Disclaimer: More rant than blog. Though there are valuable travel tips and my new contact email at the end!
Granted, a traveler’s worst nightmare would probably be more along the lines of being detained in Egypt, or locked up and deported from Indonesia, however for THIS traveler, blocking and continuing to deny access to my email account ranks pretty highly with one of the worst things which could possibly happen abroad.
With flight and hotel confirmations, itinerary information, thousands of contacts, vouchers for current competitions on my site, and ongoing conversation threads with clients and tourism boards – losing it all has been a pretty big nightmare.
A Traveler’s Worst Nightmare: Blocked From Email Communication
As with all great stories, this one begins in Bolivia. Two weeks ago at exactly 7.14am, I sent a quick email home from La Paz airport updating them on my travels. As inconceivable as this concept is, later that afternoon I attempted to open my email from Chile.
Apparently the concept of travel is inconceivable.
Again?! Did I mention Outlook blocked access to my email 3 weeks ago while I was traveling through Peru? Though in that instance, I filled in their online verification form with information about my account and had access back within 24 hours.
Not this time! For reasons that I cannot fathom, this time, the same information which gave me access to my account 3 weeks earlier was denied, and verification failed. I completed so many verification attempts over the course of a week that I finally received an email recommending I move on and open another account.
“Microsoft takes your privacy seriously”. So seriously that it’s impossible to recover access to your own accounts.
From excessive bitching and complaining about this situation across social media, it turns out a number of people have been recently experiencing issues with outlook blocking their account.
Worst nightmare. The stress is distracting me from the fact that the Galapagos Islands are right outside my window!
Next step: Chat! To this day, I still don’t understand the point of Microsoft chat representatives, all of whom wasted multiple hours of my time only to tell me the online verification was the only way to regain access, or alternatively I could file a request for support from an Escalation Agent. Did that. They pointed me to the online verification form.
After providing the Escalation Agent with an incredibly detailed description of the problem (online verification had failed and I am currently traveling so phone verification is out), describing the urgency of the issue (all of my business emails are forwarded here and I have flight and hotel confirmations stored which I need for my current travels), and providing bucket loads of accurate information about the account including old passwords, the current password, the date I last changed my password, current and previous personal information, recent contacts I have sent emails to, the content of those emails, the subject lines of those emails, as well as folders within the account, I waited 3 days for an automatic reply directing me to fill out their online verification form.
If that wasn’t frustrating enough, after politely confirming that online verification had failed, I waited another 3 days for an email recommending I move on and create a new account.
The 72 hour waiting period would have not been an issue if they hadn’t continued to offer me a response within 24 hours.
Not a happy camper!
No, sorry, I do not understand that the only way to regain access to my account is to prove ownership by submitting a validation request. WHAT IS YOUR DEPARTMENT FOR OTHERWISE????!!!
Apparently just to waste excessive amounts of my time and rub salt in my wounds.
And, dear Rose, you obviously don’t understand how important it is for me to recover my Microsoft account, because as a travel blogger, this account is an integral part of how I generate income.
It normally stresses me out if I don’t reply to an email within 48 hours (I generally strive for a very clean inbox!), and it kills me that not responding to business emails is probably making me look incredibly unprofessional.
My only consolation is that with the advent of social media, I can fairly easily get the word out that my email access has been blocked – though not to my professional contacts.
There do, however, remain a few rare species of human being out there who go about their day to day lives without touching social media – like my father, my youngest sister and my grandparents. Probably would have been a good idea to have kept an offline record of their contacts. Especially since at this point it seems like I’m never regaining account access.
Amy and dad. The rarest of all human beings.
Never in my life have I heard of someone losing complete access to their email. The situation to me is absurd. After taking to twitter I thought I got a little further – the twitter team @MicrosoftHelps acknowledged that I had 16 years worth of emails, documents and information in my account and forwarded my situation to a high level Escalation Agent.
The twitter team have been the only semi helpful contact throughout this whole ordeal. I promptly received an email from Microsoft Support requesting a reply with additional information for a manual verification.
That was 4 days ago, and this morning (after tweeting that I was still awaiting a response) I received a completely new email from Microsoft Escalations Support, not acknowledging my previous reply, requesting even further information like my Xbox console ID and SkyDrive private files – which would be great … if I owned an Xbox or had ever purposely stored anything on SkyDrive.
I give the team on twitter immense credit for their timely responses and actual attempts to resolve customer issues. It’s just a shame that they don’t have the same power as an Escalation Agent. Because they’re the only department who (a) seems to care; and (b) seems to know what the hell is going on.
Lessons Learnt
- Admittedly (or so I’m told), I should have moved away from hotmail years ago. However Outlook had never given me a reason to move away from the account I have held since the late 1990’s.
- Travel with a printed copy of your itinerary, including flight and hotel booking confirmations. While we did this partially, apparently I got lazy towards the end and didn’t print out confirmations for the last leg of our trip. Which of course was the leg we needed! Thankfully there hasn’t been an issue with any of our hotel bookings…yet.
- From here forth I will be setting up automatic forwarding on my email account, so that in the instance my email goes down, I can access a backup email which holds all previous contacts, files, confirmations and correspondence.
- If you have an issue which is not being resolved, attempt to resolve it by contacting the company on twitter. Twitter is a public line, and everyone tries their darndest in each company to keep people happy as it in the public eye.
- Hotmail/Outlook does not offer telephone support. In my desperation to find a resolution I googled phone numbers for Microsoft support and ended up speaking with a gentleman from India who tried to make me grant him remote access to my computer in order to unlock my account. Unlikely. Microsoft will NEVER ask you to access your computer. This is a scam.
A reader of this post has however, had luck in calling the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk (as of March 2020), whose number is 1-800-936-5900. The person there was able to refer her to the account reinstatement form.
- Don’t use hotmail/outlook if you travel. Use gmail instead.
- If you’re connecting to your email while traveling, use the best free VPNs that work. VPN services allow you to re-route your internet traffic through a server in your home country, so as far as email providers are concerned, you’ve tricked them into thinking you haven’t left the country.
- Travel with your own portable WiFi hotspot. This is a great way to make sure you’re connecting from the same network regardless of your location, and it means your connection is always secure. We use TEP Wireless for portable travel wifi; it’s fast and reliable, and the best way to enjoy unlimited internet (on up to five devices at a time) seamlessly between countries.
Update: SUCCESS!
24 hours after this post went live my email was recovered and has now been successfully migrated to Gmail. It’s a wonder what a public statement can achieve! A huge thankyou to everyone for your continued support.
Update: A WEEK LATER…
Blocked again, this time in Iceland. Apparently they still don’t understand the concept of travel. Thanking god I migrated everything over to Gmail. At least Gmail allows me to log in from anywhere around the world!
209 Comments
OMG Meg, that’s awful! I have thousands of emails in my account and would probably cry if I got blocked. I can’t even imagine… So sorry this happened to you!
We were on a cruise and had 3 accounts blocked unnecessarily.What a nightmare and financial disaster!
It seems credit card companies can securely take your money anywhere you travel but the worlds most wealthy companies like Microsoft can abuse its user base and provide no recourse or resolution mechanism
With no resoltuon mechasim it seems the only approach left if to boycott its services and products.
Rick and Mary
I am having the same problem. We should sue Microsoft, they bought hotmail just to make money and make our lives miserable
This is a bad situation that still happing today. I read a newspaper article about this same problem by Steve Alexander (yes I read an actual paper). He references tinyurl.comz5chbsg . Steve give a simple solution. Before you travel turn off the two-step verification. This works for Microsoft,Yahoo, and Goggle. Hope this helps.
Turn off the two step verification before
why dont you associate an active security or alternate info like another email address that could be access on a different country? And also I noticed, outlook or hotmail is a free email provided to the people? So I think we should responsible enough to make our own free account secure. I am traveling a lot as well. I use hotmail for a lot of years now. And i can say that I am also getting the same error message or interrupt. Indeed, it is annoying but the reason why you we are getting this one clearly is because we are logging into a different location. And also I think that the system just wants to make sure that it is we, the one accessing the account. (Well, that is obviously stated on the error message). We just need to prove that it is our own account. And also in the first page, it is our own account, we are the only one that can provide or prove our ownersip. Anyways, after all, yeah its awful, bad, or really a nightmare, but guys, think of it. Its a free account, we are not ask to pay for the email account. So what now?
This is happening to me overseas – IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT BE USING YOUR ACCOUNT.” I even got the security code and put it in but it still would not let me access my account. Can’t Microsoft understand that this is killing the company?
Hi Peter and others,
I’m not sure if I’ve updated this blog since finding out some more. Still no help from Microsoft, even though I have been trying to obtain an answer since 05-Dec-16.
Your Microsoft Account will be suspended if it has no valid “account activity”.
If you create a new Microsoft Account, you have to login to it using a browser within the first 10 days, otherwise it gets suspended.
If you don’t have any account activity (ie. login on a browser as above) for 270 days, it gets suspended.
Using your Microsoft Account to login to Skype and making use of Skype is not considered “account activity”. You specifically have to login using a browser once every 270 days.
All of this info is 3rd hand from various blogs / forums, but I can verify the 10 day rule personally.
It’s AWFUL.
they block them EVERY TIME I travel, which is like every 2-3 month be cause I live in Europe and it’s easy to do a weekend get away. Heck, they even block me just going down the road in my university town. Apparently using schools library wifi alerted them, so did using coffee shop wifi, restaurant wifi, friend’s house wifi….. fml. I’m moving over to gmail
I am having this exact issue right now. I’m nearly so angry I could cry. My family owns a farm and my business is done through email as well. Not to mention the Search and Rescue team I’m a part of through the sheriffs office. What do I do now? I am in Sweden for 2 weeks. Please offer any advice you may have. Thank you so much! Btw, I’ll be listing my brother’s email for any reply I may receive. He lives here in Sweden. Cheers!
Same thing happened to me while travelling USA .only verification option was text code
To home phone (which was at home) have and use American phone .suggested I use my other accounts but they systematically shut each one down, suggested open new account which did work Once and shut them down wasted hours trying to resolve on chat absolutely useless. Only option was to have relative travel 30klm break into house find phone call USA organise text code and relay when it came through .didn’t think anybody would be that stupid but Microsoft full of surprises.
A similar thing has happened to me. My Microsoft account has been blocked and like your self no correspondence will be entered into. Only options are online. I did get an email saying they have received my request. That was 4 weeks ago nothing has happened. Microsoft have blocked my OneDrive email and my account which has a credit card loaded and an office 365 subscription. I contacted outlook help they refused to help, not my department comments. The only option I can see is to cancel credit card and not use Microsoft products :-(. I have migrated my email back to the old fashioned POP3 / Imap from a local domain supplier at least if I have support issues I can visit them in person.
outlook are idiots they have been blocking my email for months…a day or 2 at a time
Okay, so now that email is doing the same thing to me, and it is driving me crazy- I was trying to access my old hotmail account from years ago just to see if it had any old mail, and that is the only tithing I can figure out- ever since then, I have been getting boob shot tic tok emails, which is GREAT being a mom of an elementary school aged child. Omg! ?aaaargh!
Modern life, thanks to technology generally, has become an exhausting.stressful and tedious nightmare. We seem to have, as a society, the default assumption that technology has made life better. It hasn’t. Everything was easier before : no scams, security issues, time wasted deleting unwanted emails… it is crazy that when I travel, I have everything on my phone but still have, like in the old days,to print off paper copies of bookings ‘just in case’. And a backup email! Madness.
