Thursday, February 07, 2008

Yahoo Hates Me

I have been unable to log into my Yahoo! account for over a week now. I've had this ID for what seems like ever now. For a really long time. I do not use the email, but I do use it for two premium (.e. I pay for them) services: Flickr and Yahoo radio. I also use Yahoo Hotjobs, and it is one of my IMs.

When I enter my name and password, the system brings me right back to the log-in page, over and over. It does not say my password is wrong or revoked or incomplete, it just sends me back to the login page. If I enter my password wrong, I get told that I entered a wrong password for the ID, otherwise I just get the login page with no other text.

I had no idea what was going on. Finally I tried to reset my password by having a new one sent to my email. That didn't work, I got the message "You must call SBC Customer Care at 1-866-SBC-DIAL in order to recover your password."

SBC?

Then it hit me: SBC was the company who did phone in Downtown LA before it decided to name itself AT&T again. And now I know what is going on: when I started trying to cut costs because I was no alone, I switched off Comcast broadband internet, and got AT&T DSL. This AT&T DSL is co-branded with Yahoo. AT&T Yahoo DSL gives, you, of course, a login and password on YahooAT&T Yahoo. But if you already have a Yahoo account, AT&T Yahoo allows you to merge accounts so you can keep using the old name. Well, I just cancelled my AT&T DSL. I guess that should kill my AT&T Yahoo account, but it seems to have put my whole Yahoo identity in limbo now.

I tried asking Flickr what to do. Their customer care's response unhooked my Flick ID from my Yahoo account. I cannot actually do anything with my Flickr account until I merge it with a Yahoo account, though. When I go to Flickr now, it asks me what Yahoo account to merge with. This is no help.

I found this form to ask for help with about logins and passwords on Yahoo. I described my problem and the result of my troubleshooting that the problem is with the merged ID following the DSL disconnect. Their response is that this is an AT&T problem, and send me to a chat site for AT&T support. After initially trying to pawn me off, the AT&T rep gives me the money shot:


Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
You are currently at position number 1 in the queue.
Thank you for contacting AT&T Internet Services, my name is Aisha Klish. One moment while I review your information.
Aisha Klish: Hello, FJ van W! I can see here that you need assistance with your e-mail. Is this correct?
FJ van W: No. I need assisatnce with my Yahoo ID
Aisha Klish: What is the Yahoo ID?
FJ van W: fjvwing
Aisha Klish: I am really sorry for the trouble but as much as I want to help you with your issue, this is something that we from AT&T don't have the access. This is an issue concerning Yahoo. Please try to go to their helpsite: http://help.yahoo.com
FJ van W: Yahoo says it is an SBC problem
Aisha Klish: Is the Yahoo ID merged with your AT&T ID?
FJ van W: yes
Aisha Klish: What is the AT&T ID?
FJ van W: fjvwing
Aisha Klish: What is the domain?
FJ van W: att.net
Aisha Klish: When did you disconnect?
FJ van W: Order was made on the 29th, disconnection on 31st
Aisha Klish: Okay.
Aisha Klish: You need to wait for 60-90 days until the server was able to unmerge your Yahoo ID with the AT&T ID.
FJ van W: what?
FJ van W: I cannot access my paid Yahoo services for three months??!???
Aisha Klish: If it's a paid Yahoo service, please contact Yahoo since your account with us has been terminated.
FJ van W: Please let your superiors know this kind of handling of merged IDs is unaceptable
FJ van W: Goodbye
Aisha Klish: Thank you for using AT&T Yahoo! Chat Support. You will now be disconnected from this session. The chat window will remain open until you close it. For quick answers, make the new AT&T Yahoo! Help site your first stop. Visit http://help.sbcglobal.net where you'll find pages of product information to assist you. Again, thank you for choosing AT&T Yahoo! Chat Support.


I think I could have said goodbye nicer, but I am pissed.

I think I will try the Yahoo help form again, but this time I am going to not mention anything about the DSL and thus hopefully not get immediately handed off to AT&T DSL tech support, but have the Yahoo tech handle it themselves first.

Friday, February 01, 2008

So I Can't Watch People Worse Off Than Me

Goddammit, vh1.com is blocking non-US browsers from watching Celebrity Rehab clips on their site, and my data plan is not allowing torrents.

It would be exactly what I needed on a Friday night stuck in bed.