Guest and Member subscriptions being discontinued
FYI, we're finally closing off guest and member accounts entirely. Emails are going to users in batches, so not everybody has received a notification email yet. Everybody will get them, and later we will start adding more obvious warnings on login page and webmail screens.
https://www.fastmail.com/help/account/guest.html https://www.fastmail.com/help/account/member.html We have already not allowed new signups at those service levels for quite some time. We are offering very generous discounts for upgrades. Regards, Bron. |
I do sympathize for this move, but expect some flack for it, especially from the few remaining legacy member account owners. I have a suggestion, that will cost Fastmail little except some administrative costs. As an additional option to the US$15 credit and 50% discount, offer to actually refund the US$15 to those who insist they bought a lifetime subscription and object to paying more. In practice, I think only a minuscule number would take this option.
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Sure glad I never bought a "lifetime" account. Would I ever be miffed.
I don't think it's good business but whatdoIknow. |
The member accounts were introduced at a critical time in Fastmail's development, when they needed serious funding (when they first went paid) I purchased a member account myself but cancelled it shortly afterward, when I received an email (with a huge attachment) that locked my account up. I remember being seriously annoyed at the time but I should not have been, as I could have set up a rule to refuse these.
That Fastmail have honored their commitment (to keep these accounts valid, over all these years) I consider impeccable. Good on you Fastmail for keeping these accounts open; I thought they would have been shut down a long long time ago. |
How about a class action for breach of contract
Anyone interested in bringing a class action against Fastmail for breach of contract.
A lifetime subscription is exactly what it says (a subscription for the duration of the life of an individual) and for Fastmail to unilaterally withdraw that service is a breach of contract. The fact that they have not been available for some time and that they were introduced "at a critical time in Fastmail's development, when they needed serious funding" is completely irrelevant. Fastmail needed the money and should honour those who stepped in to help them out at that time by buying those lifetime subscriptons. I thought I'd spotted a bargain and was prepared to take the risk that the company would not disappear completely (the only circumstances in which ending these subscriptions would be inevitable) and bought accounts for my children fully expecting them to last a lifetime. Each got a neat e-mail address which is in use and will be lost if they fail to pay for a new service. Perhaps the least Fastmail could do is to offer a free and user-configurable forwarding service for those who don't want to pay to stay. |
Ya really .. who would want to be forced to pay WHEN ITS GOING TO GET MUCH WORSE AFTER 30 JUNE!! (When they force everyone to the new interface)
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THEY USED TO BE THE BEST EMAIL SERVICE OUT THERE and now they are becoming just like Yahoo and Google..... Its very sad :( |
I suggest you read the Fastmail Terms of Service (in Help) before getting too excited. Be sure to read sections 6, 7, 8, and 11.
Some people have gotten into the habit of inventing a "lifetime" subscription account. There never was such an account. There was no Guest (free of charge) account at the time when Member accounts started about 15 years ago. Fastmail created a "Member" account with a one-time fee so new users could try out an account before getting a Full or Enhanced account. These accounts didn't expire at the end of a year, so there was plenty of time for Member accounts to consider an upgrade to a yearly subscription account. There was no specific expiration date, but no guarantee of the account lasting for a lifetime. See my post about this (nearly four years ago): http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...51&postcount=9 Bill |
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Okay, you don't like the new/recent/default interface. For me, it was one of the main reasons why I signed up for FastMail some years ago. I wouldn't mind if they'd maintain the classic interface until kingdom come as long as this doesn't affect the running and development of the service. Obliously, they can't afford this, so I can understand their decision. Just my two cents |
Bill Try this http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...member+account
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As you say, Fastmail considered and rejected extending one-time payment to Full and Enhanced accounts. The main thread discussing this is instructive: Quote:
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I sympathize with Fastmail on this, and think the old Member accounts are quite impractical for any current real email use. I cannot really imagine why anyone feels strongly about keeping such an account. However, Fastmail may be on shaky legal grounds here if a few people want to be bloody-minded. |
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From that point of view, I can understand it, and perhaps the suggestion of a forwarding service isn't all that far off, although I can understand how that might be a pain for FastMail to maintain, I definitely think it's something they should at least consider, as this is also going to be a nuisance for anybody who expected to sign up and get an email address that would never change. Now, that said, while I can understand that point of view, I've always been a firm believer in getting what you pay for. Personally, the only way I can guarantee an email address that will never change is to register and pay for my own domain name — then I can host it at any service that I like (and have done so, over the years). Again, though, I do feel their pain when it comes to the email address issue — anybody who expected that their FastMail address would exist in perpetuity is going to be forced to either start paying a regular fee or go through the headache of changing away from an email address that they've had for possibly a decade or more. It looks like there's a six-month transition for people to sort this out before the Guest/Member accounts go away, but it's clearly going to be a headache — I know it's something I wouldn't want to have to deal with, considering the vast number of places that have my email address — I still occasionally get relevant emails to a domain name that I haven't used in almost a decade (I still own the other domain as I have some friends and family using it, but I switched away from it for my personal email about a decade ago). |
@jhollington I agree with the points you make.
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What about the forwarding idea, with the following provisos:
My concern is that the people who paid $12.95 or $14.95 15 years ago, and expect never to need to pay another cent for their email service are just the kinds of people that will feel entitled to free support on complex forwarding issues whenever they should arise. My gut feel is that it would just be setting Fastmail up for future grief. |
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All of that said, however, while I recognize that 2002 was a totally different era for the Internet (heck, Gmail was only a gleam in Google's eyes back then), I really do wish more people would understand that you get what you pay for, and expecting any online service to be sustained for little or no money is unrealistic they're either making money by advertising or they're making money from the users. |
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