Signing In to the Forum Difficulty

[SiHancox1]

Hi TalkTalk,

I’m having great difficulty signing on to this forum since the introduction of the 6 digit code method that’s replaced use of password.

I can get the 6 digit code by using mail email no issue, but I then get taken to the final page of setup which asks you to link an exiting account…which I did…and successfully gained access to forum.

Now to the issue, when I want to sign in to forum again after getting said 6 digit code…I’m taken to the same “link your account” page…which I can’t get passed.

If I try and link my old account again it says it’s already been done…but that page will not disappear (see below)…

Stuck on this page

…the only way to get passed this page is to create an account…obviously with a different user name from before.

I spoke on phone to support about this issue (they were the ones that suggested I create a new account) hoping to resolve the problem…but unfortunately it remains.

To get on forum to type this I’ve had to create a third account (my original user name was SiHancox by the way, yesterday it was Shancox and now it’s SiHancox1), but as you can imagine creating new accounts every time is not practical.

So, can someone please help (and apologies in advance if I don’t respond promptly…I may just be having difficulty with account creating)…by removing from the system what ever is causing the conflict (I’ve looked under Settings but don’t believe there’s anything I can do).

Si.

EDIT: Also noticed this post (under SiHancox1) got emailed to me for user names SiHancox and Shancox…I’ve got a suspicion all this is due to the fact the actual “linking process” didn’t go to plan…I’m wondering whether admin can “un-link” everything so I can start from scratch again.

[SiHancox]

Yep, that’s done it Stephen, back to original user name and got all the badges back as well.

Thanks again and enjoy the festive break.

Si.

[StephenF]

all done now, when you next log in your username should be 

SIHANCOX

enjoy the holidays 🙂 

[StephenF]

Great i'll change it now and post back once complete 

[SiHancox3]

Hi Stephen,

Good afternoon, sorry for the delay been out and about this morning.

Forum access still working ok so whatever the tweak it was a good one…and yes, if you could revert me back to “SiHancox” it would be nice.

Regarding MyAccount login…think I’ll leave it alone at the moment…having the password not working isn’t an issue if the coded method continues to work so well…plus I don’t access all that often anyway (always speak to your loyalty dept when/if making changes because I’ve found they always look after you).

So all is good now thanks…and it’s much appreciated…really great service…hope you are going to get a decent break this Xmas, you and team deserve it.

Regards,

Si.

[StephenF]

Hey @SiHancox3 

Pleased to hear that the community side is finally working, seems the  tweak we made on Friday had a good? As for getting you back to your original user name  (SiHancox) yeah we can do that, this shouldn't be an issue we just switch the user ID's linked to your account. I can do this today if you want, can you confirm that's the original username? 

As for the myaccount error, that's odd, the only thing i can suggest is that you change your password again but using the myaccount password journey rather than the one in webmail. The passwords should sync but fundamentally they are different processed so i can only assume the passwords didn't sync. 

However if you're happy to leave it then im not going to push you to  change them if you're happy. 

[SiHancox3]

Hi Stephen,

Well, you and your team may have cracked it…I’ve just successfully signed in with email/code and went straight to forum…in other words no “link account” page.

I checked what user name I was currently on and it is the last entered yesterday…so it’s SiHancox3.

So a big thank you for getting this far so quickly…very much appreciated.

I’m assuming my previous various user names are no longer linked, if that is so, can a user change their current user name back to a previous one…in other words can I edit it back to just SiHancox (ie. without the number)…or will that potentially mess things up again!

Regarding login to My Account with email and email password, this is what I see.

My Account login error

Like I said yesterday it’s no real worry, I only raised it on the off chance it may have been behind the forum login problem. I believe I did an email password change a while back on the back of the data breach (can’t remember when that was though), don’t think it made any difference to My Account login though.

I would be interested in knowing why it’s not working but not sure that would prompt me to change anything while I can still access things ok…plus I have alternative contact info filed under Mail Settings so in case of emergency you can send a reset or whatever it’s called.

So believe I have everything covered.

