Can't reset email account mailbox password

[#1]

Hi,

I was sent an email from autoemail@plus.net to say that they detected spam emails have been sent using my mailbox login credentials: "we believe its quite possible your mailbox log-in credentials have been compromised".

I tried to use Memeber Centre and the Manage My Mail section to reset the password on the mailbox in question, but when I click on the "Save Changes" button, the page updates to a blank white page with only the text "Response code 403". I can't tell whether this is an error, or whether the mailbox has been locked by Plusnet.

There is no chat availble, the call centre has a message that calls can't be taken at the moment, and I don't have a twitter account.

Is this the best way I can get in touch with customer services? Can one of the team have a look into this for me please?

Many thanks

[#2]

Is this the DEFAULT mailbox? If yes, you reset the password on that mailbox by changing the ACCOUNT password.

If it’s a secondary mailbox, it rather sounds as though there is some other problem.

[#3]

No, it's a secondary mailbox.

Fortunately I don't have to reset the main account pw, as that would presumably mean updating the broadband router login details. And I don't fancy doing that remotely, as I am in isolation elsewhere at the moment - my housemate wouldn't be too pleased if I broke his internet connectivity by mistake.

[#4]

Thanks for getting in touch @AndyN I'm sorry to see what's happened. Without telling us the password, could you check that the new password you're attempting to change your additional mailbox to follows the below rules?

The password must be 8-16 characters long. This can be made up of letters (a-z) or (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and any of the following symbols: !#$%&()*+,-./:;>=<?[]^_`{}~.

Let us know how you get on.

[#5]

Hi Anoush, thanks for your response.

I checked that the pw I was trying to set did actually follow the rules - it was auto-generated and it was this:

L75Vx<m5r11K6tq

This produced the "error 403" on a blank page when "save changes" was clicked. I can't see why, as it seems to follow the rules. Is there a more subtle problem that your guys might like to look into?

I then tried auto-generating a new pw, following the same rules, and that has now worked, so the mailbox has now been successfully updated with a new password (and obviously not the one above).

[#6 · Accepted solution]

Having run a test, it would appear that using "<" as a password character gives rise to the reported error.

Superuser citation

This topic has been cited by one of the Superusers; the purpose of which is to provide a note for information which might help to focus continued discussion (but might not result in a staff response).

[#7]

Having run more tests, it appears that Greater-Than ">" will also generate the same error.

The password input field will limit the character length to 16 characters, whereas the password verification field does not.

Therefore be careful if copying and pasting new passwords from a password generator.

[#8]

Thanks for getting back to us @AndyN 

We'll investigate this further internally but I'm glad to see that you've managed to set a new password now.

Let us know if there's anything else you'd need help with.

[#9]

No problem. Glad with Townman's help, we've identified the problem with certain special characters in passwords.

If it's difficult to fix, I guess it could be simpler just to modify your published password rules to prevent others from having the same problem.

Now I've reset my mailbox password I'm happy, thanks.