Unable to access Webmail - User Account Deactivated

[Sevyw]

Hi,

Posting this on behalf of my elderly parents who have both lost access to their TalkTalk Webmail in the past week or so. I have browsed the community posts for similar issues but cannot see anything that quite fits their scenario - but apologies if I’ve missed them.

My Dad last used his TalkTalk email account on 5th Jan - the following day when he tried to login he got the “User Account Deactivated” message. On checking my Mum’s account they found hers was also inaccessible with the same error message. My parents switched their broadband away from TalkTalk back in 2019 - nothing has changed recently as far as they’re concerned and they have not seen any notifications warning them that their accounts were in danger of being closed.

My Dad tried speaking to TalkTalk support but after a 45 min call was no further forward. He did, however, sign up to Mail Plus at the end of last week, but is unable to login to check his Mail Plus account as he gets the same error message when attempting to login to My Account. 

Yesterday I went on a Webchat with TalkTalk Support which lasted 2 hours 50 mins, and we seemed to go round in circles. They could not tell me why the accounts had been disabled and insisted that we needed to confirm the account number to which my Dad’s Mail Plus has been linked, but as he is unable to login to his Mail Plus we were unable to check which Account Number it may be linked to.

My parents’ TalkTalk email accounts (both @talktalk.net addresses) are their only email accounts linked to all of their online accounts (banking, Amazon, etc) so they are desperate to be able to access them (even if only in the short term to be able to retrieve any saved/archived emails). Any help that can be provided to enable us to get access back to their email accounts (or to my Dad’s Mail Plus account) would be appreciated please.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Simon, thanks for letting us know it's sorted.

Ady

[Gondola]

Hi Simon

Grateful thanks for confirming that the mailboxes are both restored. 

[Sevyw]

Hi Gondola,

Thank you for the update - I’m pleased to say that both my parents’ mailboxes are again accessible via Webmail. You are right -  no emails have been received by them in the period that they were barred, but the most important thing is that they have their mailboxes back. This is a big relief to me but a massive relief for them, so I really appreciate your help with this (and that of Ady).

We have tried composing a new message from each mailbox as you suggested, and in each case the email has gone to Sent Items and also appeared as a new email in their respective inboxes. I’ve also sent them test emails which have been received successfully, so all looks good.

Thanks again for all your help,

Simon

[Gondola · Accepted solution]

Hi Sevyw 

A mailbox barring issue has been resolved so mailboxes impacted should be accessible once more. Please ask your parents to retry webmail access and let us know that the mailbox access is restored. I don't expect new mail to have been received during the time the mailbox was barred.

Select here:  Sign in to TalkTalk Mail

Enter your email address and password, select Sign in.

Compose and self-send the same mailbox a mail message. Check that the message sends without error, is copied into the Sent objects folder and that the new mail arrives and stays in the Inbox.

[Sevyw]

Hi Ady,

Ok - thanks for the update. Good to hear it’s still being investigated and hasn’t been forgotten - it is appreciated.

Thanks,

Simon

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Simon, we're still waiting on updates from the incident team. I'll let you know as soon as we know more.

Ady

[Ady-TalkTalk]

You're welcome.

Ady

[Sevyw]

Hi Ady,

Ok - thanks for the update - your help is appreciated...

Simon

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Simon, we're looking into the cause of the problem at the moment. 

Ady

[Sevyw]

Hi Gondola,

Thanks for your further thoughts on this - if your theory is correct then maybe there is still some hope of being able to recover my parents’ mailboxes, but let’s see what Talk Talk say.

Yes I received the private message from Ady this morning and responded to it a couple of hours ago - am waiting to hear back when Ady has been able to investigate further.

Thanks,

Simon

[Gondola]

Hi Simon

Have you received the Community Personal Message from Ady and responded?

Further thoughts from me are that the mailboxes aren't officially deleted by TalkTalk but they are not found on the mail server. There was a previous issue with the mailbox storage server and I'm thinking that the maintenance on 5 Jan may have been, in part, to deal with that issue. That's my assumption but TalkTalk will have the details. If my assumption is valid then a fault ticket to the mail platform operator will be raised to investigate. 

[Sevyw]

Hi Gondola,

Thanks for the updated reply. I’m hoping their mailboxes haven’t been deleted (or are at least recoverable) even though from what you say it doesn’t sound promising. I’ll await further contact from Ady then - in the meantime thanks again for your help...

Simon

[Gondola]

Hi Sevyw 

The error message and first two tests would appear to indicate the mailboxes are deleted. But if they are deleted then the password recovery to the mobile should be deactivated. 

So, I think Ady will investigate this matter carefully. 

[Sevyw]

Hi Ady,

Thanks for your reply. I’ve just checked my private messages but there is nothing showing in my inbox at all - please can you resend the PM?

Thanks,

Simon

[Sevyw]

Hi Gondola,

Thanks very much for the reply. I’ve tried the 3 steps you suggested, and feedback is as follows (I got the same result with each email address for each of the tests):

1. I received an Undeliverable message when trying to send an email to each.

2. When entering each address in Verifalia the Classification shows as Undeliverable (Status: MailboxDoesNotExist)

3. When following the Forgot Password link in both cases it allowed me to reset the password (by sending an authentification code to my parents’ mobiles). We are still unable to access their accounts though with the new passwords (still receiving the User Account Deactivated message).

I assume this does not look promising but await your further advice...

Thanks,

Simon

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Simon, sounds like their accounts may have been deleted. I've sent you a personal message to verify the necessary security information so that I can access your parents accounts.

Ady

[Gondola]

Hi Simon

There was some TalkTalk Mail maintenance on 5th January. You should carry out some basic checks to see if the mailboxes have been deleted because they're not listed in an active customer MyAccount.  The help page  Deleted Email error message explains more.

So first you'd check if the email address is still active. Send the email address a mail message and see if you get an immediate bounceback error message saying 'Undeliverable' that means the mailbox isn't active.

Then  enter the email address at Verifalia, an external website that verifies if an email address exists. Enter the email address, complete the reCAPTCHA and select the Validate button. Does the top line response say 'Deliverable' or something else?

Finally, use the Reset password now button in the Help page  Changing your email password to see if you get a deleted or no domain error message or if you actually do have password recovery options saved.

Let us know the outcome in each case for each email address.