...to think my ex-internet providers are being unfair?

[missingmessages]

I have recently moved my internet from my old provider to a new one, mainly because it saved me £65 per month.

Anyway, it seems my old provider will not allow me to access my old emails, apparently they could have given me a free 'mail only' service if I'd told them I wanted one before the switch; the letter telling me this came 2 days AFTER the switch.

My main concern is that there a number of work contracts, some current information I need for work, my email address book and some saved emails from my Dad who died a few years ago.

Surely they can't withhold all of this from me, I have phoned a couple of times but I get sent to the tech team who are not blessed with any form of empathy.

I'm sure there must be access to these emails, but can anyone help me form a new argument, I'm thinking GDPR or suchlike.

AIBU to not just take no for an answer?

I'm not a lawyer so happy to be corrected but logically speaking I'd say that GDPR meant that they had to delete all of your data as you're not a customer except the minimum stuff that they have to keep for 12 months so the government could use it if you were suspected of a crime.

I think the data they keep is not stuff like emails but the dns of the person who sent the email etc but again I'm happy to be corrected as my knowledge is casual internet news reader.

I wonder if they'd give you access for a one off payment of £65?

They won’t let you access your own emails?

How weird. Surely an email isn’t held by a particular company but in the internet in general

I see that you're saving £65 so used to pay more. The £65 comment was about paying just one more month of access to your webmail

By my logic, if I could have kept a mail only account before, I should be able to have one now.

It's like they are withholding my mail, if it was paper post, that would be wrong!

@Soubriquet

They won’t let you access your own emails?

How weird. Surely an email isn’t held by a particular company but in the internet in general

It is held by a particular company, it takes up space on their systems somewhere that they’ll be paying for. Everything on the internet has to be stored, and paid for, by someone.

@missingmessages

By my logic, if I could have kept a mail only account before, I should be able to have one now.

It's like they are withholding my mail, if it was paper post, that would be wrong!

As someone has said GDPR probably means they have to delete data they don’t have any need for the moment you are no longer a customer.

The position now is more like a PO Box provider, they’re no longer accepting any new mail for you and it’s probably being returned to the sender.

Never use an email address from an ISP for anything. You will want to change it one day. The Government are looking into this though as it is a real problem.

This has been a known issue for a long time, in fact I think Money Box did it again in the past couple of weeks, might be worth a listen, I can't remember if there was any new advice

@PleasantVille

This has been a known issue for a long time, in fact I think Money Box did it again in the past couple of weeks, might be worth a listen, I can't remember if there was any new advice

Thanks. I'll try and find that, any advice would be welcome

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53442244

There's a link to it here @missingmessages