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Comment by marcus_holmes | Hacker News Reader

I dismantled a business a couple of years ago. I let the domain lapse, dismantled everything. Forgot to cancel Google Apps. I noticed the charge still coming out of my bank account a while later, and tried to get it canceled. Couldn't log in, wasn't given the option to use the backup account, couldn't receive an email. Contacted google support. A few emails later they accept that I'm the person who is paying the bill, but refuse to cancel the account. Their last support message is "you'll have to dispute the charge with your bank".

On to bank support, who don't have a category for "service is being provided but refusing to cancel" sigh

Needless to say, never using a Google service again.

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At the point you inform the service provider you no longer want the service, the next time they charge your account is simple fraud or theft, and that is something your bank better damned well act on.

Just say it like that. "X is stealing from this account. This is a fraudulent transaction." That frames it in a way they understand and they have a box for that.

It's also just like a former employee using passwords they are no longer authorized to use. It doesn't matter that they once had that access legitimately.

>Needless to say, never using a Google service again.

The only Google services I bother with are search, maps, youtube (in a non-logged-in viewing-only capacity, not a posting-my-own-videos capacity) and the android play store (paying for apps via gift cards). I don't trust google not to cancel new services on a metaphorical moment's notice, and I don't have any faith in reaching a human being if I have a billing problem. So I make sure not to tie my life in any way to my Google account.

It feels strange to say, as an old school Linux fanboy who vividly remembers the Halloween document release, but I tend to point "I want to move my business to the cloud" friends/acquaintances to Office 365 instead. Say what one will about Microsoft's scummy behaviour over the years, but no-one can claim they aren't into Office 365 for the long haul. And while it's not exactly easy to get a human being at Microsoft to fix a problem, it's certainly easier than Google.

I’m a Gsuite, maps and YouTube user. I want to move away from Gsuite and maps but don’t think there are good alternatives.

CityMapper comes close but isn’t there.

FastMail support is worse than Google and has fewer features.

I use Fastmail and their support has been excellent. I use them now for every new startup attempt.

Yes very responsive.

I've pointed out a number of errors in their FAQs, some technical and some spelling and grammar related.

They have always acknowledged the issue.

3 months later, the issues still remain. Oh well.

Yeah. Some companies seem to think this stuff isn't important.

It really is, when first looking through a website to see if they have their stuff together.

>FastMail support is worse than Google and has fewer features.

Actually I use Fastmail, and am a big fan. I've never had an issue reaching support. Of course I've rarely had to, the service is pretty reliable.

As for features, I could flip that around on Gmail. Does Google rigidly adhere to imap/carddav/caldav standards so that standards-compliant clients have no problems whatsoever in connecting, or are there still cheerful little "quirks" when trying to use non-official clients with Gmail?

I am weeks into trying to resolve a carddav issue with fastmail. Email support from them is lousy at best.

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