I have the same problem. Trying to recover my hotmail account for the last 3 weeks. Now attempted to purchase Microsoft 365 which took me to my login live and I can’t even buy their very own products. What a mess. will move to Gmail although I though that would be painful. This as you say is very painful
Im now going through the same f ing thing ,what a complete joke of a company.leaving your email blocking up to an algorithm.doe with anything microsoft i can.lesson learned.
Good grief!!! Forget the misery this brings a travel blogger – imagine the nightmare this would be for a military member on a tour of duty, a medical officer with a relief organization who moves around a lot, or someone who had to travel suddenly for a funeral.
Total disaster, and I can totally sympathize having been locked out of my Hotmail before for weeks :-( I’m about to publish an article about impt. travel docs including why you need to PRINT THEM OUT- I’ll be sure to forward to you ;-) Haha!
If this had happened to me while I’d been travelling I would have just sat and cried. I even had print outs of everything I needed, but a lot of the time email was the only way we could communicate with our travel agent. Because the agent who had booked our trip messed a lot of things up, we were having to contact them a lot…
I hope they give you back your account :(
Thank your for this article. Right now I’m in San Felipe traveling and trusted to log into my hotmail account from a friend’s computer and it wanted me to go through a verification process. I didn’t have the patience for it because I was in a slow connection. But like you, I use hotmail to store all my travel docs, itineraries, etc. I well now change that practice.
This is ridiculous in so many ways!!! I’ve been experiencing similar issues with our yahoo mail account and it beyond frustrating. Every time I send more than 5 emails to people that aren’t contacts it locks me out and makes me reset my password. Your debacle sounds like a nightmare though and I can’t imagine the stress it is causing!!
Ugh! What a nightmare. I moved off of outlook last year for tech issues. Won’t be going back any time soon – or maybe ever.
HI, Same problem with Hotmaill for me. Happened today. I’m looking for a replacement. What email service are you new using? Below is my temporary hotmail account.
I feel your pain. Unfortunately these companies provide a service but do not actually help you when you need it. I could tell you some horror stories about Google Adwords and Facebook.
Oh that sucks! I’m sorry! Any inclination i had to switch to hotmail is now gone. I’ll stick to my gmail, thanks. Hope it’s resolved soon! :(
I just found this post because Gmail does the same crap and is just as bad.
That sucks. This is one of the problems of relying solely on Cloud providers (Microsoft, Gmail, Yahoo, or whoever) to store and backup your data. They are all free services and you get what you pay for. Probably too late for you, but you can backup your email and contacts locally using Windows Live Mail 2012. Good luck!
That’s horrible!! I hope you are able to get access1-I don’t know what I would do if I lost access to my hotmail. I use gmail for business primarily, but everything else is hotmail. I think I might need to change It all now though!!
Holy fraking hell Meg. What a total sh!t. I hear ya on this being one of the worst travel disasters EVA. I am so sorry. I hope the problem is fixed and you can gain access to your account to transfer everything over. I shall cross my fingers and toes for a speedy resolution. :)
Omg, Megan, this whole situation is ridiculous! But I totally understand what are you going through – I was dealing with o2 to connect my DLS Internet for 4 months after signing the contract with them. They refused to sell me a portable USB Internet stick too and when I asked for the reason they couldn’t state anything making sense. So I was left with my mobile connection only…
I really hope Microsoft will see this post and react properly!
You post very interesting articles here.
That is utterly crap – I’d be devastated too!
I am not sure gmail is much safer though. I remember reading another big blogger lost her google account suddenly for no reason. It wasn’t just her email gone either, she also stored heaps of things on google drive and google docs. Very very scary.
Good tips Megan! Same deal on hotmail, here in Thailand and India too. I stick to gmail primarily. Thanks!
Wow, that REALLY sucks, Megan! I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that.
OMG, I wanted to tear my hair out for you just reading that! I got locked out of my Flickr account the same way, although that was WAY less urgent than email. Bureaucracy is the most ridiculous BS ever.
What a nightmare! The whole situation is ridiculous! I Hope it all works out soon!
It does sounds like quiet a nightmare!
Fffffffrrrruustrating. I`d be making holes in walls and spending my hours drunk ranting to strangers about the evils of technology.
You seem like you have a cool head on your shoulders, which is a virtue.
The same thing happened to my brother with his hotmail account and he never regained access. It is pretty crazy that this could even happen! I use Hotmail, have done for years, and had never considered changing before (I don’t find gmail very user friendly) but perhaps I should now.
I have gotten locked out of my Yahoo account when traveling. Since this is actually happening, they should offer an option like banks have – where you can let them know in advance you will be traveling.
Incidentally, when I have gotten locked out of Yahoo, I can still access it on my phone. So weird, so annoying.
I understand your need for connectivity. That’s very important when your livelihood depends on it. But, there are many times I wish I could escape it. I dread the day e-mail and (worse) phone calls are commonplace in airplanes, my last refuge. There will be murder the first flight next to an obnoxious caller…
I couldn’t imagine getting locked out of my email account. I definitely need to set up a backup account just to be safe. Glad everything turned out okay in the end though. :-)
Hi Megan,
My name is Scott and I’m a lead in the Microsoft account support team. I wanted to apologize for the bad experience you had and let you know the work we’ve done to prevent situations like this. We’re always listening and working to improve the experience. This post in particular has been read and discussed by some of the most senior people here at Microsoft.
Hacking is a global problem that affects all the major email providers. We all try to detect when an account has been hacked and work to prevent the bad guys from accessing your private information.
There are a couple of steps you can take to ensure you never get locked out of your account no matter how broadly you travel.
Alternate Emails and Phones
Ensure you have several alternate emails and associated to your account and a phone. If there is ever a login that looks questionable, we can simply send a code to your alternate email so you can prove that new login from Nigeria is actually you and not someone who has stolen your password.
It gets better… Trusted Devices
When you enter the code, there is a checkbox “I sign in on this device frequently”. This marks your device as trusted and gives us a high confidence that the login is you.
Authenticator Apps
If you tend to use friends’ computers or internet cafés when traveling, you can add a little app to your smartphone that always and instantly shows you a valid security code. These apps don’t send or receive any data, so you can use them in total airplane mode. Many people haven’t heard of authenticator apps before, but they are an industry standard and becoming more popular. We think it’s a great tip for anyone who travels and logs into their email abroad.
If you’re already on the road…
The scenario I’ve seen and that looks like got you was having just one way to get a security code on your account (a phone in this case) and not having access to that while traveling. Ideally we recommend you have several options so you have a backup, but I’ve actually helped a few people get fixed up while overseas by having them ask their roommate, family member, or even the friend who swings by to water the plants to grab the code off their phone back home and get it to them. They can then add an alternate email or setup their smart phone to ensure they don’t get stuck again.
To get started with any of these options, just sign into https://account.live.com and click “Security and password”.
Hope that helps give your readers some good tips for using their Microsoft account when traveling.
Scott
Scott, you should take a step back and read what you are saying. What about the basic user that doesn’t have multiple devices, email accounts, or even a cell phone? Your company has implemented security features that completely cripple anyone in this situation from accessing their email when travelling. Not everyone wants this added security. Did it ever occur to you to offer this as an option? My mother has had this happen to her multiple times and your company refuses to provide her access until she goes home. Very poor customer focus in my opinion. Did you ever consider your customer base before rolling out these added “features” or have you become so inwardly focused that isn’t important to you?
But Scott, Can’t one set up a Recovery Code IN ADVANCE? BEFORE leaving on a trip???
IN RESPONSE TO SCOTT:
An actual Microsoft support person! They do exist!
Scott, I would dearly love to talk to you on the phone. These issues are still occurring, worse than even now. I cannot tell how much stress and money this has cost my business, and Microsoft are unable to help. Maybe you can?
I’m not sure how we get in touch through this blog though. I have ticked the box to send me an email if anyone updates this blog.
Hmmm. Scott, you are not quite right about Trusted Devices. Trusted Devices DO NOT PREVENT ACCOUNT SUSPENSION. Every device I use has had the Trusted Device box ticked, and it has not prevented a single Suspension occurrence. When I go to a Trusted Device after a Suspension, I still cannot gain access without a mobile phone SMS code, even though I’m on a Trusted Device. And no other options are provided – it’s mobile phone SMS only after a Suspension. When you tick the Trusted Device box, you are supposedly ticking an option that says “Don’t ask me for a code again on this device”. But it’s a fib! My account gets Suspended (don’t know why) and I still get asked for a code on that device. Trusted Device is useless.
Perfect! Since you carry your phone with you, install the Authenticator app. It will instantly show you a code and you’ll never get locked out of your account! It doesn’t require any connection to phone or data, so it always just works. Outlook has some of the best security and use features out there. There is no reason you should ever get locked out of your account and just as important, these features keep criminals from getting into your account.
Scott
Microsoft Corp.
Scott, once we get a security passcode, can we use this for future travels outside the US or do we have to get a security passcode everytime we travel outside the US?
I’m stuck in Mexico right this minute locked out of my account for no reason other than I logged in from a hotel wifi. I opened this account heaven only knows how many years ago, and I didn’t even remember that I had an alternate email address associated with my account OR that it just happened to be an account I ONLY USED on rare occasions and THEY cancelled my account for not logging in over a 3 month period. So in the end it seems I will lose ALL my contacts, ALL my pictures that were on both accounts, as well as NOT having my travel itinerary and vouchers either. I did the account recovery and it was unlocked yesterday but I was so tired that I couldn’t find where to shut this ridiculous double security crap OFF and OPT OUT of all their wonderful help or to add a new backup email – although the backup email is what they used to send me the verification code. I have pictures and emails from my dead mother on this account – needless to say I’m not pleased right at the moment. So Mr. Microsoft person, if you can help me get access to my account I would be eternally grateful. I ended up in tripe jeopardy. My phone which is supposed to have access in Mexico won’t work. My security backup for my BANK happens to be my HOTMAIL ACCOUNT. So if I weren’t traveling with my brother I would be stranded in a foreign country with no money, no phone, and no way to survive. MICROSOFT YOU NEED TO FIX THIS MESS.
My wife is traveling overseas and got locked out of both of her accounts. Unfortunately, she is nearly computer illiterate (which Microsoft has limited concept of with regards to their users). Luckily, I could access her main account from here and review her recent activity and click the ‘It was me’ buttons. Her other account (which is still registered in the country she is traveling in) only has her cell number for authentication, which she has with her but it is not usable.I’ll have to wait 30 days to re-authenticate that account. I’m still not sure if my efforts will let her into either account, but with her mom in the hospital for surgery and the reliability of overseas calls being sometimes spotty, I feel like I’m back in the 20th century.
All that needs to be done is to add an ‘I will be traveling’ feature that Microsoft could point to with a plausible excuse: “I’m sorry you cannot access your account, be sure to set up the ‘Travelers Access’ feature next time before you leave”.
A friend of mine has that issue every time she crosses the border to the US without fail. As soon as she is back in Canada it works again without any verification.
I have traveled with her my hotmail account is never stopped even though my hotmail account was hacked once a few years back.
There is no fathoming Microsoft reasoning on how or why they do this. Your arrival was great. Will forward it to
My friend.
