"Google Accounts: Account has been disabled"

No warning, no explantion

[walkman]

My Google account (not Adsense) has been disabled with zero warning and zero explanation other than "In most cases, accounts are disabled because of a perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service." GREAT, that really helps me. I don't use it to send emails, just receive some here and there.

Now I have no access to gmail, adsense or anything else within Google. I filled a form but who knows, this is a nightmare. It should serve as a warning, especially for the cloud where your server and files could be GONE because of a "perceived violation."

I looked into changing the adsense email but apparently I need to be logged on. Adsense is still working, and that's obviously a good sign.

Just venting, looks like I am at the mercy of the Google algorithms, not much else can be done. Luckily my emails are downloaded by my Thunderbird but access is more important.

[ron15]

No warning, no recourse, no arbitration, just an algorithm that determines if a user is entitled to Google services.

Imagine when Google gets its grip on a wider range of services, perhaps financial, or otherwise have greater impact on consumers lives. No warning, no recourse, no arbitration, just a generic and unhelpful dismissal.

Eric Schmidt was right about creepy. Where he was wrong is the point at which the line is crossed. The line was crossed some time ago.

[StoutFiles]

That's odd that AdSense continues to work. You might not be getting a check if this continues as I doubt Google would send checks to suspended accounts. Hopefully they will get it worked out, but the customer service wheels at Google go very slow these days.

[incrediBILL]

Prime example of why I tell people NOT to use gmail or any other 3rd party email service as your primary email for business or anything else, get your own email at your own domain to protect your own interests.

I use gmail just for communications with Google, or something I don't care about, nothing more, nothing less.

Hope you get your account unlocked as that sucks.

[walkman]

I will stay as far away as possible from Google or any 'automated' company. I will buy a paid Yahoo E-mail and use my domain e-mails for everything.

StoutFiles,
I think Google thinks I did something wrong with the email or for all I know maybe it's compromised but they are too busy playing ping pong to program it to give people some more advice. Looks like I never violated Adsense or Blogger or whatever guidelines so the money will be in the cloud somewhere.

With an email you can get locked out of Adsense, Blogger, Voice, Checkout, G Affiliate Network...and god knows what. Some actually cost Google money and can be replaced by competing services. I have poured online forums and Google support is barely existent.

[HuskyPup]

Have you read this thread on the AdWords forum?

[webmasterworld.com...]

GoogleCo is slowly losing all its wheels and being dragged towards a mighty abyss by the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

[Scurramunga]

You're not wrong about Google loosing all of it's wheels.

The other day I received an email regarding a specific Google product. The strange thing is, I am not subscribed to this particular product as far as I know and what's even more bizarre is that the said email cited a domain name which I have never used in any of my dealings with Google. I do own this particular domain name but have only 301'd it and it is certainly not my primary domain name for my Google account, nor has it ever been nominated or submitted. Sure Google found it and knows it exists, but why cite this domain?

[mhansen]

Wow - this is large and very much an impact action for me. I have a few of my own Gmail accounts (business and personal) and instead of managing my own spam-fighting tools, I have suggested many of our web clients to use gmail for their small business purposes.

I guess I need to revisit the entire thing and look at whats going on with Google. Being locked out of gmail would be devastating to any business who relies on the web.

-1 move for sure!

[EarWig]

_{I have suggested many of our web clients to use gmail for their small business purposes}

WHAT!

You advised a client to use a cr*p email address at gmail for their business!

That's some business advice - nice call :)

[robzilla]

You have contacted Google? It seems there's no one form for this specific issue, but I would submit either this one [mail.google.com] or this one [google.com] (or both). And if you want to stick to Gmail, consider Gmail for business [google.com], though I can only assume you don't run an equal risk using that paid service.

Added: a quick search for "gmail for business account disabled" says otherwise.

[mhansen]

You advised a client to use a cr*p email address at gmail for their business!

If you spend 10 minutes setting up your gmail account, it can be invisible and used only as a way to send and receive mail to and from your business domain. The only reason your emails might look like they are gmail addresses is if you don't take the time to learn how to use the system.

The spam system built into gmail is great for a small business who cannot afford to pay for a dedicated resource to fight email spam.

MH

[walkman]

This is what I get :
[google.com...]

Google Accounts: Account has been disabled

If you've been redirected to this page from the sign-in page, it means that access to your Google Account has been disabled.

In most cases, accounts are disabled because of a perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service new window or product-specific Terms of Service. Your account has not been deleted, your data is still intact, and it might be possible to regain access to your account.
Why Google disables accounts

Google wants to ensure that everyone has a chance to safely and securely connect and communicate. To help preserve this environment, Google reserves the right to:

* Suspend a Google Account from using a particular product or the entire Google Accounts system if the Terms of Service new window or product-specific policies new window are violated.
* Terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.

Next steps for disabled accounts

Please start by reviewing the relevant Terms of Service. Then, if you think your account should not have been disabled, please contact us.

and I get only contact them through this, which I did
[google.com...]

There's no indication that my acct has been hacked or whatever but it maybe. A message like that would put me at ease. Or don't worry, you can access your adsense with another acct.

I bought a Yahoo paid account and I am passing all the mail through there. They do stop all spam as well. The scariest part is that I had my domain name admin email was a GMail one, although the registrar is great and picks up the phone.

The thing is that you need a Gmail account to access Adsense, GAN, Youtube, Blogger and everything else. So it isn't a "free email." And I am not exactly a freeloader, Google has made some decent money (and so have I of course) over the 8+ years.

I will diversify ASAP. I lost no email since Thunderbird downloads them every few minutes and I barely use this for email, but someone that uploaded a presentation for their sales team or term paper to download it tomorrow, you are screwed. Think twice, Google's lost in the cloud. ZERO support, they have a nice guy in their forums trying to help but he is one of us, he can d nothing. I guess it would be too much for Google to pay someone $50k a year to help people.

Edit to add: Paying $50 or even $250 a year for email is not an issue, having support when bad things happen is.

[walkman]

Got it back, no notice, nothing. Tried it and it worked. Apparently many false positives after a recent gmail change they said. This will cost them at least a few hundred a month since I replaced a high earning ad to a different network with identical financial terms. Why? Because if I am locked out they will actually do anything to get me back in.

D I V E R S I F Y where you can.