Anyhow…with regards to forum it’s looking good…if someone could just confirm if it’s possible for me to change things back to my original user name so I can hold on to those “badges” it would be nice.

All the best,

Si.

EDIT: Just wanted to add I’m no longer being chucked out of the forum over night, previously my session was being ended automatically after a certain period of time, this doesn’t appear to be happening now.

[StephenF]

Hello & sorry again...

We've made a change which may help, it wont make things worse... Let us know if it's ongoing still. Funny you should mention a about password not working in Myaccount as we've dug into your account it appears you'#ve never logged into myaccount with a username and password as we're only seeing passwordless authentication. 

Can you confirm what happens when you try to log into myaccount using just a username and password? what error do you get? also have you ever tried changing your password and seeing if that works?  

From my end looking at your account it "looks" ok but clearly something is afoot and not setup correctly especially with you saying you're unable to log into myaccount with a password.

Rest assured I'm still investigating this issue for you. 

Stephen 

[SiHancox3]

Hi Stephen,

Good morning.

Thanks for getting back so promptly, and confirming it’s nothing I’m doing wrong…that, believe it or not, makes a big difference.

As you can see I’m now SiHancox3 because previous session got cut off sometime during last night (never noticed sessions being signing out like this when using password method…only if I’d cleared cache or similar…).

Anyhow, I was still on forum page this morning but showing signed out, so I tapped the icon top right of page and entered my email again (and yes, I’m using same email every time), I then got the code and after entering got sent to My Account! Not sure why I was pushed to My Account, but I’ve seen at least one other user mention this behaviour.

So I navigated back to Community Forum and had to request a code again, once entered I was faced with the “link account” or “create account” option…I didn’t though complete that part because I wanted to wait until I had something to respond to on the forum, like your post now.

So I’ve duly sign back in now, had to create yet another user name so I can type this response.

This may not be relevant but when accessing My Account it’s never been an issue via the code method…but I’ve never been able to use the password method, even though that password is working perfectly fine to access Web Mail, and obviously functions on all my iDevices in Mail Clients (I’m assuming password for My Account should be same as Mail account password though).

Saying that, I’ve have no issue being restricted to using your code method, I do agree it’s far safer and if password doesn’t work on My Account for me…it shouldn’t work for anyone else…so I’m thinking I’m “extra” secure in that respect.

I really can’t add much more to help you out with this forum login issue I’m afraid…I can confirm I’ve never had login issues prior this new change over, I’ve also never really been one for changing user name and my Mail password hasn’t changed recently…what I’m trying to say is I haven’t changed anything that could, however remotely, be causing your system confusion.

Anyhow, thanks again for looking in to this problem, it’s appreciated.

Si.

[StephenF]

Hey, 

Deeply sorry you're having this issue. We don't yet know why but every time you log in your unique ID is changing "not something your doing" because of this the community things your a new person. 

We're investigating this and will update you as soon as we've gotten to the bottom of it. 

Sorry. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Ok, thank you 🙂

Michelle

[SiHancox2]

Thanks Michelle, like always it’s appreciated.

I’ve just updated Profile for SiHancox2 so you now have both my contact numbers…like I said previously don’t be worried if I don’t reply from now on…I may not be able to without creating yet another user name!…which I don’t like doing to be honest.

But you do now have those contact details.

Thanks,

Si.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi Si,

I'm really sorry to hear this and will post back here as soon as I receive an update.

Michelle

[SiHancox2]

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for passing this to the team for investigation…I can confirm it’s still happening…even though I left my iPad alone last night with Safari on your forum site, this morning I was no longer logged in (so there must be a time limit for sessions).

When attempting to sign back in using same (only) email I got the code ok but was taken straight to that “linking old account” page again (see below)….your system isn’t remembering I’m already “linked” so to speak.

Old Account Linking page

So I had no option other than to “Create” yet another Account (hence today I’m now SiHancox2) to access and type this reply.

