Why are things so hard to log into these days? Just

[SapphireSeptember]

Just tried to log into my NHS account to make an appointment for DS. Need photo ID and a recording of my face or a load of details about my GP. The last time I logged on I didn't need any of this nonsense. They've got my details! My photo ID is a passport from 2016, the last time I used it for ID I got funny looks because I've aged a bit since then, so it probably won't match anyway. If I phone up I'll get told to do it online.

Tried to log into O2 the other week and it took forever because I needed to re- register now they've taken over Virgin Media. Took about ten minutes to get through to top up my phone whereas before it took about two.

Everything needs multiple steps these days and it drives me up the wall. Yahoo! is still easy to sign into though!

It’s to keep your data safe as hackers are getting smarter and more complex 🤷‍♀️

Lloyds bank is a nightmare too. I can barely make a transaction without it being flagged as potential fraud and requiring some long winded ID process. Including the face thing that took about 20 mins. I'm just trying to make a quick payment whilst at work ffs. I could do stuff in branch more quickly.

I've just opened a Monzo account hoping that will be easier. But probably not.

I had to do the O2 login this at the weekend as I needed to check my data allowances. I gave up after the 4th attempt and numerous codes. I actually went to my emails and found the last bill, clicked on that and it took me straight into my account.

The O2/Virgin thing was ridiculously convoluted - it all frustrates the hell out of me too especially for bills. I get it at work too - having to go through two step verification just to print off an invoice.

It's super frustrating BUT there has been a massive increase in hacking and cyber attacks recently, and it's getting more and more sophisticated. No company wants to be the next M&S.

Yeah, I feel you. I get they need two step etc, which is fine so long as the process works.

It took me about 8 years to finally be able to log into my HSBC account to view my mortgage because of how utterly dismal their system is. Even now I don’t have a digital passkey thing, they ended up having to send me a PIN sentry. Utter, utter shit.

I feel your pain

The thing that gets me about it is nobody ever tells you that anything's changed

by the time you get to needing to do something, it's usually important and you haven't got time for all the faff

I don't know what the deal is with my doctor surgery but you should be able to just phone. It was so much easier.

I really wish there was a way we could take action against all this technology, which is making life so much harder. Honestly, I could rant about this all day. We seem to have gone backwards with a lot of technology. Of course I understand the security aspects but - maybe a separate thread - there's a lot of things that used to work and now don't work properly.

The cyber security threat is never going away. So are we going to be subject to constantly changing systems?

A lot of it is reaching the point where it could be more efficiently done by humans, but nobody is prepared to employ anyone and eat in to their profit.

Technology is making life so much harder. You would've thought eventually it would be self limiting as people realise this - but no.

Omg! Yes, that O2/Virgin thing was a fucking nightmare! It took me forever going round in circles with password and codes again and again, I think it took me nearly an hour to get it sorted.

It's so annoying! I recently broke my phone, was trying to order a new one and couldn't get into anything because everyone wanted to send a code to the broken phone. Resolved it in the end but it took a few days rather than the few minutes it should have taken

I am in my 60's and really feel all this security and the understanding it requires is getting unusable by some. Each company seem to think we are trained in their particular security process created by some expert. I understand the reason but we are slowly being frozen out of our own accounts etc.

I hear you OP, it's so frustrating. What really gets my goat is the ones that require you to scan your passport or driving licence on your phone. I have a normal passport and driving licence photo, approved by them, plus a pretty good phone. But almost every time there is some issue with it not being able to be read, background too dark/light yada yada yada. I just don't bother now.

@TheTortiePuffinNeedsHerBreakfast how do you get round that please?

I think that there is a cohort of people like me who are 45 plus and who have had to teach themselves how to use technology, rather than being taught elements of it by peers, parents or at school.
I had a situation today where I realised I have no idea how to access some of my basic accounts as when a friend set my laptop up 5 years ago, he set the passwords (mea culpa) and I promptly forgot them.
Nothing of mine is synched to anything else as I don't understand what it does.

TBF I now use Ai to explain daily problems to me, and that's a great help.
I still have to run to the loo when something doesn't work though...I laugh at myself, but it affects me that viscerally!

To empathise with the OP, I had exactly the same song and dance applying for a DBS check earlier this year - multiple sites, verifications, photos of photos, face recognition and gaaaaaaaaah!, then a lingering worry that I'd used something un secure and was about to get cloned. Or something.

