How can I contact the Hotmail customer service? I need to speak to them over the phone because I have a problem in my email and it’s kind of personal. I would very grateful if you can let me know the Hotmail phone numbers. Thank you
Shanta Scott
Hotmail was probably the world’s first service to offer free email accounts. It was started by a couple of young entrepreneurs and soon bought over by Microsoft for an astronomical sum of money. Hotmail, now known as Windows Live Hotmail, has hundreds of millions of users spread around the globe.
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Hotmail phone number
As you can understand, with such a large subscriber base, it is virtually impossible to cater to the each and every individual over phone. But I was able to find out a Hotmail phone number… actually two.
However, I don’t think these numbers are valid for the email service. As far as I know, the Hotmail customer service for free account holders is restricted to the help pages or the Windows Live Solutions Center web site, so don’t get your hopes high.
- 1-866-672-4551
- (800) 386-5550
It doesn’t make business sense for Hotmail to have a customer service phone number – the expenses for maintaining this would be way too high especially when a majority of subscribers hold free email accounts. Also a sizeable percentage of the users are kind of wet behind the ears, if I can put it delicately, and would contact Hotmail customer support over phone every time something appears out-of-place (not necessarily faulty) in their account.
I know because I experience this first hand daily! Each day my inbox is flooded with complaints from Hotmail subscribers who quickly get frustrated when a minor change takes place in the webmail interface. Instead of looking for solutions on the web and knowing more about their problem (or supposed problem), they want answers immediately.
Hotmail customer service now has a dedicated web site
In addition to the extensive help pages on the Hotmail web site, there is a full-fledged section on the Windows Live Solutions Center (WLSC) dedicated to the email service. Contacting the Hotmail customer service and getting help from other users (WLSC is a community driven web site) is probably the best solution for solving problems at your account.
I suggest you first go through the recent questions on WLSC. Please understand that there is a very slim chance that the Hotmail problem you are facing is unique – most likely hundreds if not thousands of users would be affected. And this is a good thing because you can take recourse in the fact that a solution would soon be worked out by the tech staff.
Use the search at Windows Live Solution Center to look for resolution of the issue you are facing with the email account. If you can’t find anything similar, only then post a question. FYI, your personal information is generally not shown on WLSC and would probably be removed by the admin; and you don’t need to disclose your real name if you don’t want to.
I tried the WLSC-solution center for the problem I am having with Hotmail and I viewed many postings for users having the same problem as I am (can’t type or send email) but I saw no solutions offered for the problem.
Is there such a thing as a simple free email service for us senior citizens who are trying to keep up with the times but may not want all of the options the younger set wants – this latest hotmail version is too much.
After using Hotmail for three years, all of a sudden I cannot send, reply or forward email. I can receive and open email. Tried for hours to solve the problem, but cannot. Would appreciate any help.
thanks, Harvey Berens
Kathleen and Harvey,
Is your Hotmail account showing a “This account is currently blocked from sending messages” error message? If so, you need to get in touch with the support staff at WLSC. I suggest you post a complain on the web site once you go through this blog post. I’m quite sure that other subscribers would be suffering from the same problem too.
As for alternatives to Hotmail, you can get a free email account from Yahoo, Gmail or AOL. Why don’t you create an address on all three services, use them for a couple of days and then decide which one you want to continue with? Unfortunately, no service can guarantee smooth functioning.
Sometime back, I conducted a poll on this website asking visitors to vote for their favorite email service. The results of the poll may help you in making a decision – Best email service.
800 numbers are toll free numbers. The reason why the term 800 numbers is widely used is because 800 was the first telephone number prefix used for toll free numbers. These are special telephone numbers in which the number being called is charged instead of the caller. http://www.800numbersinfo.com/index.php?id=116
Tried closing my email account at Hotmail because somebody got a hold of it and is sending out junk mail from my account. How come when I go in and close the account it still sends out junk mail to all my contacts??
