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Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

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Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#411

Post by interpol_p »

noonespecial wrote: post #27

The question I always have with this stuff is this: To attract developers, these platforms make some promises. A "review" process for supposed violations of TOS causing cancellations is always among them. But to me these "reviews" always seem either completely faked or some version of a lowest-level employee simply restating that the algo has made its choice and they are powerless. More incriminating is that every ti…

I don’t know about the Google Play process but the App Store review process has been worthwhile. I’ve had many phone calls with them over the years detailing specific changes which need to be made to conform to policy. They are definitely not “low-level” employees but they are also not technically proficient. They are policy enforcers.

I’ve also had reviewers push for internal change on my behalf when policy seems poorly applied.

One specific example I can give is I had a link to my website in a game made for kids. They asked me to put a parental lock on tapping the link (e.g “ask your parents to enter the code” type thing). That was a really good addition.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#412

Post by cft »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #367
justinclift wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a sister comment: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bo...

FWIW, this isn't Google going "hard" on someone. Rather, it's just Google defending themselves under the law, as you would expect.

No, this article illustrates that Google took the effort disproportionate to the judgement amount. That means going hard.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#413

Post by puranjay »

ajross wrote: post #332
rjknight wrote: post #23

It sounds like the problem is with the outsourced developers responsible for the app. It's their account which has been banned - for multiple violations of the ToS. Now, perhaps this is just over-zealous enforcement on Google's part, but it's also possible that these developers have created shady apps before, or are adding shady code to apps developed for others. The OP doesn't seem to know for certain what code is i…

> Nowhere in the post does it suggest that the author has contacted them to find out why their account is banned Which, to be fair, is by design. The article admits straight up that it's an attempt to get publicity and embarrass Google into reinstating the account. Giving a complete and forthright accounting cuts against that goal, they want to seem as sympathetic and innocent as possible. And, to be fair, the iPhone…

I get where you're going, but Google has been guilty of similar egregious behavior in the past countless times. The testimony of so many people in this thread alone swings the case in OP's direction, not by virtue of evidence but by virtue of reputation

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#414

Post by kevingadd »

smelendez wrote: post #403
coleca wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this all the time. Legit mail from Google gets stopped by Googles own spam filters on our Corp google apps account. But clearly forged phishing emails purporting to be from our CEO (sent “from” their email address but not from Googles own servers when we use Google apps and have DKIM/SPF setup) gets through to the inboxes.

If they specially whitelisted themselves it would raise antitrust issues.

System messages getting through the spam filter isn't an antitrust issue, they're not marketing or competition or sales. In this case it's a 'your account is about to be terminated' message which absolutely should not be getting sent into the spam bin, that's actively harmful to your business.

Imagine if the gmail spam bin was eating important renewal notifications and business notices for a company that competes with google, would it still be anti-competitive for Google to make sure gmail's spam filter works right?

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#415

Post by 6nf »

catach wrote: post #188
fareesh wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The part I don't get is... where in Google leadership does this issue get lost on the company's priorities? Of all of the rational explanations I can come up with, it feels like someone looks at the data and either says "nah we don't lose much money from this" or "nah it's not a real problem". Is that actually true? Could it be something to do with company culture? Something like "if we solve a hard problem by assi…

Human-based support at Google-scale is also insanely expensive.

Apple support is legendary and they're pretty big

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#416

Post by 6nf »

brianwawok wrote: post #376
andrewstuart wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is an internal ombudsman - Google's own ombudsman who rescues customers when the Google processes frustrate. Lots of companies need an ombudsman because they provide no way out when the normal processes let customers down. It's like a backstop for customer satisfaction. A internal "court of appeal" to help customers out. Kind of like having "a friend in the business", but available to any customer who needs…

So right now they have an appeal form. It didn't work in the case above. The difference after your change, is now you lose $50 and STILL have to post to twitter to try and get your problem solved.

The appeal form is not an actual person, the ombudsman would have a name and a face

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#417

Post by NeedMoreTea »

reaperducer wrote: post #252
SiVal wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caprices of TOS details, reviews, algorithms, service quality, or whatever are not the real problem. The real problem is when you can't reasonably choose to do business with someone else and move on, as they are free to do with you. Network effects are causing more and more important things to both expand into great significance and to be dominated by a single company (or pair of gatekeepers, both of whom must be app…

The real problem is when you can't reasonably choose to do business with someone else and move on, as they are free to do with you. Something I learned the hard way when I first started out in business is to never make your business dependent on a single entity. Whether it's a supplier, or a publisher, or a telco, or whatever. They are all single points of failure, and unless you're a huge business, one failure can b…

Do you avoid companies that take only Master/Visa who are happy to prevent certain businesses receiving payment?

All internet business that needs Google search to get visits? 5% bing doesn't really cut it.

I mean it's easy to say and believe that you should avoid those single points of failure, but the real, practical landscape often includes many of them.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#419

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

cft wrote: post #412
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, this isn't Google going "hard" on someone. Rather, it's just Google defending themselves under the law, as you would expect.

No, this article illustrates that Google took the effort disproportionate to the judgement amount. That means going hard.

OK. Under this definition of "going hard," literally all companies will "go hard" to defend themselves against incorrect small claims suits. The alternative is to always pay anyone who sues you for $100, since the effort of defending any individual suit in that amount will always be greater than the amount of the potential judgment. Of course, you can't do that, because then more people will start suing you for $100, seeing as you're just giving away money for the asking.

Personally I think that a definition of "going hard" that encompasses the behavior of all actors in a space is absurd. But you're free to interpret those words how you wish.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#420

Post by ehsankia »

gerdesj wrote: post #143
qhwudbebd wrote: post #85

I note from the mention of £25k that you're probably in the UK. If you don't mind burning fifty quid or so, you might find it satisfying to use the small claims process to issue for a sensible (not super-inflated) estimate of damages. The below is not legal advice, but is written from personal experience. Try to leave a clear paper trail of your reasonableness: send a clear notice before action with a reasonable time…

Assume they win with probability 1 I would not assign that probability at all. The small claims system is actually designed to be fair! Going in all lawyered up is more likely to raise eyebrows and could be counter productive. The whole point is a quick and easy process with the minimum of fuss. You present your argument and they present theirs and a general test of reasonableness is applied. More Judge {Rinder|Judy}…

It is part of their ToS. Just because the ToS is a bit too liberal doesn't mean they broke any law.
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