Ntlworld emails closing
Hi is Virgin Media closing all ntlworld and blue yonder accounts within the next two years?
Forum Discussion
15 Replies
Hi the reason I asked this question is that I was told by a customer service employee during a phone call about something else that ntlworld and blue yonder accounts would all be closed on a timescale between 1 and 2 years. Should I believe Virgin Media staff or not?
Although Graham’s statement above regarding the propensity of VM customer services staff to ‘simply make stuff up if not sure’, is absolutely true, this tends to be more along the lines of ‘Ok so you want xyz, err, yes absolutely we can supply that, no problem just sign up here for an 18 month contract and I guarantee that it’ll all be fine’; rather than claiming that something is actually going away.
But let’s look at the evidence; over a year ago VM stopped issuing new email addresses to new customers and stopped existing customers from creating additional email addresses - so the ‘email user base’ can only shrink.
More recently, they required existing customers who want to log into their my.virginmedia.com account to move to a non-VM branded email address to manage it going forward.
You see where this is trending towards, no?
Now let’s imagine that VM really don’t want to provide an email provision long term and so prevent new sign ups, so it’ll just wither gradually away, but this could take literally decades. Furthermore if they did want to completely dump the provision sooner rather than later, then what they need to start doing is to ‘encourage’, well force existing users to move away from a VM branded email address to manage their account - which, oddly enough is exactly what they are doing!
Furthermore, if VM were secretly planning this, then it can’t be done without rumours wandering around even to the outsourced call centres where stuff gets overheard in corridors or the canteen. Naturally, these should all be disregarded, except in this case, there is a distinct set of hints to suggest that they are heading in that direction!
Anyhow, in answer to the original question, despite the claims that ‘VM will continue to support existing email addresses’, they pointedly don’t say for how long, do they?
So, in answer to the original question as to whether VM will be dumping their email provision in the next two years, personally, I wouldn’t even give it two years, 12-18 months tops!
QE2 This is one of the problems when old threads are resurrected.
The implementation of third party email usernames for customers who joined VM prior to May 2022 has only happened in the last few weeks and certainly wasn't the case on 2 July when I made the post to which you refer.
Since May 2022 all new VM customers have been required to use a third party email address.
Indeed Graham, and I do take your point, but the question is still surely valid no, ‘are VM planning to terminate all existing VM-branded email provision within the near future’? Because the signs would hint that the answer is YES, would you not say?
But, you know this is easily settled, as a VIP member, you have access to the forum team members, so how about at the next meeting you ask Kei outright ‘will Virgin Media commit and promise to maintain and keep existing VM branded email addresses for, let’s say the next three years?’
Now if you do this and respond with an unequivocally ‘yes’, then I will apologise and withdraw my predictions, on the other hand if you decline to respond with any answer from VM, then it would be fair enough for customers to draw their own conclusions - no?😉
Quite simply. If I had known VM were dumping email , I would not have renewed my account with them (and frankly , if i can find another deal else where I'm quite prepared to end my contract early just to get away from VM)
It was only the thought of having so sort change my old ntl email address with all the odd automatic announcements that have been routed to it in the last 30+ years that encouraged me to remain.
Bill
When VM staff say there are no plans to discontinue their email service, I am reminded of statements by a certain Russian gentleman that there were no plans to invade his neighbour.
Of course there will be no official discussion that it might happen. One day a statement will be made giving a shutdown date, and that will be that. The only question is how long that notice period will be.
Graham_A
"Since May 2022 all new VM customers have been required to use a third party email address."
How would anyone renewing a contract know this! There have been no emails to this effect from VM to any of my accounts, and It was not mentioned when renewing contracts .
