[gtsop]

> Having to kick up a fuss on social media in order to get service, how very 2021..

Exactly. I'm locked out of a google account I have which links to a yt channel and a twitter account. The only truly viable option for me to get these back is work my way up the social media infulencing ladder and then complain how I lost access to my accounts. This is insane.

[vodkapump]

I had a similar issue as you, what ended up working for me was to contact the support for payment issues, and saying I had issues with paying for something.

Got in contact with a real human (i think..) in chat in under a minute, which helped me get it resolved via filling out like 4 different forms.

No idea if this would work for you though, but worth a try?

[sshagent]

I've had to use this kinda method for other things. No way to get a hold of a real person for support, try their new customer contact details. you can get they answer those real quick!

[ZephyrBlu]

Google is a different beast entirely. Complaining on social media doesn't generally work.

[capableweb]

Not really true. If you manage to get a "Google locked me out for no reason" post to hover on the frontpage of HN for a couple of hours, you most likely will get help from some Google insider. There are been plenty of such posts on HN where the issue has been resolved by what I assume to be HN-googlers.

[ZephyrBlu]

It is true. I've seen multiple posts where Googlers or ex-Googlers with contacts can't get access to a locked Google account.

[fatnoah]

I had an issue with a propane company contractor failing to secure permits before installing a line, which caused an expensive backyard project to grind to a halt, while still incurring cost. Every call to support was met with very friendly folks who promised a call back same day.

That never, ever happened and I had to resort to a nicely worded note to a corporate VP on LinkedIn to resolve it. Even then, I'm pretty sure that "unpermitted gas line work" was the real driver in getting it resolved, since that's a big deal.