Hotmail users vent fury over Outlook.com problems
Microsoft forum users express dismay, with some claiming their accounts have been switched without permission.
Hotmail users have been left fuming at Microsoft after being automatically upgraded to an Outlook.com email address without asking.
There have been over 55 pages worth of complaints in the Microsoft Answers forum and IT Pro readers have also been in touch to confirm they are having problems.
There are four major issues being reported:
1) Some users have been upgraded without their permission. The “Go Back to Hotmail” option does not seem to work for everyone.
Microsoft has confirmed once an email is switched to Outlook, it cannot be changed back.
“Unfortunately there is no way to rename to an existing account. This is something we're investigating for future improvements,” Microsoft said in the forum.
2) Not everyone has been able to upgrade to Outlook.com – with some users being greeted with a blank screen and others with error messages.
3) Most worryingly, some users have been unable to see their old emails from their Hotmail account after upgrading.
4) Problems are also being reported with the Hotmail Human Interactive Proof (HIP) validation process. Errors are appearing saying the characters don't match with the ones in the 'picture'. Microsoft has recognised this problem in the forum and is working to fix this issue.
IT Pro readers have been complaining that there is no way to return to their old email.
“I tried backing out, but have found my old Hotmail account - which I have had for over twenty years - has been de-activated so that I can’t send or receive email from it in Windows Live," noted Obray.
“Even after I clicked on Go Back to Hotmail, it has still left my Hotmail account email in a subfolder to the inbox. This is really disappointing. I think MS needed to think this out a bit more before sending people down this path."
Members of the IT Pro team have had similar experiences. Our Editor and Technical Editor had their Hotmail and Live accounts upgraded automatically. However, old emails have been transferred over to the new inbox and any messages sent to the old addresses do appear, which isn't the case for everyone.
Meanwhile, the News Editor’s attempts to revert back to Hotmail resulted in her machine crashing. The Editor on our sister title Cloud Pro managed to log into Hotmail and was given the choice of whether or not to upgrade.
It appears that if you are logged into any of your Microsoft email accounts and go to the Outlook.com website, your ID will automatically be converted.
The safest way to keep your existing account appears to be to log out of all accounts, then proceed to Outlook.com to sign up as a new user.
Although, readers concerned about any of the issues raised above, might want to consider holding off on upgrading for now.
Microsoft has been informed of these issues, but is yet to respond.
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this is a nightmare, I will be using my yahoo account and after informing all my friends, never to com e back to outlook,didnt ask forit, it sucks bad.
Outlook is trying to be too clever. If you use it for work or formal society purposes, you need a clear simple practical methodology. When you are emailing several similar messages to many people it is essential that you can keep track. It is no longer easy to do so as the emails stick to each other automatically instead of being manually filed. And it is now unclear as to what you are forwarding to who, all those stuck together or just the one. While aspects one can get used to, it is now no longer the useful system it once was - all because of some IT nutters egos. If you intend using it for business, i suggest you don't and look somewhere else. You can't change once your network of contacts has your address or correspondence is printed with it.
I JUST WANT HOTMAIL BACK. IT WAS WAY SIMPLER. ITS OUT OPTION . FU
What is dis outlook......out of life.....making my life hell. I cant go back to my hotmail set up which have been using since a decade.
I hate Hate HATE this new outlook. Thinking of changing to a competitor.
I hate it that my hotmail account has changed to outlook,,,,hate it
I have had my hotmail account for over a ten years and I am so unhappy with this move by microsoft. It is one thing to be asked if you would like to trial or switch to a new service and quite another for it to be done without consent and then not be able to revert to your old account.
I will NEVER use micro-minds mail system ever again..Any company knows it has to get bugs out but look out Micro minds think they can walk over every one ! Not happening here. There system does not even allow mail from outlook {Nolook}accounts to be exported to another account. This is costing many with repair bills WHO IS covering that.....
Their should be allowances for a class action.This screwed up outlook has cost many for repairs or in the least the cost of taking computer into shops to find ,it's microsoft banging this onto the end user with out testing .
I'll never go back.Thinking of Mac now. No one likes BULLIES ! Thought there were Laws about this......
I hate it too man this blows! why switch us... give people the option to opt in.
I hate Outlook too. I try to get their e-mail address to write a complaint and I find it. Outlook SUCKS. I think I want to move to Yahoo.