TL;DR I love technology but am terrified of breaking it!

@beeeeeeez honestly you're not gonna break anything don't worry about that

I genuinely wonder how long this can go on

Tech problems are probably an issue in people working or even deciding to work. I know someone who works in a heavily tech based job and two people are leaving because they can't tolerate the stress any more. She is now down to 2 people from a team of four. They're all in their 30s.

I posted about this before. Usually, nobody responds! I also know a tech jpurnalist who is struggling to keep up - and he said to me that they were in an awful lot of people working in tech who can't keep up with it either.

It's going to be the usual case of no training, small numbers of people at the top who have all the knowledge and expected to be disseminated by magic.

Oh, and one of the people who works in tech was almost in tears trying to sort something out with banking app.

I don't consider myself to be good at tech. The most I can do is work on the back end of a website. But when people who actually are good at tech are complaining about this, there is something very wrong.

I mostly mean for optional things like a Revolut card. I tried to get one for my DS school trip, but the driving licence validation was so painful that I didn't bother and he just used a normal debit card in the end. LinkedIn validation - I would like to but similar problem with my passport, so I just haven't done it. I have no workaround sadly!

The Boots points card is now an app only at my branch. So while I used to just flip my card out of my purse and give it to the cashier along with the debit card, I now have to put everything else down while I get out my phone, turn the phone on, type in the code, find the Boots app among a zillion other apps, open it, and then find the ‘My Card’ section before handing it over. What used to take three seconds now takes minutes.

To add insult to injury, the Boots app transferred to my new phone, but without all my details. So I had to go online and type them in again along with the very very long string of numbers that identifies your Boots card account. I think this is what they call ‘enshitification’.

I laughed when I saw this as I had just used 3 devices, 2 email accounts, a passkey, a code, photo ID and an authentication app to download some files.

It’s absurd. Stuff like this eats up a ridiculous amount of time.

And I live in fear of something happening to my phone because I would never be able to log into anything again.

I'm glad most of you agree with me!
I had to phone Virgin Media because my router broke and they wanted a load of stuff off me then, which I couldn't access because I had no internet!
I'm going to phone the GP surgery tomorrow and just tell them I can't log in, and they can lump it.

The one that drives me crackers is Scottish power.

They email me. Here is your bill. Here is your account number. Blah blah.

click to payment, or indeed log on via website. Enter email, enter password, enter code, please go back to email and follow link there. WHHHYYYYYY.

who is going to log on and any my electric bill. I don’t save details there. It’s so pointless and unnecessary

Argh! That sounds ridiculously frustrating. I'd be pulling out my hair.

@BaskervilleOldFace What are people without smart phones supposed to do? I don't have one, I refuse, and I'm 37. Fed up of tech if I'm honest. I went on a weekend away a few years ago and was offline the entire time, bliss! (Had my phone for emergencies though.)

It’s also a nightmare when you have to do it for someone else!

Sarcasm?

I recently ordered store cards (nector, club card, sparks card) etc etc and specifically asked for physical cards for this reason. I find it very difficult to coordinate using my phone due to a disability and getting my phone out my bag, trying to get it on, putting in passcode etc and then trying to find apps on it while Im trying to juggle a bag, purse, etc etc. Nightmare

Compare and contrast with my enhanced DBS for my local council, where there is NO online verification available, so I had to:

-send an email to an email address ("we undertake to reply within 10 days")

• receive email after 9.99999 days giving me an appointment (no choice of day or time, take it or leave it) at council offices a 70 mile round trip from home.

-make 70 mile round trip to council offices just to have a dude scan my passport.

This is part of the larger application process for a private hire licence, and when my DBS comes through it gets physically posted to me. And then I have to make another 70 mile round trip to the council offices to show them that I have my DBS certificate and physically pick up my licence!

I also get very irate at tech that doesn't work properly, but this whole process has had me howling "But why on EARTH isn't there a digital way to do this?!"

I was actually pleasantly surprised that, as part of this entire Kafkaesque process, I also had to renew my driving licence. Download a government app, place phone on passport, it reads the electronic chip in the passport , extracts all your information and your photo, and sends you your new licence within a week.

I'm still not over this miracle of tech making my life easier, tbh.

Yes super frustrating and on occasions complicated/confusing. I'm dreading getting older and not able to keep up with all this stuff...