I got one normal outgoing gmail email returned to me by google at:
646pm yesterday And I got another one returned to me at: 626pm today BOTH times I filled out the "contact us" form on the associated infoIf you -- as so many users do -- use your cell phone for one purpose &
your Google Voice number for another purpose, you may be in for the
shock of your life!
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Google is so extremely abusive.
They offer amazingly awesome software and services for free. They lure
you in. They get you to turn over your ENTIRE LIFE to them. Then, they
turn on you. And there is no recourse. No appeals process. No way to
just transfer your services away to a competitor.
What does this remind you of? A crack dealer....?
Google's infinitely wise "trigger-happy RoboCop" anti-spam bot began
returning to me, random outgoing emails I sent. It claimed that
Google's anti-spam filter mistook my simple outgoing personal emails
for spam.
Note that I'm talking about one-liner emails, like "See you when I get
to Washingon!" ....sent to ONE recipient.... my brother!
Then, this began happening more and more often. Then, later that week,
my account was suddenly "suspended" from sending any outgoing email
for 24 hours.
Then, by a week later, my Gmail account was permanently suspended. No
explanation given.
I PERMANENTLY lost access to my email address, my telephone number, my
9,000+ contacts address book, all of my archived email messages (I've
been using Gmail for years), all of my archived voicemail messages,
recorded phone conversations, sms text messaging threads, etc., etc...
I PERMANENTLY lost access to my Calendar, my Docs, everything.
In one fell swoop. ...by an automated RoboCop that has f---ed up
programming and has, for some unknown reason, identified me as a "bad
guy spammer"!
I even created an entirely NEW gmail account and new google voice
number. Within about 2 days, outgoing emails started being rejected
again. The message simply says, "Message Rejected." .....and offers
this link as the only explanation:
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69585
Later, when Google's automated RoboCop PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED my GOOGLE
ACCOUNT, the only explanation offered is
this link: http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=40695&hl=en&ctx=ch_ServiceLoginAuth
DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE!
MAKE SURE that whatever you use their services for..... That you
make them as replaceable in your life, as you are in theirs...
DO NOT publish and use a Google Voice number. You'll be sorry if you do.
Never trust any service provider which offers...
----> A Single Point of Failure.
----> They Store ALL of your Data out there on THEIR "Cloud" (i.e.
ALL of your 10,000+ Addressbook Contacts, Years of Archived Emails,
Voicemails, Recorded Phone Calls, Text Messaging Conversations,
Calendar, Doc Documents, etc., etc.)
----> No Recourse.
----> No Appeal Process.
----> Not even a Telephone Number or an Email Address to Complain to!
Their company moto of simply, "Do No Evil".... Doesn't that sounds
eerily familiar.... Like right out of George Orwell's "1984" NewSpeak
language...?
If you were tasked with coming up with a company moto for a
multi-billion dollar company, would you give it three words --- with
two of the words being insignificant two-letter words, and the only
word with real meaning being..... the word, "EVIL"..... ?
Frightening.
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I MUST tell you my story of... How Google's anti-spam robots are
BEYOND Trigger Happy & can & DO target innocent users & permanently
DISABLE their Google account!
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UPDATE 8/22/09:
Now I really don't know what is going on. Since writing this post I've discovered that even generic little email messages like, "See you in Washington!" ......are being blocked. .....on a brand new Gmail account.
This blows my theory that my emails were containing something that triggered the anti-spam bots.
Now I have absolutely No Friggin Clue why Google's anti-spam bots are doing this to me....
If you have any ideas, or you have any contact within Google, could you please call me: 646-363-2754
Bruce Wagner
Gmail's Blocking my Outgoing Email! Why!?!?
Gmail's "spam filter" on OUTGOING email has been blocking all of my legitimate business emails I send.
In fact, it blocked so many on my main account that Gmail SUSPENDED my Gmail account and I had to open a new one!!!
That, of course, also killed my Google Voice number in the process too!!!
The link Google provides for "help" contained within the "Message Rejected." Return to Sender email they send... absolutely did NOT tell me why my outgoing mail is being rejected!
My outgoing mail --- I have FINALLY figured out --- TOTALLY ON MY OWN by TRIAL AND ERROR (and even getting one gmail account SUSPENDED in the process) --- is being blocked because of the actual TEXT CONTAINED WITHIN MY OUTGOING EMAIL ITSELF. Apparently, it was determined to be "spammy" for some odd reason by their automated "outgoing mail spam filters"...!!!I FINALLY figured out, ON MY OWN, that if I use different WORDS within my email, it is not rejected!NOTHING told me that...!!!!IT TOOK ME TWO WEEKS OF NIGHTMARES TO FIGURE THIS OUT!!!! I WAS FORCED TO CHANGE MY GOOGLE VOICE NUMBER ~AND~ GMAIL ACCOUNT FOUR TIMES IN TWO WEEKS!!!!
I have NO IDEA why Google's "spam filters" are so Trigger Happy that they are blocking LEGITIMATE email...!!!!!
This is TERRIBLE!!!!
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How do YOU avoid becoming the 24/7 on-call free computer tech support
guy for everyone you meet and like...?
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Below, please find some Google Voice questions and answers for my friends.
These are a few of the most common Google Voice questions new users have....
____
Hey!
> 1. How do you jump in on a call as someone is leaving a message? Do you
> have to be at your computer to do so?
When your phone rings, the recording will tell you: "Press 1 to answer
the call, press 2 to send it to voicemail, PRESS 3 TO SEND IT TO
VOICEMAIL AND LISTEN IN (AT ANY TIME YOU MAY PRESS * TO JOIN THE
CALL), or PRESS 4 TO ANSWER THE CALL WITH RECORDING ON."
