Sometimes "free" is worth every penny

The Consumerist reports on a recent complaint from a Lyco's customer who lost 2 years worth of her personal email. The customer in question hadn't logged into her free account for 30 days, which is grounds for deletion according to Lyco's terms of service, and found that Lyco's customer service was anything but helpful.

I'm not suprised to find so many people drawn to the free email services that are available everywhere on the internet.  We all love a bargain, and most of these services are extremely easy to set up, even for those with little internet experience. Few people consider the drawbacks until disaster strikes. And once their email has been lost, they're shocked to receive subpar customer service for a service that hasn't cost them a penny.

With so many online services offered for free, it's easy to forget that the rules of the real world also apply to the internet. You get what you pay for. If you just need a personal email account for occasional correspondence, and you don't care to much about the level of service you receive, free email accounts are a great deal.  But if you really rely on your email service, or you're using it for business, a real email account on your own domain is well worth the small cost.