- Original Poster
- #1
Here’s how it happened…
I have an old but active Google Account. I wanted (still want) to change the contact telephone number from a landline to a mobile. ‘Certainly’, said Google, ‘just sign in’ which I did. ‘Now we need to verify it’s really you. We’ll send you an SMS security code’. So they did – to the landline number. Ok, I thought, there’s got to be an alternative. So I tried several different approaches and always came back to the same verification requirement. ‘You can’t use a different number’ said Google – ‘because that’s the one we have on file’.
The perfect Catch-22. ‘You must have a mobile number so we can verify you’ BUT ‘you can’t have a mobile number until we have verified you’.
And yes – I looked on help pages and in forums for the answer but couldn’t find one. Some poor souls with the same problem have been trying for months!
Anyway, back to the cat. Borris (my cat) has an antenna finely tuned to my mood. He knows that when England have lost 3 wickets for 8 runs on a good batting pitch that it’s time to make himself scarce. He was not however prepared for the screams of rage and frustration caused by Google’s inflexibility. On his flight out of the room he banged into the door and hurt himself. I blame Google.
I have an old but active Google Account. I wanted (still want) to change the contact telephone number from a landline to a mobile. ‘Certainly’, said Google, ‘just sign in’ which I did. ‘Now we need to verify it’s really you. We’ll send you an SMS security code’. So they did – to the landline number. Ok, I thought, there’s got to be an alternative. So I tried several different approaches and always came back to the same verification requirement. ‘You can’t use a different number’ said Google – ‘because that’s the one we have on file’.
The perfect Catch-22. ‘You must have a mobile number so we can verify you’ BUT ‘you can’t have a mobile number until we have verified you’.
And yes – I looked on help pages and in forums for the answer but couldn’t find one. Some poor souls with the same problem have been trying for months!
Anyway, back to the cat. Borris (my cat) has an antenna finely tuned to my mood. He knows that when England have lost 3 wickets for 8 runs on a good batting pitch that it’s time to make himself scarce. He was not however prepared for the screams of rage and frustration caused by Google’s inflexibility. On his flight out of the room he banged into the door and hurt himself. I blame Google.
But if Google is anything like Microsoft account recovery then they'll realise it's not a mobile and not even try to send it even though it would work fine
