Attempt to Change Email Address Resulted in New Account Being Created

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  annexpro · Member · Jul 3, 2020 at 9:05 pm

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  I have attempted to change the email address on our account, but when the confirmation link came through, it instead created a new account for the user. Now, the pending email change has disappeared from my original site, and I can no longer try to change it to the new email address as it says the address is already in use. What the heck! Any suggestions?

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  supernovia · Staff · Jul 3, 2020 at 11:05 pm

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  That sounds tricky — could you send a link to the site so we can take a look? Also, what is the email address? If you’ll type it here it will be hidden from public view so only staff can see it. And we can use that to look for more information.

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  annexpro · Member · Jul 4, 2020 at 3:03 am

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  Hi there,

  The account isn’t yet associated with a site – I am trying to transfer a WooCommerce.com plugin subscription I purchased on behalf of a client to their account, but the existing WordPress.com account for the client is registered to the wrong email address. So I would like to change the email address on their WordPress.com account, then get them to assign the site (annexpro.com) to their account, and then I can transfer the WooCommerce.com plugin subscription to them.

  It feels like a very long way to achieve what I’m trying to do. If you have another suggestion, I’d love to hear it! The account that I am trying to change the email address for is the one that I am currently using. And the email address I would like to update is FROM (email visible only to moderators and staff) TO (email visible only to moderators and staff).

  Thanks for any assistance you can give!

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  kokkieh · Staff · Jul 4, 2020 at 6:20 am

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  So you’re trying to change the email address for the annexpro account you’re using to post here? Referring the “the client’s account” makes it seem like you’re asking for help with someone else’s account.

  I have attempted to change the email address on our account, but when the confirmation link came through, it instead created a new account for the user.

  Were you logged into this account when you clicked the confirmation link? The other account was created from a completely different IP address than the IP address that made the request to change the email on this account. So it would appear someone else, on a different computer and not logged into this account, clicked that link. That would have taken them to a page prompting them to either log in or create a new account, and it looks like they picked the latter option.

  That account has since been deleted, so we have only two options at this point:

  1) You wait 30 days for the email to be completely deleted from our system, at which point you can use that email for this account.

  2) The owner of that email needs to reply to the account closure email we sent them three days ago when they closed the account, and request that we manually delete the email from our system so it can be used for this account instead. We can only do this if requested directly from that email address.

  the existing WordPress.com account for the client is registered to the wrong email address. So I would like to change the email address on their WordPress.com account, then get them to assign the site (annexpro.com) to their account, and then I can transfer the WooCommerce.com plugin subscription to them.

  It feels like a very long way to achieve what I’m trying to do. If you have another suggestion, I’d love to hear it!

  Why does the email address have to be changed before you can transfer anything? As long as your client has access to both emails, and are able to access this account, it doesn’t matter that much what email address it’s using.

  Personally I also wouldn’t recommend using a custom email address on a domain for the WordPress.com account email – should the domain expire, get suspended, or the DNS stop working for any reason, that would also disable the email, and leave the WordPress.com account holder unable to contact us for help with password resets and the like.

  Using a custom email address for interacting with their customers, and sending WooCommerce emails like receipts and order updates is file, but using it for the actual site login, and for login on connected accounts like WordPress.com, WooCommerce.com and the hosting account, is not necessarily such a good idea. Just my 2c :)

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  annexpro · Member · Jul 6, 2020 at 8:37 pm

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  Thanks for all this great info! Much appreciated.