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On our wavelength

2 years ago

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Email - denial of service

Virgin Media provided my telecoms and email for over ten years up until the last week of September this year when my emails stopped and I have received no further emails since.

Instead of emails, a notice says: "The host [...] could not be found.." (etc).

The same locked out of email denial of service had occurred once before in 2017 but after telephoning Virgin Media then it was then corrected within two days with no further problems until now.

In addition to which, trying to access Virgin Media either online from the link in my Virgin e-bill or by websearchng the site the screen either freezes or says my email address or password is incorrect and does not allow me to access my emails or any other information. This had briefly functioned again on this machine (and my brother's own computer) before it then stopped working again and again click-box links no longer functioned.

Hours phoning Virgin 150 has not solved the problem.

Websearchng this issue finds it exactly described in a Guardian Money article and follow up from readers 21 August 2023; and MoneySavngExpert; and The Oxford Mail online.

And more than a decade ago (and more) in others' queries to Microsoft.

Microsoft replied back then:

"I understand that you are not able to receive emails on your account. checked the domain and determined the MX records is invalid. To get this resolved, please contact your domain admin to correct the MX records."

Virgin Media provided my telecoms and email for over ten years up until the last week of September this year when my emails stopped and I have received no further emails since.

Instead of emails, a notice says: "The host POP3 could not be found.." (etc).

The same locked out of email denial of service had occurred once before in 2017 but after telephoning Virgin Media then it was then corrected within two days with no further problems until now.

Hours phoning Virgin 150 has not solved the problem.

Websearchng this issue finds it exactly described in a Guardian Money article and follow up from readers 21 August 2023; and MoneySavngExpert; and The Oxford Mail online.

And more than a decade ago (and more) in others' queries to Microsoft.

Microsoft replied back then:

Virgin Media provided my telecoms and email for over ten years up until the last week of September this year when my emails stopped and I have received no further emails since.

Instead of emails, a notice says: "The host POP3 could not be found.." (etc).

The same locked out of email denial of service had occurred once before in 2017 but after telephoning Virgin Media then it was then corrected within two days with no further problems until now.

Hours phoning Virgin 150 has not solved the problem.

Websearchng this issue finds it exactly described in a Guardian Money article and follow up from readers 21 August 2023; and MoneySavngExpert; and The Oxford Mail online.

And more than a decade ago (and more) in others' queries to Microsoft.

Microsoft replied back then:

"I understand that you are not able to receive emails on your account. I checked the domain and determined the MX records is invalid. To get this resolved, please contact your domain admin to correct the MX records."

David_Bn
2 years ago
Thanks for coming back to us -D

I'd be happy to take a closer look into this for you, to see the status of the E-Mail inbox and see if temporary access can be allowed.

When customers cancel the services with Virgin Media, the E-Mail account is available to them for up to 90 days beyond the disconnection.

Check out the envelope in the top right hand corner for a private message from me.

Thanks,

David_Bn

29 Replies

Megan_L
Forum Team (Retired)
2 years ago
Hi -D,

Thanks for using the Community Forums to get this issue with your email looked into, I am sorry if this has been causing some frustration over the past few months 😥 I would be more than happy to look into this for you!

Can I firstly ask if you're able to login to your Online Account without any problems? If you do have issues doing this, please take a screenshot of what you see on your side.

If you are able to login to your Online Account, are you also then able to login via MyVM?

Thanks,

Megan_L
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
To Megan L,
Very many thanks for your reply.
All the time my emails appeared in my inbox as usual, I never needed to access the Virgin website, so do not know if I could have accessed my emails that way before September when my emails stopped.
When attempting to access my emails via the website since September - either by clicking on the last Virgin e-bill (Sept) red link box [“View this bill“], or by a web search link to the VM site - the password or other links on the site either did not function at all, or it then states that my “email or password is incorrect”.
A screenshot included in this cut-and-paste has not appeared in the box with this text.
-D
- David_Bn
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Thanks for coming back to us -D
  
  I'd be happy to take a closer look into this for you, to see the status of the E-Mail inbox and see if temporary access can be allowed.
  
  When customers cancel the services with Virgin Media, the E-Mail account is available to them for up to 90 days beyond the disconnection.
  
  Check out the envelope in the top right hand corner for a private message from me.
  
