Archived and Closed
This conversation is no longer open for comments or replies and is no longer visible to community members.
My phone can receive them as I have unlimited texting of all kinds but when I enter my number it says they sent the message, yet I never get it. It's not a problem with my phone because I tried this months ago thinking it was a site problem however it still doesn't work 4 months later??
I don't want to give out my credit card info, I don't have enough money to be accidentally charge any amount of fees, not even a dollar.
All I want to do is post in the message boards about movies I've seen..this is ridiculous.
I don't want to give out my credit card info, I don't have enough money to be accidentally charge any amount of fees, not even a dollar.
All I want to do is post in the message boards about movies I've seen..this is ridiculous.
Posted 8 years ago
bluesmanSF, Champion
Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep
Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep
Bullshit. I just tried as well and it didn't work. Same as last year. Convenient that you "can't discuss account issues in public" when you obviously just want my CC info.
bluesmanSF, Champion
I don't appreciate the language and you should stop with that. Further, your comment you're flooding across the board that they want your CC info is untrue. They are trying to give options. If they didn't want to offer cp authentication, they don't have to offer it. They could just ask for cc and skip it. Your comment is inaccurate, unjustified and offensive in several ways.
It's your choice to authenticate or not. You can stick to looking up movies and other non-authentication related features and leave it at that. Spreading falsehoods and cursing on the boards is useless and juvenile activity. So, maybe the site is not for you as those things are not allowed on the boards to start with. In the other thread in which you posted, they are authenticating manually those accounts having this problem...so clearly you're wrong they are suckering you into something you don't want to do. And, even if they were, you could say, "no thanks" and move along.
And, seriously, you want your personal account information posted on a public forum where anyone in the world can see it? Really?
It's your choice to authenticate or not. You can stick to looking up movies and other non-authentication related features and leave it at that. Spreading falsehoods and cursing on the boards is useless and juvenile activity. So, maybe the site is not for you as those things are not allowed on the boards to start with. In the other thread in which you posted, they are authenticating manually those accounts having this problem...so clearly you're wrong they are suckering you into something you don't want to do. And, even if they were, you could say, "no thanks" and move along.
And, seriously, you want your personal account information posted on a public forum where anyone in the world can see it? Really?
So the best you can come up with is "Please don't hurt my tender eyes with a single curse word" and "Well if you can't authenticate then maybe you shouldn't even bother"? Really?
I have tried to auth my account several times over the years. I have tried it on Alltel (then Verizon when they bought it), AT&T, and now Sprint, and it has NEVER WORKED!
Sorry if my singular word offended you so much, but I am calling it like I see it. They have an SMS authentication that does not work, and a CC auth. The "solution" for people that can't SMS auth is "Give us you CC info", instead of
"Oops, sorry, we'll fix our SMS auth". Seems pretty obvious to me.
And I don't appreciate you chewing me out and you should stop with that. You aren't going to? Well, I'm not gonna stop calling things like I see them just because it hurts your poor wittle ears. If you can't help, don't post.
I have tried to auth my account several times over the years. I have tried it on Alltel (then Verizon when they bought it), AT&T, and now Sprint, and it has NEVER WORKED!
Sorry if my singular word offended you so much, but I am calling it like I see it. They have an SMS authentication that does not work, and a CC auth. The "solution" for people that can't SMS auth is "Give us you CC info", instead of
"Oops, sorry, we'll fix our SMS auth". Seems pretty obvious to me.
And I don't appreciate you chewing me out and you should stop with that. You aren't going to? Well, I'm not gonna stop calling things like I see them just because it hurts your poor wittle ears. If you can't help, don't post.
bluesmanSF, Champion
It didn't offend me at. Why would you suggest such a thing? Your post, aside from showing you ignorance, violates the terms and conditions of using IMDb's interactive areas which can be accesed by children, Grandmothers, etc. (And made no logical sense). But, nice to know you backed up my comment with more childish gibberish.
Don't like being chewed out, don't act in a way that inspires such a response...simple, eh?
