Suspended or Deleted email addresses

[gregprog]

A little over 2 years ago DanielS posted that: 

 We don’t consider auto-forwarding email as an indication that the account is in use, so to avoid your mailbox being suspended please log-in regularly using one of the above.

I've had an account used only for receiving emails and auto-forwarding to my preferred email account for over 5 years. I have hardly ever logged onto it directly and it has never been suspended.

Is that because DanielS was posting only about accounts managed by BT's own system and not those run through BT-Yahoo? That account has now been migrated to BT's system so is it now under threat of suspension if I don't arrange some sort of log-on to it?

PS I would have asked by replying to DanielS's post, but that seems to be anti-socially blocked.

[imjolly]

are you still a BT broadband customer or do you pay for premium email

[gregprog]

What difference does it make to the email function whether I'm a broadband customer or a premium customer?

[imjolly]

if you are neither then your email account will get deleted

[gg30340]

If you are not a BT Broadband customer or using BT Premium email your email account will be downgraded to the BT Basic email. This does not allow the use of email clients and I suspect you will not be able to forward it to another email address but I could be wrong.

See link regarding types of BTMail.

https://www.bt.com/help/email/bt-email-products

BT have changed their Terms and Conditions and in that there is reference to what is considered as use of the email account and forwarding is not one of them.

See section 7(g)

 https://www.bt.com/help/home/terms/

[northshields]

gregprog,

I may be wrong, but I think something has changed. I have had exactly the arrangement you describe and it has worked perfectly for many years. Suddenly, about a month ago, for the first time, I got an email saying that unless I logged in within the next month the account would be deleted. A bit on the petty side, but now I have had to set up a reminder to log in every so often.

[gg30340]

---

@northshields wrote:

gregprog,

I may be wrong, but I think something has changed. I have had exactly the arrangement you describe and it has worked perfectly for many years. Suddenly, about a month ago, for the first time, I got an email saying that unless I logged in within the next month the account would be deleted. A bit on the petty side, but now I have had to set up a reminder to log in every so often.

---

Yes something has changed. BT are in the process of migrating their email onto the new BTMail system. To help facilitate this and not move the thousand if not millions of redundant email accounts or those of users who are no longer  BT Broadband customer or paying for their email, BT are deleting such accounts. This has always been their policy but they vary rarely did it. 

[gregprog]

Indeed BT migrating to their own servers and away from Yahoo is a change - and a very long time it has taken. You may well be right that BT wants to delete redundant email accounts, but this business of suspending accounts is NOT the same thing at all. What we have are accounts that belong to current paying customers and that are in daily use. BT says it will suspend them if the customer does not log in to the account either directly on the web or using an email client - but that is just a childish interpretation and ignores the irritation for us paying customers at being told we have to go through an extra process just because the BT email team doesn't care.

[gg30340]

It's their ball so they can set the rules.

See link

https://www.bt.com/help/email/why-has-my-bt-email-address-been-suspended-or-deleted-

[gregprog]

"It's their ball ...". I don't think we need to take it that BT, as a service provider to members of the public can do absolutely anything it likes, but yes, the contract terms of service and the process for varying these do apply - provided BT acts reasonably.   

As it happens, the page you linked does not conform to the terms of service (ToS). Those are a lot more reasonable. The ToS says: 

"If your email address isn’t used for 90 days in a row, we will notify you. If after 150 days, you’ve still not used it, we will delete the account and end any associated service." 

So after 90 days BT should notify us. There's no mention of suspension at that point. BT seems to intend to breach its own terms of service (ToS).

On the other hand, to its credit, the ToS does say "the use of auto forwarding does not count as active usage". That's ungenerous (surely auto-forwarding to another BT email address belonging to the same customer should count), but I have to admit it is clear.