Yahoo! Mail is reporting problems. (Getty)
Users across Europe and in some parts of the U.S. have been reporting serious problems with Yahoo Mail, some issues lasting longer than 14 hours in some regions. (Note: If you came here to find out what’s wrong with Yahoo in May, please see our current story on the issue.) Yahoo has not made any public statements yet about the issues and the Yahoo Care Twitter account stopped responding to inquiries about 17 hours ago. Most commonly, people affected get the message “Sorry, we are unable to proceed with your request. Please try again,” when trying to log into their Yahoo email account. They may also see the error, “Uh oh, looks like something went wrong. Please try again later.” The problems are affecting people mostly in Europe, but some have been recorded in the U.S. What’s going on? Are there any possible workarounds?
Here’s what we know so far.
A ‘Service Disruption’ May Be Causing Problems That Have Lasted More than 14 Hours in Some Places
Yahoo Mail shows problems on DownRightNow. (DownRightNow)
Although things appeared to be OK in most of the United States, at least at first, Yahoo Mail users across the world, especially in Europe, are reporting serious issues. Some of these problems have lasted more than 14 hours.
One person in Italy had reported around 3 p.m. Central that the problem was finally resolved. But others aren’t experiencing the same luck.
One commenter on Reddit said that he hasn’t been able to access Yahoo for 14 hours, and he thinks this will be a big problem for anyone who uses Yahoo for business.
Each “down right now” type of service is reporting the issue differently. For example, on IsItDownRightNow, Yahoo Mail is listed as working, but comments below it tell a very different story. Comments include getting messages like, “Sorry we were unable to proceed with your request. Please try again.”
Here’s what the error looks like for some people:
Meanwhile, DownRightNow is reporting problems with Yahoo Mail, as shown in the image above. The current status is “likely service disruption.”
We tried with our own old Yahoo account and it worked, but many people aren’t having any success. Another person wrote, “Can’t log in on my laptop … keep getting ‘Sorry, we were unable to proceed with your request. Please try again.'”
There is no news yet on when the service will be back up and running.
The Problem With Yahoo’s Email Is Focused in Europe, With Some Issues in the United States
The problem may be growing. According to some outage maps, the problem with Yahoo Mail is especially prevalent in Europe, but issues are starting to be reported in the United States too.
Reports we’ve seen on Twitter and IsItDownRightNow include problems in Nigeria, Lithuania, Romania, Israel, Kuwait, Dubai, Belgium, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and many other locations.
Many users are reporting that the problems extend beyond just their Yahoo email, leaving their entire Yahoo account service not working.
Yahoo Hasn’t Acknowledged the Problems Yet, And Users Are Posting Their Issues on Twitter
There’s been no official word about the outages from Yahoo! headquarters. (Getty)
Many people are reporting that the problem stems from accessing Yahoo Mail on mobile. It’s apparently not working on many browsers or laptops either, though. The problem is widespread and, as of yet, Yahoo hasn’t answered questions about the problem or responded to tweets. Even the app on mobile doesn’t seem to be working for many people.
The problem appears to happen when you try to log into your mail service. You’re either denied completely or asked to change your password, which isn’t accepted or doesn’t work. Others are reporting that every time they try to use the mobile Mail app, it crashed. Some people have noticed that one of their Yahoo mail accounts works and the other doesn’t, even though they’re using the same computer and browser.
Here are just a few comments from people who are trying to get into Yahoo! Mail.
And of course, there’s the ultimate question. With Yahoo! Mail being down for so long without any explanation, will people turn to competitors?
If you’re having problems, you can register your problem at DownDetector here to see how widespread it is.
The General Fixes Suggested by Yahoo Aren’t Working, But Yahoo Users Are Suggesting Workarounds
Unfortunately, the general fixes suggested by Yahoo Customer Care don’t seem to be working. One person contacted @YahooCare, while the account was still responding, mentioning that they kept getting the message “Continue reactivating your account by contacting customer care.” They had to reactivate their account after they couldn’t login. Yahoo suggested visiting the official Yahoo Account Help Central page for recovery options, then enter the Yahoo account they needed help with. Yahoo said that if they don’t see an email option, that meant agent-assisted support wasn’t available for their account. In that case, Yahoo Care suggested the following links: self help, self-guided password recovery, community-based support.
This last exchange was about 17 hours ago, and it appears Yahoo Care stopped responding to inquiries after that.
One person in the Yahoo community suggested the following as a possible workaround, but it’s not known if it works. He said to open the login page for Yahoo Mail and, on the top right corner, click “Help.” You’ll be redirected to a Help page, but you may also already be logged in. At that point, you’ll see a Mail icon in the top right corner with a red bubble showing the number of emails. Hover over that icon, don’t click, and the last six emails will show in a dropdown menu. Click on the last email and you can get to your full mailbox.
Another person, in a different discussion, suggested using a VPN to access Yahoo Mail and it might work then.
We don’t know if these workarounds fix the problem for everyone, but it’s the only suggestion we’ve seen so far.
