Locked out of Instagram? Meta Care Factor Zero
When the Ventura Press Instagram account was hacked in September, we were instantly locked out of our own account and unable to gain any access. We trawled through Meta’s labyrinthine ‘help page’ death loop, and always ended up exactly where we started. With a chillingly passive message essentially saying, ‘if all the above doesn’t work there is nothing we can do”.
There is not a number to call, live chat or even a help desk ticket system. Amazon Kindle Direct is like a corner shop in comparison.
Ventura Press became the Marie Celeste of Instagram
We watched endless YouTube tutorials and engaged IT gurus all to no avail. Ventura Press became the Marie Celeste of Instagram, everything exactly as we left it on the day we were locked out.
I run a multi-platform, omni-channel publishing company, we publish in ebook, audio and print. We sell our products across the digital world, on Spotify, Amazon, Apple. And even I started to think maybe it was our fault.
I was at my wits end until I read this article in the UK Times: https://www.thetimes.com/article/6c9b53d0-f0fe-4a64-9229-1d17a3f6ce99
Which quotes Mike Rolfe, an IT administrator from Liphook, Hampshire, who was locked out of his Facebook account by a hacker in January. “I tried many times to run through the ridiculous recovery option provided by Facebook” and furthermore “he only got his account back thanks to his MP’s office, which had a contact in Facebook"
So, fortunately for me my local MP is the Independent member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender. Her office is right next door to us in fact. The office phone was answered by an actual person and from that moment on we were listened to, assisted and ultimately, thanks to their clout with Meta, we got back in.
But as Mr Rolfe states “It’s absolutely disgusting that a massive corporation provides such abysmal service….This needs to be brought into the public arena to pressure the company to make some radical changes.”
“We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company”
The US home of Meta is not immune either as in April this year, “41 state attorneys general wrote to Meta demanding that the company step up its support of hacking victims. The attorneys saying “We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company,” after being inundated with constituents asking for help.”
Ventura is fortunate to have such an engaged and proactive local MP in Allegra Spender, but we could ask the same question. Why should Australian businesses need to rely on elected politicians to act as the customer service desk of social media monoliths? Meta in Australia needs to be held to account on this issue and so many others.
