Re: [#163009571] jun 14-07 all emails, contacts, labels lost or missing???

example of dealing with gmail when you have a major problem. poor poor non-helpful support
___________________________
Date: 22-Jun-2007 09:18
Subject: beware of using gmail!!! – Re: [#163009571]
To: The Google Team <mail-supportgoogle.com>

Re: [#163009571] jun 14-07 all emails, contacts lost or missing???

i tried for 8 days to interact with gmail technical email problems sent to them. whoever looked @ my information does not read & understand what i have reported, "i did not delete all my emails (~98 emails in total), delete all my contacts and delete all my labels".

now i'm going to advise users of gmail to beware that they may lose all their email information. :(((

users wanting reliable email service do not get help on important gmail problems from google. they have given me general help information that isn't relevant support to what happened. i phoned google jun 15th & today june 21st & talked to real ladies that were helpful as much as they could. they said to send in a gmail technical error report. i tried several times but have now given up and will use another email service provider

ciao eddie
___________________________
On 22/06/07, The Google Team <mail-supportgoogle.com > wrote:

Hello,

Thank you for your response.

Deleted messages are permanently removed from your Google Mail account.
Please note that you cannot recover permanently deleted items.

Sincerely, The Google Team
___________________________
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: @gmail.com
Subject: Re: [#163009571] jun 14-07 all emails, contacts lost or
missing???
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:51:36 -0700

hello gmail,

i know an email is viewable in several ways and if deleted it will be
gone from all viewabe ways. "i did not delete all my emails (~98 emails in
total), delete all my contacts and delete all my labels on the afternoon
(PST) of june14-07"! my username & pswd were ok to enter gmail (not
deleted or changed). i 'rarely' ever changed/added/deleted my contacts. something happened to remove all my gmail emails/labels/contacts??? does gmail have backups of users saved account information (emails/labels/contacts)??

on june 14-07 afternoon i accessed my gmail account from my home
computer 'only'. the ip's would be a 'telus' ip with my home computer mac address.

from your suggestion i have changed my security question.

thankyou eddie
___________________________
On 21/06/07, The Google Team < mail-supportgoogle.com> wrote:

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

We have completed a thorough investigation of your Google Mail account, and can confirm that a technical problem did not cause the behavior you reported. We apologize for any inconvenience you might have experienced. Please also note that Google Mail uses unique threading technology to display a single message or conversation in a variety of views. You can view your messages by label, conversation, or location, among other choices. Please note that if you delete a message from any view, it is permanently removed from your Google Mail account, and is no longer accessible through various labels and views.

In the meantime, to ensure the security of your account, we suggest that you take the following measures:

1. Change your security question.

- Choose a question that is not associated with your password and to
which you are the only one who can answer.
- Choose a question that cannot be answered through research (for
example, your mother's maiden name, your birth date, your first or last name, your social security number, your phone number, your pet's name, etc.).
- Choose an answer that is memorable, but not easy to guess. Your answer should be a complete sentence.

2. Create a unique password.

- Be creative. Do not use words that can be found in a dictionary.
- Use at least six characters.
- Do not use a password that you have used elsewhere.
- Do not use keyboard patterns (asdf) or sequential numbers (1234).
- Create an acronym. Do not use a common one, like NASA or SCUBA. Do not make your password solely an acronym, combine it with numbers and punctuation marks.
- Include punctuation marks. Mix capital and lowercase letters. Include
numbers.
- Include similar looking substitutions, such as the number zero for the
letter 'O' or $ for the letter 'S'.
- Include phonetic replacements, such as 'Luv 2 Laf' for 'Love to Laugh'.
- Do not make your password all numbers, uppercase letters or lowercase letters.
- Find ways of getting random letters and numbers such as opening books, looking at license plates or taking the third letter from the first ten
words that you see.
- Do not use repeating characters (aa11).
- Do not use a password that is listed as an example of how to choose a good password.

Tips for keeping your secret question, answer and password secure:

- Never tell anyone this information and do not write it down.
- Never send this information by email.
- Periodically change them.

To change your secret question or password in Google Mail:

1. Log in to your Google Mail account.
2. Click 'Settings' at the top of any Google Mail page.
3. Click 'Accounts'.
4. Click 'Google Account settings'.
5. Click 'Change password' or 'Change secret question' under 'Personal
information'.
6. Complete the form and click 'Save' to make your changes.

