Virgin Media Community

[VirginMedia]

What is happening?

If you have recently received an email from Virgin Media stating your email account will be closed down soon (30 days and again after 15 days) then this is a genuine email from us.

We do not ask you to click on any links to divulge any information; it is purely for your information only. If you do receive an email like this but it asks you to send any information then it is not from us.

Why?

We are running a clean-up on some old email accounts (orphaned accounts) that are still active.

We will be giving you a set time to react to the email that has been sent to you, so if you’re no longer a Virgin Media customer you can archive emails and or/forward any emails or contacts using to another email client, or if you currently have services with us you can take action to keep the email account open by contacting us.

When?

The process will start once you receive our first email; you will have 30 days to archive and/or forward any important emails or contacts to another email address. You will also receive a reminder email 15 days before mailbox closure.

If you have not received an email from us specifically calling out account closure in 30/15 days then the above does not apply to you.

Support

If you need further support on forwarding emails, exporting contacts or saving emails then please follow the relevant link to our Virgin Media how-to guides.

[whiters1965]

Both of my accounts appear to be closed with no warning received! When I try and log in I just get an unavailable message.

I understand wanting to close old accounts, which mine is, but not had any warning.

[wl6536]

The same thing has just happened to my Aunt, who is understandably distraught at suddenly losing access to 20 years of emails and contacts. She received no warning emails that this was going to happen, which is really unacceptable. The timing of this is particularly cruel as she's now in isolation due to the Coronavirus.

I'm happy to help her migrate to a different email provider, but we really need access to the old emails for a while at least.

She has spoken to Virgin who claim to have reset her password, but the account itself is deactivated and needs to be reactivated by TalkTalk. This thread however suggests that that isn't the case and TalkTalk has no control over these accounts: https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email-Webmail/Virgin-net-email-address-closed-down-unexpectedly/...

I'll keep trying to figure out what's going on and will post here again if there's any progress.

[wl6536]

Useful post here by ravenstar68: https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Orphan-Email-accounts/td-p/3492073

This certainly seems to be the case with my Aunt's accounts. Again, very understandable on Virgin's part, but the absence of warning emails has put her in a really unpleasant position.

I've had one unsuccessful attempt to solicit help on the phone, but will try again.

[Beth_G]

Hi wl6536,

I'd like to thank you for coming to the forums to voice your concerns and a warm welcome to you!

Can you please clarify if your Aunt is no longer an active Virgin Media customer? Or if she has moved address and as a result, had a new account set up for her?

Hope to hear back soon,

Beth

[marcus986]

I think this may have happened to myself too. I use the account every day, but have no warnings of potential closure to the account.

[wl6536]

Thanks Beth - appreciate the response. My Aunt isn't currently a Virgin Media customer (other than a pay-as-you-go sim card!) and I suspect she hasn't been for some time - her email address was a virgin.net account, which she's had for literally more than a decade. Happy to provide account number etc. if helpful.

It seems that whatever service she originally held with Virgin was sold off to TalkTalk, but the email accounts were retained. This seems to have led to some further confusion over whether TalkTalk exercises any control over the account, which this post suggests is not the case: https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email-Webmail/Virgin-net-email-address-closed-down-unexpectedly/...

[Lee_R]

I am really sorry wl6536. 

We did send out mass communications some time ago advising our customers, or former customers that their mailboxes were going to be discontinued.  I am really sorry, but this appears to have been somehow overlooked.  

It may well be possible to temporarily reinstate the mailbox to enable your aunt to get any vital emails or contacts established on a new provider?  Please let me know if you wish to make this arrangement.

Regards

Lee_R

[Lee_R]

Marcus986

The advice I've given @wl6536 sounds as though it would also be relevant to you, sorry.
Regards

Lee_R

[wl6536]

Thanks Lee, it would really be very, very helpful if we could temporarily get access to the mailbox again. I can then help her migrate her vital emails and ensure she has all her contacts stored. Could we please try to get that arrangement sorted?

I really do appreciate the help with this.