Assisting family member with account recovery from afar

Question

Hello, I am looking for any suggestions or assistance with this matter.

I have been trying to help my 83 year old godmother with her email for a few months now with no success. She is currently logged into her email using the Windows Mail app on her laptop however, a few months ago she got a new iPhone and has been trying to add the email account to the phone. She doesn't seem to remember the log in information - it also doesn't help that the phone number listed on her account is a landline she doesn't have any more and the email listed has a typo - .om instead of .com

She recently filled out the account recovery form and it was denied - she said she doesn't really send emails or anything like that so she didn't have much to include with regards to subjects but she included the email addresses of quite a few people she had regularly emailed. I live about 600 miles away so this has all been communicated via text and I am running out of ideas to help her and she is getting incredibly frustrated. Is there anything else I can try or is there anyone with Microsoft that can help.

Answer 1

Please note that this is a user-to-user community. As moderators, I have limited access to internal development details. My role is to direct users to the appropriate support channels and resources. While I cannot provide backend analysis, I will do my best to assist you within my responsibilities.   

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Hi Claire L

I’m really sorry you and your godmother are going through this. Please kindly:  

• Re-submit the Microsoft account recovery form with the official guidance (since the first attempt was denied) 
  • You need a working contact email address (any email she can access) for the response, and Microsoft reviews and responds within 24 hours. See: Help with the Microsoft account recovery form - Microsoft Support 
  • If recovery is unsuccessful, you can try again up to two times per day and should review the guidance before retrying.
• Because the account recovery form has already been denied (and the security phone/email on the account are no longer usable), the best next step is to reach Microsoft Support directly so they can guide you through the available recovery options for her specific account (for personal account only chat support is available)
  • Visit Contact - Microsoft Support 
  • Type a brief description of your issue in the search box  
  • Scroll down to the bottom > select Sign in to contact support  
  • Log in to another available personal Microsoft account.   
  • Under Products & Services, select "Other Products"; Under Categories, select "Manage account security", and click Confirm.  
  • Click "Chat with a support agent in your web browser" (during business hours) 

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need further help! Have a lovely day.

Answer 2

i think that checking her acct type in mail app (gear→manage accounts→her mail→sync settings) matters, ’cause if it’s pop/imap recovery won’t ever work, and if it’s MS and still fails the only safe path is makin a new mailbox n gently telling her folks.