I can't access my Virgin Media emails !!!!

[Legindodge90]

Hi, I still cant access my mail box, and I haven't been able to since last Sunday. The problem is causing me immense stress as I can't access important inbox messages, or send messages through my account. I can still login to Virgin Media, but as soon as I hit the email tab on their website it comes up with this message below, and it automatically logs me out:

SORRY, Your mailbox is not available at the moment.

Please retry again in one hour and make sure you are using the correct password to access your email from all of your devices.

If the problem continues, please call our team for help on 150 from a Virgin Media phone or mobile, or 0345 454 1111 from any other phone and select option 2. For details about how much it costs to call our team from a Virgin Media home phone, visit virginmedia.com/callcosts. Call costs from other networks and mobiles vary.

I have tried everything I can think of to resolve the issue, but I feel its something that only Virgin Media will be able to solve by re-setting something their end.

PLEASE, PLEASE can you help me get this resolved very quickly now?

Thank you

[John_GS]

Hi @BMB11

Thanks for coming back to us.

Ok so looking back at the thread and conversation you had, I do need to clarify some points. 

Virgin.net is an old platform and if it's not on your existing cable account, then it's what's called an Orphan account. This means it should have been closed within 90 days of not being listed on an active cable account. The national platform, of which the .net emails were, the platform was sold to Talk Talk a few years ago. Though they did not take the emails over with them. Affected customers were given 1 year, to make sure they got everything sorted on their .net email, and then they should have all closed (those that were Orphaned accounts). 

As such it does appear yours slipped the net as you confirmed usage of it on another thread up until a short while ago. 

I would advise in this instance to do the following; 

Run a malware scan on all devices

When you've done that, change the password to the email account to something new, unique never used before. Then leave it 30 minutes before attempting to log in. 

Please do this for me. If it doesn't work after that time, send me a PM and I'll see what can be done. I must warn you, that you may have indeed been advised correctly and the email is in the process of being deleted. If this does turn out to be true, all we can do at that stage is request the formal deletion with our IT team

Hope to hear from you either way.

Best,

[BMB11]

Hi John_GS

Thank you for the message. 

I have scanned as you suggested and then re-tried with an entirely new password. The email error is still 'Log in failed. Check account settings and password'. I will PM you but for the benefit of others on the Forum who are having the same issue also want to respond openly. I was told by VM that so long as my account with the company was active that my virgin.net email was supported. Only VM staff apparently are able to link email addresses to their [in my case, broadband] account and in common with others monthly bills and all communication was to my virgin.net address as this was my main email. I asked several times over the years when my broadband contract came up for renewal and was assured the email was correctly tied to my account and would continue to be supported. I received no communication alerting me to the closure of this email address. 

My feeling is that VM should restore my email account and support this going forward. If that is not possible [despite more knowledgeable people than myself saying it absolutely is possible] by way of resolution and in no way my preference I would be satisfied if my emails were auto replied to say this account is no longer operational. Better still you should allow your customers to auto-reply with their replacement email addresses if the company can't/won't reinstate the address. On the subject of whether VM are aware that customer services are actively misdirecting, offering incorrect responses, misleading and failing to properly attend to customer issues that is not for me to say. In the case of the virgin.net emails it seems that no one is advising VM customers they have an 'orphan' address and certainly not offering any options as to how to plan for the forced deletion of these email addresses. 

[John_GS]

Hi @BMB11

Thanks for your message but I need you to clarify, did the steps I posted to you publicly work? 

We're not able to arrange or make calls from here, nor can you pay for email access separately.

Best,

[BMB11]

Hi John_GS

No, these steps have made no difference.

Thanks 

[Sofia_B]

Thanks for getting back to us @BMB11. 

Ah I'm sorry to hear this, I appreciate this is frustrating and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

As advised previously by John, the account may be in the process of deletion.

I'm going to send you a PM to see if anything can be done here, please look out for a notification in the purple envelope located in the top right hand corner of your screen. 