Thanks for the post Megan. I’ve had the same problem while traveling. I lucked out cause I have a Yahoo account too, which I was able to access. However its entirely possible that Yahoo will also block me in the future. Researching how to get around this problem got me to this post.
Note to Microsoft in case you are still following this post. You guys assume several things – that everyone has a high degree of computer literacy, that everyone has a smart phone, that everyone carries said smart phone while traveling, that everyone’s said smart phone is connected and actually works in a foreign country (you should know that there are varied and intricate laws regarding cell phone usage in foreign countries which often make it difficult for travelers to use their own mobile devices). You give users only two options to access a blocked account. An email verification and a mobile phone verification. Both options depend on flawed assumptions. Can you guarantee that my alternate email provider will not have the same security protocol that you follow? If all email providers follow the same protocol whats the point in having an alternate email add? ’cause if Yahoo is my alternate and they block me as well how the heck can anyone provide authentication? Second you ask us to provide our mobile phone numbers but there’s no certainty that everyone carries their local mobile phones while traveling internationally. I personally prefer to obtain a local phone and/or Sim card while traveling.
I gave up using Yahoo/Hotmail or ISP provided email accounts a long time ago owing to their ever evolving about-turns, or simply going out of business or being taken over in the case of some ISPs. I have my own domains and therefore access to my own email servers. Pretty much I control access and this has proven invaluable when travelling.
I do though have a Gmail account, which I tend to use when registering on websites etc and its surprisingly been very reliable over the years. So credit where it’s due.
As for Microsoft, I’ve always been a fan, but not so much now. I’m currently locked out of my Skydrive/Live Account and repeated attempts to discover why have merely elicited responses such as “We are not able to discuss the specific details on your account closure.”. Often their responses, if they do arrive, are days apart and ALWAYS unhelpful. Meanwhile, I cannot access any of their services, my data is effectively lost (and may potentially never be restored) and my Windows phones are quickly becoming unusable – they won’t update and some apps won’t work without an active login.
Using cloud based and integrated services are a truly neat idea in principle, but until Microsoft can resolve problems in minutes/hours instead of their current weeks/months/never they simply have no business operating in this sphere. It’s a fraud to pretend otherwise. I have lost access to absolutely everything and yet I’m not one single step nearer to understanding why? Support requests go around in circles and no one at Microsoft has offered a solution, an explanation or apology. This is totally unacceptable in the day of the smartphone.
I’m sorry folks, but I really wouldn’t recommend them currently. Scott above tells us back in June that issues like these are receiving attention from upon high but from my chair nothing has changed almost 6 months later. In fact, they’re having the same problems now as they did in 2009 and will probably be having in 2019.
Well said! And you are right nothing has changed. I’m writing this in May 2015 and have been trying to help my mother get access to her account while she visits family for three weeks to no avail. Scott’s message seams to be just more lip service about how they can help. Maybe they sat around and discussed it and had a good laugh about how anyone that tries to contact them can’t. No phone support. Limited chat support – only direct you to log a ticket, then they just keep replying to the ticket telling you to complete the form, and get another automated reply saying you failed again. Wont’ tell you what information is lacking, although I’m fairly certain all information was valid, no access. All scripted responses, no customer focus. I have been a customer of hotmail and now outlook for many years, but I’m going to gmail and encourage everyone to do the same. I will encourage all of my friends and family to lose the Outlook accounts as well. We live in a global community now, where people regularly travel and Microsoft thinks people shouldn’t access their email when they are 300 miles from home. Amazing.
Like so many have said, I also had this problem recently while in Japan. And, like you, I have had my hotmail account for many years and accessed it from many Asian countries, including the exact IP address in Tokyo. I did not have my phone with me and did not remember any of my contacts e-mail addresses, and could not in my jet lagged state, remember much at all in order to fill out the verification properly. Luckily I was able to use my work e-mail to contact someone who in turn contacted my family, etc. for me. I came home fully expecting my e-mail to be gone forever and yet it works fine on my home computer.
I take Microsoft’s point that they are protecting us but there has to be a better way of verification. Really what is the use of this global technology, if we are unable to use it?
I, too, am changing over to gmail and yet I wonder if it will be any better while traveling. I look forward to future blogs from you, Megan, to see if it works for you.
I’m currently travelling again and am having the same problem. As soon as i have the time i’m going to sort out my Emails and make a new Gmail account. Then microsoft can f#@% the hell off. microsoft is a bad name in my world now. I never want to use their products or services again. Like you though, i have had my Email for about 15 years. But honestly, the sentimental value is second to my hate for microfoft right now.
Hotmail blocked my access from Ubud in Indonesia a week ago, although 2 days earlier it had allowed access from Sanur, also in Indonesia. As a result I was not able to contact an Indonesian friend who was going to take us out for the day. I created a new Hotmail account and with it tried to email my son to see if he could log in for me from Adelaide, but Hotmail refused to send my email from this newly-created address. It demanded a verification code that was supposedly sent to my mobile phone (which was back in Adelaide), but when I got home there was no verification code. I was using my Netbook for logging in, the very same netbook I am using now from home. Does Hotmail seriously think I would have lost my netbook in Indonesia, with my Hotmail user name and password on a postit stuck on to it? I am going to switch to gmail, as my husband never has this type of problem.
I think I am going to go insane. I work as an international consultant and have travelled to 4 different countries in the space of 2 weeks, and I think if I see a verify you account again I am going to scream! I haven’t see my e-mails for days!
This is the exact same thing I am going through right now (the phone they want to verify is even a very old cell number I no longer have). The CS from Microsoft is nonexistent, choose another service to use instead!
Omg I totally feel your pain! I thought hotmail was accessible anywhere in the world as well… I’m also from Australia and I’m currently in America and when I tried to access my email I was denied, they asked me to confirm my email through my other hotmail address which also I can’t access because I’m overseas… So I thought I’d create a new one so I could at least give my hotels that one so I had something at least… That was in Orlando, now I’m stuck in Dallas trying to get to Hawaii and I tried emailing my travel agent through my new address and BAM! We have detected a problem with your account, please log in on a computer… I don’t have one with me… What a pain in the bum!! Looks like I will also be going over to Gmail for next time I travel! This is rediculous!
Download Tor Browser and then change the IP address so that you appear to be in your home country.
Just need to add that gmail might be better (have not used hotmail) but have also experienced having my Gmail account blocked because of travelling. My partner and I had been travelling for about 2 weeks when ‘suddenly’ our Gmail logins were not supported. We were not travelling with our phones (which would have managed the 2nd verification OK) and had to come up with a workaround via other email accounts. In my case it was my work email, which required downloading weeks of unread mail to find this particular entry! Not ideal but got there…. wasted a rather precious hour of internet access in a school library in the remote town of Wrangall in Alaska – would have preferred to have enjoyed a bit of an online catchup!
So please be aware that gmail can also be affected by travelling. Ensure you have multiple alternative authentication options available or at least one that can be reasonably guaranteed to work for you while travelling – otherwise a nasty surprise.
Another strategy is to save copies of any essential travel documents to another cloud storage provider (eg dropbox or similar) rather than forward everything. A discipline to do this well, but worth it under pressure.
Just back from Dubai – received emails could not send. Couldn’t verify as last two digits of mobile they were going to send verification code to didn’t related to my mobile.
I lost access to my Hotmail account traveling in Asia recently. Have been arguing with Microsoft ever since.
Is there any mail that serves a traveler?
Also, have you noticed that if you use Internet banking to pay your bills while abroad and might have to add a payee, the same problem arises?
HELP!
My last three trips abroad I ended up with blocked hotmail access. I migrated everything important over to Gmail, no more issues. Glad everything ended up okay!
Stumbled upon your story and so feel for, and agree with you. I can understand that when you travel a lot like you do, that this is so… unhelpful. The argument that some could voice though is that your situation is exceptional, because you travel a lot/ continuously, so you aren’t “an average user”.
Well, let me share why I think this is a rubbish argument.
I too had a Hotmail address which I cherished because I’d it since the 90s. And in the beginning, when MicroSoft started with this verification madness, it sounded like a good service. After all, nobody wants others to get into their mailbox right? But then it started to get more intrusive. Like you describe, it seems necessary to share all the particulars of my private life with MicroSoft, just to gain access to my messages. Initially, I complied and gave them my address, phone numbers, but they still wanted more.
Fact of the matter is that, contrary to the typical (US?) Outlook user, I live in a region of the world were there are multiple countries, and as a result, various borders within driving distance. Now, that apparently is a difficult concept for MicroSoft. I mean, if I visit my parents (a drive of 30 miles) I end up in another country. Accessing your Outlook then results in “It looks like you’re not where you’re supposed to be”. Well, thanks for keeping taps on my movements. Going to my nan is again another country. “It looks like you’re not where you’re supposed to be”. And to make matters worse, like you, I travel around for work. To different countries. “It looks like you’re not where you’re supposed to be”.
After dragging my heels for a very long time, this, together with the IMMENSELY slow performance caused by “Want to see how else is online so you can connect with them on Skype” finally made me move to a local Swiss free webmail provider. Apart from various benefits I didn’t expect (speed, both excellent desktop and mobile performance and layout, privacy – also a hot topic in the post-Snowden area) I noticed that changing your email account (read address) is not as bad as I feared. For years I was plagued by the nightmare that people would try to reach me on an address which was no longer relevant. But having done it now, I notice that a lot of people most of time REPLY to your message, thus ensuring the correct address. And don’t forget, getting a new account does give you a reason to go through your contacts and distill the most important ones. I did, and let them know separately that my address was changed. And you know what? Even my nan manages to adapt my email address!
Honesty does force me to praise one thing of Outlook/ Hotmail though: the export of all your contacts to a .csv file works brilliantly.
I wouldn’t put my trust in gmail. Two winters ago my sister was locked out when she went to South America. Now she’s in Malaysia and again locked out though a week ago when she was in Thailand she had access.
Besides being frustrating for her, it’s worrisome for others when someone is out of contact for days. In days before email when someone was out of the country you didn’t expect to hear from them so didn’t worry.
Can’t presently access my gmail account because I’m travelling overseas, and I’ve had my .hotmail, .outlook, and .live accounts locked on the same day for no reason other than their so called verification issues.
Scott, from Microsoft support team, what is the point of alternative email accounts – if they had the same policies as Microsoft we will not be able to access them from overseas too. Also, many of us do not have the same tlephone number when we are overseas, so this code sent to telephone is useless too.
I had the same thing happen as Megan last year and it completely ruined my holiday – thanks Microsoft.
I had the same trouble in August last year travelling in Malaysia last year. Unfortunately I only had my home phone & work emails as a contact they could send a verification code to. Totally stuck. Took 4 days to fix. I had to Facebook a our IT guy at work and he sent me the authorisation code back on FB. Not easy to organise with the time differences etc. and the authorisation numbers only having a short life! Never had this problem travelling before. And my mobile wasn’t working in some of the places! What’s the point of Hotmail if you can’t use it travelling?
Yahoo does the same thing as hotmail, which is extra-annoying if the back-up verification e-mail for your yahoo account is your equally-blocked hotmail account. Eff them both. Gmail it is.
