Resolved
Hi,
We are aware that some customers are experiencing issues with their email service and are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing. Our teams are working flat out to fully restore all emails as soon as possible.
ModTeam
Update 13/07/23 - This has now been resolved. If you are still having issues, please make your own separate post giving as much detail as possible.
Come on VM...let's have a straight answer to two questions please.
Question 1), (Please answer with a YES or a NO only)...Have historical email for some accounts been permanently lost?
Question 2), (Please answer giving only a day in the week)...What day will my historical email be restored if they haven't been permanantly lost?
NO WAFFLE PLEASE.
Thank you
Forum TeamHi phil44,
The most recent update we had, is that our teams are working hard to help restore all emails, including historical ones. I am sorry for any inconvenience this whole experience may be causing you and fellow customers. When we have a further update, we will get back to you.
Regards
Lee_R
I still have no access to my ntlworld email account. I spoke with a customer services representative an Saturday, (a human being if you're interested). He said I'm one of the "unlucky customers" who still have problems with their accounts. He assured me I will be able to access my account today 26-6-23. I'm not actually bothered about my historical emails, but without access to my ntlworld emails, I can't change my email address to my gmail account with a lot of my online accounts, because they need to send a verification code to my ntlworld address before I can edit. AAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!!. If my ntlworld account is now in the bin, I'll have to contact my online accounts by phone. Not only that, I'll have to inform everybody with my ntlworld address of my gmail address. The inconvenience this is causing me is very stressful. Hopefully, the gentleman I spoke with at VM is telling the truth.............
Where have all my emails and folders gone? I've been trying for weeks now to get my emails via Outlook, with no avail, and now all my history and stored emails have gone from my account. What on earth is going on VM?
Day 9 for me of no access to old emails. Friday the 23rd was your last 'update' which basically told us there was no update. Now Monday 26th and no further statements from Virgin. Customers are having to chase YOU up for information. That's not acceptable.
Questions:
What actually happened?
What do you mean by "a small proportion" of customers affected? Exactly how many?
Have you called in any external big guns to assist? Nine days is way too long to fix a mail server issue.
Can you confirm 100% that the missing emails are retrievable?
Virgin, don't bother replying unless you are prepared to answer these questions.
In addition to this, in your email you glossed over the reason for contacting the Information Comissioner (ICO) if no breach occurred (just for clarification). How should this be interpreted as reporting to the ICO can be for many reasons such as personal data loss, GDPR breach, PECR, NIS breach etc.
Personal data loss reasons could include:
On the back of this answer, what do you have in place to enquire as to which of these each affected customer has experienced and the compensation in place for each issue?
Andy
Mentioned before, but you also need to inform ICO if you fail to restore data in a timely manner or you do not have adequate systems in place to back up personal information.
Agreed, doesn't need to be a data breach, UK GDPR is a complex piece of legislation.
gwtmh wrote:Day 9 for me of no access to old emails. Friday the 23rd was your last 'update' which basically told us there was no update. Now Monday 26th and no further statements from Virgin. Customers are having to chase YOU up for information. That's not acceptable.
Questions:
What actually happened?
What do you mean by "a small proportion" of customers affected? Exactly how many?
Have you called in any external big guns to assist? Nine days is way too long to fix a mail server issue.
Can you confirm 100% that the missing emails are retrievable?
Virgin, don't bother replying unless you are prepared to answer these questions.
You will notice that VM have declined to reply and hence not answer these questions. Draw your own conclusions?
Their silence speaks volumes!
Since the issue of losing emails since last Monday and subsequent restoration of them my iPhone mail app has not been getting blueyonder emails in. It keeps saying ‘no password entered’. When I re-enter it it makes no difference. Has there been any alterations to the statement? I can get them on web mail. Any ideas?
Hi @ianjayne, and possibly others (as maybe this isn't as clear as VM think it is):
In order to access your email through a 3rd Party Client Application such as Outlook, iPhone mail app, etc., you now need to use a separate (Application) Password to the one you use to access your VM Account/Webmail.
This seems to have been introduced or, perhaps, more rigorously enforced, following the recent outage...
