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Google Play Developer Account Suspended

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by canaryspace, Jan 18, 2015.

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Do you find Google a hard company to contact when in need of help or support?

  1. Yes

  2. No

  3. Never Tried

Results are only viewable after voting.
  1. #1
    If you are one of the unlucky ones to have your Google Play account suspended, you may be able to help. Google uses a system that is very unfair and borderline illegal. For a monopoly worth billions of dollars, Google should have someone you can talk to when this happens, however, when it does happen, you receive an automated email and appeals normally fall on def ears. If you lose the appeal, any emails you send are simply either deleted or ignored, making it impossible to argue your case. In many cases, your account is suspended without a valid reason, the links to Google´s terms are pointless, many people follow them and never break the terms but still end up with their accounts suspended. The entire automated process of account suspension needs changing to give developers a fair chance to argue their case. Google is not always right, even when Google is wrong, their decision is final. If you rely on your Google Play developer account to pay your bills, earn a living, put food on your table etc and you lose your account, you are pretty much screwed. Amazon store is supposedly the next best but since Google Play removed the Amazon app, it has gone downhill. Opera was the next best but they are now linking directly to Google Play apps instead of hosting the APK files, the reason is the warning message that every Android phone gives you when you are installing an app that is not on Google Play. Google have the monopoly and are using it to kill off every bit of competition they ever had and it is working great for them at the expense of many thousands of people who have been suspended.

    What you can do to help is share a blog written about how Google are getting away with this. The more people who share it, the more chance Google may just reinstate some accounts and change the way they work. Please read the blog and it may open your eyes to Google s corrupt system. If it got 1000 shares on Facebook, Google will take notice and it will be a valid case against them. Google will need to do something but I need your help.

    The link is a Facebook post, easier to like and share, https://www.facebook.com/1freechat/posts/757102847692177
     
    canaryspace, Jan 18, 2015 IP
  2. rsrikanth05

    rsrikanth05 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Believe me, this is NOT going to work. Google suspended my AdSense in 2008 three days after I added it to my DigitalPoint profile.
    I was earning around 15-20 cents a day and one day I earn double and the next thing I know is I get a mail saying it is suspended due to click fraud. Repeated appeals, even after a gap of 6years have reached deaf years. Yes, Google is unethical in some matters but you can't do anything about it because they don't care.
     
    rsrikanth05, Jan 19, 2015 IP
  3. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #3
    I have explained what has happened to a couple of lawyers here in Illinois and one of them thinks I have a good case for a lawsuit and the good thing is, he is a no win no fee lawyer, so he must think I have a good chance, otherwise why would he waste his time? Now the reason things dont work is because people think, sod it, even if I share that link, nothing will happen, therefor, no one bothers, so it will not work! Lets do something good, share it, like it and just maybe something good will come of this. All we want is Google to play fair, it isn´t too much to ask of them ;)
     
    canaryspace, Jan 19, 2015 IP
  4. rsrikanth05

    rsrikanth05 Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I guess in the US you stand a chance. Outside, we're stuck.
     
    rsrikanth05, Jan 19, 2015 IP
  5. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #5
    canaryspace, Jan 20, 2015 IP
  6. jahir07

    jahir07 Member

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    #6
    I have Google play store publisher account, that is not related to my admob account. Both are different email account. I am publishing apps on my play store publisher account. My question is - can i publish another admob pub id's apps in my apps publisher account?? My friend has another adsense account, he wants to publish his apps in my play store publisher account. Is this save?? Or Is this violate google policy??
     
    jahir07, Jan 25, 2015 IP
  7. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #7
    If you want to lose your developer account, then yes do this for sure! Google robots will match the AdMob ID in the app to that of an account that may or may not have been banned, however, it is not your AdMob account so you will probably get your own developer account suspended, maybe not straight away, but in time for sure, all depends on when the robot is going to check your account. Sundar Pinchai, the boss of Google Play is a person who has too much power and it has gone to his head, he is acting like a nazi, just like the rest of Google, the most evil monopoly in the world.
     
    canaryspace, Jan 26, 2015 IP
  8. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Hi,

    I am writing to you about a serious problem that effects the livelihoods of many people around the world, taking away their ability to support their families and at the same time, the loss of years of hard work. Corporate greed from one of the most powerful monopolies in the world, Google Inc, is destroying the livelihoods of many Android app developers and there is nothing, us developers, can do about it, there is no human to human support, appeals fall on deaf ears and Google use robots (software) to run the entire system to save money.

