Locked out of Virgin emails 7 days, Virgin assistants cannot help get me in

[MissGrace]

On 6th February 2024 Virgin locked me out of my Virgin email account, no idea why, there was no security threat according to Virgin 150 experts. It said..........

Your Virgin Media Mail account is currently unavailable

This is either because your Virgin Media Mail account is locked, or because you don’t have an active account with us anymore.

If you have an existing Virgin Media Mail account with us, please follow the steps below, as your account may have been locked as a security precaution.

Follow these steps unlock your Virgin Media Mail account

Step 1.
Go to My Virgin Media : to create a new password for your My Virgin Media account. We need you to create a new password for this account as there may have been a security breach.

Select Sign In
Select Forgotten your email or password? under the password box
Follow the instructions to change your password

Step 2.
Next, we need you to generate a new password to be used specifically for signing in to third-party mailbox apps (like Outlook or Gmail) to access your Virgin Media Mail emails. Even if you don’t use these apps to access your emails now, we still need you to reset the password anyway to fully secure your account.

Sign In to My Virgin Media
a. Go to Account settings, then Account details
b. Tap Manage next to Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password under Virgin Media Mail
c. Then, under Virgin Media Mail app password tap Get password
Continue the flow and a new secure password will be generated for you
Update any third-party apps that you use to access your Virgin Media Mail emails with this new app password

Please note that as this password is separate from your sign in details for My Virgin Media (or any Virgin Media apps) this won’t affect your My Virgin Media password. So, if you check your Virgin Media Mail emails through My Virgin Media or at mail.virginmedia.com, you'll still only need your My Virgin Media password.

Step 3.
Once your password's reset, make sure your emails are not being forwarded without your knowledge.

Go to mail.virginmedia.com
Sign in with your username and password
Click on Menu (top right) and then, Settings
Expand the Email option
Select Auto Forward

I spoke to Ryan (I think that was his name) on 150 the same day and these instructions were carried out, he said it is because my blueyonder email address is old I will now have to get to my emails through a gmail log in. So he asked me to log into my gmail account, Ryan changed the password and hey presto still locked out, over an hour later not resolved, told me he would have to pass this to a higher team, it would take 5 days. On 12th February I called 150 again spoke to Grace, who tried to get me back into my emails, hey presto, yet again she could not help, she tried.  She said I was due a call noted on her system for 13th Feb (today) at 4.20pm it is now 6.00pm, no call.  But she also said because I had called on the 6th day, when Ryan should have told me 5 working days I have to wait another 5 to 7 days. She then gave me a number of a team that could help with emails but they will charge,  WHAT?  it is Virgin who have locked me out, why can't anyone get me back into my Virgin emails.  I have a Thunderbird account that I have not used since 2022,so I have just tried to send an email as a test to my gmail, it is saying Sending of the message failed. Unable to authenticate to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.virginmedia.com. Please check the password and verify the 'Authentication method' in 'Account Settings | Outgoing server (SMTP)'.  I have emails on my obsolete ancient Samsung Android which I often use to check my emails, but cannot access them it says "sign in failed server password has been changed.  Input the changed password for my blueyonder email.  So I try the old and new password that Ryan and Grace on 150 changed but I have no idea if they changed it on my email log in, Virgin log in or server, whichever way I still cannot get in to my Virgin emails.  I can't even get into Virgin account today which I could yesterday, but not my emails.

I am now thinking it is unsafe to use Virgin emails, on my emails I have many folders which have my hospital appointments, due next week and I cannot remember times as I arranged these appointments by email, I have concert tickets to be printed off, a CV within a folder that I desperately need to send for a job I an applying for, but I am running out of time for deadline date.  I am getting anxious, lots of people contact me on my blueyonder email and I now have lost all my contact email addresses so can't let them know why I AM NOT REPLYING TO THEM.  This is a really bad service and I feel stressed by the lack of care for me as a service user of nearly 16 years. I was never warned that because I have an old blueyonder email address set up in 2008 that I would be locked out of my emails!  I have warned friends who have a blueyonder address to be careful they may be locked out of their emails too.  Has anyone else experienced this and was it resolved quickly??

[Graham_A]

@MissGrace The VM Forum Team should be able to help you with this when they reach this thread in due course.

The first thing they are likely to ask is if the blueyonder email address concerned is linked to your current VM broadband account.  If it isn't then they will be limited in what they can do as VM email accounts, including blueyonder need to be attached to a working VM broadband account for continued use.

[Kath_F]

Hi MissGrace, 

Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

We're sorry to hear you're having an issue with accessing your emails. This is something we can certainly check for you but in order to do that I will need to confirm some information with you to pass security. 

I have sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. If you are using a PC/Laptop then you can just click on the little ✉ at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox. If you are on a mobile/tablet device then instead click on the little circle icon in the top right then select 'Messages'. 😊

Thanks, 

[MissGrace]

Thanks Graham, my blueyonder email address should be linked to my VM broadband account, it has been since 2008 when I first had an email address when I started my account with Virgin, so cannot see why this is such an issue now.  In what circumstances would it not be linked to a VM account?

[Graham_A]

The main reason for email accounts becoming detached from the broadband account is if there has been a house move or other break in service and the email account hasn't been moved to the new account.

Have you replied to the private message sent by Kath_F .  She will do everything she can to assist you.

[Kath_F]

Hi MissGrace, 

Thanks for sticking with me via private message. 

I'm happy that we were able to get things resolved for you. 

If you have any further issues, pop back and let us know. 

Many thanks,

[energise]

Hi there, is your issue now resolved?  Just that I'm now having the same problems with an ntl account . thanks 

[Irishjim]

Hi Kath_F, what was the resolve, as I and many others are currently in the same situation?? 

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Irishjim 

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community forums.

In this case we ran through some checks privately via a PM, we cannot confirm specific details here for security but if the issue is occurring on an email that you have that is attached to a current and active broadband please make your own post and our team will pop you a message across. 

[Irishjim]

Hi

Ive had the same issues and despite 6 attempts with “150”, no resolve was found.

i finally deleted the outlook app, and reloaded the app, set it up again for blueyonder, using the new password, and hey presto, I then updated the SMTP and IMAP4 settings on other devices and hey presto again.

please check the settings for the outgoing email server, and check the correct ports are loaded. 

Somehow all the settings changed, I’ve just reset them to what they should be and it all worked again.

good luck