I see no "Forward" button on t6he dashboard or anywhere. How do I forward one email to another?
unable to print off emails now - no good to me
How can Microsoft "upgrade" to outlook without permission????? I don't have access to hotmail now and I really do need to...
I want my Hotmail account back!!!! How do i regain access to my hotmail account which i've had for 18 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
they lost me as a 15+ year user..i use gmail now..idiotic to change something that worked great into more visual trash without usable functions.
Everyone should continually send feedback messages, emails, and make forum threads for the thing until they listen. In other words, flood them with complaints and tell them there IS the option to change back to hotmail and get rid of this thing they call outlook. Or else move to a different email provider, like Yahoo! instead. - But make sure you threaten them with it if they don't act quickly to change things back how WE THE CUSTOMERS want them to be because WE THE CUSTOMERS are right, no?!
Everyone should continually send feedback messages, emails, and make forum threads for the thing until they listen. In other words, flood them with complaints and tell them there IS the option to change back to hotmail and get rid of this thing they call outlook. Or else move to a different email provider, like Yahoo! instead. - But make sure you threaten them with it if they don't act quickly to change things back how WE THE CUSTOMERS want them to be because WE THE CUSTOMERS are right, no?!
how do they change it to outlook without our permissions this is stupid and if they don't redo the action they gona lose alot of users......
I logged in a couple of days ago to find my email had changed over without permission, and just to top it off all my contacts have disappeared. I went into 'people' and nothing there at all. I don't use twitter or facebook, and when I tried to add google contacts found all my work contacts coming up instead of my personal contacts. To say I'm annoyed by this is an understatement.
And there is nobody you can complain about this too as there is no email contact on the Microsoft website - you just get sent to the forum where the people behind the scenes at Microsoft can conveniently ignore you.
lets go to gmail!!
i get the lovely blank screen. i also cant sign in to ask a question with the outlook forum because i get a blank screen and my xbox account you ask? blank screen.
I'm going to sign up to Gmail. Outlook is terrible!!!
[@Kendra farns]
I WILL STOP THIS THREAD AND START ANOTHER ON JUST HOW TO MOVE FROM OUTLOOK "
Hello- I am watching the dot thread (How to Switch back to Hotmail) and deleting a lot as I am filtering past my stage of what the ---- is happening!!! it (has) and because 15yrs have past with no worries w/msn and now they are upon us------ I am a newbie to saving or backing up- One new address has my favorites list GREAT! one down and all my folders at the left and 300 plus emails in my in box- to go TO ANOTHER provider (?)------- How does it work?
I don't want to email anyone except save my own info where I can get to it -thru another provider- How can I fwd all my (inbox) emails at once to my backup provider--- Thanks for help- what bad timing to have such another problem to deal with-----
Id guess that money over (what matters) can make you lose other higher attributes (msn once had)
I HATE HATE HATE OUTLOOK. WIthin the first hour, I leaned I can no longer print the contents of an email and after talking with a support person in India, I leaned the ESC must be hit twice to use Bcc. WHAT A GARAGE PRODUCT these out of touch techies turned on to the HOTMAIL users. I will find another mail service. THIS SUCKS!!!!! AM I ANGRY, YOU BETCHA!!! as stated by another idiot!!!
I cant check my mail. Sucks big time. Switch to yahoo> fuck u microsoft
please visit this site to share your hate, or love (doubtful) for outlook. com!! microsoft should look at it too. Hotmail for the win!
http://amplicate.com/search?q=... <3
Express your opinion and don't stand down! facebook railroaded you because you let them, don't let microsoft get comfortable enough to not care about their user's opinion either!!
I hate this new stupid "outlook.com", it has crashed my internet explorer and now it is costing ME to fix it. Microsoft SHOULD cover the cost of my repair bill.
Fifteen happy years with hotmail its now unusable I'm oout of here time for a new email I think.
I hate hate hate hate Outlook! Microsoft=everyonr is not 19, a computer whiz, living in NYC! there are millions of old users that once they learn something, especially as wonderful as Hotmail WAS, we loved it! I WILL PAY YOU 20 DOLLARS PER MONTH, OR MORE, TO PLEASE GIVE ME BACK MY HOTMAIL AND LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE!!!!
I have been forced to change over and outlok is crap, can't open any attachments that I am receiving.
