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My Google Workspace account suspension

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Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#231

Post by littlecranky67 »

tsoukase wrote: post #186
DaedalusII wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google is worst because normal people with no tech experience can accidentally get banned from the only email account they ever had since 2005 which has all their insurance tax resumes family photo etc , never even understand how it happened , or fix it

I'm one such person among the billions worldwide, that is a minority on this forum.

Had my workspace account blocked, too. It was an early google account (long before they offered email with it) on a free tier they stopped offering in 2012 - in 2022 they made all free tiers pay. I thought I would get downgraded to the free tier, but nope, all was gone and blocked. Not even google keep (note taking).

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#232

Post by qingcharles »

TimBurman wrote: post #204
qingcharles wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google enabled 2FA on my Gmail account without any prior notice. I have the username, password, recovery email, and all emails from the account are forwarded to my Fastmail, but I can't ever log into the account again because it is trying to do 2FA by SMS to a number I don't have. I've tried everything to find someone inside Google to fix this, but so far no luck. At least with Meta you can find someone on a forum li…

You could try logging into Gmail just to the point before the SMS is sent, then phone the number you used to have and speak to the current owner. Apologize that you forgot to take the number off your account and so they are receiving text messages meant for you, but you would like to get one more message from them and they won't be bothered anymore. Then you will switch to a new number on your Gmail and they will not…

I've tried for 5 years now on-and-off to talk to the current owner. They read my texts but won't answer them and don't seem to answer any call from a number they don't recognise.

I also tried to get blackhat and tried to find anyone who can intercept the text, but I've not been able to, even on some rather shady forums...

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#233

Post by jjav »

cube00 wrote: post #154
jjav wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There needs to be a law that every cloud-based service which has accounts for more than (say) 1% of population, must have a physical service counter presence in every major town staffed by an employee who must be empowered to resolve all account access issues. Notice how phone carries manage to have a shop in every little strip mall, you're never more than a few miles from the nearest one. Google takes in far more re…

Staffed desks would just tell you they need to open a ticket. No company will give full account unlock control to field employees. Even the bank teller behind the glass needs to phone their internal fraud dept to unlock accounts.

> Staffed desks would just tell you they need to open a ticket.

That's not how it works at banks nor phone vendors.

(Although, even being able to open a ticket would be 100% better than the black hole of nothingness that is google support.)

When you go to a bank with access issues (something I've done somewhat regularly because I manage accounts for various family members who no longer can) you meet with someone who can authenticate you, and that employee has direct access to talk to their risk and fraud departments so they can sort out any issues while you're sitting there next to them.

There needs to be a law that any cloud service with a non-trivial userbase must have a similarly staffed support center reasonably accessible to all citizens.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#234

Post by cube00 »

jjav wrote: post #233
cube00 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Staffed desks would just tell you they need to open a ticket. No company will give full account unlock control to field employees. Even the bank teller behind the glass needs to phone their internal fraud dept to unlock accounts.

> Staffed desks would just tell you they need to open a ticket. That's not how it works at banks nor phone vendors. (Although, even being able to open a ticket would be 100% better than the black hole of nothingness that is google support.) When you go to a bank with access issues (something I've done somewhat regularly because I manage accounts for various family members who no longer can) you meet with someone who…

> being able to open a ticket would be 100% better

Not with Google, I've had a ticket open for five months counting.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#235

Post by TimBurman »

qingcharles wrote: post #232
TimBurman wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could try logging into Gmail just to the point before the SMS is sent, then phone the number you used to have and speak to the current owner. Apologize that you forgot to take the number off your account and so they are receiving text messages meant for you, but you would like to get one more message from them and they won't be bothered anymore. Then you will switch to a new number on your Gmail and they will not…

I've tried for 5 years now on-and-off to talk to the current owner. They read my texts but won't answer them and don't seem to answer any call from a number they don't recognise. I also tried to get blackhat and tried to find anyone who can intercept the text, but I've not been able to, even on some rather shady forums...

In the United States, AT&T Wireless has an Office of the President, while Verizon has Verizon Executive Relations. Other companies might have something similar. I remember the Office of the President doing some amazing things for customers, mostly related to billing that were the customer's own fault, when nobody at any tier of the call center could help them. Even calling your own phone company, they may have internal contacts at the old number company if it is different. You could also try the executives at Google or their legal team, who almost always respond to certain types of requests. When I worked for government, other governments would bend over backwards to help us, maybe companies do the same for each other or would respond to someone from the FCC or another level of government. Just brain storming but you seem like the kind of person that will eventually figure this out.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#236

Post by cadamsdotcom »

25 years ago my friends and I all had hard drives crash, and lost my data” experience. Corporate cancelation is harder to mitigate - but far rarer. The way things work un 2026 is very friendly to normies.

But you dear HNer ain’t a normie!

You have the skills to migrate your stuff away. It is time to pull the trigger.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#237

Post by brokenmachine »

shakna wrote: post #128
Arcuru wrote: post #80

If a service offers "Login with Google/Apple/Facebook/etc" you should never do that if they offer a username/password. It just increases the single point of failure. Avoid places that only offer the "Login with Foo" if at all possible (looking at you Tailscale). As an ex-googler, the only reason I was comfortable keeping even my personal email there was because I could reach out internally if there was a problem. I l…

One of the other articles on HN's front page right now, is that Germany's implementation of eIDAS will require a Google or Apple account.

Wow, that's so amazingly terrible that I'm sure my Australian government is planning it right now.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#238

Post by nhuser2221 »

puppycodes wrote: post #174
nhuser2221 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protonmail is the solution, or hosting your own email server but that one is more complex.

unfortunately hosting your own email server is nearly impossible if you want reliable delivery. If you don't care about being put in the spam box then it can work.

I have my own email server, with the correct dns records it does deliver emails with no issues.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#239

Post by puppycodes »

nhuser2221 wrote: post #238
puppycodes wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

unfortunately hosting your own email server is nearly impossible if you want reliable delivery. If you don't care about being put in the spam box then it can work.

I have my own email server, with the correct dns records it does deliver emails with no issues.

All i'm saying is its very very difficult to maintain over time as email is largely monopolized. If you send a lot of emails to a lot of different addresses its notoriously difficult to maintain a good server reputation.
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