Resold Google Pixel - got a Google Account block or why you shouldn’t keep all your eggs in one basket

Many fans of technology after the appearance of news about the imminent release of Google’s smartphone, began to look forward to the appearance of the device on the market. After the device was released, reviews began to appear on the Web and in print media — mostly positive ones. Phone, despite the relatively high price (from $ 750) began to be bought up.

Some buyers decided to earn a little. By purchasing a device from Project Fi, a virtual carrier from Google, they began selling it to a reseller in New Hampshire (the company is not called), a tax-free state of the United States. All this was done with a simple goal - the company-reseller after the sale of phones listed part of the profits to the seller. It seems to be all right - everyone is happy. But the corporation itself intervened.

For many years, the company from New Hampshire used the opportunity to resale phones from Google (before - only branded), without encountering any opposition from Google. But now everything went wrong .
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The terms of Google indicate the possibility of acquiring the phone only for personal use. The buyer "can only purchase devices for personal use and does not have the right to resell the device (Google Pixel, - Ed.) For the purpose of making a profit." That is, resale of just purchased a smartphone, from the point of view of a corporation, is a violation of its conditions. Previously, as mentioned above, there were no problems.



But now reseller users got a real problem - their Google accounts were blocked by the corporation. And we are talking about the impossibility to use any of the Google services. Imagine - for years you have added contacts, pictures, worked with the task scheduler and Google calendar, not to mention Google Docs. And suddenly, you just lose all your data. Rather, not the data itself, but access to it, which differs little from the destruction of information.

One of the users stated that the company had blocked their unused account only because the e-mail of the account was associated with the sale of Pixel.

According to the owner of the site, whose users discovered the problem, it’s simply unacceptable to block accounts: “I don’t protect those who violate the terms of the company, but it seems to me that it’s too much to block access to the account and all services to everyone that did ( sold phones - Ed.) ”. After an account has been blocked, mail sent to it from another account is returned to the sender with the note “there is no such address”.

Now we know about 200 users whose accounts were blocked by the corporation for the reason mentioned above. And Google has blocked the accounts of all the "speculators", regardless of how many phones it was sold to a reseller. Some of them knew that they were violating the terms of acquiring Google Pixel, others did not, simply because they did not read the conditions. Actually, very few people read them.

What is it all over? Nothing canbe done?

Can. This time, after the situation became replicated, the company decided to unblock the accounts of the guilty users. The message that the block will be removed, among other things, said: “We want to remind you that Google users can always export their data and download it from Google services, including Gmail, Photos, Drive, at any time if account is active. " It turns out, Google says that "now everything is fine, but better save a backup of your data." By the way, you can create archives and download them here.

Lesson for the future

We are all so accustomed to online services provided by third-party companies that many of us have completely forgotten about the possibility of blocking an account. Now it's not about Google phones and selling them. The point is that the services of large companies are their property, and user accounts can be blocked at any time if the owners consider it appropriate (in case of violation of any rules, which are usually quite a lot).

So that later it was not painfully painful, experts recommend doing this:

1. Do not allow the situation when your work (or life) becomes much more complicated when you lose access to any service.

Now hundreds of millions of people are associated with a huge number of services that are gradually becoming part of our life - no more, no less. And losing this part can be very unpleasant. As a result, businessmen can suffer significant losses, office workers can get a scolding from their bosses or even layoffs, all other users can lose their data, accumulated over the years, forever.

It is clear that without services it is nowhere, but in any case, there is a way out. For example, you regularly need to create backup copies of data, without which it will not be possible to work.

2. Do not ignore the conditions of work with the services of companies, even if these conditions seem ridiculous.
3. Do not keep all eggs in one basket. It is best to use several similar services than to depend entirely on a single one. This is not always possible, but it is worth striving for.

Sometimes there are very unusual situations that lead to the loss of the user account. For example, one Google user lost access to his account after moving to another city. Everything turned out to be blocked - all the services with which he had ever worked. Even an attempt to confirm one’s identity with the help of a special web page suggested by Google employees did not help. Employees of the company responded that it’s impossible to continue using your Google account without explaining why.

Not only is Google banning accounts. In March, for example, Amazon blocked user accounts that too often returned goods to site vendors. Everything went with the account - the money in the account, the months of the purchased subscription to the fast delivery service, the ability to download books to your Kindle.

And OneDrive prohibits storing everything on its servers that is related to the XXX category. Manga, art, movies and cartoons of the corresponding genre are prohibited. And yes, the accounts of violators are also banned.

Well, the conclusion here is only one - remember that the service you use at one fine (or not) moment may be unavailable. To avoid trouble, try not to depend too much on such a service (or services).