Hotfax Message Center 5 :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Works Flawlessly!!!!

2002-05-26
This is my 5th voicemail/fax system in the past 10 years,
and the only one that has ever performed as expected. It is simple, reliable, easy to use. Most of the other programs I had went out of business, or dropped support. The name is misleading
because it is more than just a fax utility. Voicemail with options is just as important to me. This software should be marketed as telephony. It just doesn't come up is searches for
voicemail or telephony. Glad I downloaded the demo. It made me want to buy the product at the store.

Hot Fax

2002-03-05
I called Smith Micro customer support when my demo version was restored on my computer and my purchased full version vanished. I called their customer service, it is horrible, or should I say "Customer NO Service" since there is none. They me to call another number "didn't work". I called the main number for service and find I need an access number. Bottom line, I paid for a fax software which I downloaded and they didn't send me a disk. They turned on the demo and that now doesn't work. All my files are stored on the demo version where I can't get to them. I'd be glad for Hot fax support to e-mail me a solution. If they don't support this, why do they build and sell such software, and who will buy that?

If you are thinking to buy it and will need support sometime down the road, forget it, give it up and look for something else.

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT 2002-02-02
This software was a waste of time and money for me, as it does not function unless you already have a voice mail system in place with specific drivers. I already have fax capabilities in my computer, so this software was unnecessary and useless.

NO STAR AL ALL 2001-12-18
If you are planning to buy this softwar, and have WINDOWS XP, forget it. You will cry. I had Windows ME, it worked, but now I upgraded to XP, and guess what, it doesn't work at all. They said it will work with any windows 9X OS, but it doesn't. I called them, their customer service is horrible. You know what they said to me was that my modem US Robotics V.90 doesn't support their (product). If V.90 doesn't support this, why do they build such software, and who will buy that?
If you are thinking to buy it, give it up and look for something else.

Hot Fax Is a Bargain!!! 2001-10-24
I really like the Hot Fax software and found it to be a snap to install and use. I easily faxed within 5 minutes of opening the package. I faxed both text and photographs. The only glitch I had was in trying to fax some very large, ornate text. I am sure that there are other programs with more sophisticated capabilities, but for the price, this is well worth purchasing for the home user.

Stick to the free FAX software that comes with Windows XP 2005-04-10
I just uninstalled it after I got it going (after wasting about 8 hours fiddling).

Here are the main reason I could not work with it any more:

(1) Stability: I have Windows XP Service pack 2. And nine times the application just closed with 'could not read memory error'. Twice it just hung for no reason. When it does crash, it does not try to restart the application - so if you leave it running and go away, be prepared to miss a few FAX's as it might not be running when you get back! It is a while since I have seen an application that is as unstable as this and prone to crashes on a stable well built high spec computer. People tolerated cr*ap 10 years ago when it was acceptable to get the odd blue screens of deaths - but not now! I cant tolerate an application that does not close gracefully after a problem, nor give meaningful error messages so if there are any conflicts, it could be resolved.

(2) My modem is on COM port 9. The automatic software would not let me choose this port as it only listed port 1-4. I had to go into a lot of trouble to reconfigure my BIOS beore it will detect my modem.

(3)It had an SMTP setting which is supposed to forward FAXes to email. I could never get this to work, as the 'SMTP Server setup' dialogue does not have any authentication screen so I can type in my username and passwords for my outbound mail server. Cant belive the developer did not think of this - fundemental requirement for any MAPI / SMTP integrated application

(3) user interface is very 90's and not compliant with the new norm. So you have to spend time familiarizing your self - rather than things being intuitive. The skins were very amateurish.

(4) I tried to open my Outlook contacts - but it wont let me as it does not support the password feature in Outlook or MAPI client - again pretty fundamental and shows the application was not thought out. When I did remove the password in my Outlook to make it work, it did sort of work - but sometimes when I accidently select a contact whose FAX number is not correctly formated, the program would lock up.

(5) The features and functions are inferior to what you get in the free Windows Fax service that comes with Windows XP and the OCR features that comes with Office 2003. Why bother? It was a complete waste of my time - and I am so annoyed that I actually felt compelled to write my review about a product for the first time in my life in here hopefully saving the same agony I had to endure during the last 9 hours.

Tim Muhundan
New Zealand

unreliable software, looking for a replacement 2005-04-05
I have been using the 4.0 version of this software on a Windows 98 platform for several years, with disappointing results. The fax does not work well when it comes to sending file attachments, sometimes resulting in annoying crashes. Logging the sent or received faxes is a big problem, as the fax viewer cannot open the faxes stored in a default directory that cannot be changed. Very recently I updated my Windows 98 with all the critical updates from Microsoft, and HotFax crashes the computer (very reliably!) every time I try sending a fax. Don't buy this product, find something better.

Appalling experience! 2004-01-10
After much research and what I thought was careful planning, I downloaded the software and found it would not work with my computer. To make it work would require a new modem for around $300.00. Tried to contact Smith Micro and they were "on holiday". Unfortunately, the time frame to return product expired while they were "on holiday" and they said it was too bad for me. Terrible customer service and I encourage people to do business with another company entirely.

Hotfax Message Center 2003-11-18
We had a hard drive crash, and lost our copy of Quicklink (and I couldn't find the original media anywhere.) I dl'd the demo, then purchased the new HFMC to install over the demo. The disk that Smithmicro sent was physically broken (they ship the CD in a flimsy envelope, no box) and when I asked for help getting my now-expired system up, they wanted me to send the broken one back before replacing (understand they had a credit card record of my original purchase) God forbid that you have any trouble with these guys. Their tech support is non-existant. They have one of the worst voice-mail-hell systems I've ever seen. I was absolutely furious by the time I actually got to speak with a human. And he was just useless.

I'm using this product to support a remote office call-in system and due to the above non-support, I finally had to buy another copy (downloaded this time) to get my remote ops back up. I feel like an extortion victim. I'll never buy from these guys again. Stars: one for product, ZERO for customer support. I am now searching for a replacement.

Great Product 2002-12-19
This product will SAVE any small business a thousand or more dollars by using a computer and software rather than purchasing an expensive voice mail system. BRAVO to Smith Micro!
BTW, I purchased an early version (2.0) years ago, and it was very good then. I can't wait to start using 5.0!