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Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

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Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#71

Post by jtwaleson »

edoceo wrote: post #70
jtwaleson wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, documentation & automation works for the majority of cases. The problem is with the other cases where you hit a wall and have no way to talk to a customer service rep to get your issue resolved.

So I'm clear: we hit walls using the normal process. It was abnormal from my prior experience too. Then it was escalated and a CSR called me. Then the issue was resolved. I disagree specifically with the "no way to talk to" part.

Point taken! I'm basing my point on a single negative personal experience from long ago (as a paying customer) as well as seeing similar posts over the years on HN. It's certainly possible that Google has improved their CS for many products since then. That being said: if you can show the OP a way to get his issue addressed by Google support, please do :)

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#72

Post by wolco »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #24
folli wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As respectable as your involvement in the situation is, this is exactly how it's not supposed to work. It seems that the only way for a small business to get in contact with someone at Google is to raise hell on social media (or HN) and to wait for someone to take mercy on you.

> It seems that the only way for a small business to get in contact with someone at Google is to raise hell on social media (or HN) I'm intrigued by the implication that HN is not social media.

What part of hn remind you of social media?

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#73

Post by LockAndLol »

40four wrote: post #29

A few years back, I got locked out of my primary gmail account due to a 2 factor authentication SNAFU. I was never able to recover it. I tried to go through the appropriate support channels more than once. Filled out extensive forms, even identified recent emails like they asked, to no avail. It was very disappointing, considering I had spent a good amount of money purchasing apps/ games etc. with that account. What…

Do you still use Google?

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#74

Post by thaumasiotes »

wolco wrote: post #72
thaumasiotes wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems that the only way for a small business to get in contact with someone at Google is to raise hell on social media (or HN) I'm intrigued by the implication that HN is not social media.

What part of hn remind you of social media?

Every part of it, with no exceptions. It's a website where you register an account and interact with the other accounts socially.

Contrast Netflix, where you consume fixed content, or Amazon, where you buy things.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#77

Post by CoreSet »

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I can't tell you how grateful I am. I'm actually a little emotional, thinking of all the people who upvoted this post until it got in front of the people it needed to (and thanks so much Aayush!).

God bless everyone on this site. You saved me.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#78

Post by 40four »

LockAndLol wrote: post #73
40four wrote: post #29

A few years back, I got locked out of my primary gmail account due to a 2 factor authentication SNAFU. I was never able to recover it. I tried to go through the appropriate support channels more than once. Filled out extensive forms, even identified recent emails like they asked, to no avail. It was very disappointing, considering I had spent a good amount of money purchasing apps/ games etc. with that account. What…

Do you still use Google?

Haha, no I have almost completely removed myself from their grip. I still use a couple accounts, but they are not primary. Only throwaway purposes, and the only app I use with them is gmail. All activity settings and history are turned off and cleared.

I have an iPhone now. I should probably go ahead and cut ties with the throwaway gmails, not serving much purpose now.

I do find it hard to stop using Google maps and Waze. But I use maps without logging in, not sure it makes a difference though.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#79

Post by 40four »

zozbot234 wrote: post #60
40four wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah for sure, It was kind of my fault. It all happened very quickly, I think 2FA was relatively new at the time. I kept getting ‘recommendations’ from Google to enable it to be more secure. As a dutiful user I obliged, and downloaded the authenticator app. I think it gave me 10 one time recovery codes, but of course I didn’t back them up externally :) I was having some performance issues with my Samsung phone at the…

> I kept getting ‘recommendations’ from Google to enable it to be more secure. Yes, this is problematic in itself. Hardware-based 2FA is not an unqualified win; I definitely would not want to use it without some very robust contingency plans of what to do if my authentication device gets bricked or otherwise malfunctions.

Agreed. The whole app based 2FA does not seem great in retrospect. I accidentally bricked my whole account, by simple user error. That’s a good point, that it could just happen from a hardware malfunction as well.

Seems like most 2FA these days is based on the service sending you the code by text or email. Sounds like a much better approach.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a small business and Google locked me out

#80

Post by wtmt »

madsbuch wrote: post #20

A recommendation going forward: make sure to host emails on a domain you control yourself. This will allow to change service provider for mail hosting when they act like this.

The OP is talking about a paid service, which I presume isn’t a gmail.com address (otherwise why the suspension for non-payment?). To add to your advice, just having an own domain doesn’t help if you don’t download and store all mails on a computer or other device so that you don’t have to resort to a server to get older content you need whenever you need it.
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