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163 Comments
- synapz, on 10/05/2008, -9/+179It's no problem at all; we can just have the government come in, print some money, and bail out our passwords. Honestly, I don't see what you guys are worried about.
- mattb5, on 10/05/2008, -1/+103I called Yahoo once with an account question. I had a number I found on a "hard to find phone numbers list". Anyone else have any other hard to find numbers? Like, what is the Google number that these people eventually used? Here's what I have:
Amazon.com
800-201-7575 Cust. service 24/7
877-251-0696 Seller support 24/7
866-348-2492 Rebate status
( Press 0 to bypass menu)
206-266-2992 Local or int'l
( Press 0 to bypass menu)
Ebay.com
888-749-3229 Cust. service
800-322-9266 Cust. service
6:30a-5:30p M-F (Pacific)
PayPal.com
888-215-5506 Cust. service
888-221-1161 Cust. service
6a-12midnight (Central) 7 days/wk
Yahoo.com*
*Yahoo does not offer its customers any toll-free way of contacting them
408-349-3300 Corporate hq
866-562-7228 Billing cust. svc.
8a-5p M-F (Pacific)
Microsoft.com
800-426-9400 Sales Tech support
6a-6p M-F (Pacific) Option 2
800-936-5700 Personal support
5a-9p M-F 6a-3p Sat/Sun
I'm not sure how up-to-date these are. I found this list a while ago. But thought it might help someone. - angrykeyboarder, on 10/05/2008, -12/+100This is one of the major obstacles of using Gmail for any *serious* communication.
Google would be smart to fix this. But beig that tney are #1, they probably won't.
On another note, I'll never understand why some mediocre articles get 234234 Diggs and good ones like this have so few. - crampy20, on 10/05/2008, -2/+65where is the picture that accompanies this article (the rainbow key thingie), only looked at it to see what that was...
- NeilM, on 10/04/2008, -5/+65I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet you didn't read one word in this article--in which case, thank you for your input. You must take great pride in your response as it is obviously derived from scrutiny. Please, continue with your generous contributions to digg, we need more readers with your fine attention to detail.
- mogebier, on 10/05/2008, -14/+57If you use a Gmail account for business then you ARE A MORON. Any free online service can have problems like this. I only use Gmail for things I wouldn't care if it died and I use a PAID email service for my business and my important personal accounts.
Stop whining and pay the little amount for accounts at a real company. - alex7575, on 10/05/2008, -3/+43I've been using Gmail for about... (when did Gmail come out?) and I've never been locked out of my account. Not to say weird stuff don't happen to people, like the article mentioned, but the article sounds like we got ourselves an epidemic.
- ivankraszl, on 10/05/2008, -3/+42The same applies to any other service online or offline. If you lose your password to anything and you're unable to identify yourself as the owner in any way you're screwed. It's self evident. What's the news?
- Gobuchul, on 10/05/2008, -2/+39Hopefully two things learned:
1. Use a backup account, there are gazillions of free e-mail providers of at least the same trustworthyness as Google, which is quite low to start with, but an entirely different story.
2. Use an e-mail application, that actually downloads your mails and set it to not delete mail on server (thunderbird does that, for example). So you have your mails even if your ISP goes down for some time for what reason ever or majorly scews up and accidently deletes your mails. It happend, it will happen again. If the ISP doesn't screw up you have your mails wherever you go in this setting, since they are still on your account.
Experts, phew.... - shaka999, on 10/05/2008, -0/+36Really, you don't understand ...
Just look at the articles that get 234234 Diggs and then try and back track to figure out the demographic on Digg. Pretty simple.... - ivankraszl, on 10/05/2008, -1/+37Exactly, or just pay for the gmail upgrade and get the service the same way.
- chaoswings, on 10/05/2008, -0/+29Major obstacles? They let you set up a recovery account so that in case your username and password fail you can use the second account for password recovery and activation. You couldn't possibly be locked out of both now could you? How likely is that?
It's not Google's fault if you don't use the one major safety net they laid out for you. Also let's not forget that the e-mail service is free. - Zapkiller, on 10/05/2008, -3/+28I like your passive agressiveness.
