Leave Virgin Media but keep email accounts

[barden44]

After 25 years of being virgin media via Telewest I’m at the end of my tether with the near constant broadband drop out over the past 4 or 5 months that’s screwing up everything from work meetings, my Zwift bike workouts, Netflix, Sonos and all the other subscriptions. I feel no longer bound to TiVo and the recorded shows plus I’m paying well over £120 a month (Sport & Movies inc) for a land line I don’t use, broadband that doesn’t work and TV content that’s available elsewhere at far lower costs. Plus I’ve chewed all my vm mobile data allowance having to tether my pc to my phone to stay online. The vm mobile customer service staff are usually rude and confrontational btw, I literally had to ask a lady last week to just stop talking at me and listen. 

Anyway, my question is, as my blueyonder email account is part of my digital identity which I want to keep (along with the family vm email accounts), can I retain these paying a monthly fee?

Thanks 

[Graham_A · Accepted solution]

Short answer to a long post.  No. 

A blueyonder email address or any other VM address has to be part of a current VM broadband account to continue operating as per the T&Cs. Once you leave the associated email addresses should be deleted after 90 days.

[barden44]

Thanks Graham 

Seems like this is the last digital hold out when we can port and transfer all / most other numbers. I don’t think anyone disputes a storage fee to manage the email account but tying it to a broadband service seems archaic. OFCOM I believe mandated mobile companies had port numbers to other service providers if requested. 

[jem101]

@barden44 correct about phone numbers but email simply doesn’t and cannot work in the same way. Put simply an email address belongs to and is controlled by whoever owns the domain, ie the bit after the @ sign. Virgin Media own the blueyonder.com domain and hence own all of the email addresses, they simply ‘allow’ you to use one based on certain terms and conditions, ie be a broadband customer. It is just not technically possible to ‘move’ a particular address to another email supplier.

Now, of course, VM could offer a service whereby they keep the address live for a monthly fee, but they have decided not to do this - fair enough, their company, their system, their rules.

The only way that an email address is ever truly yours is to purchase your own domain and email storage and manage and maintain it yourself.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @barden44 thanks for your post although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns raised.

Unfortunately, the ntlworld email addresses are tied to active Virgin Media accounts. As per the T+C's if you disconnect from us, the email account can terminate and close anytime from 90 days onwards from the date of disconnection - there's no option to pay for them as a seperate service without our cable services.

If you do need further support with your broadband though please don't hesitate to let me know and I'll look into this further for you.

Many thanks 

[john105]

any joy with this ?
i just got blocked after 21 years of using the virgin.net address
did you get even temp access to the email ?
thanks
John

[jem101]

@john105 

The best thing would be to start your own thread, in that way the forum team will find it and offer to get in touch to see what can be done.

But, in principle, once you are no longer a VM customer, or if you were originally a legacy virgin.net dial-up or ADSL customer and declined to take out a broadband service or couldn't because they were not in your area, then the mailbox should have been deleted shortly afterwards, 90 days in the case of leaving VM.

At times this didn't always happen on time and some mailboxes lingered on for ages but eventually get swept up in a general cleanup of orphaned accounts. Sometimes the forum staff can arrange temporary access but not always and it really is a temporary one time only thing.

[craniumcentral]

Given the rise of google and free email account provision, this is really short-sighted of VM. The certainty that some ex-customers will not return is cemented by such a policy. 90 days …. 

With the rise of streaming and ultrafast fibre, VM are toast. Lack of forward thinking, packages are not competitive with the field. **bleep**e customer service too. The Indian call centre staff have obviously been worn down from their initial position of glee, the resignation in their voices tells you all you need to know about the least customer centric company behind British Gas. 

Goodbye VM, never darken my door again. 

[Paul_DN]

Hi craniumcentral,

Thank you for reaching out to us in our community and welcome, sorry to hear you are leaving due to the package price and the availability of cheaper deals, I was able to locate you on our system and would like to try to help, I will send you an invite into a private chat, once received please click on the purple envelope to accept.

Regards

Paul.

[Liberate]

Hi Paul

I have just cancelled my VM account after 24 yesrs for the same reason over priced package and could not match others avaliable.

Was there a way to keep my @blueyonder email address as being used for so many years it's everywhere.

Thanks Jo