  Thanks,
  
  David_Bn
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Thanks again,
I hadn’t changed any aspect of the contract / services but emails stopped appearing in my Outlook Express Inbox on 25th September for no apparent reason.
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
A web search of ‘data protection and sort codes’ finds it on a Vodaphone community forum (which looks remarkably similar to this one) advising “Vodaphone shouldn’t be asking for bank account information”.
A ‘sunny avenue’ website says “Sharing your bank account and sort code is generally unsafe…” (etc).
Another states a sort code is not of use other than to deposit money into your account.
Which law regulation requires that customers can be required to disclose this and for what reason?
Any question of my identity be would be resolved by phoning the Virgin landline number which I am still .paying for.
It has no relevance whatever to anyone at Virgin Media in authority who knows anything explaining why they stopped uploading my emails at the end of September as they had for over ten years but still continue to withdraw money from my account as usual.

-D
- John_GS
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Hi -D
  
  Thanks for coming back to us. I can confirm that the questions my colleague asked to verify Data Protection are perfectly 100% valid.
  
  If you do not wish to answer them, that would be your right. You'd then need to either, call the team on 150 / 0345 454 1111. Or Whatsapp message on +447305 327 112.
  
  Best wishes.
- ravenstar68
  Very Insightful Person
  2 years ago
  -D
  Be aware that posters with Forum Team under their name are Virgin Media employees who's responsibility is to try to help users such as yourself. They are required to make sure that they are identifying the account holder correctly.
  VIP's like myself are Forum Members who have proved their worth in the past and have been given a special status.
  What bothers me is the error message you were quoting.
  Host not found means that your email client could not find the address of the mail server.
  Mail clients should be using the following servers
  pop3.virginmedia.com Port 995 SSL/TLS
  imap.virginmedia.com Port 993 SSL/TLS
  smtp.virginmedia.com Port 465 SSL/TLS
  I've checked and all 3 servers are currently reachable. I'm also mindful that you say you are using Outlook Express. Can you confirm this. OE hasn't been supported for some time now.
  Finally I'm not sure what forum post you were looking at on the Microsoft Forum's but I can assure you that MX records have nothing to do with your problem. They're used by mail servers to deliver mail. They have nothing to do with mail clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird.
  Knowing the precise error message you are seeing (with the leading part of any email addresses redacted) would be useful here.
  - -D
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago
    @ David_Bn, Megan L, John_GS, ravenstar68,
    
    Windows XP Outlook Express Inbox had been receiving all emails without any problem up until September 25th when they completely stopped for who knows what reason - (a serious question).
    
    Re ravenstar68 (error message):
    
    "There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was rejected. Account: 'pop.ntlworld.com', Server: [etc, ending in] ... Server Error 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0X800CCC92
    
    Websearching 'outlook express server error 0x800ccc90' finds "...It is also possible that your port has been blocked by your internet service provider (ISP). A possible reason for this error is that you are using an incorrect username and password."
    
    Website examples of this go back to 2011 and 2013 if not further - search 'DagenhamDave' to Microsoft for same notification/problem.
    
    I attempted Password solutions since September including in many long phone discussions with the Virgin 150 team without success.
    
    Microsoft's website reference to MX records was and is just tech-code-talk to me. Another answer they gave in 2011 - answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/the-host-pop3-could-not- be-found- says: "Call your ISP or your mail server. Ask them to give you the following: E-mail address Your username Password Incoming server name Outgoing server name"
    
    When my Inbox no longer received emails once before in 2017 I had simply phoned Virgin Media and they fixed it within two days.
    
    @ John_GS.
    
    Many thanks. I had answered every question many times over in all the hours of phone calls to Virgin 150 et al (which they seem not to have kept records of, but confirmed on Virgin's landline phone bill account which I am still paying for). And I am now interested to know exactly which law in this country means anyone can call out of the blue requiring us to supply details of our bank accounts as the only means of confirming identity.
    I’ve had countless phone calls purporting to be from any and every organisation under the sun, and received equally phoney emails likewise - back when I still got any emails at all.
    
    -D
jpeg1
Alessandro Volta
2 years ago
The last time I unfortunately had cause to call VM (using 150 on the landline) I was able to identify myself by telling them the date and amount of the last direct debit payment. Have you tried that?
Not that the bank account number and sort code are particularly secret, they have always been printed on every cheque.
You really ought to get an up to date replacement for Outlook Express. It is no longer supported and is deprecated by Microsoft.
- -D
  On our wavelength
  2 years ago
  @ jpeg1
  Many thanks for your reply.
  Phone bills which recorded which numbers were called from my landline and for how long would show how many hours I've spent calling Virgin 150 and the rest, and during which I've been asked and answered every security question of every sort - including the amount and dates of the last Virgin Media e-bill and its security numbers (as I can any for ten years) - but seemingly either not recorded or not communicated or available to the rest of the internal Virgin Media network or their colleagues.
  
  Setting aside the Virgin automated "Press1" answerphone 'AI' system which requires callers on a landline to key in letters of their 'memorable word' into a landline handset which only has numbers.
  
