[dahfizz]

> Of course, you'll probably have to jump some hoops to prove that you are you, but IMHO that's a reasonable compromise.

But how can I prove I own my email if I don't have the credentials / Google won't let me log in?

[probably_wrong]

I wrote about my experience for that exact same situation here:

https://7c0h.com/blog/new/lost_gmail_ii.html

In short, you can send their Data Protection Office a letter demanding access to your data. In my case it took almost three months but they eventually relented and reset my password. I guess a lawyer could have gotten it done faster, but who knows.

[dahfizz]

Did they ever verify the you had the old password / recovery email like you offered? It seems strange to me that they reset an account password because they got many letters asking them to.

[probably_wrong]

All e-mail communications were sent through the same address I gave as recovery address, so they didn't have to ask. It is possible that one of their e-mails was sent to my recovery address instead of my personal address, but since they are the same account I wouldn't know.

[dahfizz]

Ah, that makes sense. I'm glad it worked out for you!

[cunthorpe]

Thanks for sharing this! I'm glad that there's a way