Changes to how you verify that you’re the account owner

[Alan_K]

Hey Community,

Respecting your privacy and taking great care to safeguard your personal information is of utmost importance to us. Along these lines, we are introducing an enhancement to how we verify that you’re the account owner. This new process provides even more security for your private information and reduces the time you’ll spend with our Moderator Team confirming you are the account owner.  

Starting December 21, 2018, here’s how the new process will work:

1. After you privately message our Moderator Team about a question that requires you to verify that you are the account owner, our support team will reply with a unique link to a secure online form.
2. You will need to provide either your Public Mobile:
1. Self-Serve username and password, or
2. Phone number and 5 digit verification code that you’ll receive to the number provided
3. If you are unable to verify using the options above, our Moderator Team will share an alternative option we have available for you.
4. After you’ve provided the information, please reply to the existing private message thread you have with our Moderator Team, and they will provide you with full support.

-Public Mobile Community Team

FAQs

Spoiler

Q: What are some examples of requests that require me to confirm I am the account owner before a Moderator can help me?

A: Here are a couple of examples:

• You would like to change your Self-Serve email address, or make other Self-Serve account changes that you are unable to do yourself.
• Your earned Rewards are not showing up.
• You need further assistance with your number transfer from another phone carrier.

Q: I’ve found myself in the scenario where I don’t have access to my phone and I can’t recall my Self-Serve username and password. How can I confirm that I’m the account owner in this circumstance?

A: Great question. We hope that you don’t find yourself in this situation, but, if you’re in this pickle, we do have a solution for you. First, if you are unable to authenticate because you’ve forgotten your Self-Serve password, please try resetting it here. If this doesn’t resolve things, please let our Moderator Team know that you’ll need to validate using an alternative method.

Q: Where can I read more about Public Mobile’s privacy policies?

A: Your privacy is important to us, and we’re committed to protecting your personal information. In addition, we believe that an important part of protecting privacy is to be clear about how we handle customers' personal information, and to make information about our approach easily accessible. To learn more about how Public Mobile and its affiliated companies use personal information for client service, marketing and product development purposes, you can review our Privacy Policy.

[imm1304]

Hi @Alan_K!

This is a good move.  I am happy to know that it just got harder for someone else to mess with my account.  Thank you!  😄 

[RobertQc]

@Alan_KHopefully this does not effectively double the amount of time it takes to get help from a moderator. Having to wait for a moderator to manually "send this link" ... as a first response to help then it should be automated (and hopefully built into some sort of ticket system)... If it always takes a 2nd message to hear from the moderators actually regarding the issue this may be an extremely terrible idea... especially during times when wait times are exceeding 72 hours for 1 response.

To add this this, it would be nice to have "port validation" code added to our account. Many providers offer this service. To safe guard us from porting scam / fraud.

[Carld123]

@Alan_K

👍

[krazykiwi]

@Alan_K

A wonderful addition to the servuce. Thanks

[kav2001c]

Question #1

@Alan_K

Is this system *automated*?

I am a bit concerned if this new method requires Mods to respond back to EVERY support request (doubling number of messages required, as well as possibly impacting response times)

Question #2

Why not just scrap the entire "send a private message to Mod"?

Seriously

It seems far easier to go the route your competitors have chosen

(EG, *REQUIRE* login to self serve account, THEN click a button to submit request)

 Seeing as this message board community is in no way tied to our actual Public accounts I think it is well past time that method of support is scrapped

[srlawren]

---

@kav2001c wrote:

Question #2

Why not just scrap the entire "send a private message to Mod"?

Seriously

It seems far easier to go the route your competitors have chosen

(EG, *REQUIRE* login to self serve account, THEN click a button to submit request)

 Seeing as this message board community is in no way tied to our actual Public accounts I think it is well past time that method of support is scrapped

---

@kav2001c I'm hoping this is an interim step toward the full ticketing system, which I would imagine would replace private messaging the mods.  This is purely conjecture of course.

Your question #1 (which I did not quote, for brevity) is also extremely poignant, and leads quite naturally into quesiton 2.

[Dunkman]

I understand the need for more privacy, but I am also concerned that this will add more time for moderator response.  The more back and forth interaction between customer and moderator just adds extra time.  Public mobile should monitor the time for moderator response/solution to problem before and after this new change.  Hopefully, it is just the start for smoother and faster interaction with moderator.  

[computergeek541]

Honestly, the way we can verifty our identities via account number, or by giving postal code, name, date of birth, usage history, top up amount, and whatever is not secure.  I think we all understand that and I know that you're trying to improve on that.  If someone wants to mess with someone else account just out of spite or whatnot, I believe that even many coworkers would have enough of the answers to pass the current security screening.  And I would say that if anyone who we've ever considered at one time to be a friend would have enough of that info.

However,  with more privacy and security comes inconvenience to the customer.  Someone who gets locked out of the account or needs help but needs to prove his/her identity will have a harder time getting anything done.  It's a tradeoff either way, and I hope that Public Mobile can find the right balance.

Am I to understand that the identifty verification link will be e-mail to the customer at the e-mail address registered with self-serve (meaning an increased necessity for users to make sure that the self- serve and community addresses are the same)?  That's the only way any improvement on security will be made. If the verification link is just sent back to the customer via community private message, I don't see a point to this.  How does that make things more secure - it doesn't. 

If the purpose of this is to make sure that customer know ahead of time that account verification needs to be done before any account changes are made, why not just re-institute the old "contact us" type form and automatically requires user to enter that information? 
Why the back and forth?

If this verification link will be automated, I'll view it only as a minor annoyance.  If it's not automated, this process will just add delay.

[computergeek541]

---

@kav2001c wrote:

Question #1

@Alan_K

Is this system *automated*?

Question #2

Why not just scrap the entire "send a private message to Mod"?

Seriously

---

That's what I was just thinking and mentioned too.  The only think that I can think of is that they don't have a system in place.  If we have to supply certain infromation, prompt us for it when we are sending a message using some form and just get rid of the private messaging technique.

As to your point about our community account not always being linked to our self-serve account,  that's why I believe that Public Mobile should be e-mailing this verification link. This is what Freedom Mobile does, and while it's a bit of a pain, it does actually improve account security.

As for your idea of scrapping this online support model, I was mentioning earlier in the week how Chatr and Lucky's current plans are all now zone-free, and how they both have over-the-phone customer service available.