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The only way to get hold of a human at Google

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Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#121
Depends what service you are talking about. I have a phone# to a helpdesk for Google Adwords. Real live human beings work there. But we pay a buttload of money for that service.

Also google apps for business promises 'Around-the-clock phone and priority email support.' I guess you're just getting what you paid for.

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#122
post #15

I'm sorry for the trouble you're having. I have on idea of what's happened and why but thought it timely to point out for the benefit of those reading this thread: I highly suggest you use two-factor authentication with GMail: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-secu... Or Jeff Atwood's post on this: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac... Your email is too valuable to be l…

I'd love to do this, but my Apps account gives me no such opportunity to setup 2FA, following those instructions: http://cl.ly/242v451j3g331U393u34

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#123
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. The amount of people they'd have to hire to support that 1% of their users could make the service untenable as free to the rest of us. In my opinion, the thing done wrong was offering support through unofficial channels. It sets the wrong expectations and perpetuates the notion that if you know the right people, you'll get the support that others can't, and honestly don't deserve. If I give rakes out to 1…

Your rake analogy is not sound. Ok so Google gives Gmail for free - as in you don't need to pay for it. But is it really "free"? No. They parse your emails so they know what you are buying/selling, who you are talking to, what sites you have a membership on, etc. They also use Gmail to display ads (based off of the things they learned from your emails) to make money off of you. They probably do other things i'm not e…

Since that shoe had to drop, you could also point out that they DO provide support.

There are google groups, message boards, support forums, HowTos. There's even Prioritized phone support that you can apparently sign up for.[1]

It's not as though they hand you the source code and a note saying "Good luck."

[1] - http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a...

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#124
post #15

I'm sorry for the trouble you're having. I have on idea of what's happened and why but thought it timely to point out for the benefit of those reading this thread: I highly suggest you use two-factor authentication with GMail: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-secu... Or Jeff Atwood's post on this: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac... Your email is too valuable to be l…

And for all things not Google, check out http://www.duosecurity.com/ . Completely painless to set up on my box at home.

Wow, I've wanted such a thing for a while, but hadn't gotten around to researching. Thanks for this!

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#125
post #15

I'm sorry for the trouble you're having. I have on idea of what's happened and why but thought it timely to point out for the benefit of those reading this thread: I highly suggest you use two-factor authentication with GMail: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-secu... Or Jeff Atwood's post on this: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac... Your email is too valuable to be l…

I'd love to do this, but my Apps account gives me no such opportunity to setup 2FA, following those instructions: http://cl.ly/242v451j3g331U393u34

Apps account administrator should enable 2FA for the domain. I have this option in all of my Apps administrator panel.

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#126
post #98
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you even pay for gmail? http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Logging-In-en/brow...

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html Also, I don't know anything about this, since I've never used it, but in looking at my account options on the 'Help' page, they have a "Prioritized Phone Support" that it seems you can pay for: http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a...

their phone support is excellent, I've filed a ticket twice and both times within 5 minutes I've been called on the phone, and they resolved the issue.

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#127
post #15

I'm sorry for the trouble you're having. I have on idea of what's happened and why but thought it timely to point out for the benefit of those reading this thread: I highly suggest you use two-factor authentication with GMail: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-secu... Or Jeff Atwood's post on this: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac... Your email is too valuable to be l…

Or hey, get a real host, domain, and E-mail account. In other news: Someone else's blog is under my Blogger account, and there's absolutely no way to contact Google about it. The new credo of doing business is HIDE FROM THE CUSTOMER. It's disgraceful.

If you're not paying them you're not the customer.

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#128
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a list of 1-time pads instead.

To setup 2 factor auth, you have to give them a phone number that you can receive a call or sms on, I believe.

I'm pretty sure that's just for recovery. The actual setup involves scanning a QR code in the Authenticator app, which is the seed for the TOTP - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_One-time_Password_Al...

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#129
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html Also, I don't know anything about this, since I've never used it, but in looking at my account options on the 'Help' page, they have a "Prioritized Phone Support" that it seems you can pay for: http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a...

their phone support is excellent, I've filed a ticket twice and both times within 5 minutes I've been called on the phone, and they resolved the issue.

Did you get to it through that "Prioritized" service? Also, can I ask how much it cost?

Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google

#130
post #72
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, but I'd be willing to pay a fair bit per incident. I suspect it would be well in excess of what it would cost to provide such support.

I think that model creates a moral hazard considering that in this instance the account was locked down by Google.

Perhaps, but I don't think that's a reason for not using it. There needs to be some solution, it needs to be something you can implement after the fact, and it needs to be worthwhile for the company to provide. "$100 to talk to a human, refundable if we fail to solve your problem" is a model that would actually work.
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