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I did buy StartMail once. It didn't take me long to figure out that in order for anyone else on the planet to be able to read my emails, I'd have to give each one security questions to answer first.
How to arrange security questions? Via your smart phone? A free email provider, like Gmail? Snail mail?
No thank you. It doesn't matter what you use to provide all future recipients with 'security questions', they'll all be intercepted and read by outsiders, so there is absolutely no security whatsoever.
It's an absolutely ridiculous system and most assuredly NOT worth $60 a year!
If you have ever had to reset your password/logon do not go with Startmail. You have to purchase an annual subscription. I initially set up my Startmail email and came back over 30 days later. My logon/password would not work. I went through the forgot logon/password routine. Nothing happened. Contacted Startmail. They would not/could not reset my password. I asked for a refund. Their solutions: me keep trying logon/passwords indefinitely until I hit on the right one, or better yet, purchase ANOTHER email account with them. They said they would refund the second purchase email amount. Of course, they also said after I paid the first annual fee I would have a working email. Startmail did finally come around and give me a refund on my original purchase.
Thank you for your feedback and for verifying our strict adherence to privacy and security protocol. Most of the time when people are locked out of their accounts, it is because a recovery email was not entered and/or verified. (We give multiple warnings during set-up about the importance of this.) That's what happened in this case.
We are unable to reset personal account passwords, transfer information from one account to another, or reuse account names. This is a privacy and security feature, not a bug. This protects our customers and their personal information from security concerns, like social engineering. It's this kind of security that our fans value, but we understand that our level of security can prove to be too restrictive for some people.
I signed up for a year with startmail, set up an ID and password, saved them in a private place offline. Went back to log in the next day... they don't work. Can't even find a way to contact them
This is not my error.
Hi Rose, I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. I see it has been a while since this happened and I hope we can help to make it right. On the StartMail login page, there is a place to click if you forget your password. Also, on the StartMail homepage (https://www.startmail.com) we have a link to Support where you can create a ticket and/or communicate with us.
If you are willing to give us a try again, please write to support@startmail.com and let them know that you are the Rose on sitejabber. We will give you a couple of years at no charge. If anyone reading this would like to try StartMail, just write to us in Support, mention this sitejabber review, and until the end of this year, we'll give you 50% off the first year of your subscription.
I love the way support gets back and responds to questions. It has always worked well for me and they do ask what function in particular we'd like to see in the email.
I also have a business account with them now, and am very happy with Startmail.
Thank you for your positive review!
It was extremely easy to migrate my email to startmail. I can't take it anymore that big tech has all my data and may scan my email, just a thought of it is disturbing. I highly recommend switching to encrypted secure email providers. I picked startmail and very happy.
From day one i attempted to pay on my trial account. There was an issue where it wouldn't or couldn't take my money. I was not notified. I work really long days constantly, so with what little time i had i was trying to set up my account. Now all contact information stored in their system is lost, information i can't get back, because they have no way of activating an account that is permanently deleted, yet unusable email address ever again. No one can use that email name, that contact information is lost to me, and they have no way to give me back my email address i thought i paid for with my credit card information sitting on the account. They tell me it's been deleted, but no one can ever used that email name again...
Hi Nope N.,
We are sorry to hear this occurred.
When a payment attempt fails, you will be notified about this via email and a banner is displayed in your inbox alerting you to the issue. We offer a grace period of up to 7 days after the trial period ends (or 30 days after the payment date for renewing accounts) to complete the payment. If you require more time, our support team can also extend this period.
Once a StartMail account is deleted, it cannot be recovered. As a security measure, we do not retain backups or store any of your data. It is not possible to create a new account with an email address that has been used before to avoid identity theft and associated risks.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
The StartMail Team
One-time recovery code that you must save some where. Once lost, it's useless to contact the support as they will not give you any alternative to recover your account. They'll ask you if you have IMAP set up, if you don't then your account is bin. This after asking me to send them proof of purchase, which I did for nothing.
If you're looking for a paid mail account, choose one that gives you an app (android, iOS...) and also that allows you to recover your account with your mobile number. We're on 21st century but they work with 20th century resources. Almost 30 eur sent to garbage.
Tip for consumers:
If I would know it would be so difficult to recover my account I would not buy their service.
Products used:
Email account
Hi Miguel C.,
We are sorry or the inconvenience you encountered.
During the StartMail account creation process, we provide users with a recovery code and require confirmation that you have copied and saved it before proceeding with the account creation. This additional step helps ensure that you have a backup in case you ever need to recover your account. Additionally, you have the option to set up and confirm a recovery address for added security, and StartMail can be used with a mail app via IMAP.