    I am an app developer and have been working very hard, harder than most people I know, for the past year. Sometimes I would work 18 hour days, sometimes 3 days straight with powernaps, just to get the app complete and to the best quality possible within my knowledge. I work very hard to support my wife and 2 year old son, to provide the basics and to give them the best possible life. The reason I develop apps is because, as a web developer, my online business has fallen greatly due to the massive increase in popularity of smart phones and with each Android phone sold today, the Google Play app store is already installed, giving users direct access to all the apps on the marketplace, Google´s marketplace. If you want to succeed in web development, you need to create apps to market your website, a website without an app simply will lose over half of its potential visitors, I have my own stats to prove this.

    My apps have been paying over half of my bills and have been growing, getting more popular each day, they are the most important part of my entire business and have taken a lot of painstakingly hard work, doing the job of 6 people from the blank page to the app launch on Google Play. I start with the idea and then comes the design and functions, programming, graphics, the launch and then the promotion, it is a lot of work and I do this for every app I create. I was getting to the stage where I was able to give out some work for people who needed it, creating jobs is a good thing, if I was able to continue, I think I would have been able to expand further, creating more jobs, however, Google and it´s cooperate greed has put an end to that.

    Just over two weeks ago, my wife, son and I were on our way to Florida from Illinois for our much needed holiday, our first holiday in over a year. I was planning to not work for 3 weeks but enjoy the time with my wife and son. Unfortunately, we were involved in a car crash in Nashville, not our fault, we stopped at road works and the driver behind us wasn´t looking where he was going, he smashed into the back of us at around 60mph, destroying our car. As a result from the accident, my wife pregnant at the time, had a miscarriage, we are totally gutted that this happened. There was also a domino effect of events that occurred from the crash, my passport is missing somewhere and as a British citizen currently in USA, it is going to be very difficult to apply for my greencard. My Spanish residencia was also in the passport, so as I live in Spain, an emergency passport may or may not get me back home to Spain should I have to leave the U.S. After the crash, we were left in Nashville with nothing, no hire car and nowhere to stay, so we had to use our holiday money to pay for a hotel, taxi and a bus back to Illinois, canceling our holiday, we needed to get my wife to her doctor and get an attorney to help with the insurance claims. We are waiting on the insurance companies to sort out everything, hospital bills, car, damaged items etc. The main thing is, we lost our unborn child because of the accident and that has effected us greatly, it is a horrible feeling, something that will never go away.

    When we got back to Illinois, I had to try and work to get us back some of the lost items as fast as possible, so I started work on a new app to replace an old app that was wrongly named in the market. I had made a simple mistake and had an app named "Fun Photo Collage" that was infact a template app and not a collage app. My understanding was that "Collage" meant templates when in fact it means a collection of images to create one image. I unpublished the app and uploaded the new app, which was the same as the unpublished app but with the corrected name "Photo Fun". As soon as I published the new app, I got a message from Google Play telling me that my app had been suspended due to "Violation of the intellectual property and impersonation or deceptive behavior provisions of the Content Policy". I was either in violation of my own intellectual property or the name "Photo Fun", a generic name, was already published in the market, which on further investigation, it was, however, it is a generic name and can not possibly be the intellectual property of anyone, plus there are hundreds of apps in Google Play with the same name, so I appealed. Upon my appeal, I almost instantly received an email to let me know that my entire account had been terminated due to "Multiple violations of the Content Policy and Developer Distribution Agreement ".
    Naturally, I appealed my account termination and almost immediately after my appeal, I received this email below...