I just returned home to Arizona from a funeral in Missouri. I could not access my Hotmail account from the hotel computer where I needed to get confirmation numbers to print out boarding passes for my flight home. The security code was to be sent to my Hotmail account which I could not access to retrieve. I did not have my laptop with me. I had the same problem at my sister’s in Ohio last year. Listen up Microsoft, it does not just happen overseas. FRUSTRATING !!!!
I have been locked out of my gmail and yahoo email accounts more times than I can count. It’s beyond infuriating that in this online age, where so many of us rely on the thousands of connections and saved info in our accounts that this continues to be an issue. For me it was temporary inconvenience, repeatedly, but your situation is unthinkable. Im so glad it has been semi-resolved. When it doubt, take it public. Great job.
Gosh! This sounds awful and familiar. I’ve got to tell you one thing though, using Gmail won’t solve your problems. You will encounter exactly the same issues whilst travelling with Google as with Hotmail. I’ve been blocked by Gmail in Russia and Africa! Yahoo worked slightly better. In one case I was blocked at a Moscow airport whilst using the airport wifi on my phone, but when I insered my SIM card and used a cell phone account to access the email it worked fine. Same device, different network. Go figure. The only solution I’ve found is to set up your own account. Go to a site such as one.com, buy a domain name and set up an email to that domain. You’ll be able to access the email from apps such as windows live mail or on your phone. Arguably you should be doing this anyway as using a hotmail or gmail account for business isn’t very professional.
Just outrageous. No!!!. Are you serious.
Hi Megan,
I tried to login to my yahoo account from my father’s computer in Germany as I have over the years many times and it won’t let me log in, “because I’m trying to login from a location I’ve never logged in from before”. They sent a verification email to my other yahoo account. I do not have a phone number connected to either account, because I didn’t want any text messages from them. All of my important emails go to my yahoo account and it has all of my friends email addresses. After reading your story, I don’t know, if I will ever be able to login again. I will find out in a week, when I get back home. Luckily I did print my itinerary.
Yeah for gmail however, as I can get into my gmail account!
Sadly, this happened to me earlier this week when I’m overseas. I do not have a contactable phone number on my cell phone, and Outlook requested that it sends a code to my yahoo account for verification. And when I logged into yahoo to retrieve that mail from Outlook, yahoo requested the exact same thing. Since they are dependent on each other for such things, both accounts are locked out. The only difference is this: Outlook does not readily let you create another account if you do not have a contactable phone number, and without it, you cannot even contact them. Well done Outlook…
I’ve been through that nightmarish questionnaire, successfully got a reset password link that does not work, and now I’m on my second try on it. I think I’m half ready to switch over to gmail… Goodbye to my email account of over 16 years…
Meg, thanks for posting this. I’ve just finished reading all the comments as well. I’m living in the UK at the moment and while visiting family in Canada and the U.S. last year, I was blocked out of my Hotmail account as well. I’ve been searching online for a solution as I’m travelling there again in a few weeks and don’t have a smartphone (note to Microsoft) and my UK phone doesn’t work in N. America.
Besides wanting to send a code to a phone that wouldn’t work, they then asked me to supply the email addresses of the last 10 people I had sent emails to as verification. Fortunately I was at my brother’s and he was one of the people I had sent a group message to, so I was able to get these addresses. But it took more than one try.
I’m sorry to see that this happens to Gmail as well sometimes, as opening a Gmail account is going to be one of my hoped for solutions. My other backup is to make a physical copy of the email addresses of people I have sent emails to just before leaving the UK.
My family lives on the U.S.-Canadian border — no more than 100 miles apart. Yet I was locked out again at my other brother’s when I visited him in the States.
I originally began using Hotmail many, many years ago as it was a service you could use and not be device- dependent on. Ironically, now, you have to be dependent on a smartphone set up for international travel across all zones, apparently.
Very sad.
Thank you for the original post and all of the replies. I was recently on the road in Europe and got locked out of both Yahoo and Gmail so an alt email address wouldn’t have helped and I had no phone service either. Yahoo wanted answers to security questions that I didn’t remember even setting up. (The account is 15 years old — one question was “What is the name of your oldest nephew? – I don’t even have a nephew!) I resigned myself to a pre-internet world for the duration. Luckily my girlfriend (who was also locked out of email on a Windows PC) could receive and send from her Android tablet so we had our relevant travel info available.
The kicker is, when I got back to the States, I logged into Yahoo to change my security questions and found out that this seems to be impossible now. There is now no way to access the questions or answers in the account.
It seems like we’re regressing back to the early 1990s where voicephone and snailmail were the only forms contact with the outside world while overseas.
Hi Meg,
Thank you for posting this blog. I was about to go mental with frustration. Have also had terrible issues being blocked from my hotmail account while traveling. We have just come back from a nine week trip across Europe from Australia. I was blocked almost straight away in Spain but worked out that I could still access email when using my phone carrier (a traveling sim number with included roaming so not my regular number) but not at all with any wifi. Frustrating but as long as I remembered to inky check my hotmail when off wifi I was ok. If that isn’t weird enough my partner hotmail account was not a problem the whole time – why but only to torment me I wonder ? Infuriating. Anyway manage to get through the whole trip then get home and get blocked out using our wifi at home !! Unbelievable ! I have a gmail account that worked throughout the whole trip without problem. I also have the verification problem occur when I travel to different states in Australia domestically – it just makes no sense – the only thing I have noticed is it seems to be happening to people with older accounts with years of data in them – is this a ploy from Microsoft to clear the trash I wonder ? Who knows but not a good system – I am another that will not rely on hotmail/Microsoft much longer if they don’t fix the problem it is just so silly. I don’t need the frustration – one day someone will have a heart attack over the stress it causes heaven forbid.
Couple of typos – 1) inky was supposed to be only and it was my partners hotmail account not a partner hotmail account.
Hello Meg,
Love your post…..make it live on so people understand the limits and stupidity
of some email providers…..I have several email 1 hotmail 1 outlook.com 1 gmx.net 1 gmail ….i live between the US and Europe and am locked out of my 3 hotmail / outlook and gmail account, fortunately my main gmx.net gives me absolutely no problem since it is live on my smartphone.
However the stupidity of these email providers is such that i cannot unlock any of these three accounts here in the US since my fallback emails to have code sent are either gmail outlook or hotmail. Result : i cannot take a medical examination which i need to book online , my stay here in the US is completely jeopardized. As soon as i get back
to my base I will clean out cancel any hotmail or outlook.com account I have….will assess the gmail issue open new accounts with new providers who are helpful and logical . Needless to stay that i will stay away from any microsoft / surface /windows phone product from now on. I switched to mac and iphone and i am very satisfied. Microsoft is loosing market share / will continue to loose market and are arrogant bastards….This is the last straw. Cheers to all.
I think Gmail now requires a two-step verification. Not sure how you can use that when you don’t have a cell phone (like me)………….
Hi Meg
I’ve been a window user for 25 years ….it was good but it’s open code which will pick up any virus trojan and malware thru flash player javascript internet explorer and adobe products…..it’s a dinosaur….People : Loving windows is irrational ….it is a prime target for hacking especially since now Outlook.com and windows live account are THE primary platform for windows product in the cloud/skydrive/window store….now YOUR credit card are linked to these platforms and this a major hacking risk and hence all these security fences which are badly designed.
People have to understand their lives are been hijacked: the next step in the strategy for google-android/microsoft windows-phone/apple-iphone is to track you anywhere and MAKE YOU PAY CLOUD SERVERS….once you start putting your whole life on these remote servers you are at risk of being locked out/ransomed and tracked everywhere….big brother is coming…..actually it s already here but just an appetizer. Call me technology resistant…Intrusive technology that is.
Anyway I’m off track…getting back to our subject…..My take is you need at least 3 or 4 emails set up to work around being locked out while travelling. None should be outlook.com or hotmail or microsoft live accounts: they lock you out , i recommend gmail.com gmx.com gmx.net icloud.com (maybe AOL) these are big and healthy providers I’ve had GMX for 20 years when outlook expres from microsoft started to be a pain.
You need to set up ALL these email on your smartphone as push mail accounts so that they are actively looking for mail anytime you re near a wifi……The key is to keep these
mailboxes active. My Wife has an hotmail account (20 years as well) she doesn’t have a problem because it’s set up here on her ipad2 and her android smartphone which travel with her BUT she has been getting daily reminders from microsoft that her account could be jeopardized. Talk about excessive preventive measures.
Hope this can be of help to users. It took me a while to bite the bullet and work on a mac air and learn IOS…but I am so well off.
Happy travelings online (hopefully)
Don’t use gmail or yahoo either. I also travel a lot and have found myself in the exact same situation as you, multiple times. And completely lost my email account with years worth of email TWICE.
I too have been having this same trouble accessing email while travelling in Japan. Luckily I did set up mail forwarded before leaving Australia but not for my wife’s account, never expected this sort of thing to happen. Asking people to reply to an SMS message sent to their mobile phone, to get access to their gmail account while away, when they do not have an overseas roaming phone account is ridiculous. Another great idea by somebody that has not been well thought out!
I moved over to Runbox so I don’t have these issues and have total privacy too. Together with services like Dropbox (Though Mega is better), Evernote, LastPass and Xmarks.
Result? I am computer independent. If you stole any of my computers, you’d get no passwords, no bookmarks, no data – Nothing.
I can go to the library and open a browser and it opens where I left off. 400+ passwords of 15-50 characters all remembered for me. I only need one password.
Every application is mobile, tablet, desktop and operating system independent.
Of course I keep backups of these too.
Security and redundancy with a different mindset.
Hi Graham,
Sorry for my lack of knowledge about RunBox, I’ve never heard of the name before. Is that an aggregated password collector/link login tool?
If so what happens if their security is compromised and then you’ve lost 100% of your logins to everything?
Whilst I hate having all these passwords to remember the idea of having them in separate pots makes me feel more secure since they can’t all be taken down at once.
I’ve started looking at the Runbox website and can’t quite see how this risk is averted. Whilst many IT services claim security protection etc they are all targets.
As part of my job I speak to a lot of people who work in IT (to varying skill levels). Some of them say that if I knew all the security flaws they were aware of I’d probably never do anything online again.
Have locked out of account for 30 days
Ahhhhhh this has just happened to me. Absolute nightmare as have literally all my information and flight documents saved here. I am going to struggle with some of the verification questions given I have had this account for over a decade it might be hard to remember the exact date I set it up!!!
Hi Megan and Mike,
It may be old news to you by now, but to get around this problem, it helps a lot to have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) client installed on your laptop. You can set it up so that you connect through servers that make it look like you’re in your home country & city. It also encrypts your data, so if you’re doing your online banking on public WIFI, no one can hack into your machine (even a password protected WIFI is vulnerable) An excellent article about VPNs here:
http://toomanyadapters.com/5-reasons-you-should-be-using-a-vpn-while-traveling/
Fortunately, I came across this article and website before setting off on extended travel in 2015-16.
For a VPN, I’m using Wytopia and so far it has worked seamlessly. I paid $60 USD for a year subscription. Based on the nightmare you endured, I feel much better now about parting with my cash.
Hope this helps. Cheers,
Ken
Megan, this just happened to me too, while travelling in Greece. But I hate to tell you: Gmail and Yahoo both sent me emails saying “sign-in attempt blocked” because of being in a foreign country and/or because sign-ins were coming from what they consider to be insecure apps or unrecognized device. Of course I was only using my regular devices I’ve had for years and normal apps, so it must really be the foreign ip address that is causing them to lock me out. I guess they think nobody travels! Maybe there is a way to let your email provider know in advance when you’ll be overseas, the same as you would do for your bank?
