So I thought I’d try a non-free email provider for a new domain I’m working on. I’ve used both complimentary email accounts for domains I’ve registered at places like GoDaddy, as well as free accounts at places like Yahoo and Google. I thought it would be interesting, for a change, to use a provider whose primary focus was email.
It was was actually kind of difficult to find anybody still providing email as a their primary business. I suppose it is hard to compete with free. After some research, I settled on FastMail.fm and created an account on August 29th, 2011.
I can summarize my experience to date with three words:
Worst. Service. Ever.
Signing up was easy enough, and a quick test email later confirmed everything was working. I logged onto my web hosting provider and began forwarding email for my new domain to my new FastMail account. I didn’t even have a web site up yet, so I didn’t expect much traffic.
Things went down hill from there.
I came back a few days later to add my account to Outlook, and I noticed several bounced messages in my inbox. Some looked like they’d been sent from my account, but I hadn’t sent them. I also noticed a lot of what looked like spam. I chalked this up to the fact that FastMail has been around a while, and from their blog, it didn’t seem like the strongest spam protection was enabled by default.
The bounced messages were disturbing. I hadn’t sent them, and they were clearly spam, but I’d chosen a strong random password for my account (117 bits, according to KeePass). I’d only ever accessed the account from home, not some unprotected wireless network at the local coffee shop, so I didn’t think my account had been hacked. I deleted the junk messages, configured Outlook, and logged out. I’d check back in a while to see if the spam persisted.
Nine days later, I started Outlook and went to check my messages to see if the amount of spam I was getting had changed. Outlook complained that my username or password for my FastMail account was incorrect. I double checked them, then tried again. No dice. I opened up a browser and tried to log into my FastMail account and was greeted with this message:
The account you are trying to access has been disabled due to over-quota use, or usage abuse. The system limits the number and size of emails you can send in an hour as described here and here. You will have been sent a warning email to your account, and your backup address when you reached half your usage quota, and again when you reached your full limit. These emails will describe the limit you reached, and why your account was disabled.
I scratched my head for a minute trying to think how this might have happened. Had my account filled up with junk because I was routing all email traffic for my new domain to it? I reconfigured email forwarding on my domain to bounce everything but one specific address, then logged into FastMail’s support page and left the following message on September 8th:
I tried to log into my account, and it said I was over-quota and that an email had been sent to my contact address, but I never received it. I haven’t sent out any emails on this account, so I’m confused why I’m getting an over quota problem.
I’ve attached the only email I’ve ever received from fastmail.
I attached my order confirmation email, the only email I’d ever received from FastMail. The next day, I received this unhelpful response from a FastMail admin by the name of Vinodh Khumar:
Hi,
Your FastMail account was recently detected sending bulk/duplicative emails. The Terms of Service that you agreed to on signup prohibits sending of “duplicative messages”.
—
http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/terms.htmSection 4
…
By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to: Use the Service in connection with … any duplicative or unsolicited messages
—Consequently your account sending has been locked.
If you can ensure that you would not use your account for further bulk mails, we’ll be happy to unlock your account. If not, we suggest you look for another provider.
There are a number of other providers out there that provide much better ways for sending bulk emails.
I recommend you check out:
—
*** Newsletter sending servicesHelps you send newsletters and other regular correspondence to people on
a mailing list you have. Helps you build the newsletter with templates,
gain analytical insight (eg who reads the newsletter, who clicks on
links in the newsletter, etc), and maintain the mailing list (eg find
dead bouncing addresses, handle unsubscribe requests, etc).http://www.mailchimp.com/
http://www.aweber.com/*** SMTP/API/notification sending services
Helps you send emails like notifications or other custom emails. Provide
multiple integration APIs and monitoring services.http://aws.amazon.com/ses/
http://postmarkapp.com/
http://sendgrid.com/
———–They will allow you to manage your subscriptions and email sending much better than Fastmail can. Hope you understand.
FM Webmaster
This was not really the answer I was looking for. I tried to explain that I had not sent these messages.
I understand your terms of service, but I’m confused how my account is sending any emails at all. I only just created it and I don’t think I’ve ever sent anything from this account. I’ve only sent a couple of emails to this account, one directly and one via email forwarding I’ve configured for a new domain.
I did notice lots of bounced mail warnings and other spam when last I logged in, but I thought that was because fastmail.fm had been around awhile and got lots of spam directed to it.
To reiterate, I have *not* been sending bulk email from this account. Perhaps my account was hacked, I don’t know. All I know I that I have not been sending bulk emails from this account.
Can my account be purged and my password reset so that I can regain access to it?
Its been 3 days now. I’m still locked out of my account, and I’ve yet to I receive a reply to the previous message. My money’s gone, and frankly, I’m a little worried they have my credit card on file.
In any event, I guess I’ll be sticking with Gmail.
Update 2011-09-12
After nearly 4 days of waiting for a response to my reply above, my support ticket was unceremoniously closed without comment from Vinodh or anyone else at FastMail. I’ve opened a new ticket. At this point, I just want my money back.
Thanks buddy for the post. i was about to subscribe to fastmail before which i Googled and found ur post. Will never go that way….tc
Hi Dale,
I am not satisfied with services from FM.
Because of this, I did not pay yet. Sorry to know you have such bad experience with FM. What is the updated news now?
I am using godday email now, it is not so stable too. Do you find any reliable email provider for your domain?
Good luck!
Donald
They eventually refunded my money after I opened the 2nd ticket. They also gave me a free year despite my asking them to close the account. Needless to say, I don’t use it. I wish they just would have closed the account like I asked.
