| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Work email account suspended Thread poster: Denise Phelps
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Hi,
My work email account was initially set up for me 11 years ago by someone else I can no longer contact. It's one that comes with a paid for domain and hosting. It has suddenly become unavailable: when I open it, the screen is blank except for the message:
"Your organization's Google Workspace account has been suspended. Please contact your Google Workspace Organization Administrator to re-activate your organization."
As far as I know, my email account does no... See more Hi,
My work email account was initially set up for me 11 years ago by someone else I can no longer contact. It's one that comes with a paid for domain and hosting. It has suddenly become unavailable: when I open it, the screen is blank except for the message:
"Your organization's Google Workspace account has been suspended. Please contact your Google Workspace Organization Administrator to re-activate your organization."
As far as I know, my email account does not form part of a Google Workspace. My domain administrator tells me that my "domain is pointed to Google MX records", and my hosting provider that my "emails have been hosted on Google server". They both suggest that I contact Google. But how? The information I've been able to find on the Google helpsite is a foreign language to me; I am not technically proficient at this level. This has been going on for a week and as you can imagine, is a nightmare in terms of clients. All my client information is on my suspended work email account, and I do not have back-up information.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this? Or can you recommend an IT person (in Spain) who could help me sort it out (happy to pay)?
All suggestions very gratefully received. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:00
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Domain lapse? | Oct 27, 2022 |
Denise Phelps wrote:
My work email account was initially set up for me 11 years ago by someone else I can no longer contact. It's one that comes with a paid for domain and hosting. It has suddenly become unavailable: when I open it, the screen is blank except for the message:
Difficult situation. Definitely best to get somebody on the ground if you can.
Could it be that your domain registration has expired? When was the most recent payment?
https://support.google.com/a/answer/6136055?hl=en
EDIT I ask because if it's as simple as a payment not being made then it might be possible to recover the situation without too much trouble.
Regards,
Dan
[Edited at 2022-10-27 09:02 GMT]
| | | | Denise Phelps
Local time: 09:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I've checked that: domain admin & domain hosting are both up to date and both tell me that there is no Google Workspace account associated with my account with them. So I have no idea who is the administrator of the Workspace account, why I have it or when it was opened. Totally bewildered, and as you can imagine, contacting Google is practically impossible: I'm a miniscule fish in their vast ocean of clients, unworthy of attention
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Was your email connected to a telephone number by any chance? I had a similar situation (though I was aware of it) some years ago when I moved from Brussels to Lisbon: as I cancelled my telephone service, I only had access to my email for two years after that. So I got a new one in Portugal and had to inform all my customers...
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:00
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Can you transfer it? | Oct 27, 2022 |
Denise Phelps wrote:
I've checked that: domain admin & domain hosting are both up to date and both tell me that there is no Google Workspace account associated with my account with them.
Okay, one item to tick off the list. If you have control of the domain, can you not shift your email to another provider? I have used Fastmail for years for my work domain (they describe the process here, and even I was able to set it up for myself) but others should be similar. Either way, you'll not be wanting to rely on Google in future, will you?
If you can do this, you should be able to go around Google and reinstate the account ([email protected] or whatever) that you used for business.
This would not, of course, get you access to all your existing email (one has to assume that it would be very difficult without you knowing what Google credentials were used) but it would allow clients to contact you on that account and thus continue to work as before.
Not a great solution, I know, but think the focus at this point should probably be on damage limitation and business continuity.
Dan
| | | | | In the meantime | Oct 27, 2022 |
In the meantime, while you try to find a way to dig out your existing emails from the monstrous Google universe, it would make sense to ask your web hosting company to set up a new email service with the same email address(es) and get the DNS records updated for email to point to whatever email service they use. If you had done that at the first sign of trouble, you'd have had your email up and running last week, but you can still do it. It just takes some hours for the DNS update to be propagat... See more In the meantime, while you try to find a way to dig out your existing emails from the monstrous Google universe, it would make sense to ask your web hosting company to set up a new email service with the same email address(es) and get the DNS records updated for email to point to whatever email service they use. If you had done that at the first sign of trouble, you'd have had your email up and running last week, but you can still do it. It just takes some hours for the DNS update to be propagated throughout the web.