Btw, I’m dying to visit Iceland, how was it?
Currently in Cyprus locked out of my Hotmail / outlook account for 3 days – will they unlock it when I return to Australia – will I have access when I return. Now no access to my flight schedules etc – total stress and dramas thanks to Microsoft! Poor service and no phone numbers to call and assist.
Hi Everyone,
Ref my last message above: Fourth standard email below from Microsoft – after spending three days waiting for access in Cyprus – filled in four verification forms asking questions I need to remember from 13 years ago. No phone numbers to call to assist and ineffective call centres with no power to make effective decisions – have now missed two flights as unsure of airlines booked with dates and times of flights. Microsoft still not reacting to my problem – with no offer to call me and check who I am. After reading the blog above I read a very nice reply from a Microsoft rep but have they really improved their service? – I believe NO NO and NO! Still reactive and highly ineffective with no phone numbers to call and ability fax or scan passports through to confirm identity. I think everyone needs to seriously consider G MAIL! 4 AM in the morning here in Cyprus still waiting on a realistic and effective response for my blocked account from Microsoft!
Microsoft Account – Unmonitored Automated Email
Today at 12:20 AM
Your security is important to us
Recently, we received several requests to gain access to @hotmail.com. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify your ownership using the information that was provided. Microsoft takes the security and privacy of our customers very seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information, and our careful account recovery process is intended to protect you from any possible malicious activity.
Now what?
Because there have been multiple unsuccessful recovery attempts for this account, we recommend at this point that you create a new account. It’s quick and easy, and we have tools to help you import contacts, connect with Facebook, and even receive messages from multiple email accounts.
> Open a new account
With a new account, you’ll be able to use the following services across all of your devices:
•Best-in-class email with unlimited storage at lightning speed and serious security.
•Stay connected with friends and family, see social updates and chat with Facebook friends, and make ordinary moments memorable with video calls.
•Free online storage for thousands of docs and photos, shared your way.
Don’t get locked out again
Once you create a new account, we highly recommend you update your password reset information with a phone number or alternate email address. This will make it easier for you to gain access to your account in the future if you are locked out again.
NO GMAIL HAS THE SAME PROBLEMS, I CAME HERE BECAUSE GMAIL IRREPARABLY LOCKED ME OUT OF MY OWN ACCOUNT THEN THEN EMAILED ME “SOMEBODY HAS YOUR PASSWORD! THEY TRIED TO LOG IN FROM [MY OWN IP]” DUH YOU RETARDS, I HAVE MY OWN PASSWORD AND I TRIED TO LOG IN YOU RETARDS!!!
Whichever half witted moron came up with these security measures deserved a good slap. Even though I have submitted two previous passwords, four recent email adresses and subjects and three folder names, I still can’t get in for ‘my own security’. For my own security I NEED TO ACCESS THE NAME OF MY FUCKING HOTEL AND MY FLIGHT DETAILS AND THE TICKETS FOR SHOWS THAT I HAVE PAID HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS FOR!!
locked out. moved from Greenville,NC to Tacoma,WA and Microsoft locked me out! Tried to recover and nothing happens! My new job information is in that outlook email!
Microsoft email is horrible!
You’ve reached the limit for account recovery requests
We’ve received too many requests to recover this account today. (We have a limit to help keep your account safe.) Please try again in 24 hours.
Good suggestions. Gmail worked without issues. Only asked what city I came from. Then it unlocked. Seriously Microsoft has no clue how to create workable software these days.
This has actually happened to me and because of it I lost my scholarship for not responding since I went home to visit my family outside the US! I still can’t believe it.
My problem with Gmail is that it’s blocked in China. I couldn’t access my mails there. Even my Yahoo account asks for verification. So useless.
Thanks for taking this public. I just returned from a two week trip to Argentina and Chile. Locked out of my Outlook e-mail the whole time. The verification process did not work for me. Although, the lock out did not create the problems you and others have experience, it could have had my wife not been able to access our travel documents through her Yahoo account. As it was, trying to recover access to my e-mail was time consuming over very slow public internet connections. Time wasted that could have been used for something much more enjoyable and worthwhile.
I have another major concern with the verification process that no one else has mentioned. I have a real concern with providing the security sensitive information MSFT is requesting over a public internet connection. This information could be used to gain access to accounts I consider much more important than my e-mail. Like financial accounts. And without e-mail access, I would not get any alerts that these accounts may have been compromised. After trying the verification process several times on different public connections, I was worried about this for the rest of the trip.
I’m home now and have access again. Currently trading messages with MSFT about my problem/concerns which seem to be falling on deaf ears or eyes. I’m done. This is the fourth time I have been locked out while traveling and I am not doing this again. Definitely opening a GMail account. And I’m going to look at some of the other suggestions I have noted in the comments.
Thanks for providing a public forum to voice this. Your blog came to the top of the heap when I searched on this problem. Maybe it will get their attention and force some change.
Anyone reading through this because of access issues should comment on their issues, concerns, and grips.
Cheers,
Steve
Just want to mention again that gmail can also lock you out. It happened to my sister in Thailand, though she was fine in Malaysia. She was also locked out in South America.
One suggestion is if you use booking.com it stores your hotel bookings. You can even take a picture to place in a photo albums of the booking. Another app that is useful for flight and hotel information is Tripit.rental.com in the USA sent me an email about their app and I have it containing my car rental information. I these apps don’t help with getting your email but they do solve a lot of the problems people are posting about. Of course you need Internet access but that usually isn’t the problem.
Sorry forgot to say I am using the booking.com app and I use an iPad.
this what Scott said on June 24, 2014:
“Ensure you have several alternate emails and associated to your account and a phone” None of this worked, despite an alternative of my wife, and my cell. I’m done with Hotmail.
Hi Meg can I ask how you managed to resolve this in the end? Did the escalation support sort it out for you eventually? What did you have to do to gain access again? I am going through this at the moment and it is very upsetting, I don’t know what to do.
Thank you very much Meg that information is extremely helpful. I have now started down the (likely) long miserable journey through escalation agents, so I will see where that leads me. Good idea on the accessing from home country/accessing from mobile ideas – those may be my best bet if this doesn’t work. I absolutely will be moving my emails to another provider if I manage to make it out of this mess!
Hi just as an update I managed to finally get back into my account! The escalation agents were useless so I got someone from home to access it for me. Thanks again for the advice Meg.
For anyone else reading this, make sure you never log into your Microsoft account abroad – it is absolutely not worth the days of hassle it will cause you! I realized through this process how much important info/emails I had wrapped up in my account. It is really not safe leaving this stuff in a Microsoft account which can so easily lock you out for good, so also make sure that you have copies of any essential stuff either at home or stored securely on another (non-Microsoft) site as backup. Also if travelling make sure you have travel itineraries, etc printed off before you go.
Just returned from Thailand where I tried to access both yahoo mail and gmail and they were both locked when I attempted to log in from my wife’s Iphone. There was no way to solve the problem until I returned home. The question asked was “What date did you open your account?” Do people really know that after more than 30 years with the same account? Also both emails asked me to use the other email account to verify my identity. Of course they both were blocked so that could not work either. My question is what exactly is a password for?
Forget about having a different/better experience with gmail! I’m in India right now on a business trip and Google has blocked one of my gmail accounts (fortunately not my main account) and repeatedly sends me emails saying that they have protected me – from ‘suspicious’ log-in attempts from a ‘new’ computer-the same laptop I have been using for 2 years by the way and a ‘new’ device …my 2 year old ipad! And is there a space to communicate, ‘no, this is NOT’ a suspicious sign-in attempt, it is ME? No! Why not ask the question…”is this you–prove it”?
I can only assume that because Americans are more parochial and per capita travel less overseas than others nationalities perhaps, there is an assumption that log-ins from countries other than your own, are ‘suspicious’. It’s creepy that we are tracked and logged like this by these mega-corporations. When I was on the Mongol Rally a couple of years ago, it was a nightmare! UK, western Europe, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia…ALL my accounts were blocked…both Hotmail and Gmail. By a miracle I was able to call Microsoft (I don’t know how…it really was a miracle…I googled a telephone number and it worked) and the girl took down the data about the countries we were travelling through and restored access to my 2 Hotmail accounts. But I didn’t get access to my three gmail accounts till I returned to Australia a couple of months later.
Oh do NOT EVER use gmail. They will do the same thing. Yahoo, MS, Google, all the same. They started doing that around a few years ago. I was 350 miles from home, using a Yahoo account I had had for nearly 10 years–locked out! Nothing i could do except travel back home and log in.
Right then I decided never again was that going to happen to me. It’s all because of that idiotic phone verification system they have.
Just use Mail.com. It’s old school. Sign, up, create a name and password, your in–forever. They enver ask for verification as long as you have your log name and password–like, no duh?
That’s why I never use MS, Yahoo, Google anything. Well, I have a MS account for Onedrive backups for my laptop, but that’s it. And I have that backed up on another drive too just in case MS thinks it needs to block all my family pictures from the last 54 years of my ;life–and I cannot access them ever again.
The lesson is never trust these three corporations with your information–they’ll simply make it so you can;t access it–ever.
Also, the phone thing doesn’t work. What if you change your number, lose your phone? It’s not worth it.
Thanks for the tip Sasww! I signed up for mail.com upon reading your comment. I have successfully linked both my personal and work Yahoo Email to Mail.com. Gmail is preventing Mail.com to sync because it doesn’t comply with modern security standards. Oh well, at least, I can access my Yahoo wherever, whenever now.
Megan, I think I wrote you about this on twitter, but this might be a better place to post it. Basically it looks like your problem is that your email service provider detected that you were logging in from an unusual place. They can do this by tracking your IP address. Your IP address is so accurate, and so unique to your computer, that your location can be pinpointed to within 10 meters. One way to fool google or msn is to use a VPN, that’s virtual private network. There’s many available for as little as 5 USD per month or in a pinch you can use a free service called “Soft Ether” VPN. What id does is tunnel your connection through a server in another location. So for example, I live in Germany. I typically log in to my Gmail from Germany. When I go to the United States, I always have trouble. I have to verify I’m not a hacker. I got sick of this and hooked up to a VPN. Google no longer challenges me. So by tricking Microsoft or Google into thinking you’re still local, you can avoid the entire verification process. I provide very detailed instructions on how to set up soft ether VPN for free here: http://www.sirtripsalot.com/using-a-vpn-to-tunnel-under-the-firewall-of-china-while-traveling-2/
Meagan I can so relate. When I went to Iceland I could not log into my Outlook or get my bank info. I was trying to login and I received the exact same message you did. I finally got to a point where they said we can send you a code to your other email-gmail which I thought I was making headway until I tried to log into my gmail and received a similiar message. Now I’m pulling my hair out. My bank’s message was we can send you a code to your email so you can access your bank info. Yeah great! if I could access anything. Each time I tried to use help on Outlook I received a message that someone will get back to you within 24 hours. It was very frustrating.
Are there any comments about a way to contact Outlook and let them know when you are going to be out of country and to allow access to your account?