Please note that we are unable to provide you with information about
attempted logins to your account including, but not limited to, the IP
address from which the attempted login was made, as well as the time and date the attempted logins occurred.

Sincerely, The Google Team
_____________________________
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: @gmail.com
Subject: Re: [#163009571] jun 14-07 all emails, contacts lost or missing???
   Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:14:14 -0700

   hello gmail,

   this problem occurred thursday june 14-07 afternoon. my account with entering username & pswd functioned ok. but there was no emails, contacts or labels, zero 0 information display. everything gone & gmail screen empty of my emails. inbox, sent mail, all mail, deleted items, all empty. why?? i thought gmail might have a system problem so i phoned other gmail account users @ that time & they had not lost their emails. i still have not received those lost emails (~98). some of those missing emails are very important to me. i may have to start using hotmail again as a gmail backup storage. in 12 years of hotmail usage i never had my email information missing or lost!

1. everytime i used gmail i would receive & delete some emails & did
that june 14th afternoon. i did not delete contacts or labels.
2. i do not have auto-forwarding.i don't know if i have POP enabled.
where do i check to find this setting?
3. many of the lost emails are from:drifter to:drifter, as i edit many
emails & then send them to myself to save. some subjects were about
trips to europe, california, union info, pension info, doctor/dentist
appointments...

thankyou eddie
___________________________
On 20/06/07, The Google Team < mail-supportgoogle.com > wrote:

Hello,

Thanks for your report.

Please check 'All Mail' for the messages in question, or perform a
search in your Google Mail account. If you're unable to find the messages, please respond to us, and provide the following details:

1. Did you recently delete messages in 'Sent Mail'?

2. Do you have auto-forwarding or POP enabled?

3. What are the 'To:' and/or 'From:' addresses of the messages in
question? What is the subject?

Once we've received the requested information, we will investigate
further.

Sincerely, The Google Team
____________________________________
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: @gmail.com
Subject: jun 14-07 all emails, contacts lost or missing???
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:51:35 -0700

GmailUserLocale: en_GB
Problem: from @gmail.com <gmail.com>
to The Google Team < mail-supportgoogle.com>
date 18-Jun-2007 23:16
subject Re: [#162180455] *gmail not working, failing simple jobs????
:(((
- Topic: addrbook
mailed-by gmail.com

hello gmail folks,

on thursday june 14-07 i was in gmail @ around 1pm pst & had my
emails, contacts & labels viewable. around 5-6pm, a few hours later, i entered my account username & pswd ok but had no emails, contacts or labels viewable?? i foned google and they told me to go to Help –

Troubleshooting General Issues
Errors and General Issues

and fill in a report about my problem? i did what they asked and
received no reply from gmail. this is what i lost:

sent email to gmail june 14/07 about everything gone??

missing ~ 98 all mail emails, ~88 sent emails, ~ 8 labels

missing labels – pt, sara, sandra, stuff, trips, twu, twpp, t departure

missing contacts
********************
arlene, brenda, brian, carter, colin, me, dan, dee, guy, gayle, grace,
henry, hyslop, jan, judy, jane, ken, kati, lloyd, lee, mel, millie,
maureen, mary, mary, sara, sandra, suzy, shannon, twu, zu

i was waiting to see if gmail would reply of why everything from my
account was missing? no reply, so i filled in another trouble gmail
internet form & received gmail reply below.
___________________________
On 17/06/07, The Google Team < mail-supportgoogle.com > wrote:

Hello,

Thanks for contacting us. We aren't able to respond directly to inquiries submitted to this email address.

go to our Help Center at http://mail.google.com/support/, or by clicking 'Help' at the top of any Gmail page within your account. Our Help Center provides answers to the most commonly asked questions, and offers information about Gmail and all of its features.

If you are unable to log in to your Gmail account, please follow the steps to reset your password by clicking 'Forgot your password?' on http://mail.google.com .

Sincerely, The Google Team
Name: eddie
Language: en-uk
Steps:
IssueType: Bugs
TroubleshooterType: bugflow_receive31

[Shortened some of the lines to fix layout – Tony]

That's really sad and scary. I wonder what's happening at the big G? Matt cutts, anyone?