Phone number changed - can't log in

SaintDH
Contributor
Contributor

My mobile number changed a few years ago but I never updated my profile. 

Now I can't log in as Paypal wants to send me a text on the old number to verify the account.

I've tried logging in from a different browser which doesn't work.

Also tried using the Help Chat system, but this also requires me to log in to proceed.

Tried ringing the help support number but spent ages going round and round in circles with the automated options, could not get to a point of speaking to an actual person.

Funny thing is, when I selected 'Ask the Community' to access this forum, it allowed me to log in to create this profile to do this!

Really stuck as to how to resolve. Would really appreciate if anyone can offer some help with this please?

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AZ109
Contributor
Contributor

So will mine if I decide I want to use that option.  I didn't because my bank offered me the choice of three options and asked me to choose the one most convenient for me.

 

Paypal, it seems, has chosen the option that is most convenient for itself,  decided that its customers should not be given any of the other choice and that it is OK simply to demand they buy mobile phones if they want to continue to use paypal.

 

Out of interest, did your bank just give you the one option?  I bet it did not, but gave you a choice of several.

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jimiL
Contributor
Contributor

My bank offers 3 methods to choose from each time I log in, I mainly use the free card reader they supply (which also works with most other banks in the UK) the point being I have a choice !

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marksaunt
Contributor
Contributor

 It turned out that after a day and a half of messages via that customer service chat function  and 4 calls to a customer service number that  was nothing but a dead end, a nice customer service representative  was kind enough to respond to my request via chat that somebody actually call me on my landline to see if there might be any resolution of this  silly cell phone verification business. I agree with the folks who have observed that failing to address the issue of alternative means of verification is not a solution nor could the courteous representative really offer one except to  endorse my hope that the system would continue to allow me access despite my being unable to receive a code on my home phone number which I  had put in as a cell phone number in my desperation to log into my account yesterday. I did raise all the thoughtful concerns people had expressed on this site including the lack of cell phone reception, lack of alternative validation method and  the very basic right not to be cowed into  getting a phone one does not want in order to please Paypal. I am actually going to try to pursue this as a privacy policy issue since  dictating one's choice of phone strikes me as a privacy violation but I'm not going to be able to do that through this silly customer service process which must be as taxing and frustrating to the customer service representatives as to the customers.  They apparently have been given no authority, information nor tools to deal with this issue and  I ended up feeling sorry for them and wanted to acknowledge that one actually  did make an effort to contact me.  Paypal's high handedness is no fairer to its workers than its customers and 

I continue to hope that if we express our concerns and dissatisfaction, Paypal might be moved to reconsider this nonsense. I was relieved to see that others are not inclined to do the practical thing of caving & getting a cheap cell phone which in any event would not solve the problem of people with no or poor ell phone reception.   I have used a cell phone in the past. I choose not to now and  I still suspect that this paypal policy  discriminates  at least de facto against  older people who  don't like cell phones  or being made to use them and who remember a time when businesses were responsive to their customers.  Like the PhD who posted we know how to use the darn things but choose not to for some very good reasons. I've said enough but I do appreciate  the people who like me are offended by  Paypal's arrogance.  And I hope  Paypal experiences some loss as it sacrifices long term customers to  technological dictates.

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Bluwu
Contributor
Contributor

It's not so much about not having a phone. I have a phone but couldn't afford any kind of phone plan at the time because my only source of income was drawing commissions. Which were paid for via PayPal, but because PayPal is stupid and requires a mobile number I couldn't even get my money. Thank you for assuming my situation was easily solved by finances I couldn't even acquire.

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queenpoetica
Contributor
Contributor

So are you saying that the customer has to get a mobile phone which will cost them, just so that Paypal can force us to use their authentication process.  I don't have a mobile and I'm certainly not going to go to the cost of getting one just so that I can go into my Paypal account to cancel all my details after drawing my money out that sits in Paypals account gaining interest for them!  I don't think so.  I chose not to have a mobile for my own personal reasons.  I'm not going to get because Paypal dictate that I should have one - that's not how things should work in this day and age.  

 

I've always believed that, 'just because we can doesn't mean we should'.  What Paypal is doing is dictating!

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lostcustomer1
Member
Member

So now paypal is no longer a free service, because they don't want to pay for a mobile phone that they don't need.

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NEED2KNOWNOW
Contributor
Contributor

YOU CAN STILL USE PAYPAL IN EBAY BY TYPING IN UR EMAIL ADDRESS INSTEAD OF MOBIL PHONE,

YOU CAN SEARCH A CONTACT NUMBER FOR PAYPAL EG[Removed. Phone #s not permitted]/p>

I BELIEVE U CAN GET AN APP THAT ALLOWS A VIRTUAL TEXT PHONE/NUMBER SENT TO YOUR EMAIL; AS IF YOU HAD AN ACTUAL CELL PHONE IN YOUR HAND.

THIS IS ALL PART OF TRACK AN TRACE GOVT SNOOP PROGRAMS FOR THEIR DATA BASES. SO IN THE FUTURE WHEN THE GOVT. RATIONS THINGS OUT THEY'LL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU USE AND HOW OFTEN YOU USE IT, SO THERE WONT BE ANY BUYING GAS/GROCERIES/ETC FOR YOUR NEIGHBORS/FRIENDS WHEN THEY KNOW YOU ONLY USE X AMOUNT.

ALSO, THOSE CIGARETTES/CIGARS/LIQUOR YOU BUY WITH ID - BE PREPARED, IN THE FUTURE, THAT THE HEALTH INS COMPANY'S DON'T CHARGE U A HIGHER PREMIUM FOR HIGHER RISKY BEHAVIOR YOUR ENGAGING IN, ETC..

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Nocellphone
Contributor
Contributor

Been using ebay since 2006 and paypal since they made it mandatory ( 11 years ? ) and do not have a cellphone ...and they will not allow access to pay online unless I buy a cell phone to use them which I will not do ,  so I will mail in the last check to the card cancel it and  and stop using ebay .

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UnhappyYetAgain
Contributor
Contributor

Mobile service is costly for us. Our family share a mobile for situations where it is important to maintain contact. The phone is actually kept in the family vehicle most of the time. I therefore cannot be sure to have access from either work or home or when in other places. I do have full access to my email whenever I am using PayPal so have use email notification for the log-ins. This worked perfectly well. I have yet to hear why PauPal cannot continue to offer the OPTION of using email for those who do not have reliable mobile access. I am a PayPal user since 2009 and am looking at other options for the first time!

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pf329
Contributor
Contributor

Perhaps you can explain exactly why Paypal has decided that they can only send verification codes by mobile? My bank (Halifax in the UK) sends any necessary codes by landline.

 

I don't have a mobile and I have no intention of ever getting one. I'm no technophobe: I got my PhD in Computer Science last year. Also I'm not poor, but a mobile would still be an unnecessary expense just for the convenience of carrying on using Paypal. I paid for things without any problem before Paypal and I will after they've caused me to close my account. 

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