  I had no immediate suspicion when first asked over the phone for my bank sort code but when I questioned this with the bank's fraud department they advised that I should not have been asked for it.
  A websearch of this finds a Vodaphone forum question about 'an agent named as "Komal" asking for my name, sort code and account number, I found this a little suspicious and didn't hand them over" (etc).
  
  This was answered with "Unless you were setting up a new account, Vodaphone shouldn't be asking for bank account information..." (etc)
  
  A law which puts out the idea which can be used to fool the public that any bank details can be required by anyone who asks for them is a gift to scammers.
  
  I am aware of complications relating to Windows XP Outlook Express, as an ongoing issue to resolve, but which are no explanation at all for the fact that up until September 25th it uploaded my emails into the Inbox as it had done for over a decade (apart from in 2017 when Virgin fixed it within two days); and that like three other systems here can access the Virgin Media website but not sign-in or click-on the on-screen links 'buttons' with any effect, although my brother's computer and mobile phone can, and this computer can click-on links on other websites (including this one) which function.
  
  None of which explains all the thousands of other complaints of the same nature recorded on this forum and other websites going back over a decade, and this year as reported in Guardian Money "me too" 21st August and previously and elsewhere in the press and online.
  
  -D
  - ravenstar68
    Very Insightful Person
    2 years ago
    A bank sort code is not personally identifiable information, although it can be used in conjunction with other information to verify the identity of the caller - even without providing the bank account number - which does uniquely identify your account. Sort codes merely identify a bank branch
    Virgin Media - and any other company for that matter are required to take steps to ensure they've correctly identified the person that they are dealing with. The consequences of not doing so are to risk a data breach and the potential penalties that come with it.
    And if you want to know what laws are involved here - there's the data protection act, and it's successor the GDPR
    Tim
jpeg1
Alessandro Volta
2 years ago
You said:
"Phone bills which recorded which numbers were called from my landline and for how long would show how many hours I've spent Your calling Virgin 150 and the rest, and during which I've been asked and answered every security question of every sort - including the amount and dates of the last Virgin Media e-bill and its security numbers (as I can any for ten years) - but seemingly either not recorded or not communicated or available to the rest of the internal Virgin Media network or their colleagues."
You have encountered two significant issues there. The first is that Virginmedia make it extremely difficult for customers to bother them. We are just a nuisance that they would rather avoid, so they have an unwritten motto. "Your time costs us nothing". The second is that unlike any other business they do not have a customer management system, so there is no single place where your information is stored for reference when you call.
As for their email, a quick read down this forum shows what a poor state it is in. Your particular problem is one of many. VM stopped issuing new email addresses 18 months ago, and it is clear that they would like to get rid of it altogether. The fact they are now making customers use non-VM contact addresses shows that they are preparing for this.
The only way you can really avoid the continuing problems with VM email is to move away to a more reliable provider.
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
re: jpeg1and ravenstar68
- jpeg1
Thanks all, yes. Two significant issues - and more in fact but for simplicity I am focussing on the primary concern of no longer receiving my emails. Automated voice systems do make it difficult although a websearch finds there are a number of means of making some sort of contact for complaints and I have used anything available, to no conclusive effect.
I appreciate all you say. The option of changing service provider reminds me of my complaining so much to the Comcast agent about having (back then) to change my phone number if I left BT that I guessed it was the reason he gave me a really simple memorable landline phone number when I did.

I just want my email address and my emails back.

- ravenstar68 (Tim)

A google of sort codes finds contradictory advice but a phone call to me on my Virgin landline number or asking me to phone Virgin back on my landline number (which they could then 1471) would correctly identify that I know which and exactly where my bank branch is. And who and where I am for that matter. Not that I would be suing them for data breach and the potential penalties that come with it if they didn't.

I have spoken on the phone to Virgin Media staff for hours and days since September and answered every question asked to confirm my identity.

I'll also google the titles of the laws involved, thanks.

As for the authentication denied error message, as 'DagenhamDave' (whoever he is) exactly explained in detail online in 2013, whatever was changed made no difference.

My account is the main account, coincidentally since 2013, and the only account, there are no sub-accounts. I have set up no new accounts. And there has been no breaks in broadband service.

Computer systems are a 'black box' - what goes on between input and output has no explanation; my first post on here typifies a situation where the computer (not me), and for who knows what reason, posted my cut-and-pasted comments three times.
Compounded by the inherent design of the forum site widow which only shows part of the posted text and so, without scrolling through the whole thing, it cannot be seen that it had been posted three times; nor, once posted and the error is made apparent, presumably not possible to go back into something once posted and correct it.
What changes had Virgin Media made on September 25th or 26th which would account for my no longer receiving any emails since?
When emails just stopped in September I’d made no changes at all here that I knew of which might explain it but assumed it would be where the problem would be - except I had then tried 'System Restore' and this informed me that it could not return to an earlier date as there had been no changes made.

