Can't change primary phone number

[10letters]

I recently obtained a new phone number and would like to change my primary. I added a new phone number and verified it however to delete my old phone number I need to confirm by getting a pin by using the old phone number that I no longer have access too. This is very frustrating as I cannot change any of my info without this old, outdated phone number

[frobare]

I need to change my phone number to <removed> can you do that or do i have to do it.

[PayPal_Adrian]

frobare,

Welcome to the boards!  I've removed your phone number; I'm sure you don't want your personal information available on the web. 

The PayPal Community Help Forums are designed for member to member help; PayPal employees are specified by the PayPal logo next to their name.  However, moderators and employees cannot take action on specific accounts.  You can, however, change your phone number by adding the new one in Profile > Phones and Mobile Payments, or Profile > by Phone, Update > Add.

Hope this helps,

Adrian

[10letters]

I have changed the phone number to my new one and made it my primary however whenever I try to change any other information it still tries to use my old phone number which I no longer have access to and can't remove because even removing my old phone number requires it to be called. It doesn't make any sense.

[jillianmanning]

I'm having this exact issue.. is there a solution?

[PayPal_Lilly]

Hello jillianmanning,

Welcome!

Have you tried the steps outlined above by Adrian to update your phone number.  If so, I would give our Customer Service a call.  They would be happy to help out with getting this information updated! 

Have a good one!

Lilly

[KimPossible]

Lilly,

The customers in this thread have obviously gone through the necessary steps that you and Adrian have suggested. A quick re-read of their questions should make that clear to the both of you. The problem that we have experienced is in the steps themselves.I assure you, this is not a matter of operator error. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by your company.

This is the part you need to read carefully, rather than skimming through and posting a generic response (I require no response):

***While following the proper steps to change our phone numbers, we are prompted to confirm our identities by recieving a call from PayPal to the OLD phone numbers that we are trying to change! I understand your need to verify our identities, however, our identities CANNOT be verified with phone numbers that we no longer have access to. This identitity verification step makes no sense and literally prevents every single one of your customers from changing their phone numbers online.***

I have already called customer service to have mine changed, however it would have wasted less of my time if the website had just prompted me to call customer service to change my phone number rather than follow your useless steps.

Further, as a technical support representative, I have little tolerance for customer service and tech support professionals who fail to read what their customers have written when requesting help before responding to them. It seems Adrian read the title of this thread and assumed the customer was a moron so he simply posted the steps that the customer had clearly already tried to complete. And your response, Lilly, was just as useless as Adrian's. I understand that as a moderator, you cannot fix this issue for us but you CAN take 2 minutes to look into the issue (try to change your phone number and see what happens. Seriously... I'm asking you to try it.) and notify the chain of command that there seems to be a problem with the steps customers must take to change our phone numbers.

Stepping off my soapbox. Thank you for your time and sorry for the cranky post.

[PayPal_Adrian]

kimpossible,

Hi! 

If you review our responses and the thread, my response was specifically to Frobare - who wanted to know if we could change their phone number for them.  They did not indicate they were encountering an issue changing it, only that they did not know how to do so. 

Since there was a large time disparity in the original post and the one I was responding to, and because that same question had been answered at a newer thread in the forums at that time, the original posters thread was not addressed on this thread.

Lilly's response is actually the best technical support answer out there for this particular scenario.  If a customer can't change their phone number after following the traditional steps, the next thing to do is call or email customer service.  This particular prompt comes up for a number of reasons, some of which are technical based, some of which are security based - but both of which will require contacting a representative for assistance at that point.  Since moderators can't comment on account specifics or take action there, that's when we advise you to give us a ring.  Some troubleshooting simply requires access to an account with the caller on the phone.  That isn't uselss advice at all, it's the best advice. 

Have a good night,

Adrian