Virgin Media Community

[mikedollittle]

My Virgin.net email account that I have been using daily for about 28 years was switched off yesterday morning at about 8:30am without any warning.

I have spent over 4 hours talking to lots of different Virgin staff, none have been able to help get access back.....most blame Talk Talk for switching the account off.

Talk Talk deny all involvement.

Please can I have access to the last 28 years of my life, even if just for 24 hours so I can retrieve important emails.

Kind regards

Mike

[Megan_L]

Hi mikedollittle, 

Thanks for using the forums to get this issue with your email services looked into, I am sorry if this has been causing some frustration. I would be more than happy to look into this for you.

The first question I need to ask is, are you still an active Virgin Media customer?

The reason why I ask is because when you disconnect your services, your email will be deleted after 90 days. There is no way of us reactivating the email after this unfortunately.

If this is what has happened, I do apologise that no agents explained this when you disconnected.

But please confirm that for me so I can help further if possible.

Thanks,

Megan_L

[mikedollittle]

I started the email account decades ago, without any corresponding internet/tv package from Virgin Media, so this has nothing to with other services being disconnected. 

[Megan_L]

Hi mikedollittle, 

Thanks for coming back to me, that would make much more sense! 

In that case there may be something we can do, historical emails such as this can sometimes be retrievable, although not guaranteed. 

We'll pop into a PM now so I can gather some further info from you 🙂

Speak soon,

Megan_L

[ravenstar68]

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@mikedollittle wrote:

I started the email account decades ago, without any corresponding internet/tv package from Virgin Media, so this has nothing to with other services being disconnected. 

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Actually it does.  You didn't start an email account.  You started a dial up access internet package.  The email account was provided for as long as you continued to use dial up.  It should have been automatically closed when the dial up system was closed back in 2013.  The only people who SHOULD have live virgin.net accounts are those who were able to transfer to a cable broadband package.

[mikedollittle]

Thank you to the 'wise after the event department'

I've seen you send this reply to other people who have had their lives turned upside down by the sudden and unannounced switching off of their email accounts.

If you have any constructive comments to make then please feel free........if you just want to tell every victim of Virgin that it's actually their own fault then don't bother as it's not helpful!

[ravenstar68]

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@mikedollittle wrote:

Thank you to the 'wise after the event department'

---

I posted about this issue ages ago - back in 2017 to be correct.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Orphan-Email-accounts/td-p/3492073

and it's no secret that to use a Virgin Media email address (including the 3 legacy domains), that you need a current broadband account.  Just Google can I keep my Virgin Email address.

https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/how-do-I-keep-my-email-address-if-I-change-providers/

As far as I'm concerned you should think yourself lucky you've kept the email address this long.  Virgin Media are under no obligation to help you out here.  Running email servers costs time and money.  Money most ISP's would rather spend on paying customers.  Even so the T&C's also warn that you are responsible for backing up your own data as Virgin Media take no responsibility for it's loss.

Tim

[cjb_cambridge]

I have had exactly the same problem - my virgin.net email switched off last week (11 August 2021) after over 20 years of use without any warning. The least that could have been done, having previously been a customer for many years, is to provide some notice that this would happen so action could have been taken. 

If anything can be done to provide short term access again that would be appreciated.

[DJ_Shadow1966]

Hello

I am afraid that the Virginmedia team cannot give you access if you no longer have a broadband account, all they can do is too make sure the account is fully deleted. The notice was sent out when Virginmedia sold the dial up service that the emails would be deleted 1 year after that switch over, it was also in the terms and conditions.

Regards Mike

[mikedollittle]

Via this forum (Megan T), I got given access back......briefly.

After 24 hours it was promptly turned off again.

Shows Virgin do have control despite their protestations that it's all Talk Talk's fault!

What a useless company! Still once bitten twice shy !!

Mike