    "Hi Simon,
    After reviewing your appeal, we have confirmed our initial decision and will not be reinstating your developer account.
    Your Google Play Developer account has been terminated due to multiple policy violations by this or associated accounts. For more information on the app removals that lead to this termination please refer to the REASON FOR REMOVAL section(s) of notification emails sent to the registered address(es) of your developer account(s). You may also review the Content Policy and the Developer Distribution Agreement.
    Note that Google Play Developer Console terminations are associated with developers, and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. Do not attempt to register a new developer account. Any subsequent registrations will be closed and your developer registration fee will not be refunded.
    We are unable to provide further details and will not respond to additional inquiries. We recommend that you utilize an alternative method for distributing your apps in the future.
    Regards,
    The Google Play Team"

    I did not receive any email telling me exactly why or what I had done to deserve this and as the email states "We are unable to provide further details and will not respond to additional inquiries", Google simply ignore every email, phone call or FAX that I send asking them to please point out what I have actually done wrong and to please give me the chance to fix this. I have also explained that if I had done something wrong, it may be because I was not thinking properly due to the car crash that I have told them about. I have not heard anything back from Google and upon calling their main Google Play support line, I was told that Google Play do not have customer support (human to human) for developers, the system is run by robots! I have basically lost over half my income due to a robot, Google´s system to save them some money employing staff to help with developers problems. All I was asking for was for my account to be reinstated with the apps that I had, I would not bother to produce any more apps, I simply do not trust a system that does not have human support, a system run by software that sees everything as black or white and when the system makes a mistake, you can not argue your case. Every single app I had spent so many hours building has gone, deleted by Google and I have no way of getting them back and no one to talk to from Google to help me or to let me argue my case, they have simply cut me off, I am blocked for life!

    I am finding it very hard, watching my business die and even more so not being able to support my family to the best that I would like to. I have lost over half of my income because of Google´s way of operating, saving themselves money by using a system of robots that terminate developer accounts wrongly and without any way of human to human contact. This is the lowest I have felt in my entire life, both my wife and I feel destroyed, the only thing that gives us any relief is knowing that the car crash could have been so much worse, at least the three of us are alive.

    Android is an open source code, anyone is allowed to use it, it has been developed by people like myself and thousands of others and made available for all to use. Google have taken this public code and turned it into a muti-billion dollar business that has made it impossible for any other business to compete. It is supposed to be a free market but how can it be free when you try to install an app from anywhere other than Google Play, you are given a warning to tell you that the app might not be safe because you are installing it from a third party. Now if Google Play were to check every app before it was to go live, just like Apple do with iTunes, then maybe the warning would be warranted, however, with Google Play, anyone with an account can upload an app and it will go live unchecked, the only thing that is checked is the name, the copyright, to protect Google. The app installation warning will put possibly 90% of people off installing an app outside of Google Play, this makes it impossible for app developers to distribute their apps should they have their Google Play account terminated. Apple has a team of real people who check apps before they go live into the itunes store, account terminations will never happen this way, developers have a lot more confidence in developing for iTunes than Google Play, however, if you have spent years working on developing for Android, learning other coding is difficult, it is a completely different setup and why should we be forced to go back to learning a new code when the public code should be available to distribute freely?

    Now if I was to be the only person complaining about this situation caused by what I think is plain corporate greed, I would not be writing to various senators in the U.S, The Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Securities Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, FBI Internet Crimes Division, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Attorney General of both California and Illinois. However, Google have done this to thousands of genuine people, people who have worked damn hard to support their families, people who have spent years learning how to use eclipse and build Android apps, most of these people rely on Google Play to distribute their work. There is a petition on change.org here https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers there are so far over 2,500 people who have signed it, most of which are Android developers who are now struggling to earn a living because Google have terminated their accounts, even Steve Wozniak has signed this petition.

    Since Andy Rubin left Android and Sundar Pichai took over, the respect for the developers who built the market through their hard work has gone to absolute zero. If it wasn´t for the freelancer developers, the Android code would not have progressed so far into a mult-billion dollar business for Google. Also, Google take 30% of every sale on top of the $25 it costs to create a Google Play developer account. What is that money for exactly, do they really need it? Do they refund it when your account becomes terminated? No, they keep it! So not only are Google using a free open source code to create a multi-billion dollar business, they are using developers and taking 30% of their earnings! Surely with all this revenue, you would think that they would have human support for the developers, give them the chance to argue account terminations which in most cases is the complete loss of revenue, almost like being sacked!

