Live data from Hacker News

My Google Workspace account suspension

zencapital.substack.com

11–20 of 239 posts

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#11

"Despite repeatedly explaining this, they ignored my assertions and continue to hold my email hostage." Well, you have become the product here. That also happens by other "free" email providers too. I had this happen to me on inbox.lt; the guy demanded I use a smartphone to "prove" my identity. At that point I realised they want to connect this data to the account and sell it to others who are interested in that.

What do you add to humanity with this crappy take? Why are you shitty to the victim?

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#12

This should be illegal. Megacorps eat more and more of our life and regular people are increasingly at mercy of these hostile entities. They should be pushed more against. If we can't have proper anti monopoly splits like AT&T, then at least ways to prevent them exerting too much power are long due. If you provide an essential service, responsibility should match that.

Yes, there needs to be a government public service counter where you can go with all your BigTech issues and complaints.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#13
I can't believe I'm praising Microsoft (Office365) here but it actually has a track record of actually having support, support people that you can talk on the phone with and knows how to navigate the dark corners of their convoluted systems and actually solved my problems (even if it was caused by Microsoft's horrific UI in the first place).

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#15

I guess one way to protect yourself from this would be to use another IAM solution for SSO login to Google Workspace, but is there any reasonable choice for small businesses other than Entra ID or Okta?

There's always keycloak you can rollout yourself. It's not trivial but it's quite doable.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#16
post #11

"Despite repeatedly explaining this, they ignored my assertions and continue to hold my email hostage." Well, you have become the product here. That also happens by other "free" email providers too. I had this happen to me on inbox.lt; the guy demanded I use a smartphone to "prove" my identity. At that point I realised they want to connect this data to the account and sell it to others who are interested in that.

What do you add to humanity with this crappy take? Why are you shitty to the victim?

Because his honest and accurate diagnosis for why mega tech corps treat people inhumanely is the first step towards stopping it. In my opinion of course.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#17

I can't believe I'm praising Microsoft (Office365) here but it actually has a track record of actually having support, support people that you can talk on the phone with and knows how to navigate the dark corners of their convoluted systems and actually solved my problems (even if it was caused by Microsoft's horrific UI in the first place).

An article here a couple of days ago said that the automation behind the scenes in Azure is piss poor and the whole thing is held together by thousands of contractors manually fixing the endless failures.

On the plus side, it does mean they have thousands of people who know how to fix problems.

edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47616242

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#18
post #12

This should be illegal. Megacorps eat more and more of our life and regular people are increasingly at mercy of these hostile entities. They should be pushed more against. If we can't have proper anti monopoly splits like AT&T, then at least ways to prevent them exerting too much power are long due. If you provide an essential service, responsibility should match that.

Yes, there needs to be a government public service counter where you can go with all your BigTech issues and complaints.

This is one of the goals of the digital services act.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#19
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there needs to be a government public service counter where you can go with all your BigTech issues and complaints.

This is one of the goals of the digital services act.

The EU isn't as bad as some Americans want to believe.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#20
I think Google has done some cool stuff, and I think in a lot of ways they're, at least historically, one of the less evil big tech players.

I gotta say, though, that my experience with trying to get them to sort out any kind of issue with their services makes me reluctant to spend any money with them.

I bought a Pixel phone. As per the sales terms, the phone came with one year of Gemini AI Pro service. Except, the redemption process to get the year of service didn't work for me. I contacted Google, they never fixed it or offered any solution. I simply didn't get the year of service I was promised.

My friend, who bought a Pixel around the same time, also wasn't able to get the year of Gemini they were promised.

That same friend has a Google One subscription, billed through their phone carrier. Recently, Google (or the provider?) discontinued that specific Google One plan, as well as the option to bill via your carrier. This was all covered in an email sent to my friend. As consolation, the email explained, my friend was given the option to switch to a different plan, billed monthly by Google (instead of their phone carrier), with 6 months free. Except, the new plan, and the 6 months free, wasn't selectable as a plan type for their account. So my friend emails Google about it and, to my complete lack of surprise, Google was unwilling/unable to provide any resolution.

At this point, I legitimately don't understand why, unless I had no other option, I would pick Google for services. They clearly put no real effort into resolving any service issues for any customer that's not spending millions with them.

Post reply on HN