Live data from Hacker News

I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

onemileatatime.com

321–330 of 464 posts

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#321
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also a problem with Square, and Stripe, and Paypal ... it's an unsolvable fraud/scammer problem. Basically, if there was customer support that could fix the problem, then skilled scammers can get money and control out of them. They can do it a lot better than you can get your stuff re-enabled, they know just when to say what to whom. Verizon just accepts the inefficiency, and also over-charges random customer…

PayPal has sales representatives and technical support people and you can actually deal with them, so I am not sure the premise is right... ...but the core problem is this argument is in reverse anyway: if I get banned from Bank of America somehow I don't lose access to the concept of a card that lets me pay for my Verizon account, and in the worst case scenario I can send them a check. I have had serious issues with…

Are you sure about PayPal? Because I believe I have read quite a few pathetic stories -- similar in tone to the posted article about Google Fi -- about PayPal accounts being frozen with no recourse, for example[1]. And PayPal settled a class-action lawsuit on just this topic[2].

[1] http://www.paypalwarning.com/paypal-frozen-account/

[2] https://www.doctorofcredit.com/paypal-class-action-lawsuit-f...

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#322
post #318
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend anyone who likes Gmail to use your own domain name@example.com and just forward all messages to your Gmail address. Only give out your own example.com email and set it as the reply to. Even the cheap budget registrars offer email forwarding for free and I have never had any trouble. This gives you the benefits of free Gmail without handing your entire life over to them. At least with a tld there is some d…

You’ll find that if you do this, you start getting emails directly to your gmail anyway. I never give out my gmail address, but I use gmail and they happily report my gmail address when they send email as my “real” account. (Both email addresses are included in emails I send.) And upstream they are happy to respond to that gmail account when people hit the reply button. So I have tons of people who would essentially…

It's because of Google's use of 'From' and 'Sender' headers in gmail. If you setup an SMTP server to send your emails from for your @example.com address then Google won't mess around and the emails appear to actually come from the email address you want out there, not your @gmail.com.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#324

The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…

> even a well-intentioned agent doesn’t get the same answer from the “security department” twice So you've gotten agents fired? Or does the security department flip flop with a different answer each time? I've thankfully never had to deal with Google support, so I'm curious about your experiences.

[deleted]

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#325

The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…

> even a well-intentioned agent doesn’t get the same answer from the “security department” twice So you've gotten agents fired? Or does the security department flip flop with a different answer each time? I've thankfully never had to deal with Google support, so I'm curious about your experiences.

Calling it support is too generous. If Google’s automated systems can’t help you, you’re entering a world of pain.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#326
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there actually rules and due process? I was under the impression that it's just a convention that the registrar won't seize your domain unless they really, really dislike you. edit: I shouldn't be oblique in my comments. I'm of course referring to the whole Daily Stormer fiasco.

It becomes a legal and business decision for the registrar. Most serve at the pleasure of a formal contract with their TLD control entity (e.g. ICANN). Ultimately, if you were to sue them, there's a root document of legal responsibilities and behavior to point to. In contrast to whatever emphemeral TOS bullshit Google feels like tossing out. And furthermore, unlike Google, they can't really just ignore you. Or, to pu…

> Ultimately, if you were to sue them, there's a root document of legal responsibilities and behavior to point to.

But actually if you were to sue them, wouldn't the case be dismissed for lack of standing? If you're not a party to the dispute you can't sue (or rather, you can't sue and actually have your case proceed). You'd probably need to convince ICANN that they need to sue, which is already a much trickier position.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#327
post #196
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes — but all "intelligence" is an emergent property of systems. And because the system in this instance is not a human brain, it's non-human intelligence.

It’s not really intelligence, so much as selection pressure in the direction of high margin. Evolution isn’t “intelligence” either, but still leads to interesting or highly honed solutions to problems.

It's certainly not selection pressure. Google's systems did not evolve because similar companies out-competed and reproduced more effeciently than dissimilar companies. The metaphor doesn't work at all.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a simple getmail[0] script to download all my Gmail automatically, and I use an address on my own domain too. For Google Photos however I haven't found a great backup solution, especially one that can work on Linux/FreeBSD. [0] http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/

I found this recently https://github.com/mholt/photobak

Photobak is really close, but Google's API apparently has several issues making it not a true solution. IIRC you can't download the original uploaded bytes, and you can't get the original EXIF data.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#330
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar problem with Apple. I made an in app purchase (with a YC company nonetheless) and the company gave a limited period to cancel the service for a full refund. I cancelled the service within the deadline, and didn’t get a refund. I requested the refund from the YC company who said “they can’t” refund and I have to ask Apple. So I asked Apple for the refund included the YC company policy/purchase date/can…

> Apple blacklisted my debit card which basically bricked my ability to use my phone You are hyperbolizing. You can just use a different card. It's not like they killed your AppleID which wouldn't kill your phone regardless.

Do a charge back and experience it yourself...you can’t just “use a different card”
Post reply on HN