HushMail: The misery continues

Angry users demand answers...

silicon.com readers are venting their frustration with HushMail after months of problems trying to access email accounts. HushMail has left countless users without access to their free accounts following an upgrade to the service. Paying members, however, seem to have escaped the chaos. Andy Collingridge, who still can't access his account, found he was almost left stranded because he couldn't use HushMail on holiday. He had booked return ferry tickets to Corsica, which were sent to him as e-tickets. As an insurance policy, he saved the details to his HushMail account to print off at an internet café if anything went wrong. Unfortunately, things did go wrong. Having lost his ferry details, he turned to his online backup account, which could not be accessed. He said: "All this left me having to throw myself on the mercy of a surly Corsican ferry steward at 7:00 on a Saturday morning to let me onto the ferry purely on faith, which - to his credit - he did." He concluded: "Free service or not - it's useless if it doesn't work. I certainly won't upgrade my account in the foreseeable future. I find it hard to believe that any company can be happy to wave goodbye to revenue in the current climate." Fellow HushMail user Linzi Wratten was unable to use her account for three months. She said: "Even when HushMail wasn't being upgraded, the site often experienced technical difficulties enabling me to open my mail, for as long as two weeks at a
time." Another user said: "I have been trying to access my account for two months. As of now every time I end up entering my pass phrase my browser freezes." Donough Tierney, VP of marketing at Hush Communications, said six out of seven users could access their accounts, but apologised for any inconvenience to those who couldn't. "By Wednesday morning we are expecting the system to be running smoothly," he said. "I can see why people are emotional, as it's dedicated to security and privacy and people do get emotional about it. Our own people have had many sleepless nights, as it's as important to them as it is to our customers that all their information is subject to the utmost security," he added. For related news see:
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