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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

#81

Post by bmelton »

robomartin wrote: post #27

This is a general problem with Google and their customer-no-service attitude. It's just deplorable. It really is. You have to wonder: What is it going to take for them to give a shit and actually do something about it? Very soon the word gets out that HN is where you can get your Google bullshit problems fixed and we'll be treated to pages-upon-pages of people with Google problems. The general issue is that of accoun…

Giving away an awesome mail service for free to the world is not evil. Being too busy to support every Tom, Dick and Harry that has problems with it is also not evil.

An analogy: "Hey Tom, I'm not using this rake any more. Would you like to have it? I'll give it to you."

"Sure Dick. Thanks, this is a very nice rake indeed."

The rake breaks.

"Hey Dick. The rake doesn't work any more. Come over here and fix it."

"Sorry Tom, I can't do that. I'm busy raking my lawn."

"I hate you Dick, because you are evil."

It's been said numerous times in this thread -- if you want support, you pay for it. If your email account isn't important enough to you to pay for it, then you don't really have much grounds to gripe if it breaks.

I don't see how that makes anyone evil.

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

#83

Post by minikites »

zszugyi wrote: post #59
minikites wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like fastmail.fm

I used to use their free service, but their spam filtering was pretty bad (in 2010-2011).

The free accounts only have basic spam protection, the paid accounts have more advanced spam protection.

https://www.fastmail.fm/pages/fastmail/docs/pricingtbl.html

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

#84

Post by clebio »

Duff wrote: post #80
cletus wrote: 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 think that the root of this issue is the stupid Google policy of not distinguishing any variation of your address if a '.' character is in there -- until someone registers it. People get confused and try to login. So if your address is jsmith@gmail.com, you can send email to (or login with) j.smith@gmail.com or jsmit.h@gmail.com.... at least until someone registers jsmit.h@gmail.com! I was an early beta GMail user…

Really, that works (surprise, not incredulity)? I have a period in my gmail address, but have never tried that. Seems like a very strange default.

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

#85

Post by eli »

debacle wrote: post #72
eli wrote: 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.

Yup, it's perhaps a tough PR sell because it create the potential for misaligned incentives, but I don't think it is a totally crazy idea.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft waives the fee for their paid TechNet support if the problem was due to a legitimate bug or problem on their end.

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

#86

Post by FaceKicker »

Duff wrote: post #80
cletus wrote: 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 think that the root of this issue is the stupid Google policy of not distinguishing any variation of your address if a '.' character is in there -- until someone registers it. People get confused and try to login. So if your address is jsmith@gmail.com, you can send email to (or login with) j.smith@gmail.com or jsmit.h@gmail.com.... at least until someone registers jsmit.h@gmail.com! I was an early beta GMail user…

> So if your address is jsmith@gmail.com, you can send email to (or login with) j.smith@gmail.com or jsmit.h@gmail.com.... at least until someone registers jsmit.h@gmail.com!

Uh, if this is true it's a security abomination. I'm pretty sure Gmail doesn't allow registration with a login that would be considered the same as an already registered one (but I'm too lazy to check a few to confirm, just because I refuse to believe Google could be that dumb).

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

#87

Post by Karunamon »

bmelton wrote: post #81
robomartin wrote: post #27

This is a general problem with Google and their customer-no-service attitude. It's just deplorable. It really is. You have to wonder: What is it going to take for them to give a shit and actually do something about it? Very soon the word gets out that HN is where you can get your Google bullshit problems fixed and we'll be treated to pages-upon-pages of people with Google problems. The general issue is that of accoun…

Giving away an awesome mail service for free to the world is not evil. Being too busy to support every Tom, Dick and Harry that has problems with it is also not evil. An analogy: "Hey Tom, I'm not using this rake any more. Would you like to have it? I'll give it to you." "Sure Dick. Thanks, this is a very nice rake indeed." The rake breaks. "Hey Dick. The rake doesn't work any more. Come over here and fix it." "Sorry…

> if you want support, you pay for it.

That's no excuse to provide a shitty service. For 99% of people GMail is not shitty and is infact quite awesome. That doesn't change the fact that with the amount of people Google has, not having even a queue for people to get minor issues fixed (Freaking MICROSOFT can get this right, for crying out loud!!) is ridiculous.

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

#88

Post by Karunamon »

donpdonp wrote: post #14

I agree its maddening to be locked out of gmail for no specific reason. I imagine the customer to employee ratio is a billion to one, so even if they had a ticket system, it'd be overwhelmed in a short amount of time. What are the chances your account was hacked and is now being used to pump out spam? Turn on two-factor authentication if you haven't already, once you are able to get back in.

>I imagine the customer to employee ratio is a billion to one, so even if they had a ticket system, it'd be overwhelmed in a short amount of time.

If their system is locking out enough people who shouldn't be that they would become overwhelmed, google is doing something very, very wrong.

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

#89

Post by anigbrowl »

gergles wrote: post #22
anigbrowl wrote: post #11

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? ON a planet where you get high-performance email services for free, apparently. I feel for you, but the lack of personal response (IME) doesn't mean that your communications are being ignored, just your need for a response. This is stil…

I do pay for GMail storage, so the predictable parade of "WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FOR FREE?????" (answer: exactly what was advertised, a working email service) is tiresome -- and besides that, there isn't even a contact form for this issue. There is no way to communicate with anyone or to even raise an alert of "hey, I have a problem". The only way that it is going to get fixed is for someone to manually intervene, and t…

Well, that's why I qualified my response - there was no way to tell from your original submission. I've had a variety of problems with Google products over the years, and have in general found them to be responsive but not communicative. They could be more accessible (though I have always found an avenue to raise issues within a couple of minutes), but I'm also aware that full-service customer support is a labor-intensive experience. I'd rather they be mysterious and efficient than 'because it is my pleasure to assist you today, can you first verify that your computer is switched on?'

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

#90

Post by paulhauggis »

pyre wrote: post #79
paulhauggis wrote: post #32

I'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…

I noticed this recently with CraigsList too. They have a 'contact form' that just sends you an automated email suggesting that you read their FAQ page. Why bother to have a contact form then?

Amazon is a little better, but not by much. They send you an automated email, but sign it with a real name. I wonder if they just have a program on the other side that cycles through names.
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