Account permanently stuck with message "Change already in progress.."

[#1]

I can't access the MANAGE ACCOUNT > MANAGE EMAIL PREFERENCES as my very old free-online account is permanently marked as "Change already in progress. You are not currently allowed to make a change. There is already a change in progress. Please try again later."

When I select MANAGE ACCOUNT look for the link to manage email preferences there I can't see it, unlike on my other free-online account which I posted about earlier today.

I am assuming the link for email preferences is absent as this free-online account is permanently stuck. It's been like this for at least the last year, likely longer, but I never needed to do anything with it so I didn't think anything of it.

Is there a flag on the account which needs to be reset, and if so how to I go about doing this? Is phoning the 0800 number the only option? I can't dial 0800 numbers at the moment so is there any other way?

[#2]

PS Here's a screenshot of my account package. As you can see it is one of those legacy free-online accounts which isn't connected with any other products. I am collecting mail using POP to download the mail into Thunderbird but I am unable to access and change any of the email preferences on the user portal unlike in the past. I can't remember exactly when I last did this but it was probably around a couple of years ago.

[#3]

You seem to have found it in your previous topic? Are you now saying you cannot make changes to your email setup? AFAIK, the restriction on your account only prevents changes to such as your broadband package or add-on's.

I have a similar message on my account but can still access the 'Manage my email' option.

Hopefully one of the Help Team will spot this and give it a kick. Unfortunately, it is a side-effect of the 'new, improved' Accounts programme adopted by PN a couple of years ago, and most people don't notice it until they wish to renew or modify their account.

This 'error' has been commented on numerous times, but despite this, PN seem reluctant to investigate the reason behind the failure, and would rather inconvenience customers and increase the support teams workload.

[#4]

Thank you for your detailed reply!

I didn't find it in my previous topic post, as that was with my other freeonline account (I shall call this freeB) which has a contract attached to it. My problem now is to do with the first freeonline account (freeA) I set up back in the days of free-online before plusnet took the company over. It was my first ever email account which I have used ever since I started using email back in the good ol' days of modem dial-up!

Anyway, my problem seems to remain, that is when I go to the MANAGE ACCOUNT page on freeA, unlike on my other account freeB, I cannot find the link to manage email accounts.

I am sure there has been quite a lot of work going on behind the scenes lately, as I hinted at in my other post. This is further supported by the fact that yesterday, when working on the freeB email management page, when I tried to add a new account I was unable to see the whole section of the page which has the boxes where one adds the new account name  (xxx @freeB) along with the box to enter a new password (see attached screenshot). After a bit of fiddling by resizing the browser, I was able to see these eventually, but the bottom of the page, the bit plusnet adds all its ABOUT US etc info, continued to obscure the SAVE button to create the new email identity. In the end I took a guess and tabbed once from the password box and pressed my ENTER button, but for many this won't be intuitive at all.

So for now, waiting to see if someone here is able to cast light on this missing link to email management on my freeA account. The 'error' in my freeA account, having that "Change already in progress... " flag permanently set, may, of course, not have anything to do with it. All very bizarre.

[#5]

@ukskydoc As these accounts are 'Freeonline' ones, and very, very old, I am suspecting the Accounts management program at PN Towers has been recreated and during its changes, some of the 'child' providers taken over by PN are regarded as so old that it has been regarded as too expensive/time consuming to integrate  them in the current iteration of said program.

I could of course be totally wrong, but I've been around here long enough to bet at least 75% of what I have said above is correct.

To be honest, you need the attention of one of the Help Team who has been around for long enough to know issues involved - I'm sorry, but as a mere Community member, there is little else I can add.

[#6]

I should be able to get this sorted out for you @ukskydoc, just PM me your username and I'll have a look for you. 

[#7]

Thank you @csmith94 - I would be most grateful if you can sort this out. I shall PM you my username shortly. Many thanks!

[#8]

Thanks for getting back to me, I can't get rid of the error message because your account is pretty old. What are you wanting to change the email preferences to?

[#9]

I would like to manage my alias's and redirects. I used to be able to access these but now I can't access any of this on my account. Surely there is a way to fix this? My other plusnet (freeonline) account is also very old but I can manage my email alias's and redirects etc (blackholing as well) with no problem, so I am sure it has nothing to do with the 'age' of the account. Looking forward to finding a solution! Thank you in advance. C.

[#10]

Hi @ukskydoc I don't seem to be able to find your account, mind sending over a PM with your username so I can have a look into this for you? - Adam

[#11]

Hi Adam. Thank you for looking into this for me. I shall PM you directly. Chris

[#12]

UPDATE: I've had two staff members look into this and now a third is going to have a go - third time lucky perhaps?

[#13]

Hi there, cheers for messaging us back with the details we asked for, I'm going to look over this with a colleague today and get back to you, I'm not sure if the banner advising  "there's an account change in progress" is causing your issue getting to manage my mail but I'll find out what I can and get back to you. 

[#14]

Thank you Adam for letting me know this is a "known issue" which PlusNet is trying to resolve. Has there been any further progress in a fix? Cheers

[#15]

Hi @ukskydoc I'm really sorry I didn't get back to you, I've just popped a PM over to you, please take a look when you can.