Don't like being chewed out, don't act in a way that inspires such a response...simple, eh?
Are you an IMDB employee? If not, why are you even posting here? Are you the self-appointed guardian of this place or something?
Another useless post. If you want me to shut up, fix the authentication so I can go post the message I wanted to about the similarities of Skag and Graboid Shriekers. If you can't contribute anything useful to the solution, shut the hell up and go away. Of course that statement has as much chance of succeeding as yours telling me to stop using a tiny bit of bad language.
God I hate internet white knights, especially corporate shill white knights.
Another useless post. If you want me to shut up, fix the authentication so I can go post the message I wanted to about the similarities of Skag and Graboid Shriekers. If you can't contribute anything useful to the solution, shut the hell up and go away. Of course that statement has as much chance of succeeding as yours telling me to stop using a tiny bit of bad language.
God I hate internet white knights, especially corporate shill white knights.
bluesmanSF, Champion
Re: "Are you an IMDB employee?"
No. My user name does not say Employee...like Giancarlo's does.
Re: "Are you the self-appointed..."
No. I was invited to come answer questions here.
Re: "If you want me to shut up..."
Why would you think I'd care one way or other?
Re: "fix the authentication..."
It's not broken. I, and millions of others, have used it without problem.
Re: "bad language"
Use it as you wish. Do you think you get better response by posting as if you're a lunatic?
Re: "white nights...corporate shill..."
See my last question.
Good luck being given authentication while asking for it and using language that gets authentication revoked...that makes perfect sense!
No. My user name does not say Employee...like Giancarlo's does.
Re: "Are you the self-appointed..."
No. I was invited to come answer questions here.
Re: "If you want me to shut up..."
Why would you think I'd care one way or other?
Re: "fix the authentication..."
It's not broken. I, and millions of others, have used it without problem.
Re: "bad language"
Use it as you wish. Do you think you get better response by posting as if you're a lunatic?
Re: "white nights...corporate shill..."
See my last question.
Good luck being given authentication while asking for it and using language that gets authentication revoked...that makes perfect sense!
It would seem that there is still a problem with the authentication process via text message because people are still having a problem. I am one of them. I use Tmobile and I am now and have been receiving and sending text messages with no problems for a long time. But when I asked that my account be authenticated by text message and put in my cell phone number, I have not received a text message. IMBD says the message is sent in seconds.
Since I haven't received my text message, what do I do now? IMBD just says that there isn't a problem. But I am having a problem. So IMBD saying that there isn't a problem isn't much help. And apparently I can't ask them again to send a text message. The help desk page says that they may or may not answer my question directly because they are so busy. Do you have any suggestions?
I, like many others, do not wish to give my credit card information. If IMBD gives us the alternative method of authentication through a text message, then it would be nice if they would send me that text message. But they haven't!
Since I haven't received my text message, what do I do now? IMBD just says that there isn't a problem. But I am having a problem. So IMBD saying that there isn't a problem isn't much help. And apparently I can't ask them again to send a text message. The help desk page says that they may or may not answer my question directly because they are so busy. Do you have any suggestions?
I, like many others, do not wish to give my credit card information. If IMBD gives us the alternative method of authentication through a text message, then it would be nice if they would send me that text message. But they haven't!
Susana I would love to help but cannot. IMBD would have sent you the text message, but for some reason (which noone can really understand), certain mobile numbers get 'blocked' before it arrives. IMBD say this is because the number has previously tried to register or done something wrong or whatever and they stress this may be when someone else had that number, none of which is factual. I have had my number for 15 years, so not possible, just yet another excuse from the very incompetent customer service area of IMBD. I am in Australia, but I have read that in the US it is mainly "Sprint" users who have this issue. I presume Sprint is a telco provider not available here. It astounds me that IMBD have such a bad attitude when it comes to fixing this issue for their customers. I have never even got so much as a return email from them to attempt to resolve this,To keep reading "there is no issue" is somewhat infuriating. I love movies and want to be able to make full use of IMBD. They, however, have made it very clear they couldn't be bothered with the FEW of us in this predicament, by refusing to even acknowledge we exist!
