[ajross]

> I feel like smaller companies that I'm actually paying are more likely to be responsive to my issues than a large company that I'm using for free.

"I feel like" is, precisely, the anecdata fallacy at work! You feel that way because you see so many more reports of problems with the big providers. The truth, obviously, is that account management problems like this are present everywhere[1], but the email (or domain) market is dominated by a small handful of players. So you think the tiny ones are better than they are.

[1] Pointing out the pervasive complaints about domain registrars was supposed to drive this home. It's weird you think that somehow doesn't count. All bureaucracies mess up, it's not like email is a special kind of failure.

[KyleJune]

Yea, but there is another difference besides them being smaller. Email is fastmail's primary business. A domain registrars primary business is selling domains. So it's more risky for them to provide sub-par support compared to google where gmail is just one of the many things they do.