Unable to give away email address

[peskdale61]

I'm trying to give away an existing email address to my father. Unfortunately, we are having a bit of a problem associating it to a BT ID.

When we follow the link to register the email address, we have the options to either create a new BT ID, or link it to an existing one. He already has an old BT ID from when he used to be a customer, so we have tried to use this. It is initially accepted, but after providing some more details, the process encounters an unknown error.

We can't create a new BT ID for him using the same email address either, because it is already attached to that old account.

Would one of the support team be able to help here?

Alternatively, could we delete my father's existing BT ID, so that we can create a new one with the same email address?

[gg30340]

Can your father still access his "MyBT" using his "old" BTID?

Was his "old" BTID username the BT email address that you are trying to "gift" to him or is it an old/different email address?

Is the new email address part of your email allocation and is presently able to be accessed and used by you?

[peskdale61]

Hi - yes, we can still login to MyBT with the old ID. It's the same email address I am trying to gift to him.

The email address was originally attached to his account, and we moved it over to my account a few years ago to keep the premium features when he decided to leave BT. It currently appears as one of my allocated 11 addresses, in the 'given to family or friends' section.

It is the last step of registering this gifted address with a BT ID we have been unable to complete, due to the unknown error occurring.

[licquorice]

If it was previously moved to your account from his account, you can't now move it back. You will need to talk to customer services to get them to do it.

[peskdale61]

I understand that there is a difference between moving an address between account, and gifting an address from one person to another.

The third section of this help page details exactly what I'm trying to do - https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/can-i-move-my-bt-email-address-to-another-account...

Importantly, the line: Once the email address is moved, it's very important you'gift' itback to the other person. 

So I should be able to gift it back to him... but I appreciate there is potentially some complication here because it's an old ID that we are trying to use.

My father doesn't actually need the existing BT ID for any purpose at the moment, since he isn't a customer. So could we delete his old BT ID entirely, and then create it anew?

[licquorice]

But if the email address is appearing in your MyBT as having been given to friends and family, the gifting process would appear to have succeeded.

[peskdale61]

You misunderstand, it shows in this section, but it is incomplete because we are unable to complete the gifting process. 

The link in the screenshot above is what we are unable to complete, because of the unknown error that occurs when using his existing BT ID. We also cannot create a new BT ID with the existing address.

[licquorice]

The misunderstanding was due to the lack of information, which you have now provided in the screenshot.

The simplest way is to probably for your father to create a new BTID, this cannot be done with an existing email address (I know, I know!!) . Create the new BTID with a new address, once an address is associated with the BTID, he should be able to complete the gifting process to add the gifted address. Post back if that fails.

[gg30340]

When you "gifted" it to your father you should have generated an activation code that should have been sent to his email address. He should have then clicked on the link to complete the process.

See section "How to gift existing email address ......"

https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/account-set-up/how-do-i-create-and-activate-a-new...

Did he receive a link?

[peskdale61]

Yes, he did receive that link. It is the same link that currently shows in the screenshot above in my account too. The link itself works fine. It's what happens afterwards (during the process of associating the email with a BT ID) that is going wrong. We are following all the steps correctly.... it is just an error that is appearing with unfortunately no useful information as to the cause.

With regards to creating another BT ID with a different address, having two different "BT" logins will just be confusing to my father in the long term. If this is the path we need to go down to complete the gifting process, then we would much rather just delete the existing ID outright.

Can you point me towards how to do this? Alternatively, can a moderator help with this?