Hi, see attached screenshot. Is this legitimate or a scam? How can I find out?
thanks,
Hi RobBx
That's a genuine VM email.
VM have identified a set of ex-customers who still have an active Virgin Media email account. These should have been closed around 90 days after the broadband account was cancelled.
The notifications have just started to go out and VM will fully close the email account 30 days after the initial communication.
You're wrong, Ravenstar.
My wife and I have had virgin.net email addresses for about 25 years, since the days of dial-up modems.
When fibre broadband became available we signed up for Virgin's service and have stayed with them ever since.
We have never been with another ISP.
We have both received the letters being discussed here and I been unable to get a satisfactory or coherent explanation.
We are now in the process of setting up new gmail addresses and letting all our contacts know of the change.
When that is completed I will cancel the Virgin broadband account and move to a far cheaper, and faster, provider.
SidBonkers Provided that your wife's and your virgin.net account are under the same profile and the current broadband account holder is the same person who set up the virgin.net addresses in the first place - It's actually possible you can keep your virgin.net addresses.
The Forum Team can check if this is the case.
The issue is most likely that when the broadband account was created, the virgin.net addresses wouldn't have been transferred to the email profile for the broadband account.
ModTeam Can you ask one of the Forum Team to take a look at the possibility of performing a move and transfer?
Tim
Thanks for the prompt reply Ravenstar but I'm afraid it's too late.
Having got nowhere on this issue when I raised it with Virgin after receiving the 30-day closure notification emails, my wife and I are now well into the process of notifying our contacts of our new address and will switch to a new ISP when this is completed.
The sheer hassle of changing emails was a big factor in deciding to stick with Virgin as an ISP over the years, a factor which no longer applies.
Again thanks for the response - if only Virgin had been able to respond as efficiently.
Hi SidBonkers 👋
If you have a current and active broadband service with us and the account is in the same name, we may be able to transfer over the impacted email address. If not, then the mailbox will be removed, I'm afarid.
SidBonkers Ayisha_B does work for Virgin Media so while I appreciate what you have already said, it might be worth trying.
It's your choice. but if you really want to keep the address - it's worth a shot in my opinion.
That said I do believe it's best to have an email address that doesn't tie you to your ISP. I went to the extreme of purchasing my own domain, so that when I did move out of a Virgin Media area, I could let my blueyonder email go without worrying about it, but there's nothing wrong with using a gmail or outlook.com account to achieve the same thing.
Tim
Thanks Tim, but having spent so much time so far notifying all our contacts, we'll continue down that road and move to a new ISP when our current contract ends in a few months time. Appreciate your efforts, though.
Everyone affected needs to send an email to Lutz Schuler, Chief executive officer of Virgin Media, email address has been removed from my post but readily available on line.
This will raise your concerns & hopefully get a resolution. there’s also the ombudsman www.commsombudsman.org if a satisfactory solution isn’t offered & ends up being deadlocked with your very reasonable requests.
I have also had this email stating that my Virgin Media email account is going to be closed. Like others here I have had the same email address for over 25 years, and think it might have even been set up with Telewest before Virgin took over. I have nearly 25gb of messages built up since 2009 and everyone know my virgin.net email address. If this is genuine, which I assume it is, is there anything that can be done to extend the period before closure, or is there a way of directing the emails to another provider, for example Google? I note the letter states I no longer have VM services, but I am an O2 customer, and I think they are now part of the same company? Wouldn't this mean I do still have services that I am paying for? Any help would be really appreciated.
TheFellaLondon wrote:I have also had this email stating that my Virgin Media email account is going to be closed. Like others here I have had the same email address for over 25 years, and think it might have even been set up with Telewest before Virgin took over. I have nearly 25gb of messages built up since 2009 and everyone know my virgin.net email address. If this is genuine, which I assume it is, is there anything that can be done to extend the period before closure, or is there a way of directing the emails to another provider, for example Google? I note the letter states I no longer have VM services, but I am an O2 customer, and I think they are now part of the same company? Wouldn't this mean I do still have services that I am paying for? Any help would be really appreciated.
You need to have an active current broadband account with VM in order to have any possibility of retaining the virgin.net email account.
As per section 6.5 of the /virginmedia.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy (Pre 17th June 2022)
It is your responsibility to back up the contents of your Virgin Media email account. Upon suspension or termination of services the content may be removed and permanently deleted by Virgin Media without notice.
Also as per section 6.4 of the /virginmedia.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy (From 17th June 2022)
Email use 6.4. You may or may not be offered the opportunity to sign up to a Virgin Media email account. Virgin Media email accounts are subject to availability and Virgin Media does not promise that a Virgin Media email account will be provided to you, nor does it guarantee that additional email addresses to your primary Virgin Media mailbox (if you have one) will be made available. If you use a Virgin Media email account, it is a variable service by nature and we may upgrade, update, replace or withdraw it from time to time. It is your responsibility to back up the contents of your Virgin Media email account. Upon suspension or termination of services the content may be removed and permanently deleted by Virgin Media without notice.
You might find the following two links useful
https://www.techlicious.com/tip/move-to-new-email-account/
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Backing-up-your-Emails-One-of-many-solutions
No, VM and O2 are not part of the same company, they are separate companies although they do have joint ownership via a holding company. That might be as clear as mud but the bottom line is that a subscriber to O2 is not a subscriber to VM.
There is no way you need 25GB of emails, so start by junking much of it and export anything remaining to another provider. I have Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo accounts and prefer Gmail. You can auto-forward emails to Gmail. It's easy to inform people and companies or your new email address, but you only have to do the essential ones first.
