Virgin.net email issues

[Ayjaybe1]

I have an old virgin.net email account I have used for 20+ years.  I was using it fine until last Friday when I got the message it was locked and to unlock it I needed to change password.  The password reset will not work, I just get 'oops something went wrong try again later'.  I have had 2 attempts at going through the online chat help, first time they said the virgin.net domain is obsolete and can't help, 2nd time I was told to ring 0345 454 1111 and they would help but as I only have a Virgin/O2 mobile account I can't get through.  Searching on here it now appears that virgin.net email accounts are being deleted by VM.  I have received no notification of this from VM that I am aware of which is pretty poor.

I have important emails I now can't access and as far as I can tell the account is still active as sent emails are not bouncing back.  Can someone from the forum team help to get access back to this email account even if only on a temporary basis so that I can at least copy crtitical emails & contacts?

[goslow]

VM has sent 30 day notifications to some customers about closure of .net email addresses. Some others have had no notification, it seems, and mailboxes are still being deleted without notice or sometimes earlier than the 30 day notice period based on reading many topics on here.

Recent VM responses on here seem to be a flat 'no' to regaining temporary access to rescue data.

You could try this approach

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/virgin-net-email-swindle-Tell-BBC-Rip-Off-Britain/m-p/558...

which allowed that user to regain temporary access.

No guarantees it will work for you too though due to the randomness of outcomes when dealing with VM but it might be worth a try. In any event, it is probably worth logging your issue with ICO as VM still seems to be dealing with these mailbox closures in an inconsistent way which is very unfair for some users.

[Ayjaybe1]

WARNING - I was contacted by a VM Help representative via the messaging to this post who then spent the best part of an hour pretending to resolve the issue.  It turned out to be a scammer and nothing to do with VM, now dealing with that as well as a locked email account.  

[goslow]

You are the second person I have seen on here recently who has mentioned being approached by a scammer via PM after posting on here. Hopefully the moderators will look into that and block the forum account.

The (real) VM forum team, who are VM employees, can be identified as below

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/help/faqpage/title/Staff

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @Ayjaybe1 

We're sorry to hear this.

Was any personal/sensitive info provided?

If you report the profile to us, we will arrange for it to be blocked.

[Ayjaybe1]

Hi Ayisha_B,

In short yes.  Is there a secure way to communicate with you?

[Kath_P]

Hi Ayjaybe1, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this one. We can absolutely look into the scammer profile to ensure this is blocked. We can also take a look at the email for you however it's worth noting that unless you have an active Virgin Media broadband account in your name, we'd be unable to recover the email address. This is something we can certainly check for you but in order to do that I'll need to confirm some information with you to pass security. 

I've sent you a direct message to allow us to do this with you in a private space. If you're using a PC/Laptop then you can just click on the little ✉ at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox. If you're on a mobile/tablet device then instead, click on the little circle icon in the top right then select 'Messages'. 😊

Thanks, 

[Kath_P]

Hi Ayjaybe1, 

Thanks for sticking with us via private message. We're happy to hear things are resolved for you now. 

If you have any further issues, pop back and let us know. 

Many thanks,