Jul 13, 2022, 8:15 am
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
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
wechat（微信）
May 17, 2015, 2:31 am
#121
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,456
I'm good with WeChat and Whatsapp, and for the occasional use Skype. Depending on which area of the world you're living a third or fourth Messenger might make sense, but in most of the world, those two (or one of them) will be available with your friends.
And yeah, never heard about people talking too loudly into/listening to WeChat voice messages. Yes, it happens, but not more than with other tools, and it's certainly much less annoying than listening to some phone talk, or god forbid, video talk..
I didn't liked WeChat at the start, and still not use all/many of its features, but it does have tools which are making it superior to Whatsapp in some ways. That, and the NSA not getting all data from me by using it
And yeah, never heard about people talking too loudly into/listening to WeChat voice messages. Yes, it happens, but not more than with other tools, and it's certainly much less annoying than listening to some phone talk, or god forbid, video talk..
I didn't liked WeChat at the start, and still not use all/many of its features, but it does have tools which are making it superior to Whatsapp in some ways. That, and the NSA not getting all data from me by using it
May 17, 2015, 7:08 pm
#122
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: IAH
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist, DL Plat, UA Silver
Posts: 4,043
We only use FB, Skype, and Texting here.
May 20, 2015, 3:22 am
#124
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Shandong/WV
Posts: 158
Nope. I'm still having issues getting foreign credit cards to work through the system, but that's it.
We contacted WeChat support re: getting my CSP situated on the account. They say they respond within 24 hours, and they mean it. Each time they write back around the 23:55 mark. The first message they wrote to tell us we had not included the account number, the second message they wrote to tell us that our question had been referred to a specialist, and the third message the specialist wrote to tell us our account has no problems.
... still can't make any purchases other than a mobile top-up, though.
Has anyone used a foreign credit card to make purchases of train or plane tickets through WeChat?
We contacted WeChat support re: getting my CSP situated on the account. They say they respond within 24 hours, and they mean it. Each time they write back around the 23:55 mark. The first message they wrote to tell us we had not included the account number, the second message they wrote to tell us that our question had been referred to a specialist, and the third message the specialist wrote to tell us our account has no problems.
... still can't make any purchases other than a mobile top-up, though.
Has anyone used a foreign credit card to make purchases of train or plane tickets through WeChat?
May 22, 2015, 1:05 pm
#125
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: SIN / SFO
Programs: UA GS, SQ PPS, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Accor Gold
Posts: 1,215
May 22, 2015, 7:58 pm
#126
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Shandong/WV
Posts: 158
We did have a Tencent rep contact us through QQ to make sure everything's been going well with the support process. Essentially he was running a survey, though, not providing additional help.
May 31, 2015, 5:47 pm
#128
Ambassador: China
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Malibu Inferno Ground Zero
Programs: UA AA CO
Posts: 4,836
May 31, 2015, 6:45 pm
#129
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,049
May 31, 2015, 8:56 pm
#130
Ambassador: China
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Malibu Inferno Ground Zero
Programs: UA AA CO
Posts: 4,836
Jun 1, 2015, 1:56 am
#131
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,232
Anyhow the point is there are lots of people using lots of phones here in China. Of this there is no dispute.
Jun 1, 2015, 2:38 am
#132
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,049
I added Y200 to my phone this morning (100 x 2).
Tencent billed me for Y200 (actually 199).
Only Y100 posted.
I sent Tencent a message about this at 2p, and expect a reply at 155p tomorrow.
I'll post here again with the resolution, but the real lesson here is that it's a good idea to top up before the first day of the month (regardless of your top up method) because with those 600 million phones, a lot payments are made on the first day of the month.
Tencent billed me for Y200 (actually 199).
Only Y100 posted.
I sent Tencent a message about this at 2p, and expect a reply at 155p tomorrow.
I'll post here again with the resolution, but the real lesson here is that it's a good idea to top up before the first day of the month (regardless of your top up method) because with those 600 million phones, a lot payments are made on the first day of the month.
Last edited by moondog; Jun 1, 2015 at 2:44 am
Jun 1, 2015, 4:35 am
#133
Ambassador: China
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Malibu Inferno Ground Zero
Programs: UA AA CO
Posts: 4,836
Jun 1, 2015, 9:04 am
#134
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Shandong/WV
Posts: 158
Jun 15, 2015, 2:59 am
#135
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Shandong/WV
Posts: 158
So after a long and drawn-out process and speaking with multiple CSRs, it seems that WeChat cannot accept foreign credit cards for purchases other than mobile topups. I know several of you have stated you can do it, but all Web research shows it's not possible, and we had 3-4 representatives try to help set it up, only to confirm at the end that it cannot be done.
What cards have you had success using? Maybe it's somehow relegated to a few individual banks?
What cards have you had success using? Maybe it's somehow relegated to a few individual banks?