Cheers and thanks,
-D
- Kath_P
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Hi -D,
  
  Thanks for coming back to us on this one and I do understand the frustration of not having access to the emails.
  
  If you change your mind and would like our help to resolve this, please reply to David's PM with the information he requested. Once GDPR is passed, we can then help with getting things sorted for you.
  
  Many thanks,
  - -D
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago
    Re Kath_F, David_Bn, Megan L, John_GS, ravenstar68 - Forum Team,
    Hi,
    - ravenstar68 (Wedensday),
    Dealing with the issue of the Inbox repeating Error Message (and no emails) is not self-explanatory: error messages are not followed with a list of the steps required to be taken to correct the fault.
    
    - Kath_F,
    I would like any help to resolve this and GDPR has already been passed in phone calls to Virgin 150 from my landline number (which Virgin supply and I pay for) by my answering all of the following questions asked:
    The first, third, tenth, or whatever, letters in my "Memorable Word"
    The first name on the first invoice Comcast/NTL/Virgin (previous to my first e-bill) supplied to this account/address
    This address
    My email address
    My landline phone number
    My brother's mobile number (I do not have a mobile phone number)
    The amount and date due of the last e-bill which Virgin delivered into my Inbox in September
    This e-bill includes the phrase: "Should you need to get in contact with us either online or over the phone, you'll need these details: Account number - Area reference - Payment reference" all of which numbers in red I have quoted to Virgin Media when asked over the phone
    My bank Sort Code
    
    And I have of course answered my landline phone confirming my identity when Virgin Media called my phone number.
    Apart from which, neither the issue itself nor these conversations have any direct relevance at all to my Account (as such) or my questions being answered.
    Is Virgin aware and knew, or did not know, that the previous private message posted was asking me for my sort code for a second time, which I had already answered over the phone, and is this because a record of my details and complaint was or was not kept, or because you (The Virgin Team) do not have access to it? Citing GDPR is too broad a brush a ‘headline’ and entirely spurious in itself: which sentence or paragraph is relevant to my being asked for it, not just once, but twice? On the web 'softwareengineering' states: "Just to clarify: Giving someone your sortcode and account number allows them to transfer money to your bank." Is the purpose of my being asked for my sortcode to allow a transfer of money into my bank account? In any event, GDPR legislation is obviously intended to protect the customer from the service provider, not the other way around. And note the GDPR paragraph (re Article 7 and Article 4) in relation to "informed consent, freely given". Does being asked for bank account details to get my emails back look "freely given" to you?
    The main question is does anyone with any authority at Virgin Media know or not know or will say why my emails have not been uploading for nearly two months and I continue to pay for a service they are no longer providing?
    -D
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Emails stopped uploading last September and none uploaded since.
- Tigerclub
  Tuning in
  2 years ago
  And you never will get access to your emails ever again! Now I don't know if anything different has happened between your last post in November, but it does look as if you are in a bit of an impasse here. The forum team are best placed to help you, but they absolutely won't until and unless you pass security with them. They cannot, absolutely cannot, phone you, they simply have no ability to do so - might sound strange, trust me, it is the way it is set up - and even if they did, how could they be sure that they were talking to the person responsible?
  The choice is entirely up to you, jump through whatever hoops VM set out for you, and, hopefully, get some help which, may; no guarantees, get you access to your email agin, or simply kiss goodbye to ever getting it back!
  Now look, I do take your point and sympathise with your situation, VM's customer support provision is broken, ineffectual and basically on life support. But it is what it is, you absolutely will not manage to bypass the way they have set it up. You play by their rules or you get zero help, even if you do play by their rules, the help you get may not be entirely what you expect, but again, it is what it is!
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
My emails stopped last September. VM still deducting from my bank account since. Any contacts by phone and on here resulting in VM repeatedly asking for the same personal details from me for 'security' and no explanation why they stopped uploading my emails to start with.
- Gareth_L
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Hello -D
  
  Thanks for your post.
  
  Sorry hear about your emails stopping last September.
  
  Would you be able to explain in a bit more detail what has happened please.
  
  That way we can take a look at what has happened.
  
  Gareth_L
-D
On our wavelength
2 years ago
My emails stopped last September and nothing I've tried either here or days over the phone has been any help whatsoever at reolving why my emails were stopped in the first place.

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