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I have lost the ability to log in to my original gmail account, so I advise planning for that to happen some day. What happened to me is that I went to reset m

I have lost the ability to log in to my original gmail account, so I advise planning for that to happen some day. What happened to me is that I went to reset my password one day, and they required I confirm my backup email which I no longer had access to. Even though I had access to read messages sent to the gmail account itself, and I had access to the phone number connected to my gmail account, without my backup email as well, I could not get anywhere. The recovery procedure that asks you questions didn't get me anywhere either, because I couldn't possibly answer things like exactly when I started using gmail due to using it for too long. And I even had an archive of a few years of my email, that ought to have enabled me to answer the other questions, but it didn't work and there is no feedback nor escalation procedure. I may well still be logged in due to a certain buggy/obsolete device I have; I think it's probably been five years, but I don't believe I will ever be able to log in or reset my password again. It didn't have a great deal of impact on my life in the sense that I was able to simply switch to a new email account, but I feel a certain sense of loss at not being able to use the one and only address that was my full name. More significantly, it indelibly engraved in my mind, the kafkaesque, diabolical nature of Google, the ingrained lack of customer service, the way in which, while they may mostly be geniuses, when they screw up, they won't admit it and there's no appeal. The thing that I object to on an emotional and logical level, is that adding a backup authentication method removed the ability to use the primary authentication methods. If I just never added the backup email I'd be fine! I can't accept that makes sense, that it adds security. Something the user does to make them safer should not make them less safe.

toast0 6y ago
If you can still read the email, you can likely find the first couple emails and use that to guess when you signed up?
- perl4ever 6y ago
  Do you have ~15 year old emails available in gmail? I don't think my earliest emails are available at all, I may well have deleted them, but even if they were, the device that remained logged in is over a decade old, uses POP or IMAP or something and barely functions. Not the gmail web interface, that's out of reach. I wonder if signing up for Google One, which apparently comes with support, would possibly get access to a real person who could resolve the issue?
  - skybrian 6y ago
    IMAP might do it via the "All Mail" folder? (Just a guess.) Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe. Google Authenticator is not enough, because phones break eventually. A Yubikey is not enough, because they can break too.
    - popotamonga 6y ago
      Google Auth now enables you to export codes. I have the same authenticator on multiple phones at home (being a mobile dev i have a crapton of phones)
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      I remember within the past few years when I was talking to someone who seemed to be unfamiliar with the idea of storing all your really important papers in a safe deposit box. I'm not sure if that's the times have changed, or the particular person I was talking to, or that it never was that standard.
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      ...not to mention there is or was an option to delete email automatically after downloading, that I used to use.
    - blfr 6y ago
      You need more than one Yubikey and probably three. Keep at least one somewhere reasonably remote and safe (lockbox, your parents' house, etc).
    - the_pwner224 6y ago
      > Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe. The 2fa set up process for many websites (and iirc Google too) do not make this a priority. They should clearly emphasize the importance of saving the backup codes, and make you check a box that says you printed them. The 2fa should not be enabled until that is done.
nelaboras 6y ago
My big mistake was to use 2FA - more precisely authenticator. Around the same time my old phone broke and i had to change the password. I must have mistyped the password while changing it in both fields and since then have never managed to re-access the account. I have old passwords, backup email, previous contacts, phone, ... But i cant restore the password because i hadnt yet set up authenticator on my new phone. My fault? Probably. But that there's no way out, no option beyond the horrible restore wizard - that's Google's irresponsibility. How many millions must have lost access to their gmail accounts by now?
- awtawtwat3aw 6y ago
  They give you backup codes to write down, champ.
- yumraj 6y ago
  Backup codes and use of Authy (running on phone and desktop), instead of Google Authenticator, can help in such situations.
  - therein 6y ago
    Authy on desktop sounds like such a terrible idea, though. Take that second factor and put it right next to the first.
    - yumraj 6y ago
      Not sure I get it. 2FA does not protect anyone from someone having your password AND having your phone or desktop. It prevents from someone, somewhere, having your password but not your 2nd factor.
      - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
        If someone manages to put software on your desktop then they have access to your password and 2nd factor.
samuraixp 6y ago
This happened to me ages ago and I was also unable to recover my accounts but recently I tried again, and I was able to recover 1 of my 2 lost accounts. The second one is pending. It seems Google has changed the process and after a semi-failed attempt to recover they actually pass it to a human. All my previous attempts ended in a stone walled error "We are unable to verify it is you", even when I was able to provide things like old numbers, old passwords or verification codes from backup emails. Maybe try again. :) One thing to note is that I was unable to access an old account for so long that it no longer has any old email in it.