You can generate this App Password here: https://www.virginmedia.com/my-virgin-media/account-settings/mail-settings
Add the generated Password to your mail application's settings and you should be GTG...
P.S. You should probably create a backup before you make this change if you use IMAP, as when you now (hopefully) successfully connect to the VM Server, your local folder structure will synchronise with the now empty folder structure on the Server...
All done thanks.
ianjayne VM have recently changed the log in requirements for accessing VM Mail via third party apps.
If you change the password for the account in My Virgin Media > Account settings > Account details you will not be able to use the new password to access the account via an email client. Email client access now requires an app specific password which can be generated in the MyVM > Account Settings > Account details > Mailbox App password management
Thanks
I still dont have any saved email folders now into the 3rd week which is absolutley disgraceful they have now told me it will be fixed by Friday 30th but i really have my doubts,who can i forward this complaint to..if anyone bbecause when you phone 150 they dont even know what you are talking about?
I have an ntlworld email, and I cannot access my emails at all. When I go to change my password, it tells me to put my virgin media account in. It's like my account doesn't exist anymore. What is going on? And what are VM doing to help those affected by this?
Yes I understand this. So my problem is I cannot log in to my emails at all as it says my password is incorrect although I haven't changed it. So I went to change the password hoping that would get me into my email account, but when it asks me to put in my email address, it errors and says "Please ensure you provide the email address you use to sign in to My Virgin Media." I have, but it won't let me change the password. I'm concerned my email account is lost. I wasn't able to log in to my emails on Friday 23/6, however yesterday I was able to log in, but for some reason today I can't log in again. I'm concerned my account has been lost.
I have lost all my folders and the emails that were placed in them. When the team completes the server repairs/reinstatement required, will my folders be returned complete with the emails in each folder?
Virgin Media say they 'AIM' to complete the back up this week, SEVEN DAYS after they have deleted all of our Files and Folders.
WHAT DAY IS THAT?
Is it the beginning of this week? The middle of the week? Or the end of the week.
The man who is giving us this is information is:
Axel Wehrle, Director of Customer Service, Virgin Media, so he is the man to write to, email to, or phone, (Ha Ha), when it doesn't happen.
SEVEN DAYS and they can't restore our emails and folders to us, which they say are all safely backed-up.
What sort of system are they using? They obviously haven't invested all the money they are taking from us into state-of-the art modern tech.
Or is it just incompetence from the muppets they now employ?
This story needs to go Global, I really don't understand how it can take this long to restore our files and folders which they say are safely backed up.
They are working FLAT OUT apparently. I wonder if they worked over the weekend because they care so much about us?
I'll be back tomorrow if my Files and Folders haven't been restored and will be looking for other outlets to blow this story wide open to save people wasting their money signing up to this Now, Mickey Mouse company.
Anything that you can do to get some answers on this would be much appreciated! Like you, 7 days in and all my historic emails are gone. How I regret not doing a total switch to gmail a few years back.
Forum TeamHi PAndrew8
We have now restored the ability to send and receive emails for all affected accounts.
Our team are continuing to work flat out to restore historic emails into the inboxes of a small proportion of accounts.
We apologise again for any inconvenience caused.
Not good enough. This is a breach of trust and duty. Where are my emails? are they safe?...I called VM yesterday who said they would be restored. And they are not restored. VM are quick to hike prices for a terrible service. No updates?????
It may be a 'small amount of accounts' but it is my account and however many other accounts - the fact that most people have this issue fixed actually makes me even MORE angry. Don't try to appease us with this 'small number accounts' thing it's insulting. We are not accounts, we are people relying on an ever worsening company to provide us with a very important service - and paying an ever increasing amount for that service. Just tell us WHEN and what is the compensation package?
To Virgin Media Team or anyone who knows the facts.
I am one of the unfortunates who has lost access to historic emails. It is very disappointing that there has been so little information about what we can expect and when the fix will be complete. I am taking you at your word that there will be a full resolution to the problem but the wait is causing huge problems because of the loss of emails.
I would also like to know whether any preparation is required for when the servers are restored. Do we have to back up recent emails which have arrived since the failure or will the servers automatically integrate new and old emails?
I noticed someone had been told everything would be restored by 26th June. Is this true? Are we about to be reconnected?
