I attended the third Google Summer of Code, and they paid me using an unnamed credit card. It was impossible to use the card anywhere, including using their very own Google Checkout!
All my transaction attempts were flagged as suspicious by Google. And I was performing very normal purchases from a regular country, both online and onsite.
Getting hold of someone that could help me was a nightmare, and I only managed to use my funds 20 hours before the card expired, and a year after GSoC had ended.
Yes! It's a systemic issue and it has turned into a popularity contest online... whoever has more clout gets their account fixed... It is a big issue and I agree with you.
OP has just invented "Proof of Grief", a new way to mint crypto. Burn one to get an actual human being at Google to help you with a problem that they themselves caused for you.
This makes me want to make a startup which is a customer service arm for google. It runs a 2-sided marketplace to pay real google employees who can help with users who need their accounts unlocked/etc. It would have different categories for finding a relevant googler, and could even schedule them in shifts, with a chat room and shared note-taking space for the employees to collaborate. It would be a win win.
The next phase is when someone who believes in the startup gets to a exec position within google, and can hire and shield actual CSRs who only work through the startup. That business unit will find more success because of the better customer support, which will put pressure on other business units to do the same.
It would of course be much better if google just had the decency to provide human support.
That is a great idea provided that you can find actual human beings to make a deal with. I'm sure someone from google is reading this with a smug expression in their faces.
