch to tell us that when they tried to get chat support for MobileMe email, they were quickly given this automated (or hastily pasted-in) response:

"I'm sorry, according to our records, you were not one of the members affected by the email outage that began on July 18th. MobileMe Mail 24-hour chat support is a temporary measure designed specifically for users whose accounts were affected by that outage. For help, please visit http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/ww for access to all of our support resources. I apologize for any inconvenience."

But one of our correspondents was doubly displeased, because he insisted he had been one of the 1%. But here was Apple telling him he hadn't -- and not giving him any chance to argue the matter.

It's that "according to our records" bit that seems to be the problem. What if Apple's records are wrong?

Thanks to Bill and Dom for the tip.