My original email, an ‘fsnet.co.uk’ address has been used constantly for over 10 years for internet shopping, forum registrations and occasional infrequent personal mail. Freeserve and Wanadoo managed to cope with hosting this account for some years before Orange took the helm.

Last week I was unable to log into my account. I contacted Orange and after 2 hours of being fobbed of and given false hope by their outsourced ‘customer service’ representatives, including earlier today one of them advising me that he was able to access my account even though I couldn’t, it now transpires that by accident they have deleted my email account. Not only have I lost all saved mail and contacts, but the are unable to reactivate my account.

I am now left with several on-line shopping companies and other other contacts, who only have this email contact for me. I can’t remember half of them.

To top it all they have informed me that they cannot recreate a new account with the same email address (even though the old one appears to have disappeared into the ether) so now I’m left in the situation that if I forget a password (which I do frequently with less often used shopping sites and forums) I will be unable to get a new password as the only address they will sent it to is the one Orange binned!

I’m guessing as it’s a free service (I’ve not had Orange mobile or broadband for a couple of years as they showed similar levels of competence providing those services) I’ve not really got any comeback. I’m amazed that they can’t create a new account with the same email address though. I don’t know if it’s possible in any other way. I get a feeling that they’re not really that bothered with the hassle they’ve caused. I’m a little concerned that if they can’t be bothered creating an email address someone else could and start receiving my emails.

Time to try to draw up a list of all the companies I need to try to log in with to change my email (finger crossed I can remember passwords…)

I’ve had several fsmail.net accounts for years, they’ve worked fine 99% of the time.

It’s annoying, but not the end of the world.

Do you honestly think that Orange give a shit about loosing one customers email?

Nope.

loosing one customers email?

They might tighten it though.

‘Free service works perfectly for 10 years’ would have been an alternative thread title. 😉

I’m amazed that they can’t create a new account with the same email address though.

Doesn’t particularly surprise me, if they use the email account name as the primary ID in their database, and have then botched the delete, they have inconsistent references in various places… (Given they deleted the account presumably by mistake this isn’t entirely inconceivable.)

‘Free service works perfectly for 10 years’ would have been an alternative thread title.

I take my hat off to Freeserve and Wanadoo for their ‘free service’. I guess the £15000 in mobile phone and internet fees Orange had from us in the time makes me feel a little less charitable!

I’m calming down a bit now. The post was written after coming off the phone to customer support for over an hour. Banging my head against a wall doesn’t come into it!

My phone contract is up for renewal this month- was going to shop around, but the Orange support merry-go-round has reminded me why I should stay put!

Now what’s Ann Robinson’s email address…

I suppose continuing the Watchdog analogy I should have said “not to be confused with other (bike) companies of the same name”.

Mods, feel free to alter my title to be a little clearer which Orange I’m referring to !

I’m surprised it lasted that long, our freeserve address which migrated to wanadoo before we got sick of them only lasted a few months after we switched providers. At the end of the day if you’re not paying for a service they’re not going to provide it. Maybe in future keep your emails and contacts at least backed up on hardware you own and maybe consider keeping a list of account details and passwords even if it is on a sheet of paper hidden under the mattress.

I understand your frustration at losing the account but it was going to happen at some point. I guess this is why so many people use gmail and hotmail accounts.