I finally settled on email forwarding via my host (nearlyfreespeech) to my gmail account. 2 cents a day for anything on the domain. I filter on the gmail side.
You are right, it was better to close the a/c. Refund the payment also right.
I am still using Godaddy business mail. It is not the best choice for me, but I did not find another better than it.
Good luck!
I have been on the fence about fatvmail. But because of this post and Manny many other similar posted experiences I shallbbe taking my money elsewhere
@godaddy
Abusing customers has a down side. Avoid godaddy, too, unless you are a masochist. Tickets get a severe run around
I suggest installing http://tmda.net on your webhosting provider (to avoid Google privacy rape entirely), and try RoundCube webmail client (IMAP)
My experience has been completely different. Been using Fastmail.fm for almost 8 years without any problems whatsoever. Incredibly flexible, easy to keep free of spam and most importantly, and I may be incorrect on this, but my email is my own. I’m pretty uncomfortable with Google or some other “free” provider building a virtual profile using my private data. Anyways, I don’t work for them or anything like that; just disappointed that you didn’t have the same quality experience that I’ve been able to enjoy.
I’m glad you had better luck with them than I did. A year after all this happened, I received an automatic renewal notice from them. Even after all that crap, they still left me on as a customer despite me asking them to cancel my account. I finally found a place to cancel my account. I didn’t challenge the charge. I figure it was a small price to pay to be rid of this terrible company.
Like Henry I have used Fastmail since it was first it first became available. I am a consulting engineer who has worked all over the world and I need reliable and secure email service delivered anywhere I can connect. I have had an “enhanced” account from the earliest days and have never had issues with space. The service has been extremely reliable and as fast as my connections allow. Payment for the service is by automatic deduction from my credit card and this has never been a problem. I have used the excellent spam filter and have tagged any emails that I do not want and used this to train the spam filter to the extent that I now receive virtually no spam.
Recently I have had some issues with Internet Explorer 9 which has interfered with the operation of the Fastmail interface. I have therefore installed Opera (now the owners of Fastmail) and use it only for Fastmail. This has resolved all of the problems and it is now running fast and smoothly on all three machines that I use.
For me it has been well worth the effort of sorting out the few issues that I had in setting it up in the early days.
I’m glad you didn’t have to deal with the crap I did with Fastmail. But after having my account fill with spam after being activated for only two days, being blamed by the company’s systems and locked out of my account with cursory explanation, days of trying to get the problem rectified, and finally, continuing to charge my credit card after I asked them to close the account, I wouldn’t touch Fastmail with lead gloves.
Gee, that sounds eerily familiar: http://s.crooks.net/c9
You did have a nasty episode with your mail, but to call them the Worst Service Ever, without even actually using any of their services is a bit misleading. This could have happened with any other account: GMail, Yahoo, you name it. Did you try googling for “my gmail account got hacked”? Or, “gmail account suspended for no reason”?
Sure, your mail got hacked for whatever reason and was in turn suspended because it was sending spam. Was that really FastMail’s fault? Isn’t it expected from them to suspend spammer accounts?
In my honest opinion, FastMail currently provides the cheapest entry level business mail (precisely, support for a custom domain) at mere 15 USD per account yearly. Google Apps will set you back 50 USD for that. True, they offer much more for the buck, but does everyone really need all that stuff? I would sincerely recommend at least trying their service.
At this moment (as of April 2014), they are easily the cheapest business mail service which allows unrestricted POP3 and IMAP access, and has all the modern measures like SPF and DKIM which will ensure your mail gets delivered.
Actually, I didn’t say *the* Worst Service Ever. What I wrote was:
Worst. Service. Ever.
As in “these jokers have the worst customer service ever.” The technical services they offer may in fact be top notch. I wouldn’t know. I couldn’t get past their terrible support to find out.
I have no doubt other people have had similar problems with Gmail and Yahoo Mail. I personally have not. The difference, however, is that I don’t pay for those services. They’re free. If they suck, well, you get what you pay for.
That said, I’m happy FastMail is working out for you. Personally, I’ll be avoiding them like the plague.
My experience with Fastmail is exactly the same as Insomniac !! I have never, in 50 years had a problem being locked out of anything. Their customer service is absurd, to say the least. I asked for phone contact and they have non. I really believe that the content of my emails is the problem . If not , they have a very poor security implementation in place. Try it. Write a friend with a key word like, politics, Hispanic, anything that might be considered not Politically Correct and the next thing is you will get a phishing email, or you will be locked out. I think that Fastmail sent the phishing hack. My brother has an account with FASTMAIL and he has never been locked out, albeit his is .fm ( don’t know the difference ). He is more careful than I am as expressing my feelings. My other brotehr in NY has account andwith another client and he has no problems, therefore I truly feel Fastmail is very biased.
Forgot to mention. I was using a VPN also and they wanted to know every IP I had used. This requests gave me a feeling that they have some open hole in their system. I am a Network Engineer. Never had a problem with any email client such as Thunderbird, Enigma (Tails,Linux), Outlook or Gmail. Just bee smart and think out of the box as opposed to those who think that they are safe just because they still have Fastmail operating. I also asked for a refund. Have not heard from them. It has been at least 10 days. I just love those who use a service like this and they cannot see the bigger picture because of severe lack of knowledge of how the system works. I still think they , Fastmail, is a biased, almost racists operation and I see that the operator that I had an Asian name, so that might define the server as a foreign server with different rules of use. So be it. I just want my money back. They blamed me for their failure and they could have simply closed my account and let me open another. Reason they don’t do this: It is their fault. They have the security issues, and they can read the emails as they asked me to tell them the content of my emails so they could verify my name/passwd,etc. Useless. Write something politicala few times and see what happens.