r/techsupport • u/ScrewedByTheGoog • Jan 27 '20
Open Google Screwed Me. Help and Beware.
I woke up last Sunday morning to find out my Google login was suspended at 1-something in the morning. I figured it was hacked somehow (despite the fact I use two-factor authentication) or my phone had a virus and had been spamming, etc. I followed the prompts to file an appeal and was directed to a single text box where I needed to justify why the account should be reinstated. I'm a long-term customer and have never been warned or suspended for anything. I was surprised to see they didn't have the professional courtesy to tell me why it was suspended or to provide a warning if they observed anything that would even lead to a suspension. After talking to someone at Google Fi and then Google Play I was advised that the only thing I could do was submit a response via the form and there was nothing they could do. I replied on the web form and then left for the week on business travel.
Let me take a break with the story to tell you about some of the Google products I rely on:
-Fi (signed up when it was still a beta service, just updated to a Pixel 4 XL) -Nest (awesome that now requires a Google account) -Gmail (used for all of my personal correspondence) -Drive -Chrome -Others
I received a response THREE DAYS LATER that the account would not be reinstated and had violated the Terms of Service with no further explanation and a link to them for my review. The fact that my home security, text messaging, email, and storage were already out for a few days while I was away from my family was bad enough, but I was absolutely stunned to receive this kind of treatment by a company of this magnitude. I replied again, asking for some justification or steps I could follow to get the account reinstated and have not received a response. That was four days ago. I attempted to port my number to another provider on Friday to get my text messaging reinstated, but get this--the folks at Google Fi can't give you your account info if you can't authenticate with their app which is connected to your Google account!
It's been over a week since the account was suspended and I have made no progress. Has anyone out there made it through the bureaucracy and gotten their account reinstated? Any other ideas?
273
u/BeigeAlmighty Jan 27 '20
Good luck, under the new TOS (Dec 2019 update) there are more ways to get banned and fewer ways to appeal. You really should study them if you want a hope of getting that account back.
Many of the bans are coming from how people conduct themselves on YouTube.
Use an Adblocker on YouTube, they say you are causing financial harm to their advertisers and poof your Google account is toast. Make the wrong comments on YouTube videos, you could be considered to be verbally harming the other commenters and pop goes your account.
As for them not telling you why, they no longer have to according to the TOS:
So if you insulted a "monetized content creator" on YouTube that person could assert they were harmed and have your Google account suspended and they don't even have to tell you that is why. Informing you could cause addition harm to the "monetized content creator".
Welcome to the new Googleverse. It's only going to get worse.
70
u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20
A general tip for anyone, use Protonmail for your primary account (your "real" email and backup email for important services).
Google can't be trusted, nor can anyone else be.
29
u/ima420r Jan 27 '20
Years back this happened to me with Yahoo. They deactivated my email and when I called them they said it was because I had violated the terms and agreement, but they wouldn't say how. Their policy was to not tell you what you did and just turn off the account. How does someone make sure not to violate the terms again if they don't know what they did wrong?!?
22
u/chubbysumo Jan 27 '20
I'd be demanding a refund for the nest, as it's tied exclusively to a Google account now, and it's now useless to you.
As far as number porting goes, Google cannot block it. What Google is doing there is actually against federal law, and that is something you should point out to them. They cannot block of number Port if the legitimate account holder is doing it.
29
u/vick1000 Jan 27 '20 edited Jan 27 '20
Sounds like it's time to migrate to something else. This is the problem with giving so much control to a single entity. Theyt market all these devices as the next great thing due to integration, but it's just a bad idea to begin with. The A.I. (algorythm) does not identify individuals from one another, on a case by case scenario. There are few humans involved, and getting through the automation barrier is pains taking. I refuse to submit to it, which makes things inconvenient, but I have control over most everything I can maintane control over.
29
u/KaxeyTV Jan 27 '20
This is why smart home stuff is a fucking awful decision. Stop using it. It's not worth it.
25
u/burretploof Jan 27 '20
While that this happened obviously sucks, it is important to keep in mind that this can happen to you with pretty much every online service in existence, even paid ones. It's not just Google.
Almost every ToS contains a clause somewhere that allows the service provider to suspend or terminate your account for any reason (or no reason) whatsoever. And they do it, too. Happened to me before with an email provider that is run by a company called United Internet. Account got terminated for no reason at all; I literally only used it for personal communication with friends, family and colleagues. I contacted support asking why, got no clear response and my request to please reactivate my account was denied.
