Is Spark cancelling e-mail accounts?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Is Spark cancelling e-mail accounts?

lowededwookie

51 posts

Master Geek

#151872 8-Sep-2014 14:42

We have a customer that I've just gone to check out her e-mail issues.

She recently changed from Spark to TrustPower and in HER efforts to get the TrustPower e-mail working she's deleted her Telecom settings.

Unfortunately she wanted me to set them back up but I can't get her logged into Xtra e-mail. So we went through the process to change her password because as is often the case she did not make accurate recordings of her passwords but I'll be blowed if I know what's going on. When we filled in the first part of her e-mail address like it told us to and entered in the Captcha it came back and said that that account does not exist.

Is Spark killing off e-mail accounts for those moving on to bigger brighter things are they? It's the first I've heard of it if they are and frankly somewhat spiteful considering no one else is doing it.

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20143 posts

Uber Geek

#1124369 8-Sep-2014 14:46

Once you change ISP, then all services in INCLUDING email would be canceled wouldn't they, unless you asked for it to be retained?

johntynz

119 posts

Master Geek

#1124375 8-Sep-2014 14:52

xtra email addresses are a chargable service, however free with a Broaband/dial-up connection, if she has taken her services to another provider then the email address would be cancelled

surely trustpower in their churn disclosures would have mentioned that the transfer would disconnect her services from Spark?

lowededwookie

51 posts

Master Geek

#1124377 8-Sep-2014 14:53

Not from what I understand.

General practise seems to be let people continue to use their old e-mail accounts.

That being said Orcon recently cancelled my e-mail account through non-use so maybe Spark is doing the same.

Would have been nice if Spark had let people know this was going to be the case though.

Thing is it was working up until Thursday.

lowededwookie

51 posts

Master Geek

#1124380 8-Sep-2014 14:55

Actually I know a number of people no longer with Telecom/Spark who still use that e-mail address so this MUST be something new if it is indeed something at all.

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1124381 8-Sep-2014 14:55

Free email accounts are provided as part of the ISP service. If you cancel the account, you either lose your mailbox or you can pay to keep it. Alternately, if it's a really old account, the email address may be an alias, and the actual username something like xtr94372482

Glassboy

850 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1124383 8-Sep-2014 14:56

The notification is when the customer cancelled the service and stopped paying for it. Your assertion otherwise is farcical.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1124385 8-Sep-2014 14:59

lowededwookie: Actually I know a number of people no longer with Telecom/Spark who still use that e-mail address so this MUST be something new if it is indeed something at all.

They are probably paying to keep the emails. It's how it's been done for years.

It's not standard practice to keep emails alive after churn. Some ISPs do, but not all of them and Spark never done it.

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lowededwookie

51 posts

Master Geek

#1124386 8-Sep-2014 15:04

No they aren't. They'd rather eat their own livers than give Telecom anymore money but they have invested a large interest in that e-mail address.

When I left Orcon I could still use my Orcon address even though I was with Vodafone. In fact when I went back to Orcon when I moved back to Taranaki the account still existed and I only needed to get my services moved over to that existing account.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#1124388 8-Sep-2014 15:07

lowededwookie: No they aren't. They'd rather eat their own livers than give Telecom anymore money but they have invested a large interest in that e-mail address.

When I left Orcon I could still use my Orcon address even though I was with Vodafone. In fact when I went back to Orcon when I moved back to Taranaki the account still existed and I only needed to get my services moved over to that existing account.

Orcon is one of the very few that have a policy of keeping emails alive.

People should move away from ISP-provided email services and use either a third party service (Outlook.com, GMail) or their own domain with a cloud service. It's almost like "email portability".

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

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Vocus

#1124389 8-Sep-2014 15:07

lowededwookie: Not from what I understand.

General practise seems to be let people continue to use their old e-mail accounts.

Orcon do allow you to keep your mailbox for free after you leave, but this is not, and never has been, the norm.

Telecom/Spark/Xtra have always, at least to my knowledge, charged a monthly fee to retain your mailbox after you terminate your broadband account. Churning is the same thing as terminating in the eyes of the losing service provider.

That being said Orcon recently cancelled my e-mail account through non-use so maybe Spark is doing the same.

We do, as of quite recently, archive mailboxes if they are unused, but that's just a matter of housekeeping. You can always call in and have it reinstated if you intend to continue using it.

Would have been nice if Spark had let people know this was going to be the case though.

Fairly sure it'll be in the T's and C's.

muppet

2568 posts

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#1124390 8-Sep-2014 15:10

lowededwookie: No they aren't. They'd rather eat their own livers than give Telecom anymore money but they have invested a large interest in that e-mail address.

When I left Orcon I could still use my Orcon address even though I was with Vodafone. In fact when I went back to Orcon when I moved back to Taranaki the account still existed and I only needed to get my services moved over to that existing account.

Maybe they're lucky then.

Either way, you need to accept that it is normal and standard practise for an email that's not being paid for to be deleted. You might know of a few edge cases, but they're just that, edge cases. If an account is cancelled, you should expected that all associated services with it will be purged at some stage unless you have some agreement in place with the provider.

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AidanS

458 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1124393 8-Sep-2014 15:15

We changed from Telecom to Vodafone (fixed homeline + ADSL internet) about 2 years ago, and all of our old @xtra.co.nz emails are still forwarding emails. We didn't request this, nor do we pay.

-A.

Amosnz

567 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1124397 8-Sep-2014 15:21

My mum changed to Slingshot a few months back (cold call and she wanted to save the $5 a month or whatever it was) and lost her xtra email.
Fortunately I had authorisation on her account and hadnt created an xtra email address on my Telecom account so I was able to migrate her address to my account.

Speedtest

lowededwookie

51 posts

Master Geek

#1124398 8-Sep-2014 15:22

ubergeeknz:
lowededwookie: Not from what I understand.

General practise seems to be let people continue to use their old e-mail accounts.

Orcon do allow you to keep your mailbox for free after you leave, but this is not, and never has been, the norm.

Really? My dad's been using his Infogen account and he's been through CallPlus and now is on to TelstraClear/Vodafone. Hasn't been on Infogen for over 5 years.

It must be some providers do and others don't but at the same time that doesn't explain the people I know of that still use their Xtra address while being on other providers without paying extra.

ubergeeknz: Telecom/Spark/Xtra have always, at least to my knowledge, charged a monthly fee to retain your mailbox after you terminate your broadband account. Churning is the same thing as terminating in the eyes of the losing service provider.

That being said Orcon recently cancelled my e-mail account through non-use so maybe Spark is doing the same.

We do, as of quite recently, archive mailboxes if they are unused, but that's just a matter of housekeeping. You can always call in and have it reinstated if you intend to continue using it.

Would have been nice if Spark had let people know this was going to be the case though.

Fairly sure it'll be in the T's and C's.

I have to admit I'm kind of behind the 8 ball with this stuff because I've been using an iCloud account since MobileMe days so I've kind of been out of touch with it all.

steve98

1395 posts

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#1124408 8-Sep-2014 15:34

I switched to Snap over a year ago and my @xtra.co.nz email address still functions. I believe they are supposed to shut it all down when you leave but are very lax about actually doing it.

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