toast0 6y ago

If you can still read the email, you can likely find the first couple emails and use that to guess when you signed up?

perl4ever 6y ago
Do you have ~15 year old emails available in gmail? I don't think my earliest emails are available at all, I may well have deleted them, but even if they were, the device that remained logged in is over a decade old, uses POP or IMAP or something and barely functions. Not the gmail web interface, that's out of reach. I wonder if signing up for Google One, which apparently comes with support, would possibly get access to a real person who could resolve the issue?
- skybrian 6y ago
  IMAP might do it via the "All Mail" folder? (Just a guess.) Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe. Google Authenticator is not enough, because phones break eventually. A Yubikey is not enough, because they can break too.
  - popotamonga 6y ago
    Google Auth now enables you to export codes. I have the same authenticator on multiple phones at home (being a mobile dev i have a crapton of phones)
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    I remember within the past few years when I was talking to someone who seemed to be unfamiliar with the idea of storing all your really important papers in a safe deposit box. I'm not sure if that's the times have changed, or the particular person I was talking to, or that it never was that standard.
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    ...not to mention there is or was an option to delete email automatically after downloading, that I used to use.
  - blfr 6y ago
    You need more than one Yubikey and probably three. Keep at least one somewhere reasonably remote and safe (lockbox, your parents' house, etc).
  - the_pwner224 6y ago
    > Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe. The 2fa set up process for many websites (and iirc Google too) do not make this a priority. They should clearly emphasize the importance of saving the backup codes, and make you check a box that says you printed them. The 2fa should not be enabled until that is done.

nelaboras 6y ago

My big mistake was to use 2FA - more precisely authenticator. Around the same time my old phone broke and i had to change the password. I must have mistyped the password while changing it in both fields and since then have never managed to re-access the account. I have old passwords, backup email, previous contacts, phone, ... But i cant restore the password because i hadnt yet set up authenticator on my new phone. My fault? Probably. But that there's no way out, no option beyond the horrible restore wizard - that's Google's irresponsibility. How many millions must have lost access to their gmail accounts by now?

awtawtwat3aw 6y ago
They give you backup codes to write down, champ.
yumraj 6y ago
Backup codes and use of Authy (running on phone and desktop), instead of Google Authenticator, can help in such situations.
- therein 6y ago
  Authy on desktop sounds like such a terrible idea, though. Take that second factor and put it right next to the first.
  - yumraj 6y ago
    Not sure I get it. 2FA does not protect anyone from someone having your password AND having your phone or desktop. It prevents from someone, somewhere, having your password but not your 2nd factor.
    - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
      If someone manages to put software on your desktop then they have access to your password and 2nd factor.

samuraixp 6y ago

This happened to me ages ago and I was also unable to recover my accounts but recently I tried again, and I was able to recover 1 of my 2 lost accounts. The second one is pending. It seems Google has changed the process and after a semi-failed attempt to recover they actually pass it to a human. All my previous attempts ended in a stone walled error "We are unable to verify it is you", even when I was able to provide things like old numbers, old passwords or verification codes from backup emails. Maybe try again. :) One thing to note is that I was unable to access an old account for so long that it no longer has any old email in it.