Virginmedia blocking suspected spam which is actually genuine email

[kevinh]

VM delays or blocks some email before it gets to webmail. That means I have no way of receiving what I know is genuine email. Users can't whitelist domain names to bypass this either, unlike with most email providers. Delayed email gets through, but possibly too late if it's a timed verification link. Blocked email simply never appears.

Yesterday I had to reset an online account password, but I never received the emailed reset link despite repeated attempts. The account support team can't do anything about this and now I can't access my account. Why does VM behave in this way towards it's customers? Clearly they use strong email filtering but it isn't perfect and it should be in the customers control to switch it off in an attempt to receive suspected spam email that they know is not spam.

[ALF28]

emails blocked

see these other postings, may be of some help.

Not Receiving Emails from a Particular Sender - Virgin Media Community - 5016307

Not receiving Email from Plusnet on ntlworld accou... - Virgin Media Community - 5015104

IP blocked - emails have been disallowed by "admin... - Virgin Media Community - 4550929

Solved: genuine emails blocked by virgin - Virgin Media Community - 5010590

https://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport/

alf28

[Molly_T]

Hi Kevinh, I hope you are well. 
Thank you for returning to the thread to keep this updated! Sincerest apologies for this issue and how it has been affecting you. 

I would just like to check a few things:

1) Have you ever successfully received the missing verification email? (To your Virgin email address, or to any other)

2) If so, do you have the email address that the verification emails are coming from? (It would be good to be 100% certain if these are also coming from customerservice@heathrowrewards.com and not from an alternative address.)

3) Do you currently have any filters set up in your Email settings?

If you can please try adding the email address into your webmail address book, as this may help allow the emails through. If you are able to add this and then keep us updated if this resolves the problem!

Following this, we would need a bounce-back message, or the message headers to raise this further internally for you via IT ticket. 
All the best! 

[kevinh]

Hi Molly,

1. Yes I have received email verification links to my VM email address twice, most recently in July 2019.

2. Heathrow Rewards told me that was the address the password reset emails come from and previous reset links came from that address. It is an email address you can send customer service requests to so if emails are rejected they should be being seen.

3. I have a few spam filters set up but the disable all filters option is set so they shouldn't be active. None of my filters would catch this address and anyway I don't use them to delete mail, only redirect it to either spam or my inbox. I have one blacklisted email address but that has no similarity to this one.

I added the address to my address book and requested another reset email but nothing was delivered.

I don't know how you expect me to get a copy of a bounce back email or the header of an email I haven't received. VM is at fault here for blocking customer email. Surely you can find out what conditions will cause an email to be bounced back which might give Heathrow Rewards a clue what to do to avoid it happening for thjeir customers who have VM email addresses.

One other thing. Recently I've not received any email in my spam folder. There always used to be a few per day. Is Virgin email deleting spam instead of putting it in the spam folder? Or perhaps the spam folder is being flushed frequently? VM needs to get to the bottom of what has changed recently in terms of spam redirection and rejection. That might give a clue why these password reset emails aren't arriving.

Kevin

[ALF28]

I am still getting spam myself,  but it has  reduced a lot lately, it remains in the spam folder for at leat 30 days prior to being deleted.

Your issue with the  customerservice@heathrowrewards.com  reset codes not arriving coud be account/server problems at either end.

As the heathrow company had a data breach in 2021, your account may have issues-

The Disappearing Heathrow Rewards Mystery Solved - InsideFlyer UK

Heathrow Rewards is back after its data breach (headforpoints.com)

There are definately cases of virgin blocking some emails lately, but wise to check out heathrow reward to see if your account is compromised and check if the contact email is correct.

Virgin can not advise without the failed delivery message so perhaps you need to recover the account by contacting heathrow rewards by phone or email and explain the situation. If there is a problem with virgin blocking the reset code email, then you would have no alternative but to switch to another email service, always wise to have several emails. If heathrow can recover your account by phone, then ask them to send a test email and check they have your correct email address. 

If you can not receive heathrow emails to virgin email, it is unlikely without more evidence that virgin could resolve this, so why not try out gmail.com or outlook.com, and once an email is set up contact heathrow to change the email over to one that does work, I use gmail and outlook all the time for recovery and 2FA and never have any problems.

Virgin do block emails and that should not be happening, but you need to test the virgin email by sending a test email to it from someone else  to see if it receiving any email, or if there is some technical issue happening, or even try a recovery from another company to see if that works.

Also may it be wise to remove/disable all blacklist/filters till the issue is sorted out as filters if not accurate could move the emails to folders or spam so check the emails have not gone into a folder , sub folder, spam folder  or archive by mistake and hiding there.

In spam settings it is wise to tag as spam and deliver to the inbox to prevent emails going to the spam folder  and then being deleted after 30 days if wrongly classified as spam, then genuine emails could be lost for ever.

alf28

[kevinh]

I've been in contact with Heathrow Rewards using Twitter DMs the whole time (their response is faster than VM support). The problem is not with my account as such but they have tightened up their password strength requirement (presumably because of the data breach). My old password isn't strong enough and the website won't let me log in until I update it.

Yes, I'm already aware of all the things you say. I have asked Heathrow Rewards if I could change to a different email address and change back to VM once the password is reset. The problem is their system may need to validate the email when I change it back and that validation would not be received either. I'm waiting for them to respond to those questions.

VM support should be able to find out from their email service provider what conditions trigger a bounce back rejection. That might give a clue what is causing the problem for me and perhaps let Heathrow Rewards know what email server settings changes they need to make to provide the required certification. As it is also the normal customer service email address it must be monitored and the bounce back messages may be being received. If so they may be able to forward one to me.

Kevin

[ALF28]

Pleased that some progress has been made, I hope it gets fully resolved soon. I have had similar problems in the past with data breaches and they force you to update the password, happens a lot, I have had it with boots, tesco and a few more online accounts in the past

alf28

[Carley_S]

Hi @kevinh

Thanks for keeping the thread updated with what you are doing and what has been advised. Hopefully they are on the path in resolving the issue. Please keep us updated with how you get on. 

[kevinh]

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@Carley_S wrote:

Hi @kevinh

Thanks for keeping the thread updated with what you are doing and what has been advised. Hopefully they are on the path in resolving the issue. Please keep us updated with how you get on. 

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Heathrow Rewards are aware of the problem but it won't be resolved unless VM helps too. If Heathrow Rewards don't know why their email is blocked how can they address it?

Kevin

[Martin_N]

Did they advise if they have reached out to us?

^Martin

[kevinh]

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@Martin_N wrote:

Did they advise if they have reached out to us?

^Martin

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They said "we have been experiencing issues with sending emails to our customers with Virgin Media email addresses." No indication they have contacted VM about it.

Kevin