Thanks, 

[Ljjohnson1234]

I have had the same problem! We have used this email for over 20 years. Definitely DID NOT receive any 90 day warning the account would close. 
I have holiday tickets which I need to access on this email account! 
Please help 

[Martin_N]

Hi Ljjohnson1234,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community. 

I'm very sorry to hear about your email address. 

If you have left us and it has been over 90 days then the email would be deleted and we wouldn't be able to recover this. 

I have attempted to locate your account to confirm this but have been unsuccessful. 

What I will do is private message you to get some details to check over this. 

^Martin

[Martin_N]

Thank you for chatting with me over Private Message Ljjohnson1234.

Our apologies again we were unable to retrieve the email address. 

^Martin

[BMB11]

So it seems that the IT team refuse to reinstate these virgin.net emails for current VM broadband customers. They also refuse to set up new virgin.net email addresses for their own customers. Irrespective of whether you are misled that your virgin.net email is correctly linked/tied to your VM account they will arbitrarily delete these old email addresses despite the fact that VM staff are the only ones able in fact to tie/link the address. Non VM customers who still have a live virgin.net address can continue to use these addresses even if they are massively at risk of being deleted without any warning. The non VM customers are given the same support by Forum team members as current VM customers and this all points to the problem being the IT section.

If any of the above is incorrect or unfair please feel free to correct me. If this is correct then can someone at VM please at least confirm this is correct and let customers know why reinstating or replacing these addresses is 'not possible'. 

[jem101]

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@BMB11 wrote:

So it seems that the IT team refuse to reinstate these virgin.net emails for current VM broadband customers. They also refuse to set up new virgin.net email addresses for their own customers.

Sort of, except I suspect it's less a matter of the IT team refusing to reinstate the old accounts but if those accounts have already been deleted or purged then there is nothing to unlock or reinstate. Similarly, as I understand it, VM have a corporate policy of not allowing new 'legacy' email addresses - so even if the IT people wanted to, there's simply no mechanism to do so - plus in their position, would you want to do something which is direct conflict with the company (who actually pay your salary) policies?

Irrespective of whether you are misled that your virgin.net email is correctly linked/tied to your VM account they will arbitrarily delete these old email addresses despite the fact that VM staff are the only ones able in fact to tie/link the address.

This is indeed correct - they might say that the onus is on the user to check that the email address is properly associated with the account - personally I think that is unreasonable. If you have been explicitly told by a representative of the company that this is the case - then it would be reasonable to to assume that is the case. If the address has not in fact been attached then, yes, it would be prone to deletion. The systems doing this wouldn't be aware that you were told different  

Non VM customers who still have a live virgin.net address can continue to use these addresses even if they are massively at risk of being deleted without any warning. The non VM customers are given the same support by Forum team members as current VM customers and this all points to the problem being the IT section.

Yes absolutely - continued use of a virgin.net, or indeed any of the VM branded addresses, without a current broadband account is a game of 'Russian Roulette'. Now I have to say , I am a bit conflicted over the question of non VM customers getting the same level of support as non customers - on the one hand I would always like to help people in any way I can, but I can see that it must seem somewhat unfair when person 'A' loses their email account despite them being a current customer and VM are unable (and what might seem to be unwilling) to help, whereas person 'B'  who is not a customer and pays VM exactly nothing does manage to get help and recovery of their email. As a paying customer, I might feel a bit aggrieved that my money is being spent on helping 'freeloading' others whereas I get nothing in return!

Of course the reality is that it's probably much more complex and nuanced that that - but VM do themselves no favours by not being open and transparent about exactly in what circumstances something can be done or can't. Nothing annoys people more than apparent arbitrariness. 

If any of the above is incorrect or unfair please feel free to correct me. If this is correct then can someone at VM please at least confirm this is correct and let customers know why reinstating or replacing these addresses is 'not possible'. 

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