Virgin.net

[Jotapete]

I have lost access to Virgin.net email after 30 years, I have been told by customer services that it has been shut down without notice. This account is accessed via web and not backed up. I can’t receive or send emails and any that are sent to this address don’t show undelivered. Happy to pay for service. Can anyone help from Virgin? Advice gratefully received!

[jpeg1]

Do you still have Virginmedia broadband?  Read this:

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

[Jotapete]

No never had any virgin services,the account has been closed and I can’t even export old emails I really need help from this forum or moderators?

[jpeg1 · Accepted solution]

If you wait here a staff member may offer to help you, but don't get too hopeful. 

[Molly_T]

Hi Jotapete, welcome to the community! Thank you for posting. Sorry to hear of your recent email access issues. 

As already advised by the community if you do not have active services with us the account has been 'orphaned'. This is where an email address no longer has a linked 'parent' account with active services and so it is removed. 

You can read more about this here in this handy community thread which explains orphaned email accounts. 

Email is a free additional service for customers with active services with us. An email account should close 90 days after the active service account has closed, however there are exceptions where this does not happen instantly. You can see more about this in our managing your email account help page. 

Once an account has been orphaned there is no way to retrieve it. 

Sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused, I can appreciate this may be frustrating. 

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with! All the best. 

[Jotapete]

Hi Molly

Thanks for that, I see several people have been helped by your team to allow old emails to be accessed to allow historical emails to be ported/copied to a new address. We have to get these back as we have several ongoing issues contained in the account. It is [MOD EDIT: Personal details] can you help me?

Thanks

Peter

[Jotapete]

I am seriously concerned regarding my email account being cut off without notice and any ability to port these to another account. This raises customer service as well as GDPR issues as I can’t access any of my mail some of which is vitally important. After hours of phone calls I just can’t get any help. 
I can see others have had the same problem and have been able to resolve this, can anyone help?

[japitts]

You probably won't want to hear this, but unfortunately this is a problem inherent in using ISP-provided email when you don't use that ISP.

Many people suggest using an email account that is not tied to a broadband provider - a free one from Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail etc is a good start, or your own domain.

Have you read the link in post#2 above? It explains a lot of what I'm alluding to, in much more detail. If you're not a live customer of Virgin Media, then relying on the email service that's provided free with their broadband is running a risk. Out of interest, what GDPR issue do you think this is raising?

[jpeg1]

I can understand how upsetting this must be, but it isn't really Virginmedia's fault. You mentioned customer service, but you have already said that you are not a customer and never have been.  You have in fact enjoyed a free email service for 30 years, so you have done very well out of them. 

You will need to set up an alternative email account elsewhere, and to keep offline copies of important data. 

[Jotapete]

If I had any notice of this I would have transferred or copied emails. I’m just looking for help.