Friend having trouble removing authenticator

[Deleted]

So my friend wants to get back into WoW, she's been offline for 7 months, so I sent her a scroll of ressurection to get her back playing.

But there was a problem, she had uninstalled her authenticator app on her phone a couple of months prior, not realising she needed to use said authenticator to "remove" it from the battle.net account.

So she submitted a support ticket on battle.net to get the authenticator removed, she had all necessary information such as secret question, password, CD Key and passport. She took a photo of her passport and sent it with the ticket.

Well Blizzard responded, and they stated that because the passport was out of date, it wasn't valid ID and thus she couldn't retrieve her account until she provided "valid" ID.

Well, that's a problem, she doesn't have any other form of ID, no drivers licence (she doesn't drive) and the passport was the only form she had that should have been accepted, so what does she do now? is she really going to have to pay to get a new passport before she can retrieve her account? because that could be a deal breaker, we're going to call phone support tomorow (they're closed at this time) but we were just wondering if anybody else had a similar experience and if blizzard are likely to remove the authenticator using the same passport we submitted. Seems a little strange to me that that the only option to retrieve something as trivial as a game account would be to purchase a passport that would cost more than the game itself.

Cheers.

[Whiteboard]

Getting a photo ID usually isn't that expensive. It's like a license, except it doesn't let you drive.

[Deleted]

Getting a photo ID usually isn't that expensive. It's like a license, except it doesn't let you drive.

Good point that I hadn't thought of, but this is still going to be a problem, she doesn't have any money at all at the moment, she was going to use the 7 free days on the scroll of ressurection and then I was going to pay for 1 month for her after that, It would be nice if there was a way to retrieve the account without having to spend extra money if possible. Thanks for reply though.

[Deleted]

unfortunately what blizzard says is true, despite the fact the passport was a valid ID, once it passes the expiration date it is no longer a valid ID, it's the same with a drivers licence, technically if you do not renew the photo ID every 10 years you can get fined for driving without a licence as once that date passes it isn't valid anymore.

[Deleted]

unfortunately what blizzard says is true, despite the fact the passport was a valid ID, once it passes the expiration date it is no longer a valid ID, it's the same with a drivers licence, technically if you do not renew the photo ID every 10 years you can get fined for driving without a licence as once that date passes it isn't valid anymore.

Yeah, unless we can talk to someone tomorow who will be willing to see reason we might be screwed, sucks that we have to pay to retrieve something that is hers -.-

[-Skye]

She should of been more careful and written down the authenticatior code or not removed it. I'm sure she'd be complaining if someone got into her account because they removed it with so little proof.

[Deleted]

She should of been more careful and written down the authenticatior code or not removed it. I'm sure she'd be complaining if someone got into her account because they removed it with so little proof.

Yeah thanks we realise that, but that is not helpful advice for our current predicament.

[Whiteboard]

Possibly loan her the fifteen or so dollars it'll take to get a photo ID? then she'll at least have an ID for the next 6 years.

[cdmcg]

This can all be avoided if she had the SMS option enabled onto her account. Anyone with an authenticator should for this simple reason. You dont even have to contact blizzard to get it removed because they will text you a code that you enter and it removes the authenticator. I knew there was a way to get an authenticator off without contacting blizzard, I forgot it required the SMS security feature.

[Deleted]

Possibly loan her the fifteen or so dollars it'll take to get a photo ID? then she'll at least have an ID for the next 6 years.

Might come to that if we can't get it sorted any other way, just wanted to check if there was nothing else we could do to sway their decision without spending money. Cheers for the help.

[Deleted]

Do you really allowed to live without any ID in your country?

[Deleted]

Do you really allowed to live without any ID in your country?

She has ID but it has expired, you have to pay to renew it.

[Deleted]

Do you really allowed to live without any ID in your country?

in the UK there are no forced ID's the only time you get them is if you get a passport or drive.

[Deleted]

She has ID but it has expired, you have to pay to renew it.

You pay even more if for some obscure reason you need it for official business (at least 'round here) so maybe it'd be a good idea to do just that.

[Deleted]

Update: We got it sorted, thought I'd post what we did here incase someone else find themselves in the same situation.

We were pretty much told that we would have to secure some form of ID, we were told which forms were accepted and we were pretty much limited to drivers licence and passport. However we thought we would make one more ticket, she sent several pictures. her out of date passport, her library card, her Birth certificate and her mother's passport. After a long wait for a ticket reply the authenticator was removed from the account.

Don't know if they made an exception or if they really do accept birth certificates but neglected to tell us, regardless, if you find yourself in a similar position that's what to do

[Gimlix]

Update: We got it sorted, thought I'd post what we did here incase someone else find themselves in the same situation.

We were pretty much told that we would have to secure some form of ID, we were told which forms were accepted and we were pretty much limited to drivers licence and passport. However we thought we would make one more ticket, she sent several pictures. her out of date passport, her library card, her Birth certificate and her mother's passport. After a long wait for a ticket reply the authenticator was removed from the account.

Don't know if they made an exception or if they really do accept birth certificates but neglected to tell us, regardless, if you find yourself in a similar position that's what to do

That Excellent news!

Good to hear that everything worked out in the end and that your friend has her account back!
Next time be more careful though, i think blizzard has been really nice to your friend's account this time.

[Nikko]

Just reinstall the application. Worked for me.

[Deleted]

I see your from England.
I had a similar issue, where I had lost my phone (and thus lost authenticator)
I contacted customer support explained this to them, and also explained that the UK is not a country where your required to have photo ID. The guy on the phone asked me to send him a copy of my birth certificate.

I had to get a replacement one from the registrars office due to the original one being lost when I moved home some years earlier, I then attached it to a form and sent it to Blizzard, Phoned them up, explained the whole situation and that I had attached a copy of my birth certificate as requested by the previous agent. 10 mins later the authenticator was removed.

Best thing to do, is have her contact blizzard and explain things, and have her submit her birth certificate.

[Deleted]

Just reinstall the application. Worked for me.

We tried that, I think it went out of sync or something because no matter what we did the code was always rejected.

[Araxom]

Hi Vellerix, just saw the post here - typically, it's easiest if the account holder verifies the info over the phone. We'd only ever usually ask for the ID if the account holder cannot get directly in touch with us. In the upper right hand corner of the support portal page is a link to the various numbers for our support centers. I'll also post two of them here - please PM me if you have any additional questions or concerns.

USA/Canada 1-800-592-5499 10:00 AM — 6:00 PM Pacific
United Kingdom 0800 0288246 10:30 AM — 6:30 PM GMT

EDIT: Glad to see that you were able to get this worked out!