I joined TheMail about a year ago - tempted away from the likes of Hotmail because they offer to pay you for using your account. So how does this work?

Every time you refer someone to TheMail you get paid for EVERY email that they read - sounds great - but the catch is that you only get paid a fraction of a cent per email. It is important to note that you don't get paid for emails that you read - only for those that your referals read.

I have referred 4 people to the service and have made 20 cents in a year. Seeing as they only pay you when your account reaches $30 then I'm not holding my breath.

When I first signed up with them you could make extra cash by clicking on some banner ads - 1cent per click in fact - and every time I logged onto my account I did this and over time had made over $10. Then one day all this cash was gone - looking at their message boards revealed that the same thing had happened to others. I still have not received an explanation on why this happened despite sending them emails.

Finally - I have just receieved an email from them telling me that they are about to reduce the amount that they pay for your referals reading email.

It may be possible to make some cash from these people but I think that the amount of effort involved is not worth it.