Also, at any point during a call... Press 4 to Start recording...
Press 4 to Stop recording... Press 4 to Start recording again...
etc., etc...
> 2. I think I was a little mixed up. I was excited because I thought I'd be
> able to FORWARD my business cell to my new google voice phone number, so
> that when people call my business cell, it would ring my everyday cell phone
> (making it so that I didn't have to carry around my business phone
> anymore). I also thought I'd be able to file those calls coming to my
> business phone separately in google voice. However, I think I have that
> backwards. It's only when people call my new google voice phone number that
> my business cell will also ring if I add my business cell as another phone.
> I didn't realize the business cell would ALSO ring. I can still make it
> work, but I'll have to give my new google voice number out as my business
> number from here on out. I guess that's the point, is to just use one
> number for everything. I just had it backwards in my mind and was a bit
> bummed when I realized I wasn't going to be able to do what I had intended
You could still do that.
You could FORWARD your business cell phone to your google voice number.
Then, set your google voice number to forward ONLY to your personal cell phone.
(Note that you might have to pay PER MINUTE for calls that are
forwarded FROM your business cell phone TO your google voice number
tho.)
OR....
You could just advertise your google voice number as your business
number. (In that case, you might be able to eliminate your business
cell phone service altogether.) You might also want to keep int for
several months with a recording on the greeting like, "Thanks for
calling, However please note that the number you have reached has been
changed. The new number is ___-___-____... Please make a note of it."
......and repeat this .....and repeat this.
> 3. If you have more than one phone set up to the google voice number, and
> both phones ring when calls come in, does this mean that if you don't answer
> and people leave a voicemail, it leaves the voicemail message on all phones
> that ring?
No.
Voicemail is stored on google voice if someone does not answer and
press 1 or 4 to take the call.
Be sure to turn... CALL SCREENING = OFF
And be sure to set... CALL PRESENATION = ON
NOTE: You can listen to your voicemail online by going to
http://voice.google.com
You can also listen to your voicemail from your iPhone web browser by
going to http://google.com/voice/m
You can also listen to your voicemail by calling YOUR OWN google voice
number. During the greeting, press * and then enter your PIN number.
Another Tip: Never DELETE messages, conversations, or text message
discussions.... Instead of pressing DELETE, always press ARCHIVE.
They will he stored forever, and will remain searchable forever....
providing a "permanent record" of your conversations, messages,
etc....
Call me if you wanna chat, have questions, etc...
Bruce
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UPDATE: IF YOU ARE THINKING OF USING GOOGLE VOICE FOR BUSINESS, YOU
MIGHT WANT TO THINK AGAIN
If you're using Google Voice for business, note that we have had about
5-10% of people unable to call some of the new GV numbers! Random &
Intermittent! Sometimes the only phone someone can call us on is
their Verizon landline... no other phones. Other people, the only
phone they can NOT call us on is their Verizon landline. Some people
cannot call us from their AT&T cell phone. Some people can call us
from their Verizon cell phone while in Pennsylvania, but NOT on the
SAME cell phone when they are in Manhattan! It's very odd, very
sporadic, not predictable, and seems to follow no clear pattern....
THEREFORE,
I've modified my recommendation of Google Voice.
I am now advertising ONLY my MetroPCS cell phone number for business.
(MetroPCS has 100% reliability here. Our AT&T iPhones only have about
66% reliability in NYC. Verizon has about 90% reliability here.)
I am still using Google Voice, but only as a secondary, alternate
number... I can use it to store Contacts, and accumulate Contact
data, using the web interface. I can use it for quickly sending
someone a text message, or calling them, all using the web interface.
HOWEVER, the new greeting on my Google Voice voicemail says, "Note
that you can reach me immediately if you'll please hang up and call
back on my cell phone number, which is......."
AND, I am now using my MetroPCS cell phone number as my primary number
for business calls, and business text messaging.
(I actually have two MetroPCS phones, and am using one for business
calls/texts and the other one for personal calls/texts -- same exact
scenario.)
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I just posted the following comment on the Advertsing Age magazine blog article called, Why Google Voice Reminds Me of AT&T
(see http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=137752#comments-41468 )
_______
It is an interesting comparison. However, I think it is quite over-simplified.
The AT&T of 20 years ago has very little in common with the Google of 2009, in reality.
For example, what IS Google's "core business"? Does it have one?
Some would say Google was founded on its search technology.
But, no, many would argue that all their revenue comes from Adwords.... and that Google is, in fact, an advertising agency.
However, with the prevalence of Gmail. Many would argue that, no, "I
encounter Google many more times a day in Gmail than any other way.
Google is an email company."
HOWEVER, if you ask the CEO of Google, I think he might tell you (and
hasn't he said as much in his own interviews?), that Google is a
Information Company. Google is about INFORMATION. ALL information.
Sorry to say it, but, the folks at Google today are at least 10,000 times SMARTER than the leaders of AT&T of 20 years ago.
Google plans to control, manipulate, "mash-up", resell, and use INFORMATION.
ALL INFORMATION.
They now have all web sites. They are obtaining more and more of all
email traffic. Telephone calls are the next logical frontier of
information.
Google Voice -- importantly -- TRANSCRIBES every voicemail.... and
creates a permanent ARCHIVE of every voicemail, every telephone
conversation, and every text messaging conversation!
What else is there!?!? If Google has every web site, every telephone
conversation, every voicemail message, every text messaging
conversation, and every email conversation.... The only thing left is
recording, transcribing, and permanently archiving every PERSONAL
conversation within your own home, office, and bedroom...
Think about it.
They are intent on "knowing" all of our conversations.
What they chose to do with all of that valuable information is the
stuff of all sorts of theories... both fantasical futuristic
predictions... and terrifying 1984 fears...
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