Unable to login to Paypal phone broken

Caledon Ken · 13 Jan 2020

Not sure about saving QR code, interesting angle.

Glad you are in.

Now time to check all accounts, how you are 2FA'ing and what backup is available.

z3r010 · 13 Jan 2020

Caledon Ken said:

This is an issue with these authenticator app.

What is need is the developers have to provide a secure way to back up and restore the authenticator data. Likely way easier said then done.

Authy doesn't have that problem

sygnus21 · 13 Jan 2020

Something is strange here...

As a PayPal user, ~~you don't need 2FA to login to online. 2FA is strictly for mobile (phone) devices~~. Also just got off the phone with PayPal and they says the OP can call them for the issue (was curious about this).

Anyway if the OP is the owner of the account there shouldn't be an issue. If they're not, well....

BTW...

If you lock yourself out, or are unable to access your mobile device at the time of login, you will need to have your account admin disable 2FA for your user account, or contact our PayPal powered by Braintree Support team.

How do I enable 2FA (two factor authentication) for my PayPal powered by Braintree User?

I also have the PayPal mobile app, but I use biometrics for my login.

z3r010 · 13 Jan 2020

sygnus21 said:

As a PayPal user, you don't need 2FA to login to online.

You don't need it but it can be enabled - my accounts are.

sygnus21 · 13 Jan 2020

z3r010 said:

You don't need it but it can be enabled - my accounts are.

I don't have 2FA enabled, so I'll set one up to double check. That said, the above still applies... you can call PayPal to have the issue resolved.

Yep, 2FA also applies online. And because I told it to use my phone the only option I get for receiving my verification code is through the phone. Period. Looks like the OP is going to have to call PayPal again on this issue.

Caledon Ken · 13 Jan 2020

OP called Paypal and then said they couldn't do anything... Post 1.

Thanks John, I'll look into Authy.

I've started using Yubico Key and yes I have backups. Didn't order NFC ones so that becomes an issue on phone.

sygnus21 · 13 Jan 2020

Caledon Ken said:

OP called Paypal and then said they couldn't do anything... Post 1.

I'm relaying what they told me when I called them this morning. In fact, I read the post to them because this didn't seem possible to not reset via phone. It's lso posted in their forum by a moderator - Authenticator sign in problems.

Outside of that, I can not say what the OP was told by another person.

Caledon Ken · 13 Jan 2020

Well that is good to know.

jamesw71 · 18 Sep 2020

Jacee said:

Did you scroll down to PayPal on the page? You need to read what they say.

yes i did...i have the same problem.

What you don't seem to grasp about this authenticator problem is to get to the page you are referencing to remove the authenticator you first have to have the authenticator to finish the login process. Paypal does not give any other ways to login if you have setup the authenticator. you input your login and password and then it asks for the code EVERY time...even if you have selected trust this device in the past.

Now to the issues with paypal customer service. I cannot get answers to this question on the paypal forums because you have to be logged in, see above for why I can't log in.

so the website has a link to customer support with online chat, but that is just a robot, no live person ever answers questions and they never link me to anyone who can answer anything....the final response is to call the customer service phone number like was referenced by another poster here.

I called the customer service phone number but keep getting message that they are too busy and cannot help me now, and they hang up without even letting me leave a message and maybe have someone call me back.

Finally there are Twitter and Facebook messenging options, both have open messages and Paypal has not answered or even said hello to my message in over 2 hours. I made the original message at noon on Friday, it is now over 2 hours later and no response and noone answers their phone when I call. Same with their international number (I am calling from Greece currently so am 8 hrs ahead, times I listed are in central time in the US)

So how does one get customer service if they dont answer their phone? Cannot log in even though I know the password and secret questions but apparently once the authenticator is setup they will not use anything else to give me access to the account.

I like the idea of the authenticators but there needs to be better support for them from Paypal. I had the Google authenticator setup on my phone attached to my email, figured when i lost my phone I could log into my Google account and reset the Paypal authenticator but there are no options for this on either website.

Word to the wise, be sure you are using an authenticator that is not also the recovery phone. if you lose your phone and the authenticator you are out of luck, i should have setup on my tablet, guess I have to setup new paypal account now or what? makes no sense.

Caledon Ken · 19 Sep 2020

Use an authenticator app that uses backups and can installed on desktop.

Authy does both.