365 subscription anomally

Alan, the second link I gave you is taking you directly to your subscription section, so if you have any active subscription under this account, it should list there. If it lists nothing, it means you don't have a subsciption under this account.
Any chance you have it under a different account?

A few days ago I had to change my log on email address from ******@blueyonder.co.uk to ******@outlook.com because Virgin Media are withdrawing their email service. Could that be the problem?

How did you change that?

Did you go into your account https://account.live.com, and change it in Your info > Sign in preferences, and then change it in Security > Manage how I sign in?

Or did you create a new Microsoft account instead?

Not sure a Microsoft operative did it via Live chat.

A few days ago I had to change my log on email address [---]

Your previous e-mail address may no longer be working in the sense that you can't send e-mails with it, but it is still a user name for your Microsoft account that stores your subscription.

@Alan Doyle I fear the agent ended up giving you a completely different Microsoft account.

Launch your web browser in incognito mode. You can click on the three dots in the web browser on the upper right, use the incognito mode, or inPrivate mode.

Then go to https://account.live.com, sign in with your OLD email address.

If it wants you to verify, and if the code is sent to an email address you don't have access to, look for an option like “Show more verification methods” to see if you have a backup (e.g., a phone number or alternate email).

If you don’t have access to any of the options listed, select “I don’t have any of these.” This will begin the recovery process. As part of that process, Microsoft will let you add new contact information — but only after a 30-day waiting period.

This 30-day delay is intentional. It’s a security safeguard designed to protect users in case someone else tries to hijack their account by changing recovery info. The wait gives the rightful owner time to notice and stop unauthorized changes.

Unfortunately, this policy cannot be bypassed. Microsoft explains it further here.

https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/-your-security-info-change-is-still-pending-or-you-can-t-access-this-site-right-now-microsoft-account-message-cbd0f64f-02d9-45d2-90c3-2375e5a72e52#:~:text=While%20we%20understand%20this%2030,phone%20number%20or%20email%20address.

Once the 30-day wait is over, you will gain access back to your old Microsoft account. And that's the one you want to continue using for your apps too, because your subscription is there.

Emily, you have totally lost me there. I will leave matters until my subscription comes up for renewal and then start afresh. Thanks to you and Stefan for trying to help,

Regardss

Alan

Alan, you might want to consider contacting your credit card company to stop the payment in this case, if recovering your old account is too daunting.

I might try and get an operative to take remote access tomorrow and see if they can resolve matters.

Ok, please make sure they understand that your subscription is still with the old account.

Emily, I tried what you said about logging in 'In private mode' with my old email and it took me to a different account where it said I have a Microsoft 365 Personnel Account. Any advice how this can be sorted out?

Oh good. I am glad you were able to get in.

So on the apps, you want to use the old account too, the subscription is on the old account, not the new.

But what happens when my renewal notice gets sent to the soon to be defunct email address. I will be unaware of it and may end up getting locked out of my a/c for non-payment.

When you go to https://account.live.com and sign into your OLD account, then go to Your info > Sign in preference, > Add an alias.

You have two options here:

Create new: this will allow you to use the native domain outlook.com to create a new alias.

Add existing: this will allow you to add a 3rd party email address, such as yahoo, gmail, as long as they are not already associated with another Microsoft account.

Once added, make this new alias your primary alias.

Then go to Security > Manage how I sign in, add your new contact information here then remove the old outdated one.

Also which account will my OneDrive be connected to?

Since the paid subscription is with the old account, you want to stick with the old account for your OneDrive.

Emily - I've followed your instructions and I appear to have my original account back via logging in with a gmail address, so thank you for your patience and help. However. I've just tried to go ad free on Outlook by clicking the 3 dots next to the Ad email and it still wants me to subscribe again.

You are welcome.

When you said Outlook, do you mean the app like New Outlook, or do you mean your outlook.com account when you visit online?

I mean my Outlook email account.

That's because we already determined your outlook.com email address is NOT the one that has the paid subscription. It is a separate account on its own, hence the paid subscription will not benefit this one

So what do I get for my £83 subscription, an inbox full of spam and not able to use Defender?

You get access to use Office apps like Word, Excel, etc.

You have 1TB of OneDrive storage and 100GB of email storage - but since you use a non-outlook.com address for the Microsoft account that carries the subscription, you technically don't have a mail box with Microsoft.

In order to use all of those benefits, you need to be using the account that has the subscription. Your outlook.com is a separate Microsoft account that doesn't have the subscription; hence, it doesn't have any of the above benefits. I hope that makes sense. Also the defender is not for preventing junk emails, but to monitor identify theft threats..

Which is the very reason why I wanted my Outlook email address to be linkrd to my Microsot account. It seems bizarre that you can;t have a Microsoft email address to use with a Microsoft account. I know what Defender is and that is not linked to my Outlook address but it still asks for another subscription when you try and activate it.