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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