To summarise the problem I’m basically being shown the “old account link” page every time I try and log in…whether I clear caches or use another device or computer…so it’s definitely “your system” that’s insisting on this strange behaviour for my email.

All I can add to try and help is I’m a legacy Pipex account holder (that gives you an indication of how long I’ve been a customer) and I use same email and 6 digit code system to access My Account with no difficulty (strangely though I’ve never been able to access My account with the old password method…even using email password that successfully gets my mail).

Another observation, when you replied in my DSL discussion this morning I received 3 emails each headed with those various created user names (SiHancox, Shancox and SiHancox1)…I’m guessing the system will now add this one as well (SiHancox2) so I’m now being linked to 4 user names for my forum email login!

FWIW I personally don’t believe this new login method is an “improvement”, even if I didn’t have the issue it now takes additional steps to get on the site (opening Mail and entering code), and like I experienced the other day, there’s the potential to get frozen out if the system believes there is suspicious behaviour ie. too many tries (and that then means you can’t access My Account as well for that 24 hour cool off period).

Anyhow, I’ve gone back in to forum settings to update my details just in case someone needs to contact me via phone over this issue…because the difficulty I now have, I have no idea how long my current user name (SiHancox2) will last, and I don’t want to create many more just to basically say the same things. Hopefully you have all the info required to sort this out, so while I’ll see replies via email plus I can visit forum without login, I may not reply unless it’s important (to avoid creating yet another user name).

Hopefully this will get resolved in time, all the best,

Si.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm really sorry about this. I've raised this to our team to look into and will post back here as soon as I have an update.

Thanks

Michelle

[SiHancox1]

Hi Ferguson,

Yes, same email address (I’ve only ever used one pipex email address)…it gets me in to My Account with no issue…and I can also gain access to Web Mail as well (but I use clients on a day to day basis anyway on all my devices).

As I said previously it’s this continued insistence I link my old forum user account details…but it throws up a dialogue that’s already been done if I try again (hence the description of going around in circles…at least that’s how it feels).

[SiHancox1]

That would be appreciated Gliwmaeden2, I’ve left a message in another discussion (which is mostly sorted now) for Michelle, who is already aware I’m struggling with this at the moment.

Hopefully my fuller explanation of what’s happening together with anything they can “see” on their system, might facilitate a solution.

But let me just clarify…after entering 6 digit code I’m presented with the “link old account” page…and unless I create a new account I’m not allowed to access the forum (I’ve end tried re-linking again…and get told it’s already done)!

[ferguson]

Are you using the same email address throughout? It should be the My Account one for the new process. 

[SiHancox1]

Hi Gliwmaeden2,

Thanks for the reply.

I can also access My Account once I’m in the forum…it’s just initially signing on to forum that isn’t going right for me.

It’s my understanding once you’ve done the linking of old forum account (your user ID) you shouldn’t be asked to do that again, and just using email and 6 digit code should take you in to forum. That doesn’t happen for me…I get presented with the “linking old account” page again!

Even if I try and go via My Account, getting in to My Account using email and 6 digit code is no issue, and I can navigate everything contained in My Account…but if I try then to go to the forum, up pops that “link my old account” page.

I’ve tried on different devices, cleared cache and used 6 digit codes so many times I even triggered the “suspicious activity” warning, and consequently had to wait 24 hours before I could try again.

Something is definitely screwed up as far as my forum account is concerned which I suspect is going to need Community Techs to resolve.

[Gliwmaeden2]

Re your edit:

I believe that the intention is to get rid of multiple identities anyway, @SiHancox1.

A few people have propagated new ones, like yourself, as they get in a bit of a tangle with the new log in method. I'll flag it up for attention. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

I just click where my avatar will be, not so far right, at the top of the page, @SiHancox1.

I'm not going to the Welcome to My Account page first.

I log in by using the My Account billing email address which I have already got linked to the community forum account.

I get the pin from my billing email address and pop it in, and the account is authenticated and lets me into the forum straight away. 

I can get to My Account from here, if I want to, so not needing to bother with my log in details for My Account other than using the email address as a form of ID to get in via here.