VM want me to set up two accounts

[davyscot]

I have a very old (15 years +) VM account that I use purely for accessing my VM email address. This is the main email address that I use. There have never been any charges against this account.

In October 2021 I was suddenly unable to access my emails. When I contacted VM, I wasn't taken particularly seriously because I had no contract and (in my opinion), wasn't providing any revenue to VM. I was persuaded to get a VM broadband connection as I thought that I would at least be taken more seriously and be able to recover access to my VM email address. 

While I've been pleased with the VM broadband service, I do feel slightly conned about this as I subsequently discovered that I could (and did!) regain access to my emails simply by changing my password.

The main point of this post though is that VM then wanted me to set up another My Virgin Media account for the broadband service e.g for e-billing. I was unable to do this by using my existing VM email address. 

I queried this with a VM agent in February as to why couldn't I just merge my old (VM email) account into the one for broadband. He was pleasant and patient, but didn't seem to see anything odd about me having to create a new VM email address purely to administer the account for the broadband contract. It seems absurd to me that VM can't simply link the old (VM email) account to the new broadband account.

My real concern is that my IT skills are decidely average, and I'm very worried that if I go ahead and create a new account (and email address) for the broadband service then I'll end up being unable to access my old VM email address which family, friends and trusted businesses use (and also lose over 15 years of records)   

I have searched for previous answers to this issue, but can't find anything. I would be grateful for any advice on how to resolve this please.

PS I apologise for the length of this post 

[davyscot]

Hello Sololobo Just to let you know that I've just successfully backed up my old VM email account via Mailstore on to my PC. Tomorrow, I'll back up the emails on to an external hard drive. Thanks again for your good advice - I'll sleep easier tonight.

[Sololobo]

Good to hear that Mailstore appears to be working for you.

Remember you should backup more than just your emails, your other data should receive just as much attention.

There are several free backup programs which may be worth considering, some of which are reviewed here: https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-free-backup-software

Have a look at The best disc cloning software and The best data recovery software mentioned in the article as well. They may well become a lifesaver.

[davyscot]

Thanks for your further advice. I see from further internet searches that you're a veteran of this issue of 'legacy' virgin.net email addresses, which Virgin Media has handled appallingly.

I take your point on backing up other data, but I've had backup via my Norton account for several years so shpuld be OK.

Thanks again for your concern.

[davyscot]

Just some summary advice to anyone with a virgin.net email address who has been following this thread:

1) Back up your important emails in that virgin.net email account now (there is useful guidance from community members earlier in the thread on how to do this)

2) It is not possible to link your virgin.net email account to a Virgin Media broadband account. Virgin Media views the virgin.net email service as a 'legacy' operation that could be removed at any time with no notice.

I hope this helps.

[Sololobo]

I'll try to provide a bit of history here:-

1) There were the original virgin.net email addresses, set up on the very old Virgin dial-up service, where the user was charged on connection but the email address was never actually associated with any Virgin account.

2) Then there were the virgin.net email addresses, set up on the Virgin ADSL National service, which were associated with a Virgin account.

(When Virgin sold off their ADSL service to Talk Talk the existing virgin.net email address remained active for 30 days if the customer moved to an ADSL service other than Talk Talk. If the customer did move to Talk Talk the virgin.net address remained active for 12 months. After these periods the email address should have been closed.)

3) However, if the customer chose to move to the Virgin cable service (if available), then providing a "move and transfer" was requested (this did not happen by default) the virgin.net email address could be associated with the new cable account.

In your situation I would assume that your virgin.net email address was set up under the original dial up service (scenario 1), where you never actually held an account with Virgin.

That being the case, it would be extremely difficult for Virgin to provide you with access to an email account without sufficient proof that you were the original user. Without any historical account data to prove you are legally entitled to use a legacy email address it will be close to impossible for Virgin to comply with Data Protection Regulations.

Even in the case of email addresses allocated under scenarios 2) & 3) there are certain conditions which must be met for the transfer of those to another account.
Source https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Forum-Archive/Can-t-log-in-to-virgin-net-email/td-p/4140683/pag... post #40

• The email address in question must be active
• The disconnected account and active broadband account must have the same account holder
• It must be the account holder who contacts us
• Full DPA must be passed on both accounts

As you are unlikely to have an active Virgin account relating to your original virgin.net email address you will not be in a position to comply with at least one of the criteria noted above.

There are cases, even fairly recently, where a legacy virgin.net email address can be associated with a new Virgin cable account, but this does result in the loss of all other virginmedia.com email addresses associated with that account.

So it's still possible for VM to transfer email addresses to a different account, sadly just not in your case.

[davyscot]

Thanks Sololobo - well informed as ever.

I'm not entirely sure under which scenario my virgin.net email address was set up - it was a very long time ago!  I think you're probably right that it was under the original dial up service (scenario 1), but at some point I did somehow acquire a Virgin account reference. 

I was probably generalising too much from my own experience in saying that you cannot link a virgin.net email account to a Virgin Media account. However, Virgin Media has never suggested to me that this is because of Data Protection considerations. Their 'justification' has been on the basis that the virgin.net email service is a 'legacy' operation that could be removed at any time.

At least this episode has given me the stimulus to reduce my reliance on an uncertain service.