Paypal - no mobile, cannot set up log in / 2FA, help desk no help, cannot get a human on phone.

pimm

I would appreciate any advice on this, as I have wrung all the Paypal options dry and just don't know what to do. 

I have a PC and a landline. I do not have a mobile, or a mobile number. I put my landline number in their mobile box ages ago as they were nagging me about it but it didn't seem to matter. Now however, they have brought in the verification code system and I am stuck. I cannot change my phone numbers or change priority to my landline phone, and I cannot receive code texts. The log in page wants me to confirm a mobile number and won't let me proceed. I have been logging in via links in their 'help' message emails instead.

I want to be able to log in and verify things without a mobile phone. I have tampered and tinkered with every setting I can find on the site. I have spent days trawling various advice routes, including those on Paypal. The only advice I found to someone else who did not have a mobile phone was to contact a proper human at Paypal. I spent days getting sporadic answers from robots and the occasional person via their messaging service. This was enraging though, as most of them didn't read what I actually told them, or kept sending me back to the help centre that had said I needed a human or telling me to do what I'd already told them I'd already tried to do. One person asked for a screen shot but didn't specify what of.

Paypal did instruct me to download the Symantec token code app to my PC which I did. The Paypal 2FA set up page tells me to input a special code, which is an alternative to a QR image, into the Symantec app, and then their VIP access secret code number into a box on Paypal. But there is nowhere on the Symantec website or token window to put in any code or set up anything, just the credential ID and secret code number. Even the Symantec site has no help desk or FAQ about this. (They tell you to click 'test' on the website, but there is nothing marked 'test'!) Symantec only has advice that refers to scanning the QR image which I cannot do. Trying to communicate with the Paypal robot team is literally making me ill (not being dramatic - I already have disabilities and this is aggravating them). I was finally told by a message to phone Paypal, and they stopped replying to my query thread. 

So today I prepared everything and rang up Paypal on the 0800 number. I managed to request a human through its automated system and got put through to the ringing phone only for a recording to say there was no-one available and the line went dead. (Oh, and they told me to go to the robot message centre thing that had already told me I needed to speak to a real human on the phone.)

Is there anyone out there who can tell me what I can do about these:

1) How can I get my Paypal log in to bypass or ignore the mobile phone confirmation page or get it to accept my landline as my proper phone (yes I have tried to change priority to my landline but I'm not allowed to NOT have a mobile number in my account settings, it just won't let me do that). As already mentioned,  I seem able to log in if I click a link in the message emails, but not when I try to log in from scratch. I can't use those emails clickies forever, or can I?

2) How can I set up the Symantec thing with Paypal if there's nowhere to type in the letter and number code they give as an alternative to the QR image? 

3) How can I speak to a human on the Paypal phoneline? When is the best time? What do I need to 'ask' for? Is it luck or do you just have to try it 101 times?

This all feels depressingly complicated and shouldn't have to be. I only need to get this sorted out once. I feel angry that, given there are so many types of online device, this should now be 100% dependent on owning a smartphone. Lloyds bank have managed to do the verification code through my landline and it worked fine. How can I do it with Paypal? 

Thank you for any advice, genuinely. I have coped amazingly well with 2020 but this has finally collapsed me into a snivelling rage!

jeffuk

Just buy a Tesco £15 PAYG mobile, job done. 

soolin

At the moment when you try and log in you can bypass the code number by clicking on ‘more information’ and then I to your account. I have two accounts and one mobile so the system doesn’t allow me to use the same mobile twice so thats what I have to do 

pimm

Thank you soolin, I wonder if you (or anyone else) can advise me about how to get through on their phone lines? I have gone through every help / support route there is, and was told I had to speak to a human and had to phone them up. They gave me the phone numbers, but it is literally impossible to get through, every time I ring I go through the automated system and they just cut the call off. I have tried repeatedly at all times of day. I'm not even put in a queue. What can I do? Thank you again.

molerat

soolin said:

At the moment when you try and log in you can bypass the code number by clicking on ‘more information’ and then I to your account. I have two accounts and one mobile so the system doesn’t allow me to use the same mobile twice so thats what I have to do 

That is interesting as both my accounts are linked to the same mobile - they have been for years and I confirmed the information a few weeks back. Just checked, logged in to both accounts and code sent OK.

HBone

Pimm, I too have been back and forth with Paypal via their help centre for many weeks and been having the exact same problem as you.  I am sure every robot there told me to download the VIP app and then go into "settings" on my PP account and then on "Security" and then on "set up two step verification", which doesn't work as it brings up the QR code and there is nowhere on VIP or PP to put that.   I sent dozens of screen shots to prove it would not work.  I even had an IT expert friend try to do it the way they told me to no avail.  Tonight I have had a reply with a different set of instructions.  It appears step 3 is the crucial difference.  I suggest copying and pasting these instructions into a word doc and follow them to the letter.   Download the VIP app from the link and then click on the next link in these instructions.   You can then put the VIP credential in the first box, the first six figure code into the next box. Make sure it is not about to run out. Then wait for the 30 secs to elapse and enter the next six figure code. Then click on verify think it was.   Whatever the box under the codes is.  I then logged out of PP and logged back in again and just had to enter the current six figure code on the VIP box where you'd usually put in the one sent to a mobile.   Hope this works for you and for anyone else who doesn't have a mobile for whatever reason.  I don't own one and hate how these companies presume everyone does. 

1. Go to    vip.symantec.com    and click Download.

2. Select 'Windows' or 'Mac' / iOS or Android and install the VIP Access app on your computer.

3.Go to  www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd= setup-security-key    and login to your PayPal account.

4. Click Activate under 'Security Key'.

5. Open the Symantec VIP Access app on your desktop and obtain the Credential ID and Security Code*.

6. Enter the credential ID from the Symantec app into the 'Serial number' box in your PayPal account.

7. Enter the security code from the app into the '6-digit code' top box in your PayPal account.

8. Wait 30 seconds and enter the new security code from the app into the '6-digit code' lower box in your PayPal account.

9. Click Activate.

If successful, the next time you'll log in to your PayPal account, we'll ask you for the Symantec VIP Security Code after you'll enter your PayPal password.

The Symantec VIP Access Security Code changes every 30 seconds (you can see a 30-second countdown timer next to the Security Code).

 Sorry, apparently I can't post links.  I'll try to edit the instructions so it doesn't look like a link. There was a space between the equals sign and set up on the PP link. 

pimm

I have already messaged HBone thanking them for this list of instructions, and even managing to get Paypal to redo their activation set up - serious kudos for that! I think there are a lot of people out there, be they disabled / vulnerable / incapacitated / elderly / remotely located who are being hit badly by this new mobile-only rule. The attitude of the helper on their forum is disgraceful and contemptuous. It's ridiculous because all the other banks and companies have alternative methods of verification that work just fine. 

The proportion of the population who still don't have mobiles is probably small, but they may have valid reasons why they can't and are often in very limited circumstances. I think the new instructions HBone managed to squeeze out of Paypal would be a huge relief to those who are impacted, and I wonder if MSE could create a little onscreen info box or link or sticky somewhere that would flag up the new verification method. Paypal's previous instructions were literally impossible, HBone's new version works perfectly, and it doesn't take long. It deserves to be readily available.

Thank you!

torncurtain

I'm in a slightly different by similar situation to you pimm. I can't log into my account at all now. I have an old landline number associated with my account, I simply forgot to change it. Now they're demanding the PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication system and I can't login to change the number. Why? Because. Literally, I have no idea why PP won't let me log in. I keep being told I have to use the old landline number to confirm my identity and if it's not correct I need to change it - but I can't change it because their system won't let me log in to do that! I'm at the end of my tether and lost. How can I fix this if they won't even let me? 

If anyone can advise me? Thank you! 

Gizmo72

Now it's happened again - I just cleared my browser cache and cookies (on both my laptop and tablet) but as my phone kept saying 'unregistered SIM' (I've since got a new one) I can't log in to either Amazon or PayPal without phoning them up - I can't remember how I got it fixed last time without phoning PayPal - maybe I somehow found an e-mail address - my phone number I use to log in to PayPal and Amazon isn't working so I can 't contact them without logging in or phoning them up (which I REALLY hate doing) - and now Tesco Mobile are saying the old number I used wasn't theirs - I suppose I should have waited until I got a new SIM before clearing the cache on my tablet - then I would've been able to log in to Amazon and PayPal on that.