Virgin email closing down

RichL74

Has anyone successfully completed the migration to Junara?

I have an elderly relative who is very tied to her Blueyonder email address. She won’t have the ability to go online and change the email address on all the various websites and accounts that use it, so keeping the existing address and migrating it successfully is really important.

I still have my old Blueyonder email address. I don’t really use it anymore, but I know it still works, so I decided to try the migration on my account first.

I started the migration and paid the 99p fee, which I knew would be charged. However, despite the confirmation email from Junara saying (famous last words!) that nothing would change for now and I could continue using my existing details, I can no longer access my emails through either Outlook or Thunderbird on my desktop.

Both now give me a generic error saying that either my username, password, or IMAP/SMTP settings are incorrect. I can assure you they aren’t, as nothing has been changed at my end.

Strangely, webmail still works perfectly, so I have no idea what has happened.

As I will need to complete this transfer for my elderly relative, you can probably understand why I’m now extremely hesitant to start the process on her account. She has a lot more to potentially lose than I do if something goes wrong.

Has anyone else completed the Junara migration successfully, particularly anyone who uses Outlook or Thunderbird rather than webmail? Did you experience anything similar?

soolin

I use Thunderbird and I have both my Virgin account and gmail on there and so far I haven't noticed any difference with my Virgin account- except it is so slow. I signed some documents online this morning at approx 9.15am and am still waiting for the link to confirm it was me that signed the forms- which were supposedly sent automatically.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82152723#Comment_82152723

The email is a free add-on so not a snowballs chance of that happening.

maman

Yes, @soolin ,my virgin email is slower than ever. It's causing problems when trying to change my email address with various contacts that send a code to the old address . By the time the code arrives it's expired. 🤬

SacredStephan

@RichL74, as you have paid 99p to Junara you are their customer now and they should be providing support to you.

I also have the "code expired before email arrives" issue, which I never had before. VM have been tinkering with email servers for at least the last month.

victor2

I also have the "code expired before email arrives" issue, which I never had before. VM have been tinkering with email servers for at least the last month.

I have had a ton of spam come through on my ntlworld address over the last month or so - it seems to have stopped now, or is at least going into the spam folder.

RichL74

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154341#Comment_82154341

I cant dispute that haha however just trying to have some human advice first before speaking to some chatbot and going round in circles for a few days who when I type in 'my details aren't accepted' will just link me to the set up instructions which I've already checked or some call centre in a foreign land who's advice will be to reinstall Windows more than likely.

PS on another note, why is the forum trying to autocorrect 'centre' to the American spelling?

ididgetwhereiamtoday

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82153520#Comment_82153520

I have had very few issues with VM broadband or TV as the services are very good. It’s their business practices I take issue with. By far the worst BB company for CS. This email issue is a prime example of how the business is run.
I have had a Sky email for donkey years completely free and I can’t believe Sky would consider such a bad PR move as this.
why would you as a customer put up with this sort of nonsense if there is viable alternatives?

It’s just greed, pure and simple. It seems like a trick a company would pull if they were really struggling financially.

soolin

Just a reminder- which I think was already mentioned earlier. Remember to change your email address with Virgin themselves- or at least add a backup one. A few people have mentioned that when they lost access to their email accounts without any prior warning Virgin wanted to send them a reset message - but it was a catch 22 situation where the emails were no longer working and the code needed to reset temporarily to enable a new email to be set up- couldn't be received.

One person reported that they had changed their email (or like me had added a new back up one as the existing one couldn't be removed) and when they phoned Virgin on an unrelated issue regarding the TV service couldn't be identified as the rep refused to believe the email he was trying to send a code to for verification was gone. Apparently even though they had set up a new email well in advance of any official notification via their own domain the rep could only use the primary email to send details to. It was sorted out apparently but it took several attempts and a few hours to get someone who accepted that some traditional Virgin email addresses were gone.

RumRat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154717#Comment_82154717

The only part of Virgin CS that I ever deal with is retentions. I've always found them to be very helpful. If you've had very few issues with the BB or TV, then it seems a case of cutting off nose to spite face….

Do you think Sky are any less 'greedy' than Virgin? That would be a fantasy…😂

Bottom line is that Virgin haven't offered an email service for a long time. They are just closing down the few remaining accounts. Anyway, it all reinforces the advice to never use an ISP email service.