- Morac, on 10/05/2008, -0/+22This is really a non-issue. Signing up for GMail, Yahoo Mail or whatever, requires you to provide an alternate email address for the very reason that if something goes wrong with your account, that Google, Yahoo or whomever can contact you. I'm not sure about Google, but Yahoo let's you enter at least 5 alternate email addresses and when you use the "forgot password" link, it sends a message to all of them. There's really no excuse for not having at least one alternate address.
If you don't have another email address, well why not just sign up for a bunch of free emails addresses? Sign up for Google, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc and use them as alternate email addresses for each other. If you really want to be paranoid, you can forward your email to all the different addresses so if one gets locked out, you can still get your email. The likelihood of getting locked out of all of them at once is very very small. - rpgguy1o1, on 10/05/2008, -5/+26I don't see why this guy thinks google should have to pay people to give technical support out to customers who are receiving a free service
- booyahbitch, on 10/05/2008, -5/+25Because it really is not free. They collect information about you and your surfing/email habits and serve up advertising to you based on that. Just because you are not paying CASH for the service does not mean you are not paying.
- ivankraszl, on 10/05/2008, -0/+16Yes, but regardless of why it happens you should be able to identify yourself by the means required by the service. Secondary email, or security question in case of gmail.
- wowsurfer, on 10/05/2008, -2/+17I don't agree with this article. I was locked out of my Gmail account, with no way to access the backup email account. After following the directions of waiting for 5 days, I filled out the account recovery form to the best of my knowledge, and 15 minutes later my account was restored.
Expecting phone support from a free service is asinine. I have no complaints about Google's support. - Gobuchul, on 10/05/2008, -6/+21The beginning of a sentence is always uppercase and ends with a punctation mark. So it's "Mail" instead of "mail"... just from what I remember of my english lessons decades ago, since it's not my native language at all. But thanks, I will try to improve further!
- tekism, on 10/05/2008, -1/+16I use it for business, but google apps. I pay $25/year not bad
- CreativeGuy, on 10/05/2008, -0/+13The point is you're an idiot and obviously didn't read the article.
- rpgguy1o1, on 10/05/2008, -3/+15I' think the article was talking about if you get locked out because someone is trying to scam your account, rather than if you locked yourself out because you tried the wrong pass too many times.
- thenet411, on 10/05/2008, -6/+16This is business 101. If you need email for business, or any software for business for that matter, DO NOT RELY ON FREE SERVICES. If you do, you automatically lose your right to complain. Use the free services for your own personal use but only if you can deal with outages or other problems. If your personal life is such that you cannot tolerate outages, then pay for your service. It really is as simple as that.
- GreenDots, on 10/05/2008, -1/+11These harmless web habits make google a fortune. They get more out of the deal than the users do, or else it would be a flawed business plan.
Do not confuse free with non-profit. - scoottie, on 10/05/2008, -10/+20this article doesnt get a lot of digg's because this isnt an article supporting Obama or taking a shot at McCain. I am sure if Huffington ran this article they would find a way to blame McCain or bush.
- synapz, on 10/05/2008, -0/+9... what?
- fjf314, on 10/05/2008, -1/+10I don't understand how people can NOT have another email account for a backup. Doesn't every ISP on the planet give you at least one?
Of course, that's in reference to a personal account. If you're using Gmail for a business account then you're just asking for problems. - burrgrinder, on 10/05/2008, -1/+10I used Google to purchase a domain, with that they include limited Google Apps services and gmail service for my domain name, all for $10 a year. ( http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new ) You don't get the phone support, but you've provided a CC number to them, which hopefully provides another means to prove your identity.
Additionally, all of this can be avoided if you just provide a back up email. If that's been removed via a compromised password, then you need to use better passwords or password security. - xaeon, on 10/05/2008, -0/+8See the logo for Google Mail with the word "beta" quite clearly written under it? No?
- amitait, on 10/05/2008, -1/+9That's why, someday, they will take our finger prints
- Emachine, on 10/05/2008, -0/+8I don't know, I think my gmail account is probably more reliable then my own email server, which is just an EeePc 701 running Ubuntu Server on a DSL connection in the basement...
