Question Does anybody have a solution for this ATT Yahoo email disaster?

[emitfudd]

My 2 week login expired and now when I try to login to my email account I get this:

Looks like you’ve tried to sign in unsuccessfully too many times. Recover your ID or reset your password to continue.
Care Code: 205.2 [LU003]

There is a 5 page thread about this with no solution. I have had this email for over 17 years and all of my accounts I do business with have this email address.

ATT/Yahoo are the biggest idiots I have ever seen. If you click forgot password it asks for your username and your last name. I get a message saying, hmm, that doesn't seem to work. WTF? I have no idea what to do to resolve this and I can't afford to miss important emails. I don't believe I can update all my accounts with a new email address without some of them wanting to send a confirmation to my email (which I can't access).

ATT customer service will be of no help since I stopped paying for their services long ago.

 

[dwd999]

My 2 week login expired and now when I try to login to my email account I get this:

Looks like you’ve tried to sign in unsuccessfully too many times. Recover your ID or reset your password to continue.
Care Code: 205.2 [LU003]

There is a 5 page thread about this with no solution. I have had this email for over 17 years and all of my accounts I do business with have this email address.

ATT/Yahoo are the biggest idiots I have ever seen. If you click forgot password it asks for your username and your last name. I get a message saying, hmm, that doesn't seem to work. WTF? I have no idea what to do to resolve this and I can't afford to miss important emails. I don't believe I can update all my accounts with a new email address without some of them wanting to send a confirmation to my email (which I can't access).

ATT customer service will be of no help since I stopped paying for their services long ago.

If you go to the Yahoo email page, what happens if you use the "forgot username" option? What happens if you provide your recovery email address or phone number?

 

[emitfudd]

If you go to the Yahoo email page, what happens if you use the "forgot username" option? What happens if you provide your recovery email address or phone number?

That's the hilarious part. When I click forgot username it says it will send my username to my email (which I can't login to). I never provided them with a phone number or recovery email. I had this account back in 2005 and when I switched to cable from ATT I was able to keep my bellsouth.net email address all these years.

I was just reading that gmail has a function to import your existing emails and up to 30 days of new emails from another provider like att yahoo. I might try that. Yahoo and ATT have irritated me more times than I can count over the years.

 

[dwd999]

That's the hilarious part. When I click forgot username it says it will send my username to my email (which I can't login to). I never provided them with a phone number or recovery email. I had this account back in 2005 and when I switched to cable from ATT I was able to keep my bellsouth.net email address all these years.

I was just reading that gmail has a function to import your existing emails and up to 30 days of new emails from another provider like att yahoo. I might try that. Yahoo and ATT have irritated me more times than I can count over the years.

Well whatever you do when they ask for a recovery email or phone number you should probably now use that option.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"ATT customer service will be of no help since I stopped paying for their services long ago."

Consider that you may now be persona non grata and that AT&T wiped out everything related to you and your accounts.

Especially if you transferred in, so to speak, using an email address other than within AT&T's domain.

Times are getting tough and many businesses are starting on doing cleanups etc. in order to cut expenses.

Services and support to non-paying accounts likely being the first things to go.....

Agree with @dwd999 :

Use the option and learn what options you truly have and what else, if anything, can be done.

 

[emitfudd]

This:

"ATT customer service will be of no help since I stopped paying for their services long ago."

Consider that you may now be persona non grata and that AT&T wiped out everything related to you and your accounts.

Especially if you transferred in, so to speak, using an email address other than within AT&T's domain.

Times are getting tough and many businesses are starting on doing cleanups etc. in order to cut expenses.

Services and support to non-paying accounts likely being the first things to go.....

Agree with @dwd999 :

Use the option and learn what options you truly have and what else, if anything, can be done.

That's exactly what I was thinking. They are purging accounts of people who don't have active paying accounts with ATT. As for my email not being within ATT's domain, I acquired the bellsouth.net address when I was an active ATT customer.

 

[DSzymborski]

Honestly, I don't think there's much that you can do other than try AT&T/Yahoo support. Unfortunately, it does not appear that you did anything to try to protect yourself in this situation in the long-term, such as transitioning to another email that isn't tied to a company with services that rely on you being a customer or providing them any alternative contact source other than your email (and it's not like Yahoo doesn't bug people incessantly when they don't do this).

Any kind of forwarding service is going to require you being able to access the account. I'm not sure there's much we can do for you, unfortunately.

 

[emitfudd]

I was hoping somebody else experienced this and found a solution. This has affected a lot of people. I didn't enter an incorrect password. The theory is that scammers got ahold of a bunch of ATT email addresses and tried to gain access which resulted in too many login attempts and the lockout message.

Does anybody know specifics of gmail being able to access email from another provider? I read somewhere that it can import current emails and new emails for up to 30 days.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

........Does anybody know specifics of gmail being able to access email from another provider? I read somewhere that it can import current emails and new emails for up to 30 days.

You still need to be able to access your account to do that. AT&T are the only ones that can help in that.

 

[DSzymborski]

I was hoping somebody else experienced this and found a solution. This has affected a lot of people. I didn't enter an incorrect password. The theory is that scammers got ahold of a bunch of ATT email addresses and tried to gain access which resulted in too many login attempts and the lockout message.

Does anybody know specifics of gmail being able to access email from another provider? I read somewhere that it can import current emails and new emails for up to 30 days.

If you can't access your account, there's no mechanism for Gmail to be able to do so. Otherwise, anyone with Gmail could simply hijack anyone else's email, a "feature" that would not have lasted past Google's development stage for Gmail. As you apparently neglected to set up recovery options, your only recovery option is ATT or Yahoo support. There's no special trick to get around this that I'm aware of, at least legally.

 

[emitfudd]

I got lucky. I called ATT and they connected me to tech support. They said they are having an issue with the servers locking people out who have outdated security information. I did have ATT internet a long time ago so they were willing to help. It took about 1/2 hr but they walked me through a password change and updating my information including verifying my current user id and adding a recovery email.

I made sure my recovery email is my gmail in the event any of the ATT or Yahoo emails does this again.

Again, I acquired this email 17 years ago. When I went to the ATT.com profile settings none of my information was verified which is why I couldn't reset my password by entering user id and last name.

One last note, ATT is still offering free email accounts through either currently.com or att.net. That weakens the theory I had that they are purging accounts of non paying customers.

 

[Ralston18]

Per @DSzymborski - do give some further thought towards protecting yourself.

Then do so immediately.

Things may not work out as well next time.

= = = =

I am quite surprised (full disclosure) that ATT actually helped. Especially to that extent. Wondering how they are benefiting....?

 

[emitfudd]

Per @DSzymborski - do give some further thought towards protecting yourself.

Then do so immediately.

Things may not work out as well next time.

= = = =

I am quite surprised (full disclosure) that ATT actually helped. Especially to that extent. Wondering how they are benefiting....?

I updated all my information including gmail as recovery email. They said entering a phone number is pointless if it isn't connected with a paid account. Strange though that I changed the password on my yahoo mail and it sent a verification code to my phone.

The only way they are benefiting is hoping people will upgrade to mail plus or whatever they call it.