GOOD LUCK Susana
GOOD LUCK Susana
I am also a Sprint user and I also cannot receive the verification text message. Seems pretty clear at this point that IMDB has a problem sending text messages to Sprint customers.
Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep
Just to clarify the current situation: we are not aware of any issues with the authentication process at this time -- it's being used successfully by many users every day and our tests indicate that it works. So if you are still having problems authenticating your account via a SMS text, there are two possible explanations.
1) your phone is not receiving text messages from our system for some reason (which could be due to a network issue or problem with your phone carrier)
or
2) your phone number has already been used in the past for authentication purposes and the authentication has been revoked. If that's the case, you can't use it again.
The second condition is by design: the system has been designed to prevent access to certain features (e.g. posting in the boards) when authentication has been revoked, so using it the same phone number is not possible.
The first condition is harder to identify/explain. If you are positive that your phone number hasn't been used before to authenticate, i would suggest trying again at a later time.
Either way, I'm afraid that the only workaround is to use a different authentication method.
I don't mean to sound dismissive although I realize this may sound a bit vague -- I understand that not being able to authenticate can be frustrating. But unfortunately, there are many possible reasons why this may not not work, and most of them are outside of our control (since the process relies on sending a text, which is delivered by external carriers, in some cases more than one)
1) your phone is not receiving text messages from our system for some reason (which could be due to a network issue or problem with your phone carrier)
or
2) your phone number has already been used in the past for authentication purposes and the authentication has been revoked. If that's the case, you can't use it again.
The second condition is by design: the system has been designed to prevent access to certain features (e.g. posting in the boards) when authentication has been revoked, so using it the same phone number is not possible.
The first condition is harder to identify/explain. If you are positive that your phone number hasn't been used before to authenticate, i would suggest trying again at a later time.
Either way, I'm afraid that the only workaround is to use a different authentication method.
I don't mean to sound dismissive although I realize this may sound a bit vague -- I understand that not being able to authenticate can be frustrating. But unfortunately, there are many possible reasons why this may not not work, and most of them are outside of our control (since the process relies on sending a text, which is delivered by external carriers, in some cases more than one)
If I try again later (in other words, a second time), then won't that automatically prevent me from getting a text message?
bluesmanSF, Champion
@susana, re: "won't that automatically prevent me from getting a text
message?"
No, it shouldn't.
message?"
No, it shouldn't.
Also unable to authenticate. I also have Sprint and my phone is sending/receiving texts normally. I tried sending to my google voice number as well (which sends/receives texts) and it was also unsuccessful.
Could someone from the site look into carrier-specific concerns? Thanks!
Could someone from the site look into carrier-specific concerns? Thanks!
And just to clarify: I have never attempted to register here before, so unless a stranger happens to have stolen both my cell and google voice numbers, and strangely decided to use them to authenticate imdb accounts, and successfully accessed the codes - without me knowing - to complete the authentication process, and then got disqualified on both accounts, it's unlikely this is the relevant problem with mine. Looks like there are some unresolved issues for at least a subset of would-be users.
Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep
Unfortunately, without an account name and a number, there's not much that we can do to look into the matter. Please contact us directly from your IMDb account so we can see if there's something specific to your situation that would cause a problem.
Her point was that SHE NEVER HAD AN ACCOUNT NAME because SHE COULD NEVER VERIFY.
I have sprint and its not working for me either. You said you need the name and number but Is there a way to give that information without giving it to everyone else? I don't really want my phone number on this forum.
bluesmanSF, Champion
To not use the message boards, use the contact form ("contact us" which is at the bottom of all the pages of IMDb) http://www.imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_...
bluesmanSF, Champion
@Jon you can sign up and have an account without verifying. Verification comes after setting up the account. Verification adds functionality, such as posting on message boards.
