Virgin Media purging my Virgin.net email account although I've never had a Virgin Media account

sickntired_2

Has anyone else had a notification from Virgin Media that they are about to purge their @virgin.net email account?  I'm only asking as I have had my virgin.net email account for over 20 years, and its my primary email account for contacts, purchases and other account recovery details.  I've had this account since before Virgin Media existed, I have never had an account with Virgin Media.  Never subscribe to, or used their services, and as far as I'm aware, have never agreed any of their terms and conditions for the use of this email account.  I have looked on the email platform itself, but there is no trace or mention of their T's & C's, 

So, Virgin Media have recently informed me that my virgin.net email account is about to be deleted as I no longer have a Virgin Media account (again, I have never had an account so have never seen their T's & C's). 

I have spoken with their fault support, who told me the email notification of this was phishing, and I should simply ignore it!  I have also written to 5 Virgin Media board directors, including their CEO Lutz Schuler multiple times, and had no response whatsoever.  

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did/can you do?  

Also, can they do this if I have never seen, let alone agreed to their T's & C's and have actually had this account since before their company actually existed? 

Cheers

sickntired_2

Peter999_2

Yes, of course they can do this.  They don't have to provide you with free email services for life.

I know you said you have never used their services, but you do - their email service.

If it was me I would be getting a new email address (probably google) and migrate your account over as soon as you can just in case if they do pull the plug.

iniltous

If you have never had a Virgin account ( presumably you are not being pedantic and differentiating between Virgin and Virgin Media ) how did you get a @virgin.net address in the first place , some connection with another Richard Branson company ? 

If as part of the deal that gave Branson a share in what is now known as Virgin Media (  in return for them using his brand name  )  email users were also transferred, then if they VM want to remove email addresses for non Virgin Media customers, that’s entirely up-to them, I doubt there is anything you can do ( and really have no reason to complain , you have had presumably free email for years ) , however perhaps what you were told , that this wasn’t  genuine information , and it was a phishing attempt , you have nothing to worry about , however as already stated , you may want to open an email account either with whoever does provide your broadband ( if they supply one ) or a ‘free’ email address that’s unlikely to be deleted.

Peter999_2

iniltous said:

If you have never had a Virgin account ( presumably you are not being pedantic and differentiating between Virgin and Virgin Media ) how did you get a @virgin.net address in the first place , some connection with another Richard Branson company ? 

If as part of the deal that gave Branson a share in what is now known as Virgin Media (  in return for them using his brand name  )  email users were also transferred, then if they VM want to remove email addresses for non Virgin Media customers, that’s entirely up-to them, I doubt there is anything you can do ( and really have no reason to complain , you have had presumably free email for years ) , however perhaps what you were told , that this wasn’t  genuine information , and it was a phishing attempt , you have nothing to worry about , however as already stated , you may want to open an email account either with whoever does provide your broadband ( if they supply one ) or a ‘free’ email address that’s unlikely to be deleted.

I agree with all you've said, apart from the getting an email address from their current ISP.   I don't think that's a good idea as they will be in the same boat if they want to leave their ISP for a cheaper deal.   I would say google mail or yahoo mail etc. would be a much better idea then it doesn't matter what ISP you are with.

TadleyBaggie

No one should ever rely on an ISP based email service, as it’s very common for them to withdraw the service when you change providers. 

Neil_Jones

sickntired_2 said:

Has anyone else had a notification from Virgin Media that they are about to purge their @virgin.net email account?  I'm only asking as I have had my virgin.net email account for over 20 years, and its my primary email account for contacts, purchases and other account recovery details.  I've had this account since before Virgin Media existed, I have never had an account with Virgin Media.  Never subscribe to, or used their services, and as far as I'm aware, have never agreed any of their terms and conditions for the use of this email account.  I have looked on the email platform itself, but there is no trace or mention of their T's & C's, 

So, Virgin Media have recently informed me that my virgin.net email account is about to be deleted as I no longer have a Virgin Media account (again, I have never had an account so have never seen their T's & C's). 

I have spoken with their fault support, who told me the email notification of this was phishing, and I should simply ignore it!  I have also written to 5 Virgin Media board directors, including their CEO Lutz Schuler multiple times, and had no response whatsoever.  

