Lost access to Virgin.net email

[Rodstrong]

My virgin.net email account recently stopped me using an alias (without warning), & my efforts to sort it out, combined with several DEF01 errors, have left me with no access to around 20 years' worth of emails - I've been using an alias on this account for most of those years. I need to access this account to export everything from it to transfer to another host. I'd be happy to continue with it, but it seems Virgin are stepping away from virgin.net plus some other addresses. I have my account no. and area code, but going the "forgotten password" route on login only gets me as far as another DEF01. I did change it recently after trying to follow Virgin's instructions to restore the account, which again ended with insurmountable DEF01 errors. All this happened 2 or 3 weeks ago. Please can someone help me retrieve my emails?

[Rodstrong]

Just seen a reply to Bradley75 with a similar problem - I sincerely hope my account has not been orphaned. Have used it for past 20 years or so; can't remember original events, but my emails were either transferred to or from Virgin and TalkTalk. Latterly (since this changeover??) for many years I have not been a paying subscriber to Virgin & was never asked to be - my virgin.net emails just kept on working:

[TableTop]

Snip…for many years I have not been a paying subscriber to Virgin & was never asked to be - my virgin.net emails just kept on working

….snip

---

And therein is the issue.

Being a paying VM broadband customer is a requirement to keep using any of the VM branded email addresses.

The history of the virgin.net email addresses is somewhat convoluted, but it is absolutely nothing to do with TalkTalk, way back in 2015/16, VM terminated their dial-up and ADSL service, confusingly also referred to as virgin.net, all existing users were given a choice but basically, the only way to keep the email address was to sign up as a VM broadband customer, otherwise, their email accounts would be deleted after one year.

Except, for various reasons, VM didn’t always keep to the timescale and, as you said yourself, ‘it just kept working’! But it was always on borrowed time, eventually, VM would realise that the address was not associated with a paying broadband customer, and kill it!

In a day or so a member of the forum team will get to this thread and offer to contact you by direct message to gain further details and see what can be done.

But, alas, I do have to say, that it is very, very likely that the email address, mailbox and all the mail within it has been deleted, and from their perspective, you aren’t paying them anything, they really aren’t going to do much about it!

[Rodstrong]

Many thanks for your reply, TableTop.  If what you say proves to be fact, it seems a pretty shoddy way to treat old, and potentially new, customers.  I cannot remember ever being asked to pay for the continuing emails service, it just ran on for years & years - and then someone decides to  delete it all WITHOUT WARNING??  I really, really hope that all this email history is not lost, because as well as a personal history, it contains much reference and financial information.

Cheers, Rod

[PapaBearDave]

Looks like a few of us are having the same issue. I've been locked out since yesterday morning and having called the number on the login issue page I'm told if I don't have an active Virgin Media account they are not able to assist.

Really poor if this has happened without warning. If that was their plan then fine but you'd expect some notice that you have to make a decision to subscribe or not. 

I'd really appreciate it if someone who monitors the forum can reach out and offer some support to try and get access back.

[Joseph_B]

Hey @Rodstrong,

Welcome to the Community Forums and thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear you have been having this issue with your emails, the comments here are correct that our email service is only provided to customers who still have an active account with us, if you no longer have an active account this will be closed any time after 90 days of the disconection being actioned.

With this if the 90 days have passed the emails and everything associated will be removed entirely and we have no access to get this back. I'm sorry for any disruption that this may cause to you.

Joe

[jpeg1]

To be fair for a moment, Virginmedia did make the ending of these emails clear in their T's and C's. If we don't read them we have only ourselves to blame. 

BUT they should then have followed their own procedure and closed the email accounts at the time, rather than allow non-customers to continue building up years of data that was fated to be lost without further warning. 

[Matthew_ML]

Our T&C's and legal stuff can also be found here 

[Rodstrong]

"... & was never asked to be ..." is the issue.  I do remember an email from Virgin, many years ago, stating that virgin.net & other addresses were due to be discontinued.  I assumed (reasonably) that Virgin would let me know when my time  was up, so I could copy off my content for transfer to another provider.  I don't remember being asked to subscribe to Virgin.net to continue using it.  It just continued to be available for several further years,  until suddenly, WITHOUT WARNING, it was stopped, without any allowance given to take out a Virgin subscription, or copy off around 20 years' worth of my emails.

I realise Virgin expect to be reimbursed for any services they offer, so why didn't they simply tell me "subscribe now or your service will cease on xx days"??  I would then have compared the benefits of doing so, or transferring my emails somewhere else.

This is no way to treat ANY Virgin user, whether fee-paying or not.

[Rodstrong]

Sorry Joe, don't understand "... <the email service> will be closed any time after 90 days of the disconnection being actioned".  To me, it implies that my emails are still there, but I can't connect to them, for 90+ days after my recent sudden loss of service.

In that case, I'd happily pay a reasonable sum for someone at Virgin to provide me with an export of my emails, or provide me with temporary access to do so myself.

Rod