Access Denied (aka. Google Authenticator is the bane of my existence)

Published by

Nova

May 8, 2014

I’ve lost access to all of my other blogs on WordPress.com. Every single one (there are seven in all, I believe). Let this be a warning to you – don’t change your phone number AND purchase a new phone, plus have your Authenticator app tied to a Google account you never use, then forget your login info for the Google account. If so, you’ll be irrevocably screwed, because if you’ve never tried to contact WordPress.com for support before, you should know that their Happiness Engineers will not help you if you haven’t paid for your domain. Plus, you have to log in to use the Forum to see if anyone else can help you, so what good is that? I’ll just go ahead and answer myself: none. No help at all. Nada.

And the password reset page that offers help for people who’ve forgotten an email or password or don’t have access to their phones won’t help me, because it recognizes the email I’m trying to log in with and just keeps telling me to head back to the regular password reset page. On top of that, Google is refusing to help me reset my password because I either need to have it texted (to my old phone number, which no longer exists), or answer their security questions. Their security questions, by the way, include such gems as the approximate date that I started using my Google account (how the FUCK would I know that? Who knows that?) and the dates I started using other Google services like Gmail or Calendar. Have I entered one of the circles of hell?

So now I’ve lost The Camino Plan plus a bunch of other hidden sites like Soup, Sandwich, Go! and (most irritating) the blog I used for collecting story ideas. Oh sure, I’m going to get all of this info back in the long run, but right now, at this very moment, I kind of want to punch something. Or someone. I’m not especially picky. Grrr…

2 responses to “Access Denied (aka. Google Authenticator is the bane of my existence)”

i*Kan

June 16, 2014

Oh my god, that’s terrible. Did you manage to regain access by now?

Reply
1. compassandquill
  
  June 16, 2014
  
  Yup, it was the pits! I finally got back in last week, thanks to a lovely Happiness Engineer who was so awesome and helped me figure out a way around everything. I’d love to say that I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ll never get locked out again, but I’m hopeless at remembering the million and one passwords necessary to just go about basic daily activities these days…
  
  Reply

I’m Nova

I have no “personal brand.” I’m not a girl boss, I’m not an influencer, and I don’t aspire to be powerful, inspiring, or rich. I probably can’t teach you anything, and there’s a good chance that there’s nothing at all of interest or use to you here. This is just where I come to talk about the random bits and pieces that make up my quiet life as a sober woman in her 40s. I’m engaged to the love of my life, have six (yes, SIX) indoor pets, and spend a lot of time gardening and hunting for thrift treasures. I also study classical voice (I’m a lyric coloratura soprano) and am deeply interested in all things spiritual and paranormal. Right now I’m trying to recover from career burnout and even out my personal energy, but my eventual goal is to become a medium and shamanic healer, using music to remind humans of the things that actually matter: connection, community, and loving all living things as though they were our own children. I may or may not talk about all of these things here (and sometimes all at once). Welcome!

Compass & Quill