Locked out of Facebook with a campaign running and my credit card being charged

[nlyub]

I am here because I am desperate. I have been locked out of Facebook and cannot reset my password or login back. I do get a confirmation code to my phone, but when I enter it, I get "The account is not eligible for this action"

I created a business page (Aprexis Health Solutions) and started a marketing campaign from under that page and connected my credit card that is being charged, and it has been 3 weeks that I haven't been able to get my account back.

I did confirm my identity by sending Facebook my driver's license, they sent me a robotic email (claiming it's from Elliott) saying:

"To learn more about the types of IDs we accept, visit the Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185/?ref=cr"

A driver's license is actually on the list of IDs that can be provided. I submitted my other ID. No response.

I tried to create a different account and claim my business page from under that account. It has been 2 weeks, and no response to that.

I really love bots and don't mind dealing with them, but can someone with a human brain from Facebook help me please? Before I am locked out from my job?

[sgmansfield]

Call the credit card company and dispute the charges. Also, block any further charges if you can. Nothing gets people's attention like messing with their cash flow.

[falcolas]

The downside is that the account will likely never be opened back up if a charge is disputed, and any future accounts could also be linked and auto-closed. Of course, if it's been closed for two weeks already, that's likely a moot point.

[nlyub]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[colanderman]

Contact your credit card company for a chargeback. Submit evidence of your attempts to contact them.

Then, if FB refuses to relinquish your page to you, report a trademark violation to them: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/1057530390957243 And if further they refuse, get an attorney to send a certified cease & desist notice.

[nlyub]

Thanks for your elaborate action plan!

[toss1]

IANAL, but you might have an interesting lawsuit there --- they are allowing you to setup a campaign that costs money, then locking you out of control. It would require a reallyy GOOD business litigation attny, but could get results.

In any case, getting an attny to look at potential causes of action in your state and sending their legal dept notification of intended action is likely to get FB's attention much more quickly than a user request.

Your state Attny General office may also be helpful, again, depending upon what state you reside/work.

(Of course, as mentioned in earlier comments, the simplest situation may be to cancel the ccard, and make sure that they don't transfer the charges to the new one if you have it reissued in a new number).

[nlyub]

Thank you so much! I will cancel my card. I should have used some other payment method. This one seems too risky.

[colanderman]

What other payment method would you propose? To me, credit cards are the least risky, because chargeback exists. ACH/direct debit is scary as hell; if you are a business you have only 24 hours to notice and halt a fraudulent/disputed charge (consumers have 30 days). And if you think Facebook customer service is bad, PayPal is even worse; not to mention that you must either choose to keep a balance with them (which they may freeze on a whim) or allow them to direct debit your bank account (see above).

[justboxing]

> What other payment method would you propose?

I've successfully used pre-paid VISA Cards in the past, precisely because I was worried about Facebook doing something like this (had it happen to a friend who was running a WordPress blog feat. cat videos and bought some ad campaigns using his primary credit card, then he got locked out and a nightmare ensued).

By using pre-paid cards, you limit your maximum loss in a worst-case-scenario to the amount on the card, which also you are in control of, since you know how much you want to spend when you purchase said card.

Only acceptable caveat is that the cards have about 5% fee upfront that you pay when you purchase it. (ex: 100% visa prepaid card costs about 105$). On the bright side, you can walk away from a mess like this without wasting a lot more time and money on litigation, lawsuits, cancelling cards etc etc.

Of course, for this to work, you should set limits on your spending, instead of running an endless campaign.

[johnmurch]

Call your credit card company and have them reissue you a new credit card with a new number :)

[colanderman]

Some companies take part in a program whereby they automatically receive updated credit card numbers. I know Amazon and Google both partake in this program; it's feasible Facebook does too.

[athenot]

Also it's possible the credit card that the OP is using is a corporate one used for other services too, and he/she is trying to solve this without having to change the payment methods for all the other services.

Charges could be disputed, though that takes a while...

I wonder how the account got locked in the first place, this is unfortunate.

[hsnewman]

Cancel your credit card.

[heavymark]

What happened when you called your credit card company, as that would be my first action to prevent any unauthorized charges since regaining access to an account can take a lot of time potentially.

[dezb]

contact Facebook via their Twitter help..

[nlyub]

Magically, this post helped too!

[dezb]

there are no people with human brains at Facebook..