- eryximachus, on 10/05/2008, -4/+12The point is, if you want service - you have to pay. See below:
"Google does provide phone support to Gmail customers who subscribe to Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 annually and includes larger storage quotas and other benefits. Customers who use the advertising-supported version of Gmail, however, must rely solely on what Google calls “self-service online support.”
Honestly, I didn't even know Google had this feature. I'm willing to pay $50 a year to have the piece of mind not to lose email for weeks. Gmail is such an integral part of my life if this point, that is a small price to pay to insure I won't have a problem. This is one of those things though where you can see that Google doesn't *really* care about making money from any other than ads. I've never even heard of this premier edition. Why don't they publicize it? - LeviTheSmith, on 10/05/2008, -1/+9I can still get in with my password hunter2
- artfuldodga, on 10/05/2008, -0/+7keep a backup email, and know your gmail reg number... is it that difficult
- sippykup, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6http://www.gethuman.com
This site has a searchable database of this kind of info. - Wolfboy, on 10/05/2008, -1/+7If your business or professional life or even your personal life will suffer greatly when a free e-mail service fails, then you aren't serious about your "serious communication." Spend a little cash now on a reliable service to avoid great, expensive problems later.
- Outdoor83, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6You get dugg down for saying that serious business owners have their own mail server? Is this a tech site anymore?
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6The trouble I have with that are the lengths at which Google, specifically, goes to encourage you to use Gmail as your *only* email address. Encouraging you to never delete an email, and even set up Gmail to check your other POP3 accounts. If they are generating ad revenue off of Gmail users, they should provide *some* customer support.
Don't be evil, Google. - scarwars, on 10/05/2008, -3/+9Hi, I'll be the ***** jumping in on your case today.
Pleased to meet you. - threemagic, on 10/05/2008, -3/+9"On another note, I'll never understand"
you make it sound like it's complicated.. it's not... apparently you have not been contacted by the front page force feeders. - exomni, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5@ ivankraszi
The scammer could change your secondary email and security question too.
I feel gmail should require you to confirm at your secondary email before changing passwords. (i.e. you would enter a new password, they'd send a confirmation email to your secondary email, and you'd have to click that before the password change would take effect) - Aerandir, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5I can help you, just send me your Social Security Number and you'll be good to go.
- movd, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5where can i find that number?
- diabolicedict, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5"So, too, should Google, even if I pay the company not in the form of a monthly account fee, but with my attention, which Google commercializes by selling slices to its advertisers."
Wrong. The revenue from your "attention" only pays for the hosting cost. It is non sequitur to compare Google's free account with Netflix paid service.
I noticed that this columnist, Randall Stross is the same one who wrote the "Goodbye, Passwords. You Aren’t a Good Defense." article. Both articles are full of fallacies. - AikoMiko, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5Yep. A non-point. If you are using gmail for a commercial venture then pay for the premium service. Better yet, don't use free mail! What ISP doesn't offer email now? Or is he using the free wi-fi at McDonald's to run his business? LOL
- qwertydvorak, on 10/05/2008, -1/+6if google had smart engineers they would at least try checking ip logs. if a person is trying to log repeatedly from ip address B and gets it locked up, person with ip address A comes along and tries the correct password first try but is still locked out. they compare the ip address of the person who normally logs in daily and it matches ip A. obviously ip A is the owner of the account.
i understand that not everyone is on a fixed ip address. this method would eliminate any dial-up users for sure, but most broadband customers will be somewhat fixed. my ip address almost never changes, and even if it does it is not a radical change. (example: 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.3.10 not to something like 203.139.1.1) most isp's use a certain range so that would at least help narrow down who the real user is. it would also help speed the process of getting users access to suspended accounts. - inactive, on 10/05/2008, -1/+6You're a moron for using a paid service. Any serious business owner has their own mail server.
- JamesZB, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5Just do what Palin did and get a Yahoo email account.
- modafroman, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5I was thoroughly surprised at how quickly my gmail account was recovered after being hacked into. It took a week from when I sent the first email to when they reset it... largely because my ipod (touch) had the last 50 messages I had so I was able to identify the account by the recent contacts and messages.
- siandt, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4Dugg for my worst nightmare. I only use Gmail for my personal e-mail, but I don't want to lose that, either.
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