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did/can you do?  

Also, can they do this if I have never seen, let alone agreed to their T's & C's and have actually had this account since before their company actually existed? 

Cheers

sickntired_2

Virgin.net was Virgin internet over a BT line, aimed at customers who wanted Virgin internet but didn't have access to the cable network (which was NTL at the time, later becoming what is now Virgin Media).

Virgin.net (the ISP) was ultimately sold to TalkTalk, and presumably the rest of the operation was folded back into Virgin Media.  So technically you do have an account with Virgin Media, just not directly.

T&Cs would have been at the time you signed up with Virgin,net, superseded by later versions that would have been a case of "if you don't like these changes, you can leave", caused by the change of ownership down the line. 

The original plan was to start purging these from 2016, though that's still ongoing:

https://virginnetemails.wordpress.com/2024/08/07/what-to-do-if-you-have-a-virgin-net-email-address/

And yes, Virgin don't owe you an email address.

If you still have access to it, get your a Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail email now and start pulling them in while you still can.

yellowrose33

Yes, it's happened to me too. I used to be a customer and I was told that I could keep my virgin.net email address, which I've been using for over 20 years.

I received a notification that my email address will be cancelled and deleted. 

It's been about a month that I haven't been able to log in to my emails. 

However, I'm still able to send emails to my virgin.net email address which means that it hasn't been cancelled and deleted! Which means that I am still receiving emails and I have no idea who has access to them! I don't!

I've tried contacting Virgin in so many different ways but I haven't had any luck getting to anyone. It won't even let me to register for their forum. Phone calls are disconnected when I don't enter my phone number registered with Virgin or my account number (which I don't have). 

What do I need to do to have my email address cancelled and deleted?

dave_dph

yellowrose33 said:

Yes, it's happened to me too. I used to be a customer and I was told that I could keep my virgin.net email address, which I've been using for over 20 years.

I received a notification that my email address will be cancelled and deleted. 

It's been about a month that I haven't been able to log in to my emails. 

However, I'm still able to send emails to my virgin.net email address which means that it hasn't been cancelled and deleted! Which means that I am still receiving emails and I have no idea who has access to them! I don't!

I've tried contacting Virgin in so many different ways but I haven't had any luck getting to anyone. It won't even let me to register for their forum. Phone calls are disconnected when I don't enter my phone number registered with Virgin or my account number (which I don't have). 

What do I need to do to have my email address cancelled and deleted?

When you say you can't log into your emails, do you mean via a browser? If so, then it may be worth trying to set up the email account in an email client, such as Thunderbird. You would need to set up using:

Email Settings for Virgin.net

Incoming Server - IMAP

Server: imap4.virgin.net
Port: 993
Security: SSL/TLS
Username: Your full email address
Password: Your password

Outgoing Server - SMTP

Server: smtp.virgin.net
Port: 465
Security: SSL/TLS
Username: Your full email address
Password: Your password

vsg2406

We are having the same problem: 25 years virgin.net email address and cannot access! the only difference to the previous posts is that we still are virgin media customers!

soolin

vsg2406 said:

We are having the same problem: 25 years virgin.net email address and cannot access! the only difference to the previous posts is that we still are virgin media customers!

Just jumping onto this thread as it is still relevant for me.I have been with Virgin since they launched in the UK and still use Virgin broadband and have always had the latest tech as we live in London and are always the area among the first to get the latest hi speed this or that.

I have not received any correspondence from Talk talk or Virgin about the change and I think my email has co incidentally been compromised via a data breach via a 3rd party site, nothing to do with this supposed switch.

Virgin media were absolutely dreadful when I tried to speak to them wouldn't listen, told me I couldn't be compromised if I could still use my email and that 1000 sign up to various forums and groups an hour is 'normal' . Told me to change my password, despite me saying it wouldn't accept my date of birth and memorable name. Was told to go through to talk talk - however to get through to someone they need to confirm my account with them and that is done via a telephone number- and they won't accept mine as I'm not a customer.

I use Thunderbird and can access my emails there, I just can't change my password at all.

EDIT
I've now opened a Gmail account and will start moving as much of my address book across as I can.