As I've progessed in minimalist living am wondering what I really need a damn computer for. Once you've killed a deer and jerked the meat in the woods and stayed out there a month it is easy to reject modernity. Never liked hotmail much, really hate outlook.
can't even sign the freaking hell out!!! i think i'm going to yahoo or something else other than THIS crap. i've been with hotmail since for (at least) 12-something years. i can't sign out, WTH??!!!!! they just lost me now; i don't need this, i'm going somewhere else for my e-mails. thanks, thanks alot :/
ok, i just commented a couple of minutes ago about not being able to figure out how to sign out; i finally figured it out AFTER around 30 minutes.... geezzz.....stupid outlook, omg. i really miss the old hotmail :(
I don't want outlook, I HATE outlook,they didn't have my permission to switch me over, and I want to say to them: goddammit: give me back my Hotmail account, you dictator of a corporation!!!!!!!
Who took over my hotmail account? I never asked for it!!! Now I can't even delete the crap I get on there all day!!! I was comfortable with hotmail - I think I had an account there for 5 or 6 years. Fuck Hot mail. I'll just open a new email account somewhere else. FUCK YOU HOTMAIL!!!!
I can't scroll my mail to the right because of this block in outlook.com which has all these new links on how to use outlook.com. I don't know how to close that right hand side block, very annoying.
This is the most pathetic "improvement" I have ever seen. I can't even add multiple attachments to an e-mail without going through 17 bloody steps. I have a business which I use e-mail for scheduling employees. Everything about this change is a huge waste of my time, every step takes twice a long. I would love to thank the team of useless people who came up with this idea. CLUELESS
just been force "upgraded" and i detest the new look and lack of functionality , Who is the idiot who thought this would work ? Sir you are a greedy simpleton of the first order !
The BCC facility is crap. If I don't wish to select any from the very small list shown then I can't select anyone!
I'm out
i dont' like the new outlook ..difficult to read emails and moving around .
This new Outlook thing sucks real hard!! Very un-user friendly! Full of bugs! Give me back my Hotmail account back!!! Microsoft SUCKS!
I wasn't asked and don't want this new Outlook interface...it is a steaming pile of sh!t...confusing, slow, hard to read...everything. Does Microsoft even TEST these pieces of rubbish they foist onto us? I avoid Microsoft products wherever i can (anyone who has tried using Word or Excel will probably understand why) but in this case, I dont have a choice to avoid the masters of crapware and yet another of their abominations...please Microsoft, FOR ONCE, listen to your customers (or should that be victims) and go back to the old hotmail...surely u can see its what people want, regardless of the clearly ill-informed and conceived reasons you had to change.
OUTLOOK. What kind of people are you to mess people up the way your diabolical OUTLOOK does. I cannot access vital documents. It may be nice to know there are several relevant messages, but why can't I reread message 3?
YOU HAVE VACATED YOUR OWN CLEVERNESS ZONE
WHY DON'T YOU JUST APOLOGISE AND GO BACK?
What I do now is NOT OPEN messages in OUTLOOK, I forward them to my yahoo where they are handled normally.
I cant even read my emails on this stinking piece of crap outlook.
Cant even see my contact list! this new thing makes no sense and it is not friendly looking!
can You PLEASE stop putting the outlook "sign in" above the MSN page as it keeps moving up and down---VERY IRRITATING. I can sign in whenever I want to again......
I hate Outlook. It's terrible, I have been trying to log on all day, and there have been several issues, sometimes I can't open my emails, sometimes I can't view content in the emails, and sometimes I can't even log in without some sort of error. I've done hours of research and found I must make countless downloads and restarts to fix a few simple problems. I'm completely disgusted and very, very annoyed, and I am unhesitantly moving to another provider; possibly gmail or yahoo, because this is just pathetic. Nice job Microsoft.
Who the Hell asked for ANY change? I am pissed off to the max! If I wanted another look I would have switched over to one of the other e-mail accounts I have! I used hotmail as my main e-mail address and now am being forced to learn how to access my e-mails, reply, and even READ all over again!!!???? What is the PANE on the right side for? Why can't I get rid of it? Why when I am reading a newsletter do I now have to scroll when there is a big blank pane on the right!!!???? As soon as all my contacts (who I can't e-mail because when I write an e-mail it wont let me choose them from my contacts.....you know what I don't give a shit, I don't want this and if I am not allowed to revert back to hotmail then I will be an EX member in 2 WEEKS) know I have moved to gmail I am gone!!! Who the fuck asked for this?
I didn't ask to be sprayed with Aluminium and Barium etc either MR GATES!!!! Maybe you need to listen first before thinking you know what is good for everyone.
