I've been pointed here by one of the agents from a Microsoft customer service live chat but after a quick browse of the forum this doesn't seem like the place to raise user specific queries with account details etc. Not sure how he thinks I will be able to get the right help here without disclosing my relevant email address etc but here's the problem:

When trying to sign in to my old account I get a message saying "That Microsoft account doesn't exist"; this is strange as I know this account definitely does (or should) exist; I checked I'd entered my details correctly numerous (read: at least 10-15) times, I have e-mails between both the inaccessible account and my latest account and this (inaccessible) account is also actually the one set up as a backup e-mail address for my latest account (as well as providing the login details for a few of my other online accounts). The fact I can no longer access it is extremely worrying as you can probably imagine. Any ideas what on earth is going on please? Do Microsoft now delete accounts when they are inactive even if they are still being used indirectly for login details, backups etc? Surely not.

If this is the case though - what is Microsoft's policy on recovering the old account? How do I get it back? I'd be grateful for anyone who has any insight to share their thoughts.