Unable to access ntlworld email

[James-1]

Hi there,

I have recently been unable to access my ntlworld.com email address and need to do so to obtain a number of documents that I urgently need access to.

I do not have Virgin Media broadband as I moved house last year and it is unavailable in my area. I read that a number of these accounts were deleted but is it possible to reinstate? 

Really hoping someone can assist.

Thanks in advance.

James

[HelenBR]

My Dad has the same issue. He has tried to speak to Virgin but they told him he'd deleted it himself.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @James-1, thanks for your post although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns.

I sincere apologise, as due to the fact you no longer have active Virgin Media services, we're unable to reinstate any @ntlworld or @VirginMedia email addresses due to the fact that it is a condition to have Virgin Media services in order to keep these active.

Your email address is now classed as an "orphaned" email account meaning that it didn't have anything linking it to us - these email addresses can terminate anytime from 90 days following your disconnection with us.

Also @HelenBR, can you confirm please if your Dad has active Virgin Media services with us or not? If not then the above would also apply to him too.

Please accept my apologies once again for any inconvenience caused.

Many thanks

[James-1 · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the timely response.

Whilst I appreciate that this is not in any way your fault this seems like a way to encourage people to continue as Virgin Media customers or else their email address will be deactivated.

Personally I don't believe that it is fair to simply deem an account to be "orphaned" because someone no longer pays Virgin Media for their services. If I had known this I would never have set up the email account.

I would be grateful if you could pass this feedback on. Particularly given that even if I wanted to purchase Virgin Media services I would not be able to do so due to the fact that the services are not available in my area!

Really disappointing!

Regards,

James

[jpeg1]

To be fair, Virginmedia are not the only ISP with this policy.  And it's made clear in the terms and conditions when you sign up.

It does seem unreasonable for any company to have to provide a free service indefinitely for someone who is not a customer.

It's always best to use an email service that is not tied to an ISP, so that it is not affected when you change ISP.  There are many available.

[m00g]

Agree totally with @jpeg1

As a suggestion Outlook from Microsoft has the facility to recover deleted emails and is cost free, i switched to this having read these forums and having issues with secondary @virginmedia email. Luckily so far, and i stress so far, my @blueyonder address hasnt had any issues ever.

[Beth_G]

Hi James-1,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Whilst I do appreciate your frustration completely, as jpeg1 has advised, it is stated within our T&Cs that the email address will be deleted 90 days after your account has been disconnected. In some cases it can take longer for the mailbox to be deleted.

We'll be sure to pass on your feedback through the business so we can look for ways to improve this process.

It's possible that your mailbox is currently locked rather than terminated, so I would advise to try and change your password for now and wait 30 minutes before accessing again. Whilst this may grant access temporarily, it doesn't mean that the mailbox won't be deleted in future due to the policy.

Kind regards