Apple support borders on ridiculous for password issue : Almost-Daily Diary : http://www.chainreactionblogs.com/diary

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Apple support borders on ridiculous for password issue

Got an iPad we use for things like Zwift Island with the Wahoo Kickr indoor trainers we sell. Pretty amazing simulations you can do these days! Unfortunately, something got screwed up such that we got locked out of the user account on that particular iPad, and password recovery options implied they had worked, sending a reset email to the "rescue" email address... but nothing was ever received.

So here's where it gets interesting. You talk with Apple support over the phone, and learn that the missing rescue email didn't come through because you likely didn't respond to a verification email at the time the account was set up. I did eventually find that request (a bit over a year ago), and of course, the verification link no longer works.

But obviously the person over the phone can get things taken care of, right? Well, not unless you remember the answers to your security questions. Two out of three of them. "What street did you grow up on", "Where was your first plane flight" and "What's your dream job?" It's not multiple-choice; you have to remember the exact way you would have addressed each question. Oh, and it's case-sensitive.

"What street did you grow up on"- Well, did I answer using the street I was born, the street I lived the longest, or what? Did I include "Street, Drive, Way" or whatever after the street? Did I use all small or capitalize first letter or all? Did I abbreviate Street (St?), Drive (Dr?) and/or put a period after each? The permutations are far more than you'd first think!

"Where was your first plane flight?" Again, sounds simple. Or not. My first plane flight was from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to meet my dad to see a 49er game. How would I have answered? My first thought- the destination. Los Angeles. Nope. Southern California. Nope. San Francisco to Los Angeles. Nope. To a 49er game. Nope. Abbreviations of the above. Again, endless possibilities, ALL of which answer the question!!!

Dream Job. Hey, that should be easy! Bike shop. Nope. Bike Shop Owner. Nope. Bicycle Retail. No. And on and on and on.

Trouble is, even the phone person gets locked out after a certain number of attempts!

Result? I have a bricked iPad. I cannot sign out of it, I cannot sign into it. Every 8 hours I can try again, a very limited number of tries before I'm locked out for another 8 hours! The phone rep can't even configure the account to allow more retry attempts.

I get the need for security, but when you set up the account, Apple did not emphasize the importance of short, repeatable answers. In essence, each answer becomes an actual case-sensitive password string!

Post date: 2016-01-16 16:49:15
Post date GMT: 2016-01-17 00:49:15
Post modified date: 2016-01-16 16:49:15
Post modified date GMT: 2016-01-17 00:49:15