So much of my life is on Gmail, I HAD to setup two factor authentication, and it was easy.
OP claims to have 2FA set up. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4014014
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
#42A 2 second google search for "gmail support forum" brought me to:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/gmail
Have you tried that? I honestly never have and would love to know if those are actually efficient. If you haven't tried it, please do then report back to us.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#43Are you sure you have 2FA on? Do you have a desktop client that could have been compromised? I'd love a follow-up on how your account got flagged if it wasn't compromised.
(Note, I ask because the last time this happened on HN, several people errantly thought they had 2FA turned on when they didn't).
(Some days I wonder if I angered a stalker who downvotes everything I post... or if it's some darker HN sign. Sigh)
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#44I'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…
Really? It is now a suggested policy to use additional authorization flows in order to use this email service? Are we talking about the same email service? You know, the one that's supposed to be so awesome that you'll quickly forget about getting your email the "old fashioned way" by having to mess with those pesky things like setting up a POP/IMAP account on your host provider? Talk about things coming full circle.…
Well, ideally, 2factor should be used for anything with sensitive information... Frankly, I wish I could have enabled 2factor waaaaay earlier on GMail.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#45I'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…
My wife has had two-factor authentication for at least a year, she only accesses gmail from her iPod touch and the browser on her laptop, and she had this happen to her about a month ago. No recourse. It came back eventually, but apparently two-factor auth is not sufficient to prevent this issue.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#46The vitriol regarding Google's services is unjustified.
Gmail is a free service. Google allows you to use it for free, in exchange for being shown ads. You have access to the same infrastructure that paying clients use, and the same uptime, but without paying. You can download all of your data easily, and at any time. Nothing about that is predatory on the free users.
What would you say is the appropriate market "price" of 10-hour turnaround on emergency technical help? Having worked at a company that provided optional sub-24-hour response, I can tell you it's usually expensive.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#47Here's a serious question - how much would you pay per annum to be able to talk to someone when you have an email problem?
$50, the same they charge Apps users. You can't buy support for @gmail.com accounts.
Forward your email to an Apps account, then set up your @gmail.com address as an alias. Works great and you get support. Gmail is smart enough to set the outbound email address properly for any replies.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#48[deleted]
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#49I've noticed this trend with many big companies lately (Amazon, Paypal, and Google). Everything is automated and they give you almost 0 chance of defending yourself. They also don't care because they are de-facto monopolies. Amazon suspended my account 4 months ago. I'm just getting the $5K they owe me in money now. To this day, I still don't know why they suspended me (100% feedback and virtually no problems). They…
PayPal is actually very reasonable when it comes to getting in contact with human operators. I've never had a problem with that. Receiving decent support from them however is a whole other issue.
Re: The only way to get hold of a human at Google
#50> On a more general note, on what planet is "you don't get any email for a day and have no recourse, and we won't tell you why, or let you do anything to fix that" an acceptable action?
Serious answer: email is not reliable. There are lots of factors outside your control. Please don't rely on email being available. Unfortunately most providers today are pretty solid most of the time, meaning people put too much trust into their email providers.