Gmail

[Karen C. Seddon]

I love Gmail! I love how it gathers all conversations in a tab format so that you never have to wonder what was said last. I love Google docs and the ease of use, BUT I'VE BEEN COMPROMISED! Someone stole my Gmail account and is sending out bogus emails in my name. I can't even get in. Let's think about this. If an online email system like Gmail can't protect our privacy, who can? I am concerned that I am experiencing "customer - no service" because they do not have phone customer service and their online help is so complex that you can only get FAQ type answers. I finally made a new Gmail account so I could join a user group. A technician finally replied there with steps I could take to verify that I was who I was. IT MAY TAKE 4-20 DAYS! What's up with that?

[Steve Dembo]

Yikes! I got an email from the person who hijacked your account. I gotta admit, when I read it, it didn't SOUND like you, so I was immediately suspicious. Was trying to figure out how I could contact you directly, didn't even think about your website or the Ning.

Such a shame. I wonder how it happened? And that's awful that it will take so long to fix :( Oy.

[Stephanie Middleton]

I also got the e-mail from your compromised account and also thought it odd. Like many crimes, I think we always think it's happening to "somone else", never us.

I think it's AWFUL that you are getting what amounts to "no service" from google! A group/company that has such a good reputation. One thing I would think to do (even if it doens't get much attention), is to keep attempting to contact google about their customer service and security policy.

Again, you would think a company as "with it" as google would have customer service that is more understandable and accessible. I'm SO SORRY to hear that you are dealing with this and it definitely serves as a wake up call to us all!

Thanks for being willing to keep us all informed on all aspects of this so we can understand the process of what can happen and how we should approach it.

[Karen C. Seddon]

Thanks so much Stephanie. I am going to write them everyday and save my requests. Hopefully, they will realize their error.

K

[Karen C. Seddon]

Google has restored by account and it's going to take me a while to sort through what the intruders initiated and what emails they erased. The cool part about Gmail is that nothing is really erased anyway so it's going to take me a while to figure out what's what. I'm still very disappointed that I didn't hear from Google directly. I received an apology for any inconvenience form letter with a link to restore my account, but that just doesn't give me the motivation to continue to recommend Gmail, Goggle docs and even my Picassa account.