Forum Discussion

jewelspeak's avatar
jewelspeak
Tuning in
6 months ago
Solved

Lost access to virgin.net mail

help

Ive had my virgin.net email for decades and it has stopped working /say no longer available - how can I get it back please?  

24 Replies

Sort By
  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    6 months ago

    Are you currently a VM broadband customer?

    VM is currently engaged in deleting a lot of legacy mailboxes which are not linked to an active VM broadband account

    • jewelspeak's avatar
      jewelspeak
      Tuning in
      6 months ago

      No im not a VM customer 😞 gutted as I’ve had this email forever 

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    6 months ago

    Did you receive a warning email from VM that the mailbox was being closed? Many on here have been getting 30 day notifications prior to the mailbox closing?

    • jewelspeak's avatar
      jewelspeak
      Tuning in
      6 months ago

      I don’t recall but get so much junk I could have missed it 😞 

      • jewelspeak's avatar
        jewelspeak
        Tuning in
        6 months ago

        Just gone back 3 months and can’t see anything if a VM forum member can contact I would appreciate it 

  • jewelspeak's avatar
    jewelspeak
    Tuning in
    6 months ago

    Hi Paul sorry to jumo on this thread - I opened a similar thread but haven’t heard anything could someone DM to help with my mail account?  Thanks 

     

     

    [MOD EDIT: Post split to create own thread]

  • jewelspeak's avatar
    jewelspeak
    Tuning in
    6 months ago

    Please can someone help?  My emails have stopped, I’m trying to get someone from VM to contact but having no luck! It’s 4 days now with no emails. Please can someone get in touch to help me get them back?? 

    • Martin_N's avatar
      Martin_N
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      6 months ago

      Hi jewelspeak,

      Thank you for your post. We're sorry to hear about the issue with your email address. 

      To confirm, do you have an active Virgin Media broadband account?

      ^Martin

  • jewelspeak's avatar
    jewelspeak
    Tuning in
    6 months ago

    Thank you Martin for connecting in - no I’m not a VM customer.

    i can see other people advising we should have got emails about ceasing the service but I can’t find any. 
    All my personal business is connected to this account and I’m going crazy - please help/advise 

    • Kath_P's avatar
      Kath_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      6 months ago

      Hi jewelspeak, 

      Thanks for coming back to us on this one. 

      Only those with an active Virgin Media broadband account in their name will be able to keep their Virgin Media email address. In order to reactivate the email, we would need to connect it to an active broadband account. If you don't have one, we won't be able to to help I'm afraid. 

      We would advise setting up an email account with an email provider. 

      Thanks, 

      • jewelspeak's avatar
        jewelspeak
        Tuning in
        6 months ago

        Thank you - how would I do this please, I have had little if not no information at all which is just really poor customer care from VM - my account has just been stopped without any notifications my whole life is in those emails TIA

         

        Also I would like to log an official Freedom of Information request please 

        how many customers have Virgin net emails that have been closed

        how many  customers have you had complain about the closing of virgin net accounts

         

        how many of those customers have now had no choice but to sign up to VM to keep their access

         

        how much has VM now earned as a result of these extra accounts 

        How many virgin net customers have actually kept their account open without opening a VM account 

         

        thanks 

         

         

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    6 months ago

    See below for some reasons why setting up a VM broadband account to try to get back a VM email mailbox is probably not a great idea in the long run.

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Re-Email-from-Virgin-Media-about-closing-my-email-account/m-p/5577612#M280256

    See this other post from one mailbox user who regained temporary access for a data rescue mission by speaking to ICO and the the DPO at VM

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/virgin-net-email-swindle-Tell-BBC-Rip-Off-Britain/m-p/5586294#M281331

    No guarantees this would work for others in the future though due to the randomness of outcomes when dealing with VM. Reporting the issue to ICO is worth it IMO if for no other reason than putting it on the ICO radar that VM still seems to be deleting some mailboxes without notification.

    • jewelspeak's avatar
      jewelspeak
      Tuning in
      6 months ago

      Thank u so much for your reply this is helpful and I should have thought myself to speak to ICO I deal with them and LGO in my day job managing a customer and complaints service - the service from VM on this matter is appalling. If I can get access to transfer that would be great, moving to a supplier who helps its customers. 
      I have also requested an FOIA as I’m sure the scale of this is huge! Thank u again 

      • Kath_P's avatar
        Kath_P
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        6 months ago

        Hi jewelspeak, 

        Thanks for coming back to us on this one. 

        In terms of the email addresses, in the terms and conditions when setting this up, it's made clear that the email service is a free service added for those with an active broadband connection. When leaving Virgin Media, the access to the email address and it's contents expire and you have 90 days to ensure you save anything. After this period, the email address can be deleted at any point. 

        We are running clean up activities and closing those emails that have been left open for more than 90 days without being attached to an active broadband account. 

        In order for us to link the email, an active broadband account in your name would be required. 

        We would not be able to give information on the specific questions you've asked as it is company specific information that we wouldn't provide publicly.

        Many thanks, 

    • Steven_L's avatar
      Steven_L
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      6 months ago

      Thanks for coming back to us jewelspeak, we would not be able to direct you to someone that can re-enable your email account as once it has been closed, it's not possible to reactivate it even as an emergency. So unfortunately, we can do that for you. 

      As goslow has mentioned, we are not able to provide answers to the questions that you've asked as the freedom of information does not apply to Virgin Media. We can raise a complaint on your behalf but to do this we would need to take some details via private message. Would you like to do this?

      Kind Regards,

      Steven_L

      • jewelspeak's avatar
        jewelspeak
        Tuning in
        6 months ago

        Thank you Steven for your reply

        im finding this whole matter very distressing, I can see others have been able to gain access after the account has closed, VM have closed /taken my account away without proper and prior notification. This is totally absurd. 
        I have written to your DPO and I will be forwarding to the ICO for them to investigate. I have my life being sent to that email and have no way of sorting and redirecting as VM have taken that away from me. This is totally unacceptable. 

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    6 months ago

    From 2022, VM has not allowed new customers a VM email address and existing customers cannot add new email addresses so it is unlikely any existing email address names will be reused.

    Eventually VM email addresses under the old VM domain names will become extinct for customers IMO (either through natural wastage or when VM decides to close down its email service). Even those who do manage to save their VM mailboxes in this current round of closures are probably operating on borrowed time until VM one day decides it will no longer provide email as a service.