Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
WILNOT65
Newbie

How can I get my Gmail into my new iPhone X? My story is complicated:

When I retired in Nov. 2015, my company email address, my work Google+ account and my verified work Twitter were shut down. I had previously linked my personal Gmail to those accounts because I often used my iPad Air and iPhone 6s for work. Those two devices, plus my home iMac, still have access to that Gmail account—but it did not migrate from my iPhone 6s when I fired up my new iPhone X.

So now my personal Gmail appears hung up because it is linked to a former work address that is no longer active. I long ago forgot that company password, so I tried to sign in and change it. But Google keeps sending the verification request back to my now-defunct former work email!

For the last two weeks, Google has run me around in circles. The company refuses to give me access to my personal gmail despite a mound of proof that it is genuinely mine.

Can someone please help me restore access in my new iPhone? I can't be the only retiree with this problem, can I?

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Re: Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

It sounds like you are in a tough position Wilnote65. I wish I could help you. I am sorry Google is giving you the runaround. I would recommend creating a new http://spr.ly/6582DEg9r Gmail account and then adding http://spr.ly/6583DEg9T it to your iPhone X. Creating a new account will give you a fresh start, and you won't have to wait anymore. This can also be a temporary fix until Google figures things out. Does this help?

 

AmberF_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

If my response answered your question please click the "Correct Answer" button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

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Re: Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
WILNOT65
Newbie

Thanks, but is there no way to move the technical settings on one device to

another? I have another Gmail, but ALL my contacts and commercial links

come back to my old one. It would be a giant pain.

On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 12:10 PM, vzw_customer_support <

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Re: Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
stef7
Master - Level 2
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Re: Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
WILNOT65
Newbie

Tried stef7's suggestion about 20 times. It keeps telling me it doesn't have enough info to return the account. My work account was relatively high profile in my company and even had my photo on it. Still, Google refused to see me as me. 🙂

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Re: Personal Gmail held captive by my former work email...help, please!!!
deloused
Master - Level 3

Without access to the recovery email address/security answers linked to your account the additional recovery form details would have to be very accurate, like-

1)When you created your account, 2)What Google services you use, 3) And who you email frequently.

Without those specific proofs, Google won’t reset your password for you to recover the account, and they recommend a new properly secured account as it sounds like you’re able to easily prove you’ve been using the account in question, and they’re seeking proof of the account creation to verify ownership-

“If you're unable to recover access to your account using the recovery form, you can create a new account. Gmail usernames cannot be recreated, so if you were using Gmail, please pick a new username.”

Account Recovery form - DoubleClick Creative Solutions Help

https://support.google.com/richmedia/answer/6246097?hl=enWhy is it so hard to recover a Google Account?

At Google, we take your privacy and security very seriously, and we will only return an account when we’re sure that it’s being returned to the account owner. Because Google doesn't ask for much personal information when you sign up for an account, we don't have many ways to verify that you own an account. The best way to make sure that you can regain access to your account if you get locked out is to keep your recovery options updated, and you can use these options on our password assistance page.