So relieved - previously locked out of Google

[JadeSeahorse]

Hope you don't mind me adding this here but OMG I am so relieved this afternoon.

To cut a very long story short, 2 weeks ago I changed my PAYG SIM to a contract SIM. However, started having issues with several apps
leading to me having to reset the phone to factory settings. All well and good but when everything was downloading again I accidentally locked myself out of Google. I knew the email and password but needed a 2 step verification code which never arrived so stupidly I kept trying and then was locked out because of too many failed attempts. I felt sick!

To make matters worse I was reading horror stories on the web about it could take a week or more to clear and there was a possibility I may never have recovered the account.

Today arrives after a very sleepless night and I went onto my old Chromebook which amazingly still had the Google account working. I then managed to access security and realised my 2 step verification code never arrived because I tried to verify before my text messaging had been reloaded following factory reset and the recovery email address had never been verified which I managed to do today.

Several hours later a message page popped up on my phone saying "Welcome to Google - please sign in.". VERY nervously did so, 2 step verification worked a treat and after re- entering all my passwords to apps etc. this afternoon I am now back up and running and the initial problem apps are now all sorted. Relief is a massive, massive understatement.

So sorry for boring you all to death but I tried Mumsnet yesterday to see if anyone had experienced similar and nothing so I really hope this may prove useful to someone else some day.

Disgusting really that Google don't have any sort of customer service you can contact and particularly for oldies, like myself, who struggle with some of the online terminology.

Huge glass - bottle - of wine tonight.😁

These things are (for me) so so difficult 😁.

I phoned a seldom used bank the other day and the guy started asking me about verification and passwords and memorable phrases and I just had to say I don’t know, just reset everything for me.

If I’m on my regular account I’m fine, but as soon as I step away from that and I’m signing into things I only go near infrequently, I’m lost. How many times do people sign into their google account? Like, once in a blue moon, right?!

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself you would never have to sign into Google again unless you locked yourself out or needed to change something but, like you, I am pretty rubbish with these things, especially mobile phones. I am so envious of the younger generation who can reset these things without thinking. It must be really hard for anyone under 50 to understand how we are so dim when it comes to these things but the most technical thing I had to learn as a teenager was typing on an Imperial typewriter.🤣. We still had ink monitors at school in my day.😂😂😂

I'm such a dinosaur!

There are a couple of things you can do to reduce this problem in future. Sign up to a service
like 1Password that organises all your passwords to keep them secure. And google will let you set up a backup email (trusted partner or older child) who can reset things. You can also print out a secure code to reset your account and keep the print out safe at home as an insurance.