Then you can work calmly on finding a way to recover any email that may be languishing in Google's labyrinth.
Teresa has illustrated why it’s not a good idea to use an ISP’s email domain, but then Google wouldn’t have been involved, so I don’t think that’s your case.
We need to be in control of the IT, networking and web solutions we use, a lesson you’ve just learnt a bit late. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:00
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| How do they tell that? | Oct 27, 2022 |
Denise Phelps wrote:
I've checked that: domain admin & domain hosting are both up to date and both tell me that there is no Google Workspace account associated with my account with them.
How do they tell you that, do you have some evidence or screenshot to support this?
Somebody from the organization paid for Google Workspace subscription that has now expired.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:00
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 09:00
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Sorry that this had happened to you. Wow, this is terrible! I do recall something about Google Workspace shutting down some of its services unless you migrate to something else in time. An association that I work for uses Google Workspace services and I remember receiving such messages from Google recently (fortunately, we were on a non-profit tier, which meant that our service was not interrupted). The guy who set you up probably got those notifications himself, and didn't realise or rememb... See more Sorry that this had happened to you. Wow, this is terrible! I do recall something about Google Workspace shutting down some of its services unless you migrate to something else in time. An association that I work for uses Google Workspace services and I remember receiving such messages from Google recently (fortunately, we were on a non-profit tier, which meant that our service was not interrupted). The guy who set you up probably got those notifications himself, and didn't realise or remember that he had set up a service for someone in the distant past who would be affected by these changes.
You may be able to get your Gmail mails back by using Google Takeout, although I'm not sure if you can still use that if your services have already been shut down. I recommend that you visit the link posted by Dan above and try to follow those steps.
You really need to get someone who is an expert at connecting domain names to Google Workspace to figure out whether or how you can get this back. My suspicion is that the guy who originally set you up simply created a free tier in his own name, thinking "oh, it'll always be free, so it's safe to just use a temporary G Suite account", and connected your domain to it. This would mean that without that guy, you won't be able to get into any of this.
I feel really sorry for you -- this is akin to suffering a hard drive crash and realizing that your backups never actually backed up, and all you have are some old files (this happened to me about 7 years ago, though fortunately in my case I still had all my emails). I hope you have offline copies of all your invoices, so that you can contact all your clients to tell them that you have suffered a catastrophic loss of data, so that you can pick up where you left off.
[Edited at 2022-10-27 11:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Denise Phelps
Local time: 09:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you all | Oct 27, 2022 |
for responding.
Samuel, that is exactly what this is like. I think I'm still in a state of shock; when I look at Google help pages, my head just spins. I think you are right, the person who set this up must have forgotten about me and my account and just let things lapse.
Thanks for the G Legacy link Dan, this does sound like my case. I've arranged to see someone tomorrow, with all Goggle help pages and links bookmarked, and fingers crossed he'll have more success wadi... See more for responding.
Samuel, that is exactly what this is like. I think I'm still in a state of shock; when I look at Google help pages, my head just spins. I think you are right, the person who set this up must have forgotten about me and my account and just let things lapse.
Thanks for the G Legacy link Dan, this does sound like my case. I've arranged to see someone tomorrow, with all Goggle help pages and links bookmarked, and fingers crossed he'll have more success wading through them. But he isn't hopeful and finding an actual expert in this sort of stuff isn't easy: I don't even know what would such a job would be called. Also thanks for the new email suggestion. As you say, damage limitation is now the aim. I've almost given up on ever getting my old email back again.
