My Verizon Mobile App on Motorola Xoom--no text message to complete registration

[jayb63]

I am now waiting for my second letter but you know what I should have known better. 

I have after all experienced Verizon's particular flavor of customer service, a rank fetid mess that has included atrocious call quality, poorly functioning equipment and outright lies by Verizon customer service reps.

I thought since the Xoom wasn’t a phone there wouldn’t be any issues. Little did I know the pernicious depths to which Verizon management would sink in order to make my Xoom experience a living customer service nightmare.

It started innocently enough; all I wanted to do was manage my 3G data usage. Simple as this sounds, Verizon has created a process so complicated that registering and creating a login for my account has taken two evenings and included an hour long chat session with a customer service rep, another hour navigating automated phone prompts and one and one half hours speaking to various customer service people on the east coast. All of which ends up with me having to make an actual phone call every time I wish to monitor my data usage while I wait for Verizon to mail me (via the US post office) a password, which in theory allows access to my account. 

I suppose I should count myself lucky, based on what appears to be Verizon management’s reliance on mid 20th century technology I could have been required to send and receive a telegram to request data usage information or use a rotary dial phone routed through mechanical X Y switchgear. 

In the meantime, I will use the data that I have paid for and start the process to cancel my month-to-month data plan. There is something to be said for paying full price and avoiding the contract discount. Although if Verizon runs true to form the contract might be written in cuneiform on a clay tablet and that could be easily broken.

[EssexSoundLab]

Having received my first bill, I of course went online to set up a Web account and automated payments. When I got to the temporary password step, I found myself thinking "Huh...wonder how the Xoom will receive that". 

And now I've found this forum.

I have to add my voice to the others and would even more forcefully say: this is a joke. Did Verizon really not even consider the fact that these devices can't receive text messages? Relying upon Snail Mail as a "fallback" -- with its delays and pitfalls -- points out how little Verizon really cares about this market.

Pathetic.

I'm now even sorrier that I didn't wait for a WiFi-only model.

[#3]

Everyone who bought a Xoom had to share some personal info with Verizon as part of the ordering process. In return, they got an order number and other info from Verizon. Seems like Verizon could have created a system that utilized some of that "private" info as a password for setting up a "My Verizon" account via a computer. Then, the account would be ready when the Xoom arrived.

[21stNow]

I'll add my voice to the "VZW, what were you thinking?!" crowd.  I understand the need for security, but there should have been an alternate way to receive your temporary password.  Why is a temporary password even necessary?

VZW had to have a different way to set up the OLAM 10 years ago, before everyone started using text messaging to the extent that they are now.  Was that way not secure enough?

[michaelk]

verizon's security folks are{please keep your posts courteous}. They need to figure out a "secure" way to get passwords besides text. There's got to be a million viable methods besides insisting on texting to a device that they wont permit to receive texts.

(since the samsung tab can "text" and the usb dongles can receive a "text"- it seems this device too could receive a "text" somehow if they cared to allow it.)

Beyond that since you can get accurate current usage info from the widget by booting into 3g mode it seems CLEAR AS DAY the network is authenticating the devices identity somehow when connected by 3G- so just allow us to set an initial password in the app when connected through 3g. Done problem solved. I wont even charge for my consulting time- just please make the change.

Dont want to drag off topic but I have to share another example of how {please keep your posts courteous} they are about security- my credit card number was stolen and I had to get a new card from my issuer. In the mean time verizon tried to do the monthly charge on my compromised account number so the charge was denied. When the new card came I was able to pay the bill by a one time charge on the web or via phone. But it wouldn't let me set up auto bill pay. Turns out since a charge had been denied on the old CC# their systems actually locked out my ability to enter the new CC# on line or via phone to do my monthly automatic bill payments. Wouldn't even allow me to enter the exact same CC# that i used repeatedly to do one time payments. I had to waste my (and their) time to call in and speak to a human who then had to go get his supervisor to unlock my account to enter a new CC# for automatic monthly payments. Only an {please keep your posts courteous} makes it hard for their customers to pay them on time.

Bottom line = verizon security policies add unnecessary hoops that provide no additional security.

[#6]

I use my bank's free on-line bill pay. I don't like automatic payments for bills that vary monthly.

[outinga]

I was on the phone for hours trying to get Customer Service to switch my Xoom to an old phone of my sisters. They did not remove the text message block and when I figured it out, it was after 11. After being disconnected 3 times, I finally got someone an hour plus later. She was pretty much useless.

Anyway, I was able to get the online service activated by having the store and having the manager transfer my number to a loaner phone and then giving me the passcode when it was sent to that phone. This is really ridiculous! I sent a message to the complaint address and have not heard a reply yet. 

The stores really need to address this issue proactively!

I do love the Xoom now and they have a monitor that will tell you your usage.

[jayb63]

Ok, still waiting on my second letter and the customer service person I talked with the other day said the request was generated on 03-17-11. So my big freaking question is, when does the super secret password (that has to be mailed thank you very much) expire? I mean, the first one arrived about 10 days after I requested it and of course it was no longer valid.  I have no great hopes for my second password and am considering requesting a third and who knows maybe a fourth before the second arrives.

Anyway, has anyone had any luck at all getting a valid password from these jerks?  

[kcrudup]

Yeah, I tried using MarcTronixx' method on Saturday 2/25, and when that didn't work, I was told a password would be mailed to me. I checked a week later, and my PW was there, and it worked (8 digits).

Funny(/frustrating?) thing about it was since the VZ billing system had my E-mail address from my signup attempt, that when I phoned my CC number into the billing system to set up automatic billing, I got an E-mail from VZ confirming it once I was done.

[21stNow · Accepted solution]

I got my working password in about 3 days.  A note of caution, don't request multiple password letters.  I ended up with two password letters because I thought that I had to call and request the password to be mailed to me.  The letters both had the same date, so I didn't know which one would come first.  Of course, I tried the wrong one first.  My point is excessive password attempts will lock your account, so be careful.