TalkTalk Deregistered the email address for MyAccount

[Anonymous]

TalkTalk created a new problem for me today by deregistering the email address for MyAccount without any notification. I only discovered this when trying to log in to the Community, and seeing a response stating "Sorry, your email address is not recognised".

After a tedious time in chat sessions, I eventually got access to MyAccount again. The agent could not register the email address that was previously registered, so I had to create a new email account especially for MyAccount. Once I had access to MyAccount, I changed the email address back to what it was before TalkTalk de-registered the email address.

I have no idea why TalkTalk de-registered the email address, and so don't know whether it will happen again.

Usually, whilst logged into MyAccount, it is possible to access my TalkTalk Community account without having to go through the login process, but that is not the case for me today, so I went through the login process, using the same email address that I previously used for the Community (the same one I am/was using for MyAccount) to obtain a secure access code.

Having entered the code, as I suspected, I am being treated as a new user. If I try to link my existing community account user name 'nameunknown', the response is "The account has been linked already.", hence I have (I hope) temporarily created a new community user name 'nameunknown0'.

Can you sort this out, so that I can continue using my previous account user name 'nameunknown'?

[fr8ys]

Question. Have you had any previous involvement with the community prior to your nameunknown incarnations?

If so, what were these and were they affected by being deregistered / decommissioned in any way either in my account or on the forum?

[Anonymous]

@Gliwmaeden2

Prior to the account being de-registered, because of the restrictions on my email accounts, and the need to communicate with TalkTalk using the email address for MyAccount, I changed the email address to a non TalkTalk email address. The account was de-registered whilst a non TalkTalk email address was in use.

[Gliwmaeden2]

Maybe because you changed your log in / billing address back to your Talktalk email after resetting My Account?

Try setting it up with the non Talktalk address again and keep it that way? If it doesn't get deregistered again within the next week or two just keep it that way to avoid the inconvenience of having to waste more time over this.

A spare email address that is non Talktalk can be very useful to keep in reserve for all sorts of reasons. 

[Anonymous]

I have just discovered that my TalkTalk MyAccount has been de-registered yet again.

The email address I used for registering was not a TalkTalk email address, so the suggestions that using a TalkTalk email address may result in the account be de-registered certainly do not apply this time.

Now I have to re-register for MyAccount yet again, and since there is no mobile number on my account, I have to use chat.

I may well have to create a new TalkTalk Community account too, as I did last time I had to re-register for MyAccount.

[siphosethu-TT]

Please allow me to look into this and come back to you with answers to all your questions. Thanks

[fr8ys]

@siphosethu-TT 

I recall a few years ago that one of your predecessors said that sweeps were done periodically on my account to remove TalkTalk and legacy emails from being used as sign ons. 

Is this practise still occuring perhaps?

[siphosethu-TT]

Please allow us to look into it and see why this is happening and then get back to you. Thanks

[Anonymous]

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@siphosethu-TT wrote:

Hi there @Anonymous, something might have happened, and the email was deregistered on my account. Will have to reregister your email so you able to regain access okay. Thanks

---

@siphosethu-TT

In paragraph two of my post, I wrote "After a tedious time in chat sessions, I eventually got access to MyAccount again." and "Once I had access to MyAccount, I changed the email address back to what it was before TalkTalk de-registered the email address."

The remaining issue is that I do not have access to my 'nameunknown' TalkTalk Community account, which I was using before TalkTalk created the issue with MyAccount. This is the part of my post that describes what happened when I attempted to gain access to my TalkTalk Community account:

Usually, whilst logged into MyAccount, it is possible to access my TalkTalk Community account without having to go through the login process, but that is not the case for me today, so I went through the login process, using the same email address that I previously used for the Community (the same one I am/was using for MyAccount) to obtain a secure access code.

Having entered the code, as I suspected, I am being treated as a new user. If I try to link my existing community account user name 'nameunknown', the response is "The account has been linked already.", hence I have (I hope) temporarily created a new community user name 'nameunknown0'.

Can you sort this out, so that I can continue using my previous account user name 'nameunknown'?

[siphosethu-TT]

Hi there @Anonymous, something might have happened, and the email was deregistered on my account. Will have to reregister your email so you able to regain access okay. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Please respond to my first post on this thread.

[Billx]

Correct, @Anonymous 

I am currently using a talktalk.net email address to log into 'MyAccount' and to log into TalkTalk Community.

I wasn't forced to use a different identity on TalkTalk Community. That stayed the same after the other change.

Also, initially I attempted to use a tiscali.co.uk email address, instead of a talktalk.net email address in that change.

I wasn't allowed to do that. Maybe  a talktalk.net email address was slightly more acceptable than a tiscali.co.uk email address.

Regarding the issue of my subscribed Community threads, it finally stabilised, and I am now getting none. Neither at gmail.com, nor talktalk.net. I should be getting them at talktalk.net I am currently complaining about this.