Lingua 5B: I have screenshots from chats and I have emails. They even sent me links to pages (e.g. DNS servers) showing that this was nothing to do with them.
Thomas: This a very sensible suggestion. I shall try getting my hosting company to set up a new email with their service. Changing email address after 15+ years sounds like an utter business disaster to me. As you say, a very hard lesson.
Teresa: No, it wasn't linked to a phone. But the end result is the same, except out of the blue and without a chance to save important information or warn clients.
Again, thank you all for your help. ▲ Collapse
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What a nightmare! I wish you all the best and hope that everything will be back to normal soon...
| | | | | No email address change | Oct 27, 2022 |
Denise Phelps wrote:
Thomas: This a very sensible suggestion. I shall try getting my hosting company to set up a new email with their service. Changing email address after 15+ years sounds like an utter business disaster to me. As you say, a very hard lesson.
There is no need to change your email address. Your hosting company or domain registrar will just update the IP address for your email handling in the DNS (Domain Name System, the gigantic internet register of domains) so it no longer points to a Google server but to the server provided by your hosting company or the email handling provider they use. On that server, they can set up your email system with all your existing email addresses.
As for recovering anything from Google, good luck. I have no idea how that works or how much backup they may have. Did you regularly download emails to your own computer (in which case you would have nearly everything) or did you leave all your emails on the Google server (disaster scenario)?
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:00
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Remember that hosting doesn't have to be your email provider | Oct 27, 2022 |
Denise Phelps wrote:
I shall try getting my hosting company to set up a new email with their service. Changing email address after 15+ years sounds like an utter business disaster to me. As you say, a very hard lesson.
Denise, it is indeed a hard lesson - I have been through something similar myself. The severity of the punishment hardly fits the triviality of the crime.
Just to point out in passing that the hosting company do not necessarily need provide your email. For example, I registered my work domain with bluehost.com and pay for it to be renewed through them every year, but my email is separate, as explained earlier.
If you have the credentials for your domain registrar / hosting company, which seems to be the case, all you have to do is sign up with an email provider.
Most of them, like Fastmail (I mention them only because they are what I know, and because I've been satisfied with them as a customer), will have a domain setup wizard or something similar to help you through the process. It's not as terrifying as it might appear.
Good luck!
Dan
| | | | | Email provider | Oct 27, 2022 |
Dan Lucas wrote: Just to point out in passing that the hosting company do not necessarily need provide your email. For example, I registered my work domain with bluehost.com and pay for it to be renewed through them every year, but my email is separate, as explained earlier. If you have the credentials for your domain registrar / hosting company, which seems to be the case, all you have to do is sign up with an email provider. Most of them, like Fastmail (I mention them only because they are what I know, and because I've been satisfied with them as a customer), will have a domain setup wizard or something similar to help you through the process. It's not as terrifying as it might appear.
Dan is absolutely right, but for someone who is not so familiar with all this, it may be simpler to keep it all (hosting, domain registration and email handling) with one provider to have one single point of contact. At least that's what I'm doing, and email handling is included in the price for hosting with ChemiCloud anyway.
| | | | Denise Phelps
Local time: 09:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
thank you all so much for listening, as well as providing advice. It helps.
Thomas, guess what? Disaster scenario. Full nuclear option. I have *nothing*. I was paying for the domain and the hosting and thought I was safe (actually, I didn't think anything at all, the possibility of this scenario simply never occurred to me).
I am now manically downloading *everything*, including all your suggestions, which I hope I can pay someone more skilled than myself to put into p... See more thank you all so much for listening, as well as providing advice. It helps.
Thomas, guess what? Disaster scenario. Full nuclear option. I have *nothing*. I was paying for the domain and the hosting and thought I was safe (actually, I didn't think anything at all, the possibility of this scenario simply never occurred to me).
I am now manically downloading *everything*, including all your suggestions, which I hope I can pay someone more skilled than myself to put into practice. ▲ Collapse
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