    I am sending this letter to as many media companies as possible because I think people need to know that Google are hiding behind their motto "Don´t be evil", it is more of a smoke screen for possibly the most evil corporation in the world. Google do not care about anything else but money, ask the 2,500+ developers who find themselves struggling to pay their bills and support their families because of Google terminating their developer accounts, making thousands of people unemployed, depressed and on benefits, if they are entitled, just another small strain on tax payers money. Pure greed is where Google will not pay for a team of people to help support the developers or pay for a team of people to check the apps before they go live, if the app isn't good enough, it should not go onto the market, however, as it is now, you could genuinely publish an app, not realize that it has broken one of Googles many terms or maybe, in my case, it is using a generic name, triggering the app to be suspended, a strike on your account, 3 strikes and you are out, terminated without a chance to argue your case!

    I am hoping that one of the media outlets I send this to will publish it, I think it needs to be published, the public need to know what is going on and Google need to reinstate a lot of developer accounts and employ a team of real people to help hard working developers. Only when we get enough publicity will Google then maybe listen because right now, after a lot of appeals, many emails, faxes and phone calls to a switchboard, there is nothing, no reply, nothing and that is just not good enough for a corporation the size of Google. Please feel free to contact me, my grammar isn´t perfect so you can make changes, please make sure my main point is put across, people are losing their ability to support their families and already 2,500+ developers are feeling let down and depressed, families and children are suffering when they should certainly not be. App development is not easy, it takes years of study and work to earn anything, when all that is taken away from you by a robot and a greed driven corporation, imagine how it feels. Feel free to contact me any time if you want more information or you want to chat about my experience with Google and how they have destroyed my dream and taken away so much for from my family and I.

    Thank you for reading.

    Simon.

    Ps, please sign the petition at change.org we are half way there.
    https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers
     
    canaryspace, Jan 26, 2015 IP
  9. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #9
    Wow, sorry to hear about your personal troubles. I hope that everything works out for you and your family and that you are able to get back to your home soon.

    I grew disenchanted with Google many years ago as a result of my wife's business having an AdSense account that got suspended for unknown reasons that Google would not explain (much like with you.) We did manage to get through to a human, but he simply parroted the same message that you and we received in the boilerplate email. We did nothing wrong and ultimately it was re-instated, but it really soured me on them. How can you do business with an entity that does not communicate with you? Since then, I have termed the company, "Darth Google" whenever I speak about them to anyone. My opinion is that small businesses should take all steps that they can to avoid having to do business with the Google dark side. And I long for the next business being built in someone's garage that will be the Google-killer that the company so richly deserves.
     
    jrbiz, Jan 27, 2015 IP
  10. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Thank you for reading and sorry to hear about your wife´s Adsense account. The exact same thing has happened to me 3 times with Adsense. The first time I appealed, they stuck by the suspension so I built a new site as that one also got deranked after the Adsense ban for spam links, believe it or not, from a competitor who is still ranking on the first page for my keywords on a site that is newer than my old site. I built the same site but with a couple of changes, read the entire Adsense policy over and over again and this was fine for 1 entire year. Again, on my birthday, which is the day Adsense choose to suspend my ads on the website each year, ads were apparently against their terms and removed, so I appealed without making any changes and got a reply "Thank you for making the required changes to your site, blah blah blah", my ads were live again within 8 hours, no changes to my site at all. The year later, as expected, on my birthday, 5th June, ads suspended again, this time I managed get through to someone by email and explained to them that this is not the best birthday present I could have each year and to please quit it because rather than piss around contacting Google, I would sooner be having a drink with my family and friends! Ads live after about 8 hours again. This time though, I get deranked for spam, same old thing, my site was starting to piss off my competitor so he naturally spammed my site on spammy websites and eliminated me again and to make it worse, he is still top in Google search. I have left that site now and started a completely new site, this time, if it happens again, I will have to play dirty and I have let him know that I have a son now and anyone who takes away my livelihood will get screwed. Got some pretty mean software that will probably eliminate the strongest of sites, I am not one to play dirty but my family comes first.