F**k the new outlook! I'll be making sure that I tell everybody not to use anything to do with Hotmail. It's a f**king cheap arse looking format that doesn't even work properly....who came up with this GREAT idea?
What the heck happened to my hotmail messages, and who said I wanted older messages automatically deleted. Yahoo is looking better and better.
Screaming ab dabs....I'm getting SO p'd off with this.... there seems to be no way to manage a group other than delete it... I cant seem to check how many or who is in a group. I cant transfer contacts to another email address. First world problem I know but I never thought I'd be so happy to feel so connected to so many angry people.... Let's do some Flash mobs - dancing to wild loud music everywhere to get the rage out of the body.... !
PISSED! I decided...because I have several accounts I would use OutLook.com as my central hub. Spent the day setting it up. Now when I log in...EVERYTHING is GONE and it is back in default mode! AAARRRGGGHH!
EOutlook is causing some frustrating problems which are infuriating after having Hotmail for years without a hitch. emails are disappearing, also going into the wrong area eg new emails appearing in the deleted are, important emails with flight details not being found without a lot of info as the search function does not search properly.
What the hell is happening, these are faults which should not be happening with a provider of this level. Give us back Hotmail, I did not ask to be transferred.
I hate OUTLOOK. I have been left with such an inferior email system. I was happy with HOTMAIL. It was so much better. OUTLOOK is like dumbing down the whole system. What a joke. I want my HOTMAIL back and quit messing with our emails.
Hate this bloody outlook,why cant they leave things alone.Even friends in Spain are complaining about it..Bring Hotmail back please!!!!!!!
Outlook is abysmally slow! How do I get back to Hotmail?
THIS NEW "OUTLOOK" IS FUCKING BULL SHIT!
Dear HOTMAIL Team ,
You have done so bad with us that dropped us into the hell ( OUTLOOK ). Even my pc is mostly hanged while working. This Outlook can not manage the users. Kindly either immediately conver the users back to the hotmail or almost all of the users will start working on Yahoomail.
B.Regards
Nouri
ADOLF HITLER WOULD B PROUD OF YOU OUTLOOK
CHANGING THINGS WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE NAZIE PRICKS I WONT MY HOT MAIL BACK ASSHOLE BUT WHEN YOU ARE A FUCKING COMUNIST I GESS THATS WHAT U DO SO FUCK YOU FROM ALL THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE UP THEAR LIVES FOR FREADOM ASS HOLE
Yep, Outlooks Blows Goats..
Isn't it time that we all organized globally and send Microsoft and the industry a message that they will never ever forget- one that will make them never do this again? If we illiminate this company from the market landscape, or critically market damage it by collectively boycotting all Microsoft products and services, Microsoft, and all others will get the message.
The new outlook is a bag of shite and has made reading my work emails very frustrating, it spends most of time loading up and never actually shows anything and even something easy like printing sheets off is having trouble, time to change my email account me thinks
Microsoft, it is crap and, like others, I will be dumping it soon. I want my old Hotmail back.
Even when I tried to change my password the other day, you had the absolute fucking gall to tell me I couldn't use the one I wanted. I mean, who the fuck are you to tell me that? Mind your own fucking business.
Good point indeed. The wankers at Microsoft make sure complaining is damn near impossible to do. An absolute bunch of tossers.
You guys at Mircrosoft are a total pile of jerks. Your own site makes readers' responses very difficult to make, and thus easily sidelined, and you're taking little or no notice of forums like this one, though I bet you are monitoring them.
When I think of the absolute gall of you tossers to change my Hotmail without my permission like this, and a refusal recently to allow my new password, when a person's password is absolutely none of your godamn business, I see red.
Go and fucking play with yourselves.
I tried to do this and received from them a 'reply' which was a piece of utter tripe, and when emailed a response to it, predictably, it came back as undeliverable. They really are a bunch of fxxxxxx wanxxxx.
I can't see any mail sent after Feb. 2012 since I switched to outlook and when I called to get help, they wanted $249 to fix it so that I can see and receive my current mail. They tried to say it was my computer, so I tried 2 other computers (1 was new) and had the same problem. I felt like I was being scammed.
Outlook is total rubbish It cant connect half the time Its causing me major annoyance. I will be moving to gmail as Microsoft do not respond to feedback
Does anybody know if somebody has filed a class action lawsuit?