Update Take 2
I was left a very quickly spoken and mostly unintelligible voicemail last Sunday evening. The only words I could make out were "...Virgin Media..." I phoned the support line early yesterday morning. The lady I spoke to there, while trying to be helpful, changed the password to my ntlworld.com email account while insisting she had changed the password to my virgin.net email account that is having an access problem. This resulted in my email client not being able to sign in to my ntlworld.com mailbox. I explained what had happened and I was given the password she had used and was able to change it back. As we were getting nowhere, and I'd missed last night's call, I was told that she'd have to raise a new ticket and that someone would phone me back, possibly later that day, but within 4 to 5 days.
I'm glad to report someone from support phoned me back yesterday afternoon. I was told the only way I could recover my virgin.net email account was by transferring that address over to my main Virgin Media account. Sounds good I said, let's do that. The support lady then said, if I do that, it will discontinue the current ntlworld.com email addresses you currently have associated with your account. There was no explanation of what would happen to my four currently active secondary virgin.net email addresses. It didn't seem like a good deal to recover access to one email address by trashing three others and possibly four more so I declined her offer. I was told that was all that could be done. I asked would it be possible for me to open a new account and for the email address to be transferred there? She didn't know but said she would transfer me to someone in sales. I thanked her and held the line.
On being put through, I was asked a number questions to establish my identity. I explained, very poorly it seemed, my predicament. I was eventually told it was not possible to open a new account at the same postal address, even using another occupant's name. She would transfer me to someone in support. I thanked her and held the line.
On being put through, this person said it was not possible for her to access my old virgin.net details. I asked, that being the case who can? All of my virgin.net email accounts are being hosted on virginmedia.com mail servers. The server space and electricity is being used, so why is the person responsible for them uncontactable? I explained again that I am unable to change my email account password because, unlike last October, the appropriate webpage does not function. It was suggested I add the virgin.net email address to my account at my end. On logging in to try, it became clear that the only email address I could add would have the domain name virginmedia.com, not useful. I asked if she could please request that someone at her end revises the unhelpful webpage, so that virgin.net users who had "forgot" their passwords could use it. She didn't hold out much hope for that happening anytime soon. Thus ended a 1 hour 44 minute call with me getting no closer to resolving the issue.
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I am supposed to just give up and walk away. I have to set up a new email account and inform my contacts to disregard an address I have used for 25 years. At no time was I ever informed by NTL World and subsequently Virgin Media that virgin.net email would be discontinued. I have been a customer without interruption since October 2000, being enticed by the prospect of being able to keep my virgin.net email accounts as "NTL World host Virgin's servers." I make the point again, I appear to have been locked out by somebody, possibly for security reasons. The suggested way to remedy this is to change my password. I am no longer able to do that thanks to an unusable web page. Nobody at Virgin Media can, or will, help it appears. Not a good situation at all.