    It just seems that Google needs to make some serious changes and maybe they have grown far too big to fast. It is not a garage business any longer, they can take their pool tables and colorful office buildings, their fun and games and shove it were the sun shines. Google needs to start being a business and look at what they are doing to the web, the genuine person trying to earn a living. Google need to grow up basically. How can it be fair that a robot can obviously ban you from earning a living and make it almost impossible to contact anyone human about your situation? How can it be fair that someone can clickbomb your ads and get away with it? How can it be fair that someone can spam your website on spam filled webpages and you have to clear up the mess when you could be doing something else more important? It is a shame that Google didnt stick by their motto "Dont be evil" and instead grew too fast and lost it along the way.
     
    canaryspace, Jan 27, 2015 IP
  11. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #11
    Ps, can you believe that there is now live chat support for developers?! That is a start to what I and another 2500 people have been fighting for! Coincidence or not, it is a start in the right direction, lets hope we see many more changes, it needs it!
     
    canaryspace, Jan 27, 2015 IP
  12. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #12
    UPDATE: Their live chat has stopped working as of yesterday, it was probably only there to try to stop me from sending them faxes every day and writing stuff about them. The appeal seems to be fake as it has been over 72 hours. So I am urging everyone to sign the petition on Change.org here https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SIGN IT!! We need 2400 more people and if we get that, Google will have to listen to us and stop being the arrogant, greedy, dirty monopoly that they have become. I am now on the bones of my a**, as in flat broke, €10 a day is not enough to support my family. What Google have done is a total disgrace and they can continue doing it unless something is done. Lets get it done, sign the petition, thank you.
     
    canaryspace, Jan 29, 2015 IP
  13. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #13
    I am urging everyone who reads this thread to please support the thousands of developers that have been unfairly blocked from distributing their hard work and their livelihoods have been affected badly. I know, I have a 2 year old to support and what Google have done is put us into a horrible situation. If you have a heart, please take just 2 minutes of your time and sign the petition....

    https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers

    Do you like the fact that a monopoly, where their CEOs are earning millions of dollars in their pockets every day can screw the average person?

    Do you think it is a good idea that a company with no morals other than greed and corruption can send a message to more people than the USA, UK and Australian government combined in one hit?

    I think you all need to think about the 2 facts above and please PLEASE PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!!

    Please give us some hope and end this barbaric behavior from one of the most dirty, greed driven, corrupt, disgusting monopolies in the world, Google.

    GOOGLE DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE!!!
     
    canaryspace, Jan 29, 2015 IP
  14. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #14
    Just start making iOS apps... way more money in that vs. Android anyway... Apple paid app developers over $10 billion last year. I'm not sure if Android developers made even $1 billion last year. So make iOS apps and make 10x more money?

    There are more Android users, but iOS users are the ones that spend money.
     
    digitalpoint, Jan 29, 2015 IP
  15. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #15
    Thank you for the advice and buzzing to have a reply from the Hero :)

    I wish I could switch to iOS but the expense of the devices and the time it will take for me to learn iOS is impossible for me right now as I need to do something to support my family. I have had nothing but problems with Google over the years and every time I get somewhere, they seem to knock me down. Adsense suspended 3 times followed by my main sites being penalized for spam I did not do, AdMob just got done and the developer account termination. I have 2 websites left that I am just about surviving on, any other expense outside of that is impossible, my savings are depleted because of a car crash, lawyers and insurance companies not moving fast enough, trying to not pay what they owe, questioning and delaying on everything.

    Fact is I have no savings, I have zero knowledge of anything but Android, basic web design and writing, I always wanted to have success in music but lost my vocals to nodules. I soldier on and will need to work on what I have and fight Google all the way, with support of the other thousands of people who Google have upset, it might be possible that we can change the way Google operate, although they will probably fall before they change, the latter I would like.
     
    canaryspace, Jan 29, 2015 IP
  16. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #16
    Good luck with the petition. What Google really needs is a disruptive competitor that really hurts their dominance in the market. I have been surprised and disappointed that nothing like that has cropped up yet, after all of these years.

    Right now, my impression of Google employees is that they believe that they are so smart/superior and their company has such a great founding philosophy (do no evil) that anything that they do must be okay. Fact is, I have sold to Google and the people that I sold to, despite being pretty high up in the hierarchy, were mostly B players. Reminds me of how Microsoft people were self-deluded in the 1990's before the U.S. government took them down a peg. Here is an interesting article in the Motley Fool describing how similar the situation may be with Google these days:

