Forum Discussion

HG65's avatar
HG65
On our wavelength
2 days ago

Can't access my email online

My mail is delivered to my laptop, but I have to check it online sometimes, in particular as Virgin Media sometimes chucks emails from longtime correspondents into the Spam folder – I’ve no idea why !!

A while ago VM decided that I needed a 2nd email address for verification and security apparently. I have a gmail address, which I only started as I needed the cloud storage – but I don’t send or receive emails from that address. So I used my gmail address in VM’s verification/security procedure. Getting that sorted caused me endless problems, password changes, etc etc  (I’m 77 and an IT dinosaur) - but I got it sorted eventually.

Although I do find it bizarre that my email now apparently goes via gmail to get to my virgin email  – and all Virgin’s emails to me are sent to my gmail address !!

And now there’s a new problem in accessing my virgin emails online. First I get a message "Enter your email address to get started."

I enter my virginmedia email address - which is ......@ntlworld.com.

Message "This Virgin Media email address isn't valid"

I enter my google mail address - which is ......@gmail.com.

Message to say a verification email has been sent, so I have to go to my gmail account to see Virgin's email.

I tap the "Verify it's me" button in that email - and go back to the Virgin Media screen, which thanks me for verifying and shows a diagram of 4 steps, now I'm at Step 2: Set up sign in method" and have to choose whether to use a Passkey or Password.

I click "Use a password" - and I change my password AGAIN !! and now the screen says "Your authentication method has been set up" and I'm now at "Step 3: Set up two-factor authentication" and I have to choose either a backup email or a passkey or text verification

I click "Set up a backup email" - but Virgin will not accept my ntlworld or gmail addresses !!

I really don't want to start a brand new third email account, and I don't have a mobile so I can't use "text verification" – so I click "Set up a passkey"

Message "Your authentication method has been set up" and then this message appears: "touch your security key to continue with oauth.virginmeadio2.co.uk"

WHAT and WHERE is this security key ?????

And then the following message pops up "Sorry, you can't set up a passkey at the moment" and I have to "choose another way to verify by picking a different authentication method"

What do I do now ?? I am going round and round in circles, confused and frustrated, and I STILL can't access my emails online.

Please, please, please help me sort this out.

11 Replies

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    10 hours ago

    You will need to create a VMO2ID first before you can do anything else unfortunately.  Once this is done, getting access to your email is the next step.  If you don't have an O2 account, you can actually skip the O2 bit when creating the VMO2ID.  I don't have O2, and I did skip that bit, so I know it works.

    • HG65's avatar
      HG65
      On our wavelength
      5 hours ago

      I'll have a go at the VMO2ID next week, and post here whether it was successful.

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    2 days ago

    The "security key" will be something like a USB Yubi key or similar, or a fingerprint reader, face recognition on a laptop.  If you don't have these, you can't use a security key method I believe.

    • HG65's avatar
      HG65
      On our wavelength
      2 days ago

      But where would I have found or seen this "security key" if I had had one, Adduxi ? The instruction was to touch it, but there was no information about what or where it was on the webpage.

  • HG65's avatar
    HG65
    On our wavelength
    2 days ago

    Forgot to say that I rang Virgin about the problem a few weeks ago, and the woman I spoke to said she would discuss it with her colleagues and one of them would ring me back  "within five days" - but, needless to say :) they haven't done that.

    • Robert_P's avatar
      Robert_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      2 days ago

      Hello HG65

       

      Sorry to hear of the email access issues, we appreciate you raising this via the forums.

       

      At Virgin Media O2 we’re on a journey to become one company, and right now we’re changing the way our customers manage their Virgin Media and O2 accounts online.

       

      The first step is to help our customers create a set of sign in details that we’ve called a Virgin Media O2 ID. To set up your Virgin Media O2 ID, you’ll simply use your email address and then choose which authentication method you’d like to use to sign in (like a password or passkey). From there you’ll use this single set of credentials to sign in to any Virgin Media and O2 online spaces, instead of separate Virgin Media log in and O2 log in details.

       

      You can also register for a Virgin Media O2 ID even if you’re not with Virgin Media or O2.

       

      A Virgin Media O2 ID replaces the need to create separate sign in details for Virgin Media and O2 online spaces.

       

      If you have a My Virgin Media or My O2 account and haven’t set up your Virgin Media O2 ID yet, when you sign in to these spaces, just enter the email address you’d usually use to sign in. We’ll then ask you to create your new ID.

       

      Otherwise, head to any of our sites and tap Register to sign up and create your Virgin Media O2 ID.

      • HG65's avatar
        HG65
        On our wavelength
        23 hours ago

        You make it sound so easy, Robert_P :) but, as you'll see from my email above, choosing the authentication method doesn't work for me. I've wasted hours trying to do it - and had to change my password every single time I tried !! but all to no avail. And now you're suggesting I create a Virgin Media O2 ID - which will probably be just as complicated and won't work, either because I don't have a mobile phone or because I don't have face recognition software on my laptop.

        Sorry to sound so disgruntled, when you're just trying to help - but I'm so fed up with it all, and angry that Virgin won't let me see my emails online. And in a few months Virgin will probably come up with some new security procedure anyway, and I'll be back to square one again. It's like trying to get into Fort Knox. I've had the same email for 30 years now - as you can tell from the "ntlworld"  - and I really don't want to change it, but maybe I should just bite the bullet and give it up now before I tear all my hair out and become fashionably bald :)