Forum Discussion

emailwoes's avatar
emailwoes
On our wavelength
2 years ago

Virgin Email - What is going on?

I have four different VM email accounts and previously I could change the password to all of them from my primary account, being able to do so meant I did not have to bother remembering the other three, should I ever need them, I could simply reset them.

I no longer have that option and have no idea what any of my other three passwords are, how on earth am I supposed to reset them? I don't remember setting up any security info and have no way to prove they are mine, in the unlikely event VM actually understand my querey.

That on top it now tells me my primary mailbox is unavailable and I need to unlock it (but it still works throuh POP3), and I am then told I need to generate an app password to use Outlook (but Outlook still works).

Lastly they now say I need a different email address, the only other email address I have is the domain I own which I FWD to my VM email so that is totally pointless.

Why have they implemented a pile of changes all at once, I feel totally lost with my email to the point I'm just going ot move broadband provider.

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  • coenoby's avatar
    coenoby
    Very Insightful Person
    2 years ago
    emailwoes wrote:

    I feel totally lost with my email to the point I'm just going ot move broadband provider.

    That is not going to help you with an email service though. I am not aware of any broadband provider that still offers email accounts as part of their package. VM stopped issuing new email accounts in May 2022 and BT stopped around the same time.

    However, there are many very good email providers out there, check these out https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-email-accounts Gmail is the market leader but you don't have to go with them.

    As far as the immediate problem with your VM email accounts, you best bet is to get help from the Forum Team on here. They are VM staff who support this forum and can arrange to get the passwords for your secondary accounts reset. One of them will contact you via this thread. I'll keep an eye out and escalate this to them if necessary,

    Just to clarify the various changes VM have made in the last couple of years since they stopped issuing new email accounts:

    From memory, it was back in 2022, or possibly earlier, when VM changed the process for resetting passwords for secondary accounts  Since then each Secondary email account has its own "My Virgin Media" account and you can reset the email password by signing into the My Virgin Media account for that secondary email account.

    More recently VM have added the requirement that every primary and secondary email account has to have a non VM email address assigned to it. So even if you stick with your VM email accounts you will still need to set  up a non VM email account for each VM email account that you have.

    That non VM email address will not change your VM email address:

    1. it is where password reset verifications are sent - that is done to improve the security of VM email accounts
    2. has to be used as the username to sign into the VM email account and My Virgin Media account.

    The Mail App password you mentioned is a generated password that has to be used in email apps and clients such as Outlook. The reason Outlook still works for you at the moment is that the need to use a Mail App password only kicks in when the password is reset.

    Once the passwords have been reset, you need to update the passwords stored in Outlook. 

    However, if you access a email account via VM webmail you will need to use the non VM email address as the username along with the normal password rather than the mail app password.

    Using VM email is certainly not as simple as it was but I hope this post helps to clarify things a bit.

    Coenoby

    • FORELAND's avatar
      FORELAND
      Joining in
      2 years ago

      Your explanation is great, just wish VM would ;provide advance notice to customers in a simple style like this. One query for me I tried beyond new primary external email domain for MY Virgin Media to access ntlworld.com email password but it outs me in a loop to reset my eternal email password, it does take me into ntlworld email but is there no way now to have a secure password seperate for this other than my VM Media one. I srill can see my secondary email accounts to log in as them. I use my father name as an example to manage his and have to type password but not my own. Advises appreciated to understand this as concerned my ntlworld password remains in some manner as what technician reset to and I dont have access to amend.

      • coenoby's avatar
        coenoby
        Very Insightful Person
        2 years ago
        FORELAND wrote:

        " I tried beyond new primary external email domain for MY Virgin Media to access ntlworld.com email password but it outs me in a loop to reset my eternal email password, it does take me into ntlworld email but is there no way now to have a secure password seperate for this other than my VM Media one. "

        I'm sorry but I'm not sure I fully understand that but I hopefully this may help:

        If you want to change or reset the password for an VM email account use this link https://www.virginmedia.com/my-virgin-media and in the Username field enter the external (non VM) email address for that VM email account. Then when prompted enter the existing VM email password.

        That will take you to the "My Virgin Media" account for the VM email account. You can reset the password from there if you go to Account settings, then Account details. In the Sign In Details section you will see Edit password.

        A verification email will then be sent to your external (non VM) email account and you need to respond to that verification email to complete the password change process.

        Coenoby