Forum Discussion

CP459's avatar
CP459
Joining in
3 months ago

Virgin.net email due to close but cant pass security checks

Hi

I've read other posts and replies about what to do to keep the virgin.net email address. I also have Virgin broadband and landline so transferring my account to Virgin Media has been offered. The problem is I can't pass the security checks because a friend set up my account over 20 years ago and I don't know the address he used. I'm no longer able to find out so Virgin say there's no other way I can verify I'm the account holder. I'm panicking as I'm about to lose my email address of decades that's used for both work and personal  Does anyone have any advice? Thanks

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    You need to be really careful/clear about what information VM is seeking in its security questions and the answer(s) you give them. This user below ran into similar problems by giving VM the wrong phone number in answer to a security question. Giving the wrong info seemed to block his progress in resolving

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Virgin-net-email-address-to-be-closed-incorrectly/m-p/5580324#M280687

    What is the specific information that VM is seeking from you? A postal address that was associated with the virgin.net account or something different?

    • CP459's avatar
      CP459
      Joining in
      3 months ago

      Thanks for your helpful reply. Yes, they need the postal address attached to the account, not my current home address where my VM bills go to. As someone else set up my account, whose address I never knew, I'm stuck. 

      • coenoby's avatar
        coenoby
        Very Insightful Person
        3 months ago
        CP459 wrote:

        Yes, they need the postal address attached to the account, not my current home address where my VM bills go to. As someone else set up my account, whose address I never knew, I'm stuck. 

        goslowhas given you some good advice.

         VM are legally required to ensure they are talking to the account  holder(s) of the virgin.net email account and the VM broadband account before they make any changes to those accounts.

        Presumably you have no problem passing security on your current VM broadband account - the one you want your virgin.net account to be linked to?

        Sadly  despite the fact that you have been using the virgin.net email account for 20+ years it still "belongs" to the person who originally opened it. It's always been their email account, in simple terms they just let you use it.

        If you cannot contact that person or even provide any details of who that individual was then I cannot see how you can pass security on the virgin.net account to permit VM to move it over to your VM broadband account.

        I can escalate this to the Forum Team (VM staff who support this forum). They may be able to offer a way round this. However, I am sorry to say that unless you can pass security on the virgin.net account they will not be able to help you. 

        Post back if you are happy for me to escalate your posts to VM but bear in mind what goslow posted about the risk of losing access to the account prematurely.

        Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

        Coenoby

         

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    3 months ago

    Do you know how your virgin.net email was used/paid for in the past? There is a useful explanation of all the history here

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Yet-another-cancellation-victim-despite-assurances-9-days-ago/m-p/5580822#M280762

    which mentions that the virgin.net email addresses came about either from dialup connections or from ADSL broadband accounts (sometimes paid for via the call cost or sometimes via a monthly subscription).

    and further historical info here

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin.net

    If the VM security question is asking you about a billing address for virgin.net in the past, thinking about how you used/paid for the service originally might possibly help you think about the answer. As mentioned before though, do get further clarification on exactly what is being asked for, if necessary, as getting the answer wrong may lock you out of further help so proceed with caution!

    Before trying to deal any more with VM, and possibly lose access to your virgin.net mailbox, you might want to think about making some backups of the mailbox and switching important services to a new email address while you still have access to virgin.net in case it all goes pear-shaped and you get locked out.

    See links below for further info

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Another-virgin-net-Cancellation-Victim/m-p/5583582#M281019

    app password info is now here along with server settings

    https://www.virginmedia.com/help/broadband/manage-email-settings

    or an alternative backup method here

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Backing-up-your-Emails-One-of-many-solutions/m-p/3539542

    Hope you can get to some sort of acceptable solution

  • Vikki_M's avatar
    Vikki_M
    Forum Team
    25 days ago

    Hi CP459,

    Thanks so much for joining me in a private message.
    I'm happy we were able to resolve your concerns together :).
    If you have any questions in the future or need any support, please pop back to our community forums and we'd be happy to help.    
    Take care.