Bill

[Anonymous]

@Gliwmaeden2 

If I recall @Billx 's posts on his 'Subscribed Messages' thread correctly, it would appear he has achieved, what I think you say cannot be achieved. I believe he changed the email address for his TalkTalk MyAccount and Community account from a Gmail email address to a TalkTalk email address, and he is using the same Community account, logging in with the TalkTalk email address that he was previously accessing using the Gmail address. The issue he still has is that his Community email messages for his subscribed threads are still being sent to his Gmail email address, rather than his TalkTalk email address.

[Anonymous]

@Gliwmaeden2 

As I said "TalkTalk's IT is terrible". 

I suspected TalkTalk would not resolve this issue, but as far as I am concerned that is down to a poor set up.

As you say, I can see my previous threads, and I can continue posting on them using my new Community account, but I cannot access the private messages.

If TalkTalk had not de-registered the email address for my TalkTalk MyAccount, non of this would have happened.

When my contract ends, I will be switching to another provider. I may switch sooner, if TalkTalk agree to waive the early termination charge. In the last year TalkTalk has wasted  too much of my time. Switching to another provider cannot come soon enough for me, especially when I read in The Telegraph last month that TalkTalk has £1.2bn of debt, and BT is eyeing up TalkTalk for  takeover.

[Gliwmaeden2]

As you've changed your My Account log in back to the Talktalk address, no aspect of it or the community log in will remember the non Talktalk address.

Logging into the community is always linked to the address you use for billing and My Account. 

Each time you change that email address it forgets the Community ID you chose, so you lose the previous forum name, so can't access that profile to update it or add to private notes etc.

Probably a security requirement. Better safe than sorry, and it doesn't really matter as long as you can still see the ACTIVITY list of what you'd previously posted, @Anonymous.

When other people have posted about this sort of issue, they seem to have got stuck with their new forum ID and can't reclaim their earlier username. 

[Anonymous]

TalkTalk's IT is terrible.

As I previously described, following the deregistration of my TalkTalk MyAccount, getting it re-registered using a temporary non TalkTalk email account, and subsequently amending the email address in the personal details for the account, so that it is the same TalkTalk email address as before the de-registering, I was no longer able to log in to my 'nameunknown' Community account using that TalkTalk email address, and had to create a new Community account. Having logged in to the Community using my TalkTalk email account, when I logged out, up popped a logout message addressing me "Hi <non TalkTalk email address here>".

So then I am thinking, I wonder what would happen if I try to log in to the Community using the non TalkTalk email address, maybe I can access my 'nameunknown' Community account.

No such luck. I enter the non TalkTalk email address, get the secure access code, enter it, and up pops a message, saying "Sorry, your email address is not recognised. Please try re-entering your email. If you haven't registered yet, register now".

[Anonymous]

@ferguson 

They may not approve/recommend it, but I was using a TalkTalk email address for My Account, and the same email address for the Community up until today, i.e. TalkTalk was not preventing it.

Now that the email address for MyAccount is back to that TalkTalk email address, i cannot access my 'nameunknown' Community account using that same TalkTalk email address, hence my post requesting the TalkTalk Community staff to resolve the issue.

[ferguson]

OK. But the My Account and community login addresses have to be the same. And TalkTalk deprecate the use of their own email domains. Don't ask me why, I don't work for them. 

[Anonymous]

@Gliwmaeden2 

Thanks. I looked up the links to my existing threads earlier.

The email address is one of the five email addresses that should be linked to my TalkTalk MyAccount, and yes, whether or not tomorrow brings further issues is yet to be seen.

It raises the question as to whether the de-registering happened accidentally whilst someone was attempting to link the email account to MyAccount, or if it was intentional.

[Anonymous]

It is a TalkTalk email address, which was the case for quite some time until today.

As stated here: https://www.talktalk.co.uk/sign-in , registering to use MyAccount requires the account holder to provide a valid email address. There are no other requirements stated, e.g. you cannot use a TalkTalk email address.

TalkTalk may have deregistered it because it is a TalkTalk email address, but TalkTalk should not have done that without first informing me that it would be deregistered, and of the reason why this is necessary.

TalkTalk has not prevented users from using a TalkTalk email address, although it does appear that TalkTalk customer service agents are prevented from entering a TalkTalk email address. As I stated, I created a temporary email account in order that the agent could complete registration, and once I had regained access to MyAccount, I changed it back to the TalkTalk email address.

I was a victim of the previous data breach. For that reason, I refuse to provide TalkTalk with any more personal data than I feel is necessary. I should not need to create a new email account especially for accessing MyAccount, when I already have a TalkTalk email address.

I have a completely random character, strong password. There is little chance anyone can access my account, even if they know or guess the TalkTalk email address.

[Gliwmaeden2]

@Anonymous,

Your thread about keeping all your email addresses attached to your current My Account is here, for reference:

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email/TalkTalk-Mailbox-Manager/td-p/3117509/page/2

Hopefully no further muddles will be revealed tomorrow, particularly if the address you prefer to log into My Account is one of these legacy addresses, that should have been attached. 🤞