Confirming you are "you"

I am pretty sure we can all appreciate the extra steps companies and places are putting in verifying you are actually you but it really can be frustrating. I don't know how many times a day I try to sign in to a system and have to get a text confirming it is me or answering questions confirming it is me. And these questions have gone from what color was your first car to now what was the middle name of your childhood best friend in 3rd grade. Seriously it is getting ridiculous. And if you actually do get locked out of your account well getting things reset aren't near as easy anymore either.

I actually had a hairpulling experience with the provider of our mobile phones. I have had this account for well over 18 years. Our son has cracked his phone and it is a bit of an older phone so I was going to just get a new phone and Erica has been saying she wanted a new phone too. So I figured I would go online and upgrade both of them. Should be no problem right. Yeah that is what I thought too. 

I got online logged in had to verify it was me of course and went to the devices I wanted to upgrade and there is a button that says upgrade device eligible. So I click it and get an error and some code, so I go to the other phone same exact thing. ERR. So I call the support number. Before they will speak to you they want you to give them a code that you have set up confirming it is you. Well I thought I knew it. Whatever, they can text your device and you can reset the code so I did. Now they will talk to me because they know I am me. Great so I explain I can't upgrade these phones. The first representative I spoke with was quite helpful and said he doesn't understand why but he will take care of it all. So he does and says we just have the account fraud team confirm with a quick call to you. I will place you on a brief hold and take their call and I will come back to you. After 15 mins he comes back did they call you? I said nope. Well it says they called and you declined the upgrade. I said sir I have been waiting the entire time for the call and I never got a call. So now we have to repeat everything again. And once again the same exact thing happened.

Now I am getting hot. I said I haven't gotten another call what number are they calling? He said the only number listed is yours for contact purposes. I said right...well they aren't calling me. I explained I have verified myself using a text, login, confirming my account number, the address, and now you are telling me they are calling me which I am telling you they aren't can you just conference me in. Yes, let's try that. So another lady asks for my name and information and then says I am sorry we can not approve this transaction. What can't you approve I am trying to buy a phone are you telling me that is being declined. Yes sir the fraud detection team can't approve the transaction because we can't verify your identity. Are you kidding me? How exactly do you want to prove I am me? Then I get the Sir I am unable to provide you with any details regarding this. We aren't allowed to tell you why the fraud detection has declined it. I was heading into a meeting and was like forget it I will just call back later or switch carriers.

Now I admit I was fuming and was pretty ticked. After my meeting I made another call. Explained what has happened to another nice guy. I said look my account is on auto pay, I have never been late or missed a payment, I don't pay installments on the devices and am trying to upgrade a couple of my phones. I guess if you all can't do it I am just going to switch the whole account to another provider but I really didn't want to have to do that. So we repeat the whole process. Now the time comes for the verification call. Guess who didn't get a call? Right me. So when the guy is like hang on let me look into this further and he said well the only number is yours that is listed. However there is another number that has been called. My daughters who just hung up on them. 

So know we do the same thing over and conference me in when I heard that it was declined for fraud again I simply said this is Bull Sh!t, I just lost it at this point. Get someone else on the phone. I want to speak to a supervisor now. The guy on the phone with me knew I was done and he did a great job advocating for me. And he actually got a supervisor for the fraud team on the phone and explained in detail what was going on. I let the supervisor have a piece of my mind and she assured us that they would correct the issue. So they did and he tried to process it and said David look I have your number and I will get this all fixed and call you back. I get paid to do this and you don't and there is no need for you to be on the phone any longer. Man someone finally gets it! Two hours later I still hadn't heard a thing. And then I get a call and he had everything confirmed I got a text and had to give him the code to authorize the transaction. Thank you!! Seriously I really appreciated him advocating and getting the situation fixed.

Pretty frustrating just trying to prove you are you.

David

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And don't forget our Supporters, Partners, and Sponsors.

In addition to helping us put on our Shop Local Delmarva Barn B Q you may notice certain businesses are highlighted and standout not only in the directory but we highlight them on our Facebook Page as well as our group. This ever growing list of businesses help us promote  a lot of great things in our community. Many of our blogs which you can find right here are focused on our community and our local businesses. And they are always helping with our community givebacks just like our Shop Local Delmarva Scholarship.

Many of these businesses are helping us promote other local businesses. Which really is what Delmarva is all about. I am asked quite often how a business can be part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you are part of our group you are part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you like the group and like the concept of a digital type of media that we share blogs, videos, highlights and features and want to be part of it we would love to have your support. You can find out more information here. All of our supporters, partners, and sponsors are on the rotating banners on most of our blogs just like this one.

If any of our supporters, partners, or sponsors have upcoming events we encourage them to let us know so we can help them promote them as well.

The whole idea of Shop Local Delmarva is all about our local community supporting local businesses, and our local businesses supporting our local community. It goes round and round.

Above & Beyond HVAC - www.abovenbeyondservices.com

Abbi Custis

Artisan's Aromas

Barefoot Baby Boutique

Bathing Bee

Baywater Farms

Coastal Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning

Cawood Construction Company

Copier/Printer RejuvenatorS

Delmarva Auto Glass & Accessories - Joe Stonnell (Mod)

Delmarva Quality Pressure Washing

DoCo Axe Co.

Catering By Chef Stewart of Flannery's

Cool Runnings HVAC LLC

FLC Energy

Funny Farm Petting Zoo

Gary K. Marshall Insurance Agency - David Galeone (Admin)

Hebron Savings Bank www.hebronsavingsbank.com

Kellyn's Kafe

Kuhn's Jewelers

Kylan Barn

Lickety Splitz Ice Cream

Muddy Paws, LLC

Mike Alford - Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

Salisbury Pizza

SouthBound Alley

Shore Smoke Seasonings

Simpson's Towing Svc Inc

The Corner Grill

Tyler Accounting & Tax Services, LLC

The Village Lactation, LLC

The Hair Show

The Tiki Hut Shaved Ice

Two Scoops Ice Cream & Waffles

Williams Market