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Sorry for the stress this is no doubt causing your mother. Unfortunately I have seen similar and they never recovered access. It is just lost to the void that

Sorry for the stress this is no doubt causing your mother. Unfortunately I have seen similar and they never recovered access. It is just lost to the void that is Google support for their free services. Yes I know it is the risk you run using a free service but I feel there should be some official process for a real human to get involved to get the account back. As you say you can lose access to your whole damn world these days. It is crazy we have so many protections for your account getting hacked yet absolutely nothing to recover the same account should some automated system determine you are not you.

msh 4y ago
Googles services are not free. You pay by letting them show you ads and use your data.
- satysin 4y ago
  Yes, yes we all know that. That is being very pedantic though as to OPs mother (and the vast majority) Gmail and the related Google services were 'free' in that she didn't enter her credit card details and pay a monthly/yearly fee like she does with Netflix.
  - msh 4y ago
    No, its not being pedantic. If it was a truly free service that the company provided for no income at all I could excuse their lack of support. Not having support for customers you make money on is despicable.
    - satysin 4y ago
      If you ask any random person on the street "is Gmail free?" they will answer yes just like Wikipedia calls Gmail a free email service and if you search for "best free email services" Gmail is usually top of the list. I fully agree with you there is an agreement that the user gets Gmail (or Google service) at zero monetary cost in exchange for them showing you ads and using your data however they see fit. And you can argue if that is 'free' or not but to the vast majority they see these things as free, rightly or wrongly. Is 'free' the wrong adjective? Perhaps but it is what is used for a non-paid service. > Not having support for customers you make money on is despicable. I agree. Like I said it is crazy there is no real support process to get your account back when there are a lot of processes to keep your account safe.
    - bell-cot 4y ago
      Would your opinion - "despicable" - change if the Google was very clear, in their T&C's when you sign up, about their level of support (zilch) for "free" accounts?
      - msh 4y ago
        Not as long as they make money on it, if they make money off a product they need to provide the basics, and ensuring access to the product is part of that.
        bell-cot 4y ago
        Okay. Might you know if there is any company providing "free" e-mail accounts (broadly comparable to GMail), with all the "basics" which you want, and at least breaking even financially on that? If "no", is there good reason to believe that Google could manage to do that? If "no", would it be okay for Google (a for-profit company, not a charity) to discontinue free GMail service (presumably with some warning, etc.), because it was not a viable business to be in?
        msh 4y ago
        Apple provides phone support for icloud, which includes email. You dont need any apple devices to sign up for icloud and the lowest storage plan is free. Microsoft also offers chat support for outlook.com I have not tried the support from microsoft but apple support have been helpful when I had a relative with problems accessing their account. That was not for a paid icloud account.
        bell-cot 4y ago
        Okay. I'm not usefully familiar with GMail vs. Hotmail vs. Apple vs. etc. Might you know why those don't get more favorable mentions - "other people reading this item should note that $Alternative_1 and $Alternative_2 are not nearly as bad as GMail...." - on HN, in this context? (Yes, I am familiar with the "nobody ever fired for buying IBM" aura that usually surrounds Google):

msh 4y ago

Googles services are not free. You pay by letting them show you ads and use your data.

satysin 4y ago
Yes, yes we all know that. That is being very pedantic though as to OPs mother (and the vast majority) Gmail and the related Google services were 'free' in that she didn't enter her credit card details and pay a monthly/yearly fee like she does with Netflix.
- msh 4y ago
  No, its not being pedantic. If it was a truly free service that the company provided for no income at all I could excuse their lack of support. Not having support for customers you make money on is despicable.
  - satysin 4y ago
    If you ask any random person on the street "is Gmail free?" they will answer yes just like Wikipedia calls Gmail a free email service and if you search for "best free email services" Gmail is usually top of the list. I fully agree with you there is an agreement that the user gets Gmail (or Google service) at zero monetary cost in exchange for them showing you ads and using your data however they see fit. And you can argue if that is 'free' or not but to the vast majority they see these things as free, rightly or wrongly. Is 'free' the wrong adjective? Perhaps but it is what is used for a non-paid service. > Not having support for customers you make money on is despicable. I agree. Like I said it is crazy there is no real support process to get your account back when there are a lot of processes to keep your account safe.
  - bell-cot 4y ago
    Would your opinion - "despicable" - change if the Google was very clear, in their T&C's when you sign up, about their level of support (zilch) for "free" accounts?
    - msh 4y ago
      Not as long as they make money on it, if they make money off a product they need to provide the basics, and ensuring access to the product is part of that.
      - bell-cot 4y ago
        Okay. Might you know if there is any company providing "free" e-mail accounts (broadly comparable to GMail), with all the "basics" which you want, and at least breaking even financially on that? If "no", is there good reason to believe that Google could manage to do that? If "no", would it be okay for Google (a for-profit company, not a charity) to discontinue free GMail service (presumably with some warning, etc.), because it was not a viable business to be in?
        msh 4y ago
        Apple provides phone support for icloud, which includes email. You dont need any apple devices to sign up for icloud and the lowest storage plan is free. Microsoft also offers chat support for outlook.com I have not tried the support from microsoft but apple support have been helpful when I had a relative with problems accessing their account. That was not for a paid icloud account.
        bell-cot 4y ago
        Okay. I'm not usefully familiar with GMail vs. Hotmail vs. Apple vs. etc. Might you know why those don't get more favorable mentions - "other people reading this item should note that $Alternative_1 and $Alternative_2 are not nearly as bad as GMail...." - on HN, in this context? (Yes, I am familiar with the "nobody ever fired for buying IBM" aura that usually surrounds Google):