In response to our article on contacting Google, we received this question from a reader. “I’ve got a similar problem re. contacting Facebook. My son opened an account when he didn’t have yet an e-mail address and he used his mother’s telephone number as an address.That worked very well to open the account until he wanted to log in again later.Then FB opened his mother account instead of his own.
Since he cannot log in to make the change now that he got an e-mail address, he can’t contact FB to solve the problem of logging in.Would you have an e-mail address where we can contact FB ? Thanks for your advice.”
My first suggestion for a password problem is for your son to log out of the account and then he’ll see this screen.
In the upper right, you’ll see the fields for logging it. Just under that, in light blue type, is “Forgot account.” Click that.
You’ll be taken to a page where you can enter your e-mail, phone number, or full name. Enter the information and press Search.
From there, you’ll be offered the chance to reset your password via the e-mail account tied to the account or a text sent to a mobile phone that you’ve associated with the account.
Click continue and code will be sent to your email or phone allowing you to reset your password. Your son will need to use his mom’s phone to get the code.
If he can’t access his mother’s phone, choose “No longer have access to these?” at the bottom of the window.
Then enter a new email and phone number.
This should get him on the road to logging back onto his account. You can also find support for many Facebook issues in their help center: https://www.facebook.com/help/
Facebook does not offer customer service via live chat or over the phone.
~ Cynthia
Thanks Cynthia for the advice.
Unfortunately when I followed the procedure the choice I got under the sign-in box was Forgot Your Password ? instead of Find Your Account.
I had no other choice than to click on that option.
I then enter my son’s name and than I don’t get the window Reset Your Password.
Instead I get a window “Try to get access to your e-mail account” showing his name and under his name, “Need help accessing your email address?” and links to Google, Yahoo and more just in case he could not access his e-mail …with which he never signed in !
Seems like they don’t even consider that the initial sign in might have been with a telephone number since they don’t even provide the option Forgot Account, at least in this part of the world. They don’t even provide a box to enter an e-mail address since they assume the password was forgotten.
Then I clicked the back button and then got a Find Your Account window.
I entered his mother’s phone number and his own password but I got a window showing his mother’s name and “wrong password”, instead of the three windows you copied above. So no chance given to follow the above mentioned procedure.
FB is full of frustration and inconsistency in other areas, too.
I doubt we can get rid of the problem and I suppose that if he wants to sign-in again with a new account, the “robot-system” will deny it since the name is already used.
Best regards,
Chris.