This seemed odd but hardly surprising, its become apparent that the popular free email service Hotmail or aka Windows Live Hotmail went down a few hours ago and a significant large number of users were affected. Users received a shocking message “you don’t have an inbox yet”. As a result, users have been unable to access their Hotmail mail account for hours on end. The lack of customer service and support from Hotmail’s end proved to be a major issue. Take a look at the screenshot of the incident below…

We had a look at the Windows Live Help website, which is supposedly the official online support page for issues like these and found the following message:

Hotmail and Windows Live ID experienced a service disruption starting at 8:44 PM (PST), which ended at 10:15 PM (PST), and during this disruption you may have been told your inbox did not exist. This was incorrect messaging. Your inbox, contacts and Live ID are all intact. We’re all Hotmail customers, so we appreciate how frustrating this experience was. Thanks for your understanding. If you’re still getting errors, please close out all browsers and sign in again.

It was after midnight that the above official message was posted, therefore according to Microsoft the service disruption should have stopped over 2 hours ago. Is anyone still have errors or problems access their inbox? If so it may be worth a try doing what Microsoft has suggested above.

This “inbox inaccessible” error incident marks the second time within the space of just one month this year, in which two major free mail service providers have left many of its loyal users completely confused as to what they should do without their emails, contacts, calendars. What can anyone do to avoid being struck by another “email crisis” situation in the future?