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> I would even not mind something like one-time payments for support calls, for example pay $50 for a service call to get assistance in a case like this. I can

> I would even not mind something like one-time payments for support calls, for example pay $50 for a service call to get assistance in a case like this. I can just see the people raging about this on social media now. “Google charged me $50 to fix an issue with my account!” “Google won’t give me any help unless I pay them! Extortion artists!” Etc.

lotyrin 7y ago
Make it something you can pay in advance, then. For a fee, you get marked as a high-risk/high-value account, get the recovery service and risky factors of authentication get extra scrutiny, etc.
- abraham 7y ago
  You can get extra security from Google for free. https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/ https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/
  - graeme 7y ago
    Patio11 just had an automated loss of access on his phone when enrolling. Lack of support hurts there too. https://mobile.twitter.com/patio11/status/1140404696256937984 https://mobile.twitter.com/patio11/status/114040469625693798...
    - patio11 7y ago
      This was quite unfun. (Fixed now, after I blackboxed what the actual problem was. Some Googlers are looking into the docs/error messages to fix that half.)
  - couchridr 7y ago
    Not exactly free, because you must buy a couple of hardware tokens. Fifty dollars when bought from google. But free besides that.
- jsty 7y ago
  They'd probably get bad headlines regardless of whether or not they required an in-advance subscription: - Don't allow upgrading after a problem arises to get premium support: "Google won't let me pay to fix my account" - Allow upgrading after a problem arises to get premium support: "Google extorting me to regain access to my account"
ineedasername 7y ago
Sure, people would complain. But they complain now when these issues happen. I'd rather a scenario where people complain but the problems are getting fixed. It's not completely unreasonable that Google offers low/no support for free products. It is unreasonable that they don't have any way to pay for help when there are serious problems.

lotyrin 7y ago

Make it something you can pay in advance, then. For a fee, you get marked as a high-risk/high-value account, get the recovery service and risky factors of authentication get extra scrutiny, etc.

abraham 7y ago
You can get extra security from Google for free. https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/ https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/
- graeme 7y ago
  Patio11 just had an automated loss of access on his phone when enrolling. Lack of support hurts there too. https://mobile.twitter.com/patio11/status/1140404696256937984 https://mobile.twitter.com/patio11/status/114040469625693798...
  - patio11 7y ago
    This was quite unfun. (Fixed now, after I blackboxed what the actual problem was. Some Googlers are looking into the docs/error messages to fix that half.)
- couchridr 7y ago
  Not exactly free, because you must buy a couple of hardware tokens. Fifty dollars when bought from google. But free besides that.
jsty 7y ago
They'd probably get bad headlines regardless of whether or not they required an in-advance subscription: - Don't allow upgrading after a problem arises to get premium support: "Google won't let me pay to fix my account" - Allow upgrading after a problem arises to get premium support: "Google extorting me to regain access to my account"

ineedasername 7y ago

Sure, people would complain. But they complain now when these issues happen. I'd rather a scenario where people complain but the problems are getting fixed. It's not completely unreasonable that Google offers low/no support for free products. It is unreasonable that they don't have any way to pay for help when there are serious problems.