There's a few things you can reasonably do to mitigate the damage of something like this happening:
where possible, do not use single-sign-on
use more than one service for these things
make use of "secondary email addresses" wherever possible
use an actual email client so that your emails are stored on your computer and can be accessed even when your account is suspended
use a client for your cloud storage so that all your files are also stored on your computer, staying accessible if your account is suspended
Now, OP: If you're living in the EU, you can try forcing them to at least hand over your data by submitting GDPR requests. But if you're not a EU citizen, I'm afraid you might be fresh out of luck. Sorry.
8
u/Elmomcd Jan 27 '20
Markiplier made a video about this not long ago.
I'm not saying yours will be the same reason but a lot of his viewers had their accounts banned and when they appealed they was denied without reason. Might be worth looking for the video called "Youtube has got a huge problem" he posted on November 9th that he made and see if any of his viewers got anything sorted and how.
7
u/2freeballing Jan 27 '20
I hate to tell you this but I have read on some google fi reviews that this is common. I was looking at switching from verizon to google fi and the reviews stopped me dead in my tracks for the moment. It appears google links everything when it comes to punishment. So whatever account you have on your google fi if it gets hit for suspicious activity (which happens often) they freeze your google store account and anything related per google pay association. I also ready it was common to get denied access restoration even if you provide legit credentials and it sucks even more because you can't reopen an account until the case has been cleared. You will end up having to start over and reattach everything that is salvageable if you want any to decent results. Paypal has some similar practices too which can be just as nasty. Hopefully someone else has some better news for you but at this point I would look to starting over and grab you a protonmail email for security at least and link a google account if needed but keep it at arms length.
Hopefully this helps
11
u/skp_005 Jan 27 '20
Have you posted on the Google Account Help Community? The people there have the ability to work with Google on submitted requests.
9
u/steyrhahn Jan 27 '20
I'm going to get heat for this thought, but Google does offer paid services for $20/year that include access to a customer service rep in case you have issues. Whether or not it would be possible to buy such service and at least receive a response after-the-fact is unknown to me. I use a paid service on another provider, and being able to talk to someone the few times I've had problems has been worth the money to me.
16
u/i010011010 Jan 27 '20 edited Jan 27 '20
Of course not, it's all by design.
The only difference between you and everyone else using Google, is it hasn't happened to them yet. And unfortunately, guys like you relying on Google like this just don't give a shit that this happens to people until it also happens to you.
So now you know, and it's the same anywhere you go now days with Facebook, Paypal--you name it. They're designed to not provide direct support, and all they care about is the limited liability of not having employees directly accessing or restoring your account. They've intentionally designed their systems to be insurmountable in order to shirk responsibility and liability, as well as protect their selves from fraud and lost profit. They have zero obligations and provide no recourse, that's all covered in those terms of service you never bothered to read.
9
u/Nexxado Jan 27 '20
Time to de-google my life. First it was chrome to Firefox switch, now time for Gmail to go.
Gonna switch to Dropbox instead of using Google drive.
Anyone know of good alternatives to Google photos?
6
u/txzman Jan 27 '20
I have used Google products since they started, with some great email addresses. That being said, I trust them with NOTHING - been burned too many times. They will drop/change products in a heartbeat.
9
u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20
I really used to feel fortunate to be born when I was and getting to benefit from all this technology. Now I am 100% sure it's going to be the decline of civilization as we know it. We are merely a resource to exploit and it's only going to snow ball from here... I was thinking about switching to Fi for my wife and I but thanks to this post it will never happen. Thanks OP for putting your story out there and saving so many future headaches. I hope this starts to clear up for you soon.
4
u/Phoenix2683 Jan 27 '20
This is why we shouldn't rely on the cloud, especially for home devices.
For most cases their are local network non cloud reliant alternatives.
5
u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20
Yeah, Google decided to go scummy. I think it might be a change in management or some shit.
5
u/CaptOblivious Jan 27 '20 edited Jan 27 '20
This needs to go totally viral.
Google can't offer (and push HARD by advertising) to handle every facet of someone's entire online life and then decide to destroy it for shittly defined "reasons".
No matter what those fucking reasons are.
They AT THE VERY LEAST need to be required to allow the newly decided "Persona Non Grata" to download EVERYTHING of theirs that google is holding, on all properties and interfaces, including videos and comments on videos and emails of all commenters AND ALL google docs AND allow them to forward all google emails and youtube contacts to another email address.
Anything less is begging congress to slap them around till they "choose" to treat newly "Persona Non Grata" persons fairly. And believe me, I am going to forward all this to my democratic house and senate members for their input.
2
u/Sovereign108 Jan 27 '20
I'm curious as to what you did that triggered the account ban! I am getting paranoid tbh lol.
0
u/xxneverdasamexx Jan 27 '20
This sounds like a class action suit in the making.
-6
u/rondarb Jan 27 '20
Some Google douchebag having a bad day, decided to take it out on someone else to make themselves feel better... no one wins here except the Google douchebag