    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/02/is-google-asking-for-an-antitrust-case.aspx
     
    jrbiz, Jan 30, 2015 IP
    Rado_ch likes this.
  17. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #17
    I currently have a case against Google Inc about unfair terminations of Android developer accounts. I started without much knowledge but have since learned a lot from other people in who are in the same predicament. You will see that at the beginning of the case, I am not going to fair very well, just waiting for the Google reply to their useless web address to tell me what I have apparently done wrong and they posted it, so I played my ACE card that will make it very difficult for them to get away with another small minded reply and a link to their webpage. I started the fight just for myself, now I am fighting for and with thousands of people and I will not quit.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    COMPLAINT ACTIVITY REPORT Case # ****** BBB of Los Angeles and Silicon Valley

    Consumer Info: Ward, Simon Business Info: Google, Inc.
    *** ******** **** 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy
    **** ******, ** Mountain View, CA 94043-1351
    - - 650 330-0100
    admin@********.com


    Location Involved: (Same as above)

    Consumer's Original Complaint :

    Google Play Developer Account Suspended Without Reason
    I am an app developer and rely on Google Play to distribute my apps. I have spent a lot of time, effort and investment into building apps. Google suspended my account and on appeal they wrote this..

    Hi Simon,

    After reviewing your appeal, we have confirmed our initial decision and will not be reinstating your developer account.

    Your Google Play Developer account has been terminated due to multiple policy violations by this or associated accounts. For more information on the app removals that lead to this termination please refer to the REASON FOR REMOVAL section(s) of notification emails sent to the registered address(es) of your developer account(s). You may also review the Content Policy and the Developer Distribution Agreement.

    Note that Google Play Developer Console terminations are associated with developers, and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. Do not attempt to register a new developer account. Any subsequent registrations will be closed and your developer registration fee will not be refunded.

    We are unable to provide further details and will not respond to additional inquiries. We recommend that you utilize an alternative method for distributing your apps in the future.
    Regards,
    The Google Play Team


    They have not given me any real reason to why my account is suspended and I have already stated that I will put it right, but have not been given the chance or the required information to correct my apps.

    I am not violating any of the terms written on their webpage, I have sent proof that I own the rights to use the graphics I have used in my latest app. This app was suspended as soon as I launched it. I have 2 other apps that were suspended months ago, once again, without reason. Google have just taken away half my income and now I am very worried about supporting my family. We are already struggling. I do not see how Google, as a monopoly, should be allowed to use automated messages and robots to take away someones main income.

    Consumer's Desired Resolution:
    I want a chance to make things right, I need someone to tell me exactly where I have gone wrong, not a automated message or a webpage. If you can take away someones income, you should be able to explain why! All I want is my developer account back with the apps that have been live for the last couple of months, they were paying my bills and rent! I will not submit any more apps, I will stick with the ones I have.

    BBB Processing

    01/16/2015 web BBB Case Received by BBB
    01/16/2015 web BBB Case Reviewed by BBB
    01/16/2015 Otto EMAIL Send Acknowledgement to Consumer
    01/16/2015 Otto EMAIL Notify Business of Dispute
    01/16/2015 BBB MORE INFO RECEIVED FROM THE CONSUMER :