Dear Mike, I travel for work and I am always abroad (hence me needing mobility and emails in the first place..). I have never had any issue before though recently I went to Hawaii and now Italy and in both cases I got locked out of both the ‘connected/linked’ accounts with hotmail and yahoo!! (one provides the back up to the other when the security check at sign in is concerned and requested). So I am now screwed completely and unable to contact either yahoo or hotmail to direclty fix the issue. The question I have for you is then, how did you fix yours? Is there a number to call, an email address or a building to blow up to get some attention here?
Dear Meg, Thank you for the prompt reply. I should have thought of using a vpn. Too late now. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten anyone back where the accounts were first created and used (..I am Italian, I creatd the accounts in Japan where I live and I am now in the EU so..). It is regrettable though that a technology supposedly invented for global communication and for the benefit of traveling freaks like myself should have such a flaw. Security my a@@ (pardon my French)! I really do not like this situation, not a bit. I use my accounts for work and only I have the access to them… and need them accessed now! You mentioned a ticked to be opened. Could you be more specific on how (perhaps a link) to open one? I tried with google and nothing worked so far. They keep on asking me silly questions (i.e. the last three email addresses I sent mail to.. ???!! yea, right, like I would ever remeber that!, my credit card last 4 digits!!!? WWHAATT?? and other sh@@). I did provide all passwords, recovery emails, sent codes, and answered the preset security questions and I do not understand what they might what after that. Anyways, Thanks again. Cheers
Thank you MEg for the link to the chat people from Microsoft. I had a 22 minute chat, the guy was of course very undertsanding and empathic, unfortunately, he said he couldn’t do anything more for me than give me a link to the same page I have been fighting with since day 1. This time, thank god I managed to hit a few more lines right in the infinite questionnaire forced upon me, got a ticket submitted but regrettably, at the end.. it didn’t do any good, just as before. Here is what I got sent to the back up email today:
“”We recently received a request to recover your Microsoft account **********@live.com. Unfortunately, our automated system has determined that the information you provided was not sufficient for us to validate your account ownership. Microsoft takes the security and privacy of our customers very seriously, and our commitment to protecting your personal information requires that we take the utmost care in ensuring that you are the account owner.
Please submit a new account verification form
At this point, your best option is to submit a new form with as much accurate information as you can gather. The more information you can include in the form, the better the chance you’ll have of regaining access to your account. We’ve included a few tips below to help you fill out the form as completely and accurately as possible.
> Submit a new form
Helpful tips for filling out another form:
Answer as many questions as you can.
Use the information you provided when you created the account, or last updated it.
Submit the form from a computer you frequently use.
You will be asked to list recently used email addresses and the subject lines from recent emails. Ask for help from family members, friends, or business contacts to confirm their email addresses and tell you the subject lines of the last three emails they sent you.
Make sure to use the correct domain for your account, such as hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com. Keep in mind that your email address may be country specific. For example, if you created your account in Sweden, your domain would be “hotmail.co.se” rather than “hotmail.com”.
Ready? “”
Well, no. I am not ready you silly bint!
They take security very seriiooouuussly. Right, and I take my life just as much seriously.
The end. No more Hotmail, live and Microjokes for me.
I’m going through this madness now for the third time!
My Hotmail account was blocked so I gave up and created an Outlook account. A few days later the Outlook account was blocked due to alleged spam. They wanted a mobile number which I don’t have overseas. I then created a second Outlook account and the same thing happened.
I’m now going to try Gmail and if that gets blocked due to hacking or whatever then I’m stuck.
I’ve never ever had a problem with using Hotmail overseas in the past but now it has become a problem since Microsoft took it over.
Microsoft should be blocking the spammed email not our accounts. Why should we be punished for the evil someone else has done??!!!
And even if we manage to unlock our accounts the same attack is just going to happen again and again. So Microsoft need to do something to stop our accounts being hacked.
I guess the era of free email accounts that just worked without any issues is officially over.
Oh and thanks Megan for sharing your story. You’ve confirmed that I’m not the only one. It’s such a pain when you’re overseas and at the start of your vacation.
I don’t know how the hackers are doing it but I think it must be on the free wifi networks in cities or on buses etc.
Currently dealing with a blocked gmail account. Gmail is not safe.
It happened to me when I Was in Thailad. I printed all my documents except for one that I booked when I was out there, then I lost access to my account, put my password in so many times that it blocked my account, not sure why as I know my password by heart. I then had to go through the process of filling in the verification form that I have done about 7 times now. I know that the information I am putting in is accurate so I am not sure what is going wrong? The last form I filled in almost instantly declined, the minute I pressed send. I got an instant email back declining my verification. I talked to an online agent who re-directed me to the form. 20 years lost, all my photos that I was due to transfer to a hard drive, all my work contacts, friends….accounts listed to this email. It’s heartbreaking, and I have no faith I will get it back :(
Yes x
I have heard that China sometimes block G-mail so keep my other e-mail address going as well
Meg Jerrad
It’s because many time hackers attempt to hack Hotmail account, so it’s Microsoft’s attempt to block them. Yes this feature trouble frequent travelers but to avoid this you can enable two step verification in Hotmail. So that you can get access to your account from any unknown location.
After enabling 2 step verification, you can get code on authenticator app. If you are not planning to bring mobile along you can print those codes also.
Gmail is EVEN WORSE for locking you out of your account when travelling. Do yourself a favor and setup teamviewer on your computer at home and bring a flash drive with teamviewer installed on it so you can access it from your home computer. Also, setup an email client that you can use instead of logging into the main website. Setup fongo, google voice, truphone, textme, or a similar free telephone service on your cell phone that you can use for phone verification as well as free phone calls while travelling.
If you don’t want to keep your computer on all the time to remote into while travelling you can setup an Amazon Web Services account and run an instance of Microsoft Window Server 2012/2008/etc. you can remote into and access from instead (just make sure that you’ve already verified it’s location so that google/microsoft already knows the IP address of your instance before you go travelling). Another thing you should have already is a VPN service, if you use your VPN to access your email then it will already be listed as a trusted location you can access your email from as well as it will protect you from the risks of public networks while travelling. Good Luck! :)
Also keep your recovery information up-to-date and ensure it includes not only telephone numbers but also alternative email addresses you can use to verify your identity.
I have just had exactly the same problem.
2 options were given.
1: Receive a text message code (my phone didn’t work because I was abroad).
2: Get a code sent to gmail (gmail also locked me out of my emails).
Which basically meant I couldn’t access my emails abroad, which I needed for so many reasons, including the fact that I was travelling with Ryanair who dont let you print off tickets will 7 days before travel.
Also needed emails for business and many other reasons.
Microsoft tech support recommend in future I leave my phone with someone I trust and get them to send me the code. Like I would give my phone to someone else to look through.
Really annoyed with this experience.
Hi Meg,
I’m going through the same problem. I came to the UK and it was working fine and then got a new laptop and suddenly they think ‘someone else might be trying to log in’. So I tried the whole thing of retrieving my account. My alternate for this hotmail account which I have been using since late 90s is Yahoo. And same problem with Yahoo since it’s a new place. So I can’t access both accounts. And it’s frustrating. Gmail is a saving grace but hotmail is my primary account.
I was wondering if you talked to the Hotmail people and verified in person? And how do you do that?
Hope gmail is giving you no trouble anymore.
I am just experiencing this same this right now and it is BEYOND frustrating. Felt a little better to find your blog and see that I wasn’t alone in this RIDICULOUS battle getting into my own e-mails. I have failed that verification three times and there is literally nowhere to find help but your tip about Microsoft support on Twitter was great and has given me a glimmer of hope! Thank you!
Hey Meg,
This happened to me three days ago and I seriously feel like I’m missing a limb. I’m trying all kinds of avenues without much success but thanks for this post. It has given me a glimmer of hope! Thanks.
Megan,
I am having the same nightmare, can’t access itinerary, travel e tickets. What a loads of idiots running hotmail and outlook
No sense at all.
I am going change the mail to some other provider
I am experiencing exactly what you all experiencing. tks for sharing
Have you considered using a business email account for business?
I dumped hotmail for anything important a long time ago, Microsoft is impossible to deal with. Now Gmail seems to be following in Hotmail’s footsteps. I have nine gmail accounts for various purposes, and an extension that checks these addresses. Today I made the mistake of trying to sign in from a new IP. Each and every @#$%!!! account was blocked, and I ended up having to change all the pw’s, which meant I had also to change them in the extension, and on my other computer. Completely disgusting.
This seems to make sense. I cannot get into my Yahoo! account on vacation in Thailand. I do not use a gmail account and cannot even recall the address since it has been a very long time since using it. I have two burn phones at home, somewhere, that I do not need or want on vacation. I cannot believe no one can produce my account here if I have the password!!! And what about answers to personal questions I surely gave Yahoo! decades ago?? Can’t they check ANYTHING??? I do NOT Twitter or use Facebook, so do not want to hear anything about those.
Well, it isn’t helping and I am not a techie, nor does it seem like anyone else in Thailand knows squat about such things. I managed to finally open an outlook.com account last night, only to not be able to get the password to work again this morning. Such garbage..just unbelievably flustered…cannot believe there is isn’t a human being that I can contact at the sorrya$$ Yahoo..there are some important things I need to coordinate and send and cannot believe I cannot access my own website to do it.
We have been conducting tests on this issue, to try and determine how exactly we need to set up a Microsoft account in order for it to remain operational, and avoid it getting Suspended. We do not have a definitive answer yet, BUT: we suspect that 2-factor authentication may help. We have one test acount here with 2FA that has remained operational for some weeks, and all we do with it is run Skype. We have created another test account where we logged in immediately after account creation (to avoid the “no activity in the first 10 days” rule), but this was not successful, and this account too got Suspended. Maybe if we wait 24 hours before logging in for the first time, the account will remain operational. Anyway, it takes a couple of weeks to work through a test – we have one more test account with 2FA that we created on 20-Jan-17. It does not use the Microsoft Authenticator app, it uses an alternate email. If this account remains OK and does not get suspended, I will post another reply here.
Hi Dave. I have been trying to get answers from Microsoft for 2 months, but they will not provide any. When you phone support, you eventually get to the point that they escalate it to the Global Escalations Team. This Team always respond with something similar to the following (ie. they will not tell you anything), and they sometimes point you to a 3rd option, the Online Safety Team – abuse@outlook.com. The latter never respond, ever.
So my only suggestion is to work with Microsoft Support this time around to unblock your account to get you going. Then, when you have the time, perhaps you too can contact Microsoft Support, and try to get somewhere with Global Escalations and Online Safety Team. Perhaps if they hear from enough frustrated customers, they might decide to listen. I’d be very interested if you too get a brick wall from Microsoft, or if it’s just me!
Typical Response from Global Escalation Team:
Hi,
Thank you for contacting Microsoft account Global Escalations Team. We were notified that your account has been suspended.
Upon checking the account, there’s no more blockage on the account. Please be informed that we are unable to discuss to you or disclose any further information pertaining to the suspension.
You may contact our Online Safety Team regarding this matter. You may contact them through abuse@outlook.com.
Let us know if you have further questions.
Thank you,
Microsoft account Global Escalations Team
For the first time ever after enjoying countless vacations to Thailand, this one has been nothing short of pure aggravation and worry thanks to crap from Yahoo! which after 20 years won’t let me in my own account EVEN WHEN THE JERKS have had my answers to personal questions for decades! So why would they SUDDENLY this year demand alternate e-mail addresses for verification? Has it ever occurred to anyone there that not everyone has an alternate address, or has even used it in the last 10 years if they did?
