New Email system 'robot' check

[Mammaitalia]

Morning all. 
I called BT this morning and this issue has been raised via BT as a P2 category incident. Apparently this means not everyone is experiencing the issue  the young gentleman on the phone was very helpful timing is never great when these matters arise however this week is critical for our business to have access so need to get this sorted ASAP 

[JanetL1]

Looks as though the problem has been fixed I was able to login successfully this morning

[Jules68]

I kicked this thread off  sometime ago when I first hit the robot-check problem.  I was told it was just me and my system, when I said I thought it had been a VPN issue.

Well, I then took to shutting down my VPN and logging in without the robot query.

After this most recent flurry of problems I thought I'd try logging in first with my VPN (Nord, to save anyone looking back) off - no problems, then (when I was forced off, as happens) with the VPN still on - surprise! - Robot Captcha again!

But this time simple clicking on the images did let me through first time. So the system has improved, but it still doesn't like punters using VPNs (and Nord is very well regarded). My VPN is using UK circuits, by the way, not apparently logging in from abroad.

[Mammaitalia]

Hi I can now log in. We didn’t take off our VPN  and the exceeded captcha which sent you round in a  loop clearly was our issue. At least it has been resolved. 

[TimGay]

I took this up with the CEO by letter and received a reply stating categorically that this has nothing to to with BT.

I was invited to take this up with the ombudsman. I suggest we all write to her and make a huge fuss as this has only happened since the revamp. It is a complete pain in the posterior to have this nonsense every time I log in.

BT first blamed  Google and recommended Edge. Robot Recaptcha happens with both.

I took my computer to a specialist to have it screened for malware and it still happens so it must be to do with BT.

[Jules68]

I'm afraid that there are two sets of briefings going about - the first, which triggered the earliest responses, was that this wasn't anything to do with BT - but later it's clear that BT did recognise there was a problem and started to do something about it, particularly when the system went rogue. The Chairman's (or CEO's) Office clearly is still working to the old briefing.

To put it simply, my experience (over, now, weeks) is that if I turn off  my VPN then I can access my BT webmail  without Robotcaptacha, and if my VPN is on then Robotcaptcha initiates. It no longer loops, so it isn't really an issue.

I have no problems with BT doing something to stop bots attacking their mail system - although I'm not sure why they think its most likely VPN sourced. I suspect that they are placing a cookie on my machine when I access without a VPN so that's why they keep on letting me though when I haven't initiated it. No other site regularly does this, so I know it's neither my PC nor my browser which is the cause.

Maybe some day the techies will let the bosses into the secret!

I can't blame BT for initiating cyber-security measures, indeed rather the reverse - but it's annoying when some parts won't admit to it.

[TimGay]

I had similar issues after their relaunch. All of a sudden I was confronted with BT Branded pages asking me to go through the Robot Captcha procedure whenever I logged on...often up to eight times. Being a bolshy sort I wrote to their CEO and was called back by a representative called Gavin. He assured me it wasn't anything to do with BT. It was the fault of my search engine  which in this case was Google. Try Edge he said. Same result. Robot captcha once again.

I took my computer (the robot captcha doesn't affect my iPhone or iPad) to a specialist to have it debugged. Nothing wrong with it. So I wrote again asking for a statement that confirmed Robot captcha was nothing to with BT. I received a reply to this effect but the Robot Captcha still affects every log in and is still fully BT branded.

I would encourage everyone affected to write to the CEO 

Allison Kirby

1 Braham Street

London

E2 8EE

[PeterE17]

@TimGay Are you using a VPN?

[Jules68]

What I find particularly annoying is that BT has chosen a system which doesn't speak UK English. I have just been required by captcha to identify squares with 'crosswalks'. Luckily I knew that was US speak for Zebra Crossings, but I might not have.

And I can absolutely confirm that - on a PC, Windows 10, Chrome - if you have your VPN switched on (and the one most highly rated NordVPN) you will be treated as a Robot, but switched off you won't. Nord even now sells a variant which will bypass or avoid captcha issues. This is absolutely a BT implemented interface, and not something 'wrong with you'! As BT is the only site that currently does this to me, I know it's BT.

[stevie22b]

I do not use a vpn, but last week I started to get the simple 'tick this box to prove your not a robot' check. A bit annoying, but it was only one tick. But for the last 3 days I have the simple tick followed by the choose the images nightmare. These are a nightmare at the best of times.

This is only happening on BT.  I have used vpn's in the past, and know that even Google throws up bot checks on their search page, for that reason I only use a vpn when I have a need to.

What is going on at BT at the moment, in the space of 3 months we have gone from a webmail that happily let you stay logged in, to one that constantly wants you to log in, now to this where we are having to go through these bot checks. The simple one tick in the box was simple enough, but to try and work out the blurry image puzzle every time is a nightmare.