If you decide to create a new StartMail account, we are happy to apply the remaining subscription time of your previous account to your new account. Please contact support@startmail.com if you are interested in this option.
Kind regards,
The StartMail Team
I had accounts with mail, gmail, gmx the typical information harvesters and anti-privacy stooges that's what you get if you want something for nothing.
I joined it was simple, EASY and a normal service with privacy choices you make, you can send encrypted or none encrypted email at the swipe of a button, its that simple, as for passwords never had a problem, seems to a lot of ppl on here complaining about generally simple problems that usually occurs due to account holders fault, not the servers fault.
Instead of $#*!ing and blaming others do us all a favour and stay with the anti-privacy hacks STARTMAIL is the best I have had yet
Hi iw. We couldn't agree more. "Free" email isn't free! Thank you for your honest review!
Got a free trial of Startmail and linked EVERYTHING with them, including passwords, knowing I was going to purchase. Unfortunately, I don't have a home computer and used work computers. I was transferring jobs between schools when my subscription was running out, so I attempted to pay by phone -- no luck. I waited until I got my computer, and when I went on to pay they had completely deleted my account. I emailed for help to access my files and addresses -- nope, they don't do that. They might say it's "safer" to do so, but you could wait an extra month before fully deleting information in case something like this happens. Now I have zero access to tons of websites with all my passwords stored in an encrypted email on Startmail. You might think I'm stupid for not writing them down somewhere else, but never in my WILDEST dreams did I think they'd completely delete the entirety of my account with no possibility of recovering my information -- I saved my passwords in the encrypted email account for a reason... because that's what I thought I'd be paying for! Don't bother with this company -- you can't pay for anything on mobile so you're $#*!ed if you ever get in my situation.
Hi Sarah - I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. I see it has been a while since this happened and I hope we can help to make it right. So much has changed with StartMail since you wrote this!
We keep expired Trial Accounts for 7 days before they are deleted and Paid Accounts for 180 days after expiration, unless you, as the user delete them. Here is the information about the expiration and deletion of the accounts - https://support.startmail.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006794398-Account-expiration
We definitely do have the option to pay using a mobile device and after reading your information, we double-checked and were able to process payment on mobile.
At the point where you wrote this, your account information was removed and, as you explained, it is a security feature that the data be removed if not accessed and the grace and expiration periods have passed. If you are willing to give us a try again, please write to support@startmail.com and let them know that you are the Sarah on sitejabber. We will give you a couple of years at no charge. If anyone reading this would like to try StartMail, just write to us in Support, mention this sitejabber review, and until the end of this year, we'll give you 50% off the first year of your subscription.
Subscribed to startmail for online privacy on Firefox. Couldn't log into my account Charged almost $100 for one month! $#*! STARTMAIL! And $#*! WHICHEVER $#*! CON ARTEST CREATED IT!
Filed FRAUD CHARGES with my bank and I'm writing a report to the IC3 because of stupid $#*!ing startmail conmen. DO NOT EVER SIGN UP FOR THIS $#*!ING FRAUD!
Tip for consumers:
That startmail is a fraud and that they continually auto charge your credit card for $30-60 dollars every 4 $#*!ing days.
$#*! YOU STARTMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Products used:
Startmail.
HI Ronin - I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. It seems like you were sent to a scam web page or a website that isn't StartMail (perhaps Smartmail.io)
Our subscription price is $5 per month paid annually or $59.95 (not nearly $100 per month that you report.) Yes, we'd encourage you to report this to IC3.
If you're willing to give us a try, you can get a free 7-day Trial Account - https://startmail.com and then click the green sign-up button on the top right of the page. If you write to support@startmail.com and let them know that you are the "Startmail Fing SUCKS" users on sitejabber, we will provide a link for a 50% discount code for your first year :)
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Hi CJ,
There are two kinds of optional encryption available with Startmail: PGP and Question and Answer. With PGP, you can email anyone else who has PGP set up, even recipients who use PGP outside of StartMail.
The benefit of Question and Answer (Q&A) encryption is you can communicate encrypted with someone who doesn't have PGP set up -- even if that person has limited technology skills and/or an email service outside of StartMail.
You don't necessarily have to communicate a secret question and answer in advance with someone you know. You just have set up a question with an answer the recipient would know, but would be hard for someone else to guess. Here is more information on how this works: https://support.startmail.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/534/0/question-amp-answer-encryption-method
StartMail makes encryption easy, even for beginners. Coming up with a secret question and answer may take some care initially, but many users believe it is worthwhile for their privacy. That said, we recognize this isn't for everyone. Thank you for giving it a try.