    Google tell me to distribute my apps elsewhere, so I try the Opera store, they tell me this..
    "Opera Mobile Store points Android users to apps' listings on Google Play. If you do not have your Android App on Google Play, you will need to create an Android build for your app and register it on Google Play.
    Opera Mobile Store is taking this action to better comply with Google's developer license and improve developer's statistical performance. Google's developer license requires that all Android apps deliver APK's to Android devices through Google Play. This change is expected to deliver better conversion to install rates for developers. Google Play supports delayed downloads over Wifi networks, installing your app after the download is completed. Many devices are configured to warn users when they try to install an app from third party sources."
    Basically, without my Google Play account, I can not distribute my apps anywhere. The hundreds of hours work, investment and learning eclipse has been a waste of time.
    Google as a monopoly are making it impossible for thousands of people that they ban from Google Play to earn a living. Their system is not fair, they should not be allowed to permanently suspend anyone without giving a valid reason of that person the chance to correct their mistake.
    I have made mistakes but without knowing the mistake I have made, I can not fix it.
    I have asked for help but that has fallen on def ears and I have been stripped of my rights to earn a living.
    I also see that there is a lawsuit already filed against Google about their illegal Android monopoly, you can read this here..
    http://www.phonearena.com/news/Anti-trust-suit-filed-against-Google-over-Android-monopoly_id55773
    All I want is for someone from this mega rich company to show me my mistakes and give me the chance to correct them and let me earn a living once again!
    01/20/2015 BBB MORE INFO RECEIVED FROM THE CONSUMER : I have spoken to William F from Google Play customer support and he is also not happy with the way Google Play developer team have treated me. However there is nothing he can do because the Google Developer department has no customer support by phone, only by email and once you lose your appeal, they will not read or answer any further contact. They have also kept the $25 that I spent to open my account, which I am not bothered about, but if you pay for something, there should be customer support by phone and you should never be ignored when trying to make contact. For a company of Googles size, there should be a way that I can talk to someone to argue my case, not the automated process by robots and certainly not getting ignored. I have sent around 8 appeals and 10 emails plus a fax to Google (FAO Google Play Developer Team) without any reply so far. Today I will be calling Google Play customer support once again to demand to speak to someone from the developer team, although I am sure I will be told that there is no customer support by phone for the developer team. What has happened to me, at the worst time in my life, has made me unable to support my family and I have done nothing wrong. The app was suspended as soon as I published it, I asked, in my appeal, if they could point me to the exact problem, should I change the name of the app, instead of a reply, my entire account was suspended and all my apps that have taken me a long time and a lot of effort to produce, the apps that contribute to over half my entire income, all deleted, gone for good. I am destroyed, gutted and very worried, I should not be feeling like this as I have done nothing wrong. I need someone to talk to from the developer team, human to human, so I can understand exactly where Google think I am wrong. This is obviously not going to happen, therfor, I hope someone will reply to this case on BBB from the developer team. All I am asking is that you reinstate my apps that were live and apparently not breaking your terms as they were live for a long time. This will give me the time to work on something different, ie, Windows apps or iOS apps, so I can stay away from Google for good, but with over half my income gone, I am going to struggle and end up on the dole. If Google didnt own the highest market share of apps, I would have been building apps for another system, however, Google do own the higher market share of apps and taking away the ability to earn on this market is not fair. Us, as developers, need a fair way to argue our case when an app gets suspended, not by robot or automated email, we need to talk human to human. I suppose Google are ignoring this case on BBB too?

    01/23/2015 BBB MORE INFO RECEIVED FROM THE CONSUMER : ***Document Attached***

    I have attached a letter that I will be sending to all the following sources as directed from this webpage here http://www.googledeception.com/File A Complaint.html
    The letter explains everything that has happened leading up to my account termination and why I think something needs to change with Google´s practices, which I think are unfair and on the verge of barbaric.

    (The attached letter can be seen on one of my other posts, I will post the DP link later on)

    01/23/2015 WEB BBB RECEIVE BUSINESS RESPONSE :
    After review we've determined the account will remain closed. There were multiple violations of the Google Play Developer Program Policies. For more information on Google Play Developer Program Policies please visit https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html

    01/29/2015 OttO EMAIL Forward Business response to Consumer
    01/29/2015 WEB BBB BBB REVIEWS CONSUMER REBUTTAL TO BUSINESS RESPONSE : (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