@Jenni
These are probably spoof email messages – refer email from myself
I have 4 Hotmail email addresses two of which are really old and want to get rid of them. But I am prompted to delete my Windows Live account before I can delete the old email addresses. By deleting Windows live account will I then essentially delete or lose access to the good email addresses, right?
@Amanda,
Just don’t sign in at the Hotmail accounts you want to get rid off and they will be deleted by the service in 90 days.
Hi Manish,
I have a serious problem here..
A week ago, I couldn’t sign into my account as it said someone was tryin to access my account and tried too many invalid passwords. I opened a thread at the live center, I received a reset password link.
I followed all the steps,. but I faced the same problem.
Then I tried again, now i’m completely locked from my account. I cannot even enter password..
Can you please help me… I’m dying here.
@Siva,
I understand your anguish but sadly can’t help you. Would suggest that you contact Hotmail staff via WLSC again. Sorry!
I think Hotmail is much too sensitive in offering the necessary answers on phone in comparison with the many unacceptable disfunctions it presents nowadays – account erased from Hotmail completely for example. Who did this? No guilty person for this?). Also, before making a page/presentation change, Hotmail should announce the user by saying for example: Oh, were you willing to ….(let’s say “sign in”) ? Now you have to go to the upper right corner…And, when the user is seeing this, he/she will not be forced to phone …
@Sanda,
As I mentioned, it’s virtually impossible for Hotmail or another free service that has millions of subscribers to provide support over phone – there are plenty of help pages and one just needs patience to go through these.
Having said that, Microsoft does run Windows Live Solutions Center web site through which you can contact the staff and post your concerns.
I can’t send any messages or forward any messages from my Hotmail account, I am getting this message:
To stop spammers, we sometimes ask you to enter characters before sending your message.
I have no clue what characters they are talking about and can’t find any box to copy them from. I called the Geek squad and got no help. They said I needed to see a box with characters!!! Can you help?
@Ellen,
Have you tried with an alternate web browser like Google Chrome?
Hi,
I have a huge problem. I reset my password a few months ago because spammers were sending junk mail from my account. I, uncessfully tried to log in after the reset, and it has now locked me out. I don’t have the new password so I went to the recovery center. Its ask me to verify a lot of information that I don’t have. I tried to put as much infomrtaion that I have in but have yet to see anyresolution. I have been to the suppoprt center at least 3 times. I desperatly need to talk to a person. I have read here that that may be impossible. I am 31 and have had this account since I was 14 and I can’t get in. I am not really sure what else to do. I really need to talk to a tech support. AHHHH!!!!
Hello,
I have a problem with another e-mail account that was probably hacked. I did follow the procedure of resetting the password but after 20 tries…no success. I got a reply back from Microsoft saying that it would be better if I create a new account. My problem is that I want all my e-mail addresses / contact and e-mails that are very very important. How can I contact someone in Hotmail, of fax them or send them a letter? It is very frustrating even the thought of losing all these data.
Waiting for your advice in my e-mail address.
Please help.
Faye,
You can try contacting the Hotmail via their support web site (www.windowslivehelp.com) but from what I have learnt, you cannot expect much especially if yours is a free email account.
My Hotmail account has been blocked/frozen for over a week now and I have been trying to reset it by messaging the customer support. They request my cell phone so they may text me a new pin. It’s been one week now and i am still waiting for the pin. I’ve submitted my number multiple times since the problem occurred. Is there anything else I can do?
Sincerly, Celia
Celia, Did you contact the Hotmail support through the Windows Live Help web site?
When I sign into my Hotmail account it goes straight to a page that has old emails on it. Then it goes to the page where I send a new email from. The web page does this all by itself. Then I have to click onto my inbox to see my emails, This has been happening for quite a few weeks. Very frustrating!
Can’t login at my account. It’s not accepting the password.
Why have all my emails pre January 2011 been deleted by Hotmail? I am devastated….
The only way to get in touch with Hotmail and have issues solved is through Windows Live Help web site.
I can’t send mail from my email account