Boris tells me that it’s my specialty to get through any bureaucratic or technological challenges, citing my battle with Finnair for my missing points, my battle with Lyric Opera for my money to be returned, and the most recent for the trademark agreement. Here is one more of my accomplishments that I am extremely proud of.
The Illinois Department Of Human Services (IDHS) has a very non-user-friendly website, so it was not unusual for me to call their customer service to validate my mom’s eligibility for benefits or whether they were ever renewed because it was impossible to understand from the website. Many people, especially those who had to communicate with this system more often than I used, told me the only way to resolve issues was to come in person. A couple of months ago, I decided to try to apply for additional benefits for Mom, but when I logged into the website, I found that they switched to the new logins (they are using ILogin, same as many other sites) and that I need to create ILoging and link it to the existing account.
I followed all the steps, and almost at the very end of the process, I accidentally copied a blank at the beginning of the password I prepared, and after that, nothing worked. I could not confirm the password, and I could not reset it. I tried to use the “reset your password” buttons, but I didn’t receive any links by email or text. Then, I found that there was no phone number to call for any login issues anymore because IDHS no longer maintains logins, and I needed to submit an issue online.
The online system, as you can imagine, requires ILogin to submit an issue :). It took me several attempts to get to the page where I could submit a ticket without a login, but then I got lost in the questions like “location of the service (work/home)”, “new/old hardware,” etc.
In the next several weeks, I tried to repeat the sequence of actions with similar results. Finally, I decided that I had to break through the system, and followed all these steps about “at work/at home/new/old hardware.” In the comments section, I described the issues in detail.
Hurray – I received a ticket number! Two days later, I saw a call from Springfield on my phone, and it was customer support calling. I repeated the whole story, and they said that they would reset the login and send me a link – “watch for the email.”
Three days later, I indeed received an email. I could follow the link and create a new password! And I am more proud of myself than ever! I am only wondering how they expect seniors to navigate this system! the existing account.
Hettie's Reflections 