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Old Jul 13, 2022, 8:15 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: moondog
The "FT People on WeChat" group
Our group chat is comprised of FT members and friends of FT members. We talk about pretty much anything except for politics (because Papa Bear has the ability to watch over us). The group has its own QR code, but it has a short shelf life (e.g. about 5 days), so I'm not including it here. The easiest way to join is to add me as a contact (moondogsh) and let me put you in the group.

Contacting Tencent Customer Support
If you want to get in touch with Tencent customer service (e.g. to update your passport number or change your name format so it aligns with your bank accounts), most web resources will advise you to simply message the "WeChat Team" contact. It is extremely difficult to get a human response when using this approach. Calling them also results in a bot experience.

However, the following drill works as of July 2022 (specific menu options can always change, of course; the key is getting yourself to step 5 below):
1. Dial 95716 (or +86 4009100100 from outside of China)
2. Select option 1 for personal accounts
3. Enter your connected phone number followed by #
3. Select option 2 for other questions
4. The bot will ask you to describe your issue using voice; just speak to it in English; it won't understand and will ask you to repeat 3-5 times before giving up
5. Now, the bot will give you ~8 menu options; through trial and error, I can state that option 7 is good for immediate transfer to a human (some of the others might work as well)
6. When the representative picks up, you definitely need to speak Chinese, but your request is presumably fairly easy to convey, and their responses are also pretty simple
7. They might want to move the conversation over to WeChat; this is okay because they will send you an invite to a special customer service queue, which is only ~60% automated
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 4:16 am
  #421  
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Originally Posted by travelinmanS
Or you could just not make calls on the plane and avoid bothering everyone around you.
Sometimes an emergency requires a call to be made...
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 4:19 am
  #422  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
Sometimes an emergency requires a call to be made...
Nope
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 4:49 am
  #423  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
You remind me of a tpac flight I took out of Beijing about 10 years ago. I had a GPS unit on me and the guy sitting next to me asked me what it was. The plane was just leaving the terminal and getting in line for take-off. I explained to him what it was, but either the guy didn't believe me or thought something was wrong because he called the flight attendant and complain. She kindly asked me to put it away. Since I was still in China, I decided it wasn't worth putting up a fight.
I remember my first CI flight in or around 2007 as an adult where I tried to do some reading on my O2 XDA in flight mode and the Taiwanese passenger glared at me and took out the no phones use at all statement in the safety card. I complied, but the statement was removed by the next time I flew with them.
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 4:55 am
  #424  
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Originally Posted by percysmith
I remember my first CI flight in or around 2007 as an adult where I tried to do some reading on my O2 XDA in flight mode and the Taiwanese passenger glared at me and took out the no phones use at all statement in the safety card. I complied, but the statement was removed by the next time I flew with them.
It's so weird that nowadays nobody really cares what you do on your phone unless you're distracting them. Flight mode is largely useless as nobody checks to make sure the phone is in that state. I don't even remember how I was able to survive intercontinental flights without a smartphone or an MP3 player.
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 6:26 am
  #425  
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Originally Posted by lsquare
It's so weird that nowadays nobody really cares what you do on your phone unless you're distracting them. Flight mode is largely useless as nobody checks to make sure the phone is in that state.
I habitually turn back on data over HK airspace (crew are usually seated by that time) and failed to crash any planes before the pandemic.
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Old Jul 20, 2021 | 1:33 pm
  #426  
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I made calls from an aeroplane (AA IIRC) during the last millennium.
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Old Jul 27, 2021 | 7:24 am
  #427  
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New We Chat registrations in China temporarily halted.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/t...de-2021-07-27/

The past week has been a master class in how to destroy an industry in as few days as possible.
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Old Jul 27, 2021 | 10:54 am
  #428  
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Originally Posted by travelinmanS
New We Chat registrations in China temporarily halted.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/t...de-2021-07-27/

The past week has been a master class in how to destroy an industry in as few days as possible.
They already have our phone numbers (which are connected to our IDs), our bank accounts, our contacts, our follower counts (assuming you use timeline/moments), and our chats. What else could they possibly want?

That said, I agree with the guy in the article who said the market overreacted to this latest news. Government/Tencent spying was been priced into the stock for a long time.
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Old Jul 27, 2021 | 11:51 am
  #429  
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Originally Posted by travelinmanS
New We Chat registrations in China temporarily halted.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/t...de-2021-07-27/

The past week has been a master class in how to destroy an industry in as few days as possible.
Originally Posted by moondog
They already have our phone numbers (which are connected to our IDs), our bank accounts, our contacts, our follower counts (assuming you use timeline/moments), and our chats. What else could they possibly want?

That said, I agree with the guy in the article who said the market overreacted to this latest news. Government/Tencent spying was been priced into the stock for a long time.
I just read that there is a Chinese stock selloff on Wall Street. Seems like heavy handed tactic from the Chinese government.
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Old Sep 3, 2021 | 11:49 am
  #430  
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Originally Posted by YariGuy
A few years ago I was talking on wechat over wifi on a transpacific Delta flight. Was told by crew that's a no-no.
It's pretty easy to call or video chat using WeChat in the Lav during flights if wi-fi is good.
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Old Sep 3, 2021 | 5:52 pm
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Originally Posted by travelinmanS
The past week has been a master class in how to destroy an industry in as few days as possible.
Tell that to Ant Financial, Didi, or New Oriental Education lol.

China is crazy.
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Old Sep 4, 2021 | 7:06 pm
  #432  
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Whilst seemingly crazy to 'outsiders', maybe the phrase 'market realignment' can be used with an element of truth.

Technology stocks will regain their strength long term - maybe not the educational centres.

However, everything in China is planned with a very long term view.

Restrictions in educational pressure and costs? - Encourage people to have 2nd & 3rd children - at present put off by the costs?

Restricting teenagers to 1 hour gaming a day / week / weekend? How many western parents would love something like that?

Revisit all of this in a few years and see what 'decline' their has been in stock values........
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Old Sep 5, 2021 | 8:41 pm
  #433  
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Is there any easy way to forward an e-mail message to a WeChat conversation?
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Old Sep 5, 2021 | 10:02 pm
  #434  
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Originally Posted by Loren Pechtel
Is there any easy way to forward an e-mail message to a WeChat conversation?
Do you have something in the email message where copy and paste does not work?
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Old Sep 6, 2021 | 12:54 am
  #435  
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In WeChat message from contact:

1. Select individual message
2. At bottom of screen - right hand side ... (3 dots) select
3. Click 'add to e-mail'
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