Well, I think I am in a complete bind here, but I thought I’d ask the Teeming Millions for help.
I’ve used one Yahoo account since I first started using the internet, probably 1998 or so. I’ve never had any problem with it at all, in fact I used it for all of my internet email as my work email server is a bit fussy about what domains it receives from. I use Yahoo Messenger daily as well.
About this time yesterday, I got bounced out of Yahoo Messenger, and when I tried to reconnect, it told me my account had by locked for security reasons (in a small pop-up box). I tried to sign in to Yahoo directly, and it told me my password was invalid. When I go to the “forgot password” page, it tells my my account has been deactivated.
In reading through Yahoo’s help screens, it seems that there is a feature that will lock an account if someone tries to log in to it with the wrong password too many times. I certainly didn’t do that, but maybe someone was trying to crack my account. That help screen says the lock will last for 12 hours, after which… I’m not sure - it sounds like I’d just be able to log back in, but it’s not clear.
Well, it’s been 24 hours and it is still not working.
I’ve checked my work email, and there has been no messages from Yahoo about why my account has been locked. Who knows if it would even get through if it was sent.
Does anybody have any experience with this / advice? The main thing I want to do is find out why the account was locked, and of course if it can be reactivated. I’ve pored through Yahoo’s help screens and I can’t find either a phone number or an email address to send questions like this to.
I know that their TOS doesn’t require them to tell me why my account has been locked, or give me any recourse. And since it’s a free service, I certainly can’t demand my money back.
I did manage to remember how to access the email account I got through my ISP - so at least I can send email out to my friends and let them know of the problem. But my entire address book is in Yahoo - that’s probably what I’m missing the most!
Well, that and my Fantasy Sports teams - I’d just started to make a comeback in the SDMB NFL pick’em groups.