Loss of Email - F010762348

Hi @PHIL1000, have you tried to log in using the webmail? https://mail.virginmedia.com/appsuite

Hi @PHIL1000, have you tried to log in using the webmail? https://mail.virginmedia.com/appsuite

Right on Philip! I have just become a 'On our wavelength' badgeholder but I cannot understand why because I believe that the debacle has lasted four days and the Moderators claim it has lasted two. Strange wavelength- must be a faulty antenna. Should I report it to VM?

Please note, this will only work if you have not yet successfully reconnected to the server since the outage. Otherwise the .ost file will now simply contain the latest mirror of the data on the server - i.e. no historic data... 

As I pointed out in an earlier post, this is what I believe VM would have suggested us do if there had actually been a data loss on their side...

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73LEE wrote:

You should have a backup of all your emails in an OST file, in the following location:

C:\Users\<your_PC_name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\<your_email_address>.ost

This can then be copied (make sure you close Outlook first), and then restored at a later date, or added to another email account (using Outlook again), etc.

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This only applies if you do this before opening Outlook. If like me you discovered all your emails have been lost after opening Outlook then your emails will be syncronised with the server and will be deleted from the ost file.

This situation with Virgin highlights the important of back up because emails on an IMAP system, as seems to be most common now, means that if anything happens to the server and items haven't been backed up they will disappear.  But back up is not as easy as it should be.

As Mykol has pointed out retrieving the .ost file only works if there has been no connection to the server since the .ost file was created, otherwise the .ost file contains what is on the server which in these times may be nothing for some unfortunate folk.  In Outlook you can archive your emails, this can be set to run however often you want, and will keep the archived emails locally on your pc/laptop but if you have your emails in folders the folder structure is not preserved.  The other alternative is to create a .pst file and save that to your pc/laptop.  The problem with this is that it is not automated so you have to remember to do it however often you want to backup.  Once you have your emails saved locally either by archive or .pst they can be backed up by your normal back up process - the cloud, separate hard drive etc.  In my view it would be much better if it was possible to set up an automatic archive which did preserve the folder structure and I don't understand why that doesn't seem to be possible. 

Does anyone know how to set up an automatic archive in Outlook that does preserve the folder structure?

Take no notice Phil of any of their statements. How can you trust someone with a different concept of time? Instead put your trust in God and/or the solitary technician who needs more support right now.

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PHIL1000 wrote:

Am I talking to myself? MY ACOUNT IS STILL NOT ACCESSIBLE. Please rephrase your statements that all affected accounts can send and receive emails. I CAN'T!!!!!!

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Phil, as I mentioned in another post, they CAN’T rephrase the annoyingly, repetitive, robotic, unhelpful (other adjectives are available), copy and paste response, because although we all know that it’s wishful thinking at best, and they know it too, it is screamingly obvious from day 1, that they have all been instructed to say this and nothing other than this - or else start looking for another job, no? In their place, would you do anything other?

The other thing, which someone else has already commented on, is the oddly worded phraseology of the statement.

Our team are continuing to work flat out to restore historic emails into the inboxes of a small proportion of accounts

Other than the poor grammar, should be ‘our team is’, but still, it’s highly open to interpretation isn’t it? On the face of it, it could be saying that ‘only a small number of VM email accounts were affected, and these will all be successfully restored, just give us a bit of time. Which is the reassuring response which a company’s marketing department would want to put across, while secretly, they are all keeping their fingers and toes crossed, while updating their CVs!

Of course the same statement could also be construed as saying,’we believe we can only restore the historic emails for a small subset of those who have lost data’, without actually saying that, but the sort of thing that they can point to if and when the brown stuff hits the fan at some point - oh look we did warn you, not our fault if you didn’t interpret it properly!

Now the failure of any official VM response clarifying this, does, I feel, speak volumes - it does have all the fingerprints of marketing/legal department speak all over it!

Also is it four days of issues or two days? Maybe they can’t count, or maybe, just maybe, they had an issue four/days ago, which resulted in loss of access to mailboxes for some people, and in an attempt to fix this after two days, managed to wipe out a load of historic emails.

Still, complete speculation, I’m sure that the engineer, who, Santa Clause like seems to be simultaneously in everyone’s area fixing the issue(s) is doing a stirling job and will be somehow getting everyone’s mail back in due course!

Or maybe not, who can tell?

This is my issue. Surely allowing us to gain access at all should take priority over historic emails, as it's the latest emails that require the most urgent responses!
I will then join the chant with the others but given we're almost at the weekend, and I doubt the technician will work over Saturday and Sunday, I feel like I'm screaming at a wall.