I too shared your issue but it has been resolved since. It was a simple fix. Find bluesmanSF and click on the link he posted RE: contact Help Desk. I sent an email and the were able to register my account fast and hassle free. It not very difficult. Good Luck!
The link on the Help Desk takes you straight back to this website...
Emperor, Champion
The link in the sidebar does, but the links given above take you to the actual form:
http://imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form...
http://imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form...
Emperor, Champion
Emperor: I will try contacting them, though I really do doubt it will help. To give you an idea why, when I went to send the message to the helpdesk it showed an old email address -- one from a previous ISP that has been inactive for at least 10 years! THAT is how long I've been trying to SMS authenticate. If it hasn't worked for 10 years, across god knows how many phone numbers, I really have doubts it will work now or ever.
But I will give it a shot. I have contacted the helpdesk for the umpteenth time. I'll be damned if I am going to give out my CC information to post on an internet forum.
But I will give it a shot. I have contacted the helpdesk for the umpteenth time. I'll be damned if I am going to give out my CC information to post on an internet forum.
bluesmanSF, Champion
@Charles...Authentication didn't exist 10 years ago. It's only been used for two or three years. Prior, all you needed was an active email address. When it became difficult to block offensive users, authentication started, but all active accounts in good standing were grandfathered in. So, a ten year old account would, if in good standing, never have had to authenticate.
No one has asked for cc info on forums. In fact, the main page says not to post personal info, but to use the Help Desk contact form.
No one has asked for cc info on forums. In fact, the main page says not to post personal info, but to use the Help Desk contact form.
Emperor, Champion
That's great to hear. It does prove there is a (admittedly slow) solution.
Here is the link again for those struggling:
http://imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form...
Here is the link again for those struggling:
http://imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form...
Emperor, Champion
Staff, would it be possible to mark the following as the official response as it is the fix?
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...
Actually, a true fix hasn't been provided. Please read below:
The link provided by Emperor was helpful and I thank her/him for it! I had the same experience as Charles Nordlund. I used that link, and within days, my account had been mysteriously verified. But - I never did get a text message.
I would especially like to say that the comments by Giancarlo Cairella, a staff member, were particularly not helpful. All she said was, basically, there isn't a problem. She insulted the intelligence of all of us who wrote in and described our problem. We said there is a problem, and she said no there isn't.
Obviously the problem, since I never received a text message, has not been fixed. Three people from this group have been able to have their account verified. One is Erik Estrada who used Emperor's link, but he doesn't say if he ever received a text message. Plus myself and Charles Nordlund - both of us had to use the link provided by Emperor. Neither of us were able to verify our account by the text message method. It shouldn't be necessary to get extra help to verify an account. It should be possible to verify from a text message.
Therefore, I would strongly suggest that the IMDB people seriously look into and fix the problem that seems to still exists. But - Emperor, I really do appreciate your help! Thank you.
The link provided by Emperor was helpful and I thank her/him for it! I had the same experience as Charles Nordlund. I used that link, and within days, my account had been mysteriously verified. But - I never did get a text message.
I would especially like to say that the comments by Giancarlo Cairella, a staff member, were particularly not helpful. All she said was, basically, there isn't a problem. She insulted the intelligence of all of us who wrote in and described our problem. We said there is a problem, and she said no there isn't.
Obviously the problem, since I never received a text message, has not been fixed. Three people from this group have been able to have their account verified. One is Erik Estrada who used Emperor's link, but he doesn't say if he ever received a text message. Plus myself and Charles Nordlund - both of us had to use the link provided by Emperor. Neither of us were able to verify our account by the text message method. It shouldn't be necessary to get extra help to verify an account. It should be possible to verify from a text message.
Therefore, I would strongly suggest that the IMDB people seriously look into and fix the problem that seems to still exists. But - Emperor, I really do appreciate your help! Thank you.
Emperor, Champion
Well you don't need the text message - as it is clearly not getting through, they just verify your account by hand.
Anyway glad to see the problem is fixed.
Anyway glad to see the problem is fixed.