    I do not accept this because the reasons are not valid for my account termination, you do not have anyone to talk to so that I can see exactly why you think my account should be terminated, unless you give exact reasons to why you have destroyed my livelihood, I will not accept this. How does below warrant an account termination?
    First app suspension: I was new to apps and Google Play and having failed miserably with eclipse to build a basic webview app, I found AppsGuyser. AppsGuyser turns your mobile website into an APK file that you can upload to Google Play, an instant app, brilliant! However, as soon as your app becomes popular, AppsGuyser will load it with ads, full screen ads, ads without close buttons, ads against Google Plays terms. Your app will become suspended eventually and that is a strike against your account.
    Second app suspension: I have a mobile website that is for English Premier League football news. It uses RSS feeds, grabs feeds from all the latest news sources and puts them into order of each team, making it easy for a fan to keep up to date with whats going on with their team. I had learned how to build webview apps with eclipse so I built an app using my website and launched it on Google Play. It was immediately banned for copyright infringement, although there are many other RSS grabbing new apps from many different app developers on Google Play. I didn´t bother arguing, I just decided to stay away from that niche and webview design. However, suspending my app, how are all of the following still live? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=english.premier.live - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev95432.app99703 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myjk427.epl- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jw.android.pln - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.danwms.fcprem - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.triomis.phoneapps.premierleague those are just a couple of examples from when I type in "Premier League News" in an app search on your marketplace. Do you think those apps are ok but my app is not? I will now argue my case because once again, I think you are out of order and have an agenda against my developer account or me as a person.
    Third app suspension that account for my account termination: I unpublished one of my own apps that had the wrong name and published a new app, slightly different graphics but with a different name more suited to what the app does. I am not infringing any copyrights, I paid for all graphics and can prove this with receipts and logins to both businesses that I paid for the graphics and script from. I have already mentioned this but it has obviously fallen on deaf ears or simply not been read, that is not my fault that your system is not capable of looking at the facts. Now if you are suspended this app because my other app was still live, then once again, how can this be my fault as I had already unpublished the app that I was replacing, if it was still live, maybe you should sort your system out so that when an app is unpublished by the publisher, it is unpublished right away. I did give it an hour or 2, so that really is not my fault. If you suspended my app because I called it "Photo Fun", 2 generic words, then you must suspend half the apps in your marketplace! Now lets look at some more apps of the same name from different developers, there are lots!! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cse190.photofunapp - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.signity.photofun and if you search for something like "Photo Editor" there are too many apps to list here that have the exact same name and same functions from different developers.
    Now you tell me exactly why you have suspended my second and third app, because unless you do that then I will not give up. You have unfairly suspended my apps and terminated my account, taking away over half my income and a years worth of work, without a real explanation. I will not accept simply "After review we've determined the account will remain closed. There were multiple violations of the Google Play Developer Program Policies. For more information on Google Play Developer Program Policies please visit https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html" as nothing on that page you direct me to explains why you have suspended my second 2 apps and terminated my account. I will not argue with the first app, nothing I could do, that was out of my hands, but the second two, you suspend those in my account, you need to suspend thousands more apps in your marketplace!
    There is a petition on change.org here https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers at the time of writing this 2591 other developers have had the same problem which is quite a large number of people with similar problems as myself, so one consolation to this problem that you cause is that I am not alone which makes me fully believe that your system is unfair, corrupt and broken.
    As a company your size, I will say it again, you should have some real support for the developers who have helped you turn an open source public code into a multi-billion dollar business. You should have a review process, similar to iOS, where all apps are reviewed by a team before going live, not a robot, that would prevent any account terminations. To me and thousands of others, this makes perfect sense.
    I suggest you reply to this with either, "Simon, we have reinstated your account and removed the following apps because....." or "We have now changed our system so that all apps are reviewed before going live. Your account has been reinstated, please re-upload your apps for review".
    I think that make humanly perfect sense to me and thousands of others, it is all we ask!
    Another point is this, Android is open source, however, installing an app from any other market than Google Play causes the end users phone to give a warning that the app may be unsafe because it is not verified. You are not verifying the apps that are submitted in the first place so that is simply a false warning to prevent any other market from competing. This is an argument that I will be taking a lot further along with the other 2592 people who have signed the petition on change.org. If you prevent developers from working on Android and then use scare tactics to prevent end users from installing apps from third party markets, your system should back up your case by having a review team before the apps go live, because at the moment, that warning is not a true statement, it is a total outright lie!
    I expect you to reply, as this is a public complaint and will be forwarded to many other agencies, with some good news for myself and the 2,592 other developers whose livelihoods you have unfairly destroyed.
    Simon.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I will keep you updated on how it goes, wish me luck ;)
     
    canaryspace, Jan 30, 2015 IP
  18. v00d00

    v00d00 Greenhorn

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    #18
    with google any chance
    the banned my google ad for now sit down
    manipulation of site hitz

    but code was inserted but site was without traffic and i didnt clicked the banners or something
     
    v00d00, Jan 30, 2015 IP
  19. canaryspace

    canaryspace Well-Known Member

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    #19
    Have you voted yet? https://www.change.org/p/sergey-brin-respect-the-efforts-of-small-and-indie-android-developers

    People think that no matter what happens Google wont change, well that is why Google wont change, it is because of other peoples attitudes. If people dont stand up and fight, why should Google change? Google need the people, if everyone was to boycott Google search it