Oh, call a friggin’ phone they say. I have two burn phones, never owned a smartphone, and do not even know where either of them are since I haven’t used them in months. I am on VACATION as well, so they aren’t even in this country. Also, I never take my ipad abroad and do NOT want to be reached ever by anyone but my girlfriend, who is usually snuggled up to or only a few feet away from me.
So to do my normal e-mail has become a real IMPOSSIBILITY here and I don’t see myself ever returning to this place or Yahoo! (Verizon should transfer my account to me, then raze that crapass company to the ground).
There should be, at EVERY company, an easy-to-access telephone line in the country where you are located, with a real HUMAN BEING on the other end who can access your profile, data, account, etc. and determine if you are legit in real time if security is a real concern. That is COMMON SENSE and customer-oriented (a forgotten aspect of today’s money-grubbing, lazy businesses). What if I needed access to my account to my account for an emergency rather than for business purposes?
Dave Hamilton (hamildav@yahoo.com)
Heidelberg, Germany
BTW Karl, I did try abuse@outlook.com, but after struggling to write that rant for over an hour, the turds response said it could not be sent because my address was not “configured” correctly. I wish I had the power to fire every single geek who spouts such nonsense. I am an expert and specialist in other real fields of importance, not gobbledygook and nebulous imbecility as these IT companies dirty us with.
This is one reason why I always use Astrill when traveling. I need to stay connected through social media and with my email all the time.
Hey Meg, great to read about your travels. Gotta say I”m feeling the hotmail pain. Moved from Aust. to Vietnam, locked out, paid heaps to get the phone code from home, had to turn on roaming from OS, just don’t ask that was a sh*tfight on its own. Now in India, same deal.
However, there is one thing hotmail overlooked in their efforts to make email access impossible for people operating outside their bounds of perception, namely travelers. I still have email access on my phone, go figure.
My gmail acc. continues to operate without a hitch regardless of where I login from. Scared to death of revisiting the password recovery process with gmail, while I still have access.
It seems publicity may have elicited some action for you from them. I would love to see public awareness elevated to the point that people leave outlook in droves. Perhaps that would get some changes.
Cheers,
Rob
Email Support Numbers provide 24X7 resolution for issues related to any hotmail services like account recovery, email block, login issues and more. With the support of our helpdesk experts, we provide solutions related to such problems directly with our hotmail customer service number.
Xxx
An outstanding share! I habe just forwarded this onto a coworker who was doing a little
research on this. And he in fact bought me lunch simply because
I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to discuss tthis
subject here on your web page.
I am having the same problem right now. I am in Cancun and suddenly Hotmail and half my other applications won’t work unless I sign into them again. I didn’t bring my password book as I have never had this problem before even though I have taken a computer outside the US dozens of times. Even MS Word and One Drive want me to sign-in again just to access documents. It is like I am being discriminated-against for taking my laptop outside the US. I wonder if in the future I will need to call Microsoft before foreign travel like I have to notify my credit cards?
Hi Mark,
If you manage to login to live.com again, configure your Microsoft Account to send security info to an alternate email address. If you can access that email address, you will be able to retrieve Microsoft security codes and password reset messages to get you going again with most programs. Maybe create yourself a gmail account.
This will save you most of the time. If however you get “Suspended”, there is nothing you can do other than to follow the painful Microsoft security procedures.
Oh no. I just came across this blog post and it made me feel really sick. The amount of documents I have stored on my Microsoft account. It has never even crossed my mind that I might lose access to it completely. I always thought it would be recoverable. Ok I better save my work on a separate hard disk. I just need to be more organised about the whole thing. Yikes
Hi Katharina,
You are in a good position – you haven’t been locked out yet! So I highly recommend you do the following ….
– login at login.live.com
– Security – Update info – Add Security Info:
– add at least one alternate email address
– more options: create a Recovery Code
Keep a hard copy of that Recovery Code, or stick it onto your Google Drive (or some other place that will still work after your Microsoft Account is suspended) in case you ever need it.
If you are 100% certain your mobile phone will always be with you ….
– Security – Update info – Add Security Info:
– more options: setup 2 Step Verification
I’m travelling through Russia right now en route to China. I get a lot out of using a VPN while travelling. Not as big an issue with email (except for privacy) but if I need to access Facebook or other sites blocked by the great firewall, the VPN is a great tool.
Who are you guys using for VPN access? I have a trip to China coming up and hadn’t even thought of this yet! With Blogging and Vlogging a fast VPN is a big bonus so i can keep my content coming even while i’m “in country”
I’m in the same boat, but I do use Gmail. Ugh! This is nuts! I’m glad they EVENTUALLY helped even though the lengths to which you had to go for that to happen are insane!
Did not have to even travel outside my house for this to happen, i have since left hotmail, they were fine they way they were. Someone thinks they need to keep changing things though. Thats fine, as long as you dont block out half of your customers in the process. Furthermore, assuming that you cant possibly check your email from another device and your computer on the same day is just obsurd. It seems to me they worry more about updating their interface and graphics schemes than they do keeping things the same and functional ‘under the hood’. This is why google has been a success – because it doesnt change (too much) it’s interface and if it does, it gives you a choice most times.
I have to say that to me, your account does not reflect the actual complexity which is involved. Though I have to acknowledge that you label this as a rant. I would think that accounts tend to get breached frequently and that in the majority of cases, the breaching happens from a notable distance. This needs to be addressed in order to contribute to the integrity of a system. There are multiple problems that come with this, one being that informing customers about implementations to address this may inform attackers as well, which may undermine their efficacy. Another is that it is not always easy to know whether someone is sincere or solely pretending to be so. In addition, there needs to be a balance between the need to prove trustworthiness and the risk involved with providing personal information. It appears that the implementation you described here three years ago may not have been working properly. After some research it appears that it would have been possible to enter a verification code which would have been sent to a mobile phone which presumably should have been linked to the account prior to travelling. I also think that if someone is in the rather privileged position of earning an income through travelling and publishing articles about said travels on the internet, respectively through advertisement, they have the responsibility to prepare accordingly. Finally, I find the caption to one of your pictures rather interesting. You write that you are frustrated with trying to manage this situation instead of enjoying your stay. I understand you, but at the same time you mention in your post that there are many things that you are unable to do. To me this raises the question whether one really is able to enjoy travels while being preoccupied with all of the work that comes with it, regardless of whether there are account issues.
Gosh! This whole episode flipped me out totally. An entire e-mail account disappearing is scary. Infact after reading this I checked on my hotmail and yes, it’s gone. I was never really using it in the recent past but the contacts are gone and I don’t have them anywhere else. I really don’t know if I should do something about it or just let it be without calling out the concerned people. Thanks for writing about this.
I too had this similar problem around same time last year, but luckily recovered fast. I guess it was something at their end that caused this major goof up.
There could be many issues if you are not able to login to your Hotmail account like your account is deactivated, account hacked, account temporarily blocked, forget username of password and much more.
I have to say I found this post so funny, because I’ve thought this for so long regarding their outlook and browser IE. You know that there has got to be a problem when every programmer and designer I’ve met or read posts or done research regarding these have the same to say. You have to add all these exceptions in code and design in order to make a website or email look decent. Why is it ONLY outlook and IE. Seriously, why don’t they fix the freaking problem which has been around since I’ve been doing design… over 15 years! What is wrong with them! I see its not just design and code where people have these frustrations with their system of thinking, its so illogical… they need to just fix it all or scrap it. Evidently, they just scrapped IE. thank you! now please fix outlook!
Access to my .mac account including iCloud and emails has been shut down since I came into Mexico from the US. 6 hours of help tries from 3 senior apple advisers got nowhere. I complained to the local internet company. they reset something and I could get thru. Two hours later – locked out again. Not yet resolved. Oddly, I can access the Apple account with my cell phone over the same wifi network.
Apple said it could be something the local guys put out that Apples computers see as bad, and I get locked out.
It’s a mystery…
Wow! That happened to me, too. I practically lost my account. And after I didn’t get access I definitely stopped using Outlook and started using only Google Gmail that I find easier and safer to avoid headaches in the future. This is a really boring situation and I wonder how your frustration was with that. Thank you for sharing with us.
wow nice article really teachable i love it!!
Keep up the great work guyz.
Megan, I wouldn’t trust gmail, either. I almost never access anything using my Google account, because every single time I do, it blocks me and then emails me (at my non-gmail email address) to tell me that someone (which was me) has just tried to access my Google account using my password (which I happen to know because it was ME doing it!).
I now have three Google accounts, all linked to the same non-gmail email address, all with the same personal details, none of which I can use because Google doesn’t trust anyone who knows my password to have legitimate access to my account.
Have you ever read Kafka? This is the kind of story he’d be writing if he was writing today.
thanks
Meg, I feel your pain.
Hi Meg,
This exact same thing has happened to me and I haven’t even been travelling! Told to give details of sent emails etc so did that several times to no avail – and now they tell me it’s closed. That account has all manner of important business and personal data that I have no other way of accessing. It’s just the same as the postman breaking into your house and stealing all of your letters. Totally outrageous and terrible publicity for Microsoft.
I lost access to my main Gmail account a while back and it took me weeks to get back in. To this day I can’t figure out why I was blocked. I wasn’t on the road and hadn’t logged in from any strange places. I finally regained access with the help of a Yahoo CS rep. My recovery email was a yahoo email (which I had also lost access to!) and the rep was able to help me out. Google help was totally useless. I wouldn’t have bothered with the account except that it has all my contacts, important emails, etc., so I could not abandon it. Now, I have passwords and such stored in several different places, along with info. I might need to recover the account should I be denied access ever again.
Wow, that’s boring … I’ve heard a similar case that happened to a friend in my town. Good thing you got it sorted out.
I have been through this too, but after getting support with the company responsible, after 5 days I got the access back to my account.
I went through something very similar with Microsoft more than a decade ago, so sounds like nothing much has changed in 10 years – aside from the fact that you actually got a response from a real person! I switched to Gmail when it was still in its beta phase and have never had any problems since. The organisation I was working for at the time was using Outlook, and was constantly giving us hassles, so I had to suffer that for a few years more until I retired. I now have 8 different accounts with Gmail – 3 personal and 5 on G Suite for my blogging and writing work – and have never had any problems logging into any of them from any part of the world (and I have accessed them from some fairly remote places!)
What really made me angry with Microsoft is that they deleted thousands of travel photos that I had on one of their platforms and refused to give any reason for doing so. It wasn’t the loss of the photos that made me angry (because I had copies) but the sheer arrogance of the organisation in refusing to tell me why they had deleted my account.
I still use Word and Excel because those are industry standard products, and Open Office has really not been a satisfactory alternative because so many people only want .doc and .xls files, but I will never use another Microsoft product if I can avoid it. I used to be a Microsoft fan 15 years ago, but they lost me because of their abysmal customer service. These days, after-sales customer service is as important as the quality of the product itself, but Microsoft is yet to understand that.
Microsoft is scum. Just closed my email accounts with them and will never go back. Horrible layout and absolutely brain dead “verification” security system.
A username/email, password, and a few security question is ENOUGH. If people are dumb enough to let somebody have all that, then they deserve to get hacked.
Microsoft is forcing all users to succumb to stupid protocols due to morons getting hacked.
I have this issue, every god damn time I go travelling. It is a MAJOR.. PAIN IN THE ASS.
Where do travels documents go? Your E-mail! Train tickets, Plane tickets? E-mail!
Need to change something with your travel arrangements.. E-mail!
Although, come to think of it.. I think gmail locked me out too.
It’s why I make sure I have everything printed and in my backpack.
What can’t I access as SOON as I change my IP address – E-mail!
Then my back-up email addresses don’t work.. because I’m in another country.
Microdick likes to add so much security, that it makes itself redundant. It’s actually quite hilarious.
Also with any games that Microsoft buys, goes down the drain. Their original, creative, funny, or whacky ideas that come from indie and new game designers are turned into the same generic crap. It becomes boring.
It’s never a good idea for a super power to control so much.
When they do, things get plain & boring, customer service turns to an auto-mated crap-shoot and before you know it.. a quarter of the things you use are owned by the same fricken company.
Hi
same with my googlemail account.
at home i open it normaly.
then i went to office and tried to open it, but inaccessable all day.
At home again i tried to open my googlemail account and open normaly.
There are three emails with message they previed hacker accesses.
Ouch sorry you had to go through that! Another reason to stick with Google products – they are engineered to work so well vs Microsoft products.
This is happening to me right now. I’m an Australian woman, travelling in Thailand and cannot access my emails – I have a Hotmail email. I cannot receive texts either and have had to rely on Facebook messenger to keep in contact with home. I had applied for a number of positions before leaving for this holiday and have no idea if any of my applications have had a response. I’m so worried. I’m flying home on Saturday and feel very anxious. I wished I’d known to change to gmail before leaving Australia. Thanks for the information and advice.
Bev Feb 26, 2019
Hi Bev,
If you proceed through the Account Unblocking process, you will need to be talking to a relative or friend back home, and have them receive an SMS code (or possibly two) from Microsoft and read it out to you. That should work, we do it all the time here.
If you haven’t tried it, I also recommend you login here:
login.live.com
as it is the main Microsoft website login, and may provide different options to Hotmail login (it’s a long shot, but check it anyway).
Finally, if you are prepared to wait a few days, this link is where you manually enter as much info as you can, and eventually Microsoft unblock your account:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/concern/AccountReinstatement
Hope this helps.
Also don’t attempt to access hotmail/outlook via opera with VPN enabled from the US. The locations available are only outside of the US, as such microsoft will block your access and go through the dreaded verification of death.
example I was using VPN opera trying to access my email from inside the US. THey blocked my access because the VPN gave a country outside the US as part of the false data about your computer as to to protect your real information.
They have two typs of verification I believe if you have to do it multiple times its switches you to the verification of death mode where it was asking questions that were extremely sensitive and microsoft should NEVER have access to, like mothers maiden name, where your were born, who your parents are. The kind of data that no email service should ever have access to.
The kind of data that can be used to completely steal your identity to the point you will never get it back.
I was born 1974 and thus a lot of the data they wanted was not available to the Internet. and I did not want to add that data either. Thus I can not access my email in a secure manor using a non VPN based browser on public wifi.
wrr, doesn’t matter
I really feel for you Megan. I was away on a cruise and needed to get urgent work done only to find out that cruise ships do not allow you access to you OneDrive as it takes up to much band width. One thing I learnt about Microsoft was as much as there products might be great they are useless at customer support so I now make sure anything Microsoft is backed up in 2 different places each night. This way I take one of my backup drives with me. Also like you I am slowly moving platforms to Gmail and if only they had something similar to Office365 I would not bother to use Microsoft at all. Thank you for your travel blog and wishing you happiness and adventurous trips buy not Microsoft related :)
I am finding traveling with my outlook private email account extremely challenging. Sydney to Singapore, blocked in Singapore,after unblocking in Singapore blocked again when I arrived in Kathmandu. I also had it blocked moving from one side of South Korea to the other.
Luckily I have an ISP account and I can use to obtain the unlock codes.I wanted to ditch my ISP email account but it just keeps getting me out trouble.
Interesting is that my work Microsoft account does not lock up.
I have been searching about Outlook Not Receiving Emails then finally, when I read this article I get to know the correct information about it and I found this information is relevant. You have an ample amount of knowledge and that describes it very clearly and I thank you for giving me this type of knowledge and it helps me a lot.
Hello admin! May I know the exact steps of how to do AOL EmailI MAP Settings as I have AOL account and I am unable to do AOL EmailI MAP Settings. Can someone help me to with this?
Hi Megan,
Thank you for the article, I am currently experiencing the same issue and I’m not even travelling! Was Twitter the only way that you were able to contact an escalation agent? I can’t seem to get to a real person through Microsoft’s chat options. I don’t have a following on Twitter and created it just for this reason, I’m not sure they’d reply to me.
PS for anyone reading this you can get a live agent on the phone at 1 877 568 2495 but only if you repeatedly say “Speak to an agent” and get put through the automated menu a few times. Unfortunately they will only tell you that you must submit the Recovery Form and that they are unable to provide you with information “That only you know.” Maybe someone else will have better luck than me.
Hoping to hear back from you. Thank you.
Hi Arlene,
We assist many elderly people with their Microsoft Accounts. When your account is Blocked or Suspended, you can do the following. As we are very careful with accounts now, I actually have not had to use this for about a year, but hopefully it will still work for you:
go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/concern/AccountReinstatement
enter all your info, including Recovery Code, Unique ID, and anything else that proves you are you.
In my experience, it usually takes less than 24 hours to gain access to your account again.
If you don’t have a Recovery Code or Unique ID, provide the best info that you can. Then, the next time you have access to your Microsoft account, record your Unique ID and obtain and record your Recovery Code (this can be done in the Security options).
Thank you for the information
You recommend using gmail when travelling. Using gmail on the road is as useless and non functional as are the problems you describe of trying using Microsoft’s hotmail and outlook while travelling, whether in one’s home country or elsewhere. Gmail does not let one log in to one’s email account, even from a public library patron internet terminal in the same city one lives in!
For the millions of people who are hearing impaired and or deaf, and who don’t use a cell (mobile) phone, comparable disaster as Google and Microsoft each show wanton and ugly contempt for the hearing impaired, the deaf, and, as well, to hundreds of millions of internet users who do not use mobile aka cell phones. Many or most of whom are seniors and/or the elderly.
I’m now looking online to see if there are any email servers that allow users to login while traveling, regardless of whether in one’s home country or while visiting other countries. Microsoft and Google do not. Their so-called safety policies are from hunger and stink.
Thank you for the guidance..
Second time locked out of my outlook email when I’m trying to apply for jobs, what a waste of time answering the same security questions again… That’s it, I’m done with outlook, they obviously don’t care about their customers, so frustrating… time to move to gmail
Thank you for your help. this information fixed my problem.
Use gmail when traveling? That’s a really dangerous suggestion. Check out this Oct 4, 2019 column in the NY Times about why one should never considering using Google and gmail.
In my opinion they dislike you move or use VPN cause, among other things, they don’t know where you are, So, they can’t tell their customers what kind of ads to deliver or in what country you really live. An attempt against my privacy.
Idiots! That’s why I’m moving to Protonmail and Tutanota.
@Megan Claire:
Watch out. Google will block your access to the account if you go through a VPN or you are abroad. Try to use Microsoft Outlook desktop application or one on your phone, and Google will block you.
You will have nowhere to call just like with Microsoft.
All you will get is advice to get 2FA which means you have to a GSM telephone with the SIM card working in the country you are in – and Google will not pay for the phone you need to access GMAIL.
Good luck otherwise.
Simple. If you are travelling do not rely on Google services – especially eMail. Take out an account with some ISP that does not think that trying to login from a location 2 miles from home, or from a friends computer, indicates that you are being hacked.
I was caught out by this once. Just 40km from home I was not allowed to sign in unless I got a verification code on my phone. BUt I do not wanh to carry my phone everywhere.
Why are the hi-tech companies of the world trying to force us to carry our phones all the time? Is it to enable total; surveillance?
Anyway … Never again. Google imposed the additional “security” which fundamentally changed the nature of the gmail ervice we had originally signed up to. As it is completely free I guess we have no contractual tights.
But we have no need to carry on using it when it no longer meets our needs.
Thank you for this article.
Just wondering, does gmail work better, eg when access is ‘temporarily’ blocked, is it easy/easier to overcome? Have any glitches occurred for anyone?
I will be travelling again next year and want something fail safe, so any suggestions would be gratefully received.
I had problems in Vietnam last year, things like downloading apps (the grab app being one iirc) which were impossible using a hotmail account for verification, the hotel receptionist gave me a hotel email address to use.
I so can relate, but gmail is no different. I’ve just been blocked out of my gmail account after accessing it via my phone hotspot! I am not even travelling. I am just living away from my home country, since years. This is horrendous and appalling! I need to access my mailbox!!!
I google for help after Outlook.com locked my email and found post most helpful, but reading your herculean recovery efforts sadly extinguished whatever hope of recovering mine.
I wasn’t even traveling, just trying out a new VPN service from Cloudflare and soon a emails from Microsoft and Google flood in about account security. So a word to all reading, DO NOT leave your email client running when on a VPN.
Not being able to answer half the validation questions that Microsoft insist on, even when I have the password and still am in the same location as previous successful email retrieval is simply ridiculous grounds for locking our accounts on a whim.
Huh… April 2022 and I had the EXACT same thing happening to a (relatively) new Outlook.com email account for one of my computers (I have… a few) the other week.
I had to give a second, “backup” email address, which I created… at which point I had to enter… an email address in case I lost access to this second email address (!!!?).
After giving the online verification system as much (read: little, as I have never used this email account) information as possible, they said they were sorry, but I did not give enough information.
They even had/have a (second) email address AND even my cell phone number!!!
I posted a message at the Microsoft forums and told everyone my “problem” and then kindly told Microsoft to stick their email address where the sun does not shine.
I mean, come on…
You will find that most webmail (not just Microsoft but also Yahoo and Google) can decide to block access to your email account if you haven’t given them your cellphone number. The reason they do this is simply that they want everybody’s cellphone number; it gives them a ton more information about you, which they can sell to their customers.
Gmail is especially bad, because you can give them an alternative email which they can use for verification – but when you use it, you then find that it’s not enough. They want another “device” i.e. cellphone.
Still following this “rant”, and I’ve something new to add.
The other week I installed Windows 11 on one of my computers and (against better advice) I made a brand new Microsoft account for it.
It worked fine in Windows 11.
I removed the SSD with Windows 11 and put the “old” SSD with Windows 10 back in, and Microsoft locked the (BRAND NEW) Microsoft account and there seems to be NO way to get it back.
The few number of files I had saved to that new account’s Onedrive online are lost…Microsh!t refuses access–even while they (AGAIN) have my cell phone number!
Their take on “security” is so absurd that it has become user unfriendly…
If anyone reads this: do not make a Microsoft account – when (not “if”) you have problems with it, you will lose access (and all data) to it, and Microsoft will not help you. 😐
As a sidenote: that Windows 11 install on that SSD has Bitlocker active (it didn’t warn me about this…), which means the aforementioned user files are REALLY gone. (Microsoft, I HATE you. 😡 )