Virgin Media’s Email Service Crashes But What About The Data?

Dear Reader,

You’ve got mail!

…. or have you?

If you’re someone who uses emails for important communications, you’d certainly be frustrated if the service were to go down for days on end. #AngryMuch

You’d probably be completely livid or devastated if the service resumed but some emails were missing! #OhNo

Well, that’s the reality for a few Virgin Media users.
 

What Happened?

 

• As per reports, it all started late at night on 18th June (Sunday), when a large number of users were blocked from accessing their accounts.

• Thousands of users were blocked for over 24 hours, with reports of some unable to access inboxes even after 36 hours.

 

What Did Virgin Media Say?

 

• At the time, Virgin Media said, “We apologise again to those individuals who have been experiencing issues with their email services.”

• This was followed by an email sent to some customers, which said the company was able to restore most email services. However, some customers were unable to view emails received on or before 19th June.

• On 23rd June, Axel Wehrle, Director of Customer Services for Virgin Media O2, said in an email, "Unfortunately a part of the hardware that manages our mailbox platform experienced a failure, which overloaded the servers and caused service disruption for some email users."

   

What’s Happening Now?

 

• Cut to the first week of July, where services are back online but some users are still facing issues logging in and emails are still missing!

• Many taking to social media to voice their concerns, some even believing the missing emails wouldn’t be recovered. A retired IT professional said, "I'm struggling, and I guess anybody with any IT background, would struggle to understand why that's so difficult to [to] get it back."

• Another user wrote, “I assume all Virgin media email customers are going to be compensated due to continuous loss of emails, I have lost really important emails this week that have affected (my) ability to work as I was awaiting certificates via email. I’m sure I’m not alone "

 

What’s The Company Saying Now?

 

• Speaking to BBC, a Virgin Media spokesperson said, "Following a recent issue with our email service, all Virgin Media email users are able to send and receive emails as normal.” They continued, “Unfortunately a small proportion of impacted users are currently unable to view historic emails in their inboxes. We know that this will be frustrating for those who have important emails and documents saved in their inboxes, and we apologise unreservedly for the inconvenience this is causing"

• The email provider also mentioned, “Fixing this issue is taking longer than we anticipated but our teams are working flat out to fully restore all historic emails as soon as possible."

 
Do you think users should be compensated for the disruption and if so, how? Let us know in the comments below!