How do you sign into the Community when emails aren't working???

[georgeh2011]

I've mentioned this in another post relating to delayed emails but thought it worth a port of its own.

To sign in to the community you now have to use an email address and receive a "verification code" which it sends to that email address.

If you are trying to sign in to the community for help because you have a problem receiving emails, you are STUFFED!

You need the verification code, sent to your email, which you can't receive because you are experiencing a problem receiving emails!

Someone hasn't thought that through.

[georgeh2011]

I see I'm not the only one.

This is not a case of "Oh, it's new and I don't like it".

It is a case of "VERY BADLY EXPLAINED" if you don't live on this forum - which I don't. I have better things to do and the last time I was on, last time I had a problem, was over 4 MONTHS ago.

What it needs is to clearly state when someone tries the standard (old) route of signing in, words to the effect of:

"TalkTalk Community now uses Single Sing On. To access the community you need to be signed in into your TalkTalk account via My Account. To continue without signing in to My Account, enter your main TalkTalk account email below to receive a verification code that will allow you link your Community account to your main TalkTalk accont and gain access."

[GBy123]

I have just had the very same problem today.      Tiscali email did not work, so I could not get onto community with the passcode because I email did not work......            I agree this is very badly thought out.   We should have a secondary means of contact - perhaps another email address if available.   I did eventuallymanage to get it via webmail so that helped.    I do not know why it has become so difficult to access community - in order to start a new topic.     I have just posted my problem - i.e. tiscali email not working and I mentioned this second problem too.     Thoroughly fed up with it all to be honest.       

[georgeh2011]

Unfortunately sticky posts in the Community forums are of no use to those, like me, who only sign in when they have a problem. It should have been done via email.

I don't read blogs.

I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the reasoning behind it, but I am saying that the implementation has produced a very poor experience for anyone who only uses the Community when they have a problem. If you have had no reason to sign in for ages, it's a very unwelcome shock which is very badly explained when you go to sign in - like not explained AT ALL.

If, like I was this morning, you are signing for the first time in quite a while because a problem not receiving emails. Getting told I have to enter a verification code sent via the same emails I can't receive with no explanation as to why is, to say the lease, infuriating.

Clearly  nobody thought of that.

[Gondola]

There were sticky posts on every forum in Community headlining the fact that SSO was coming / was now active in response to customer requests. Those posts have been retired now but the Blog item remains.

A lot of people react to change in different ways. Some will go with the flow and see change for the better and some will argue "why change something that was working for me?".

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@georgeh2011 wrote: ...from the perspective of a customer who has been with TalkTalk for years and been registered on the Community for years, it was a very shoddy and poor user experience.

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So, I'll draw that to the attention of the Community Manager @StephenF who will wish to know how, in your view, was the experience shoddy and therefore how may it have been better?

[georgeh2011]

That may be.

However, from the perspective of a customer who has been with TalkTalk for years and been registered on the Community for years, it was a very shoddy and poor user experience. I notice the pics I posted ealier have gone.

Viewing it from my perspective as a customer who only signs into the communuity generally when I have a problem, getting shown a quite bland box just asking for an email address - note it does NOT say this should be the My Account email - with no explanation as to why, is shoddy.

I've never received ANY emails annoucing this change - not unusual for TalkTalk. The only emails I always get are the ones about price increases. They make sure those go out.

And why should I click on the Register tab on the box? I'm already a TalkTalk customer and registered on the Community so anything on that tab explaining the situation is IN THE WRONG PLACE!!!

Very poor customer experience.

[Gondola]

The former method of signing direct into Community was by entering the Community Username and Community password.

The current method of signing direct into Community is by entering the MyAccount email address and then receiving a Verification code to that email address and entering that in the Community login.  There's also a tab to Register for a customer MyAccount and a statement saying "You're automatically registered for community when you join TalkTalk or register for My Account". 

I'm not saying that the MyAccount and Community SSO is simpler but it is much more secure especially with the add-on of Two Factor Authentication.

And it's had the added benefit that Community spam posters that are not TalkTalk customers are totally locked out. This alone has reduced the overhead of moderating Community.  And the Community Manager was forever being asked "Why do I have to use a separate username and password to access the Community?" so this is something that is seeming required by at least some of TalkTalk's customers.

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Sorry its not as easy as it used to be, but its much better for the business and other customers.

Ady

[georgeh2011]

We shall have to agree to disagree.

I've just been through the route of signing in to My Account first and what an absolutely palaver to get from there to here.

I also really do NOT like having to sign in to My Account first.

And finally, when following the "usual route" of just signing in to the Community, how it USED to work, does it not say something like "Please sign into My Account to access the Community".

That would have been helpful to say the least.

I really don't like it and an NOT a fan of SSO.

[Gondola]

Both methods of signing in to Community have been thought out and fully tested. Not tested with people that don't want to follow one of the methods.

MyAccount and Community are linked. The processes are linked. Only TalkTalk customers having an active customer MyAccount can access and post on Community.

Any device you use for Community can also be used to sign in to the customer MyAccount because the SSO cookie must be saved on that same device. You can use Two Factor Authentication if security of the MyAccount is of concern. If you are barred from or do not want to use MyAccount login at work or on public devices then sign in on your own mobile. Both MyAccount and Community are perfectly accessible on a personal mobile device that has Internet access.

[georgeh2011]

I disagree because if I only want to access the Community, which is usually the case when I have an issue, I do NOT want to have to sign in to my main customer account. Especially when it may be on work or other PCs.

So, they only way I can do that is to go through the process shown in the pics which does NOT give you a choice.

It would appear nobody thought of that, did they. So can't be that well tested.

[Gondola]

You do have a choice and I use the method I've just described every day.

The SSO process does work.

You do have to retain cookies. So if you use cookie blockers or deleters then you are stuffed. But that's just the way you operate and it's not the recommended way.

The process has been thought through, thoroughly tested over a protracted period and does work.  As I mentioned it does also work with MyAccount two factor authentication because I've tested that as well.

[georgeh2011]

"You don't need to access the linked email mailbox if you don't wish to or if you don't have access to"

Yes you do as it doesn't give you a choice!

Also on many devices I block cookies.

As I said, not thought through.

[Gondola]

MyAccount and Community use the Single Sign On process.

You don't need to access the linked email mailbox if you don't wish to or if you don't have access to.

Just sign in to your linked customer MyAccount. The Username is the email address and the password is the one for MyAccount. That will get you signed in to MyAccount and will set an SSO cookie on the device you're using. Now just go to the Community page and select the User avatar / login icon top right and you will now see that you are signed in because Community has detected the SSO cookie.

If you happen to have set up MyAccount to use one of the Authenticators to authenticate the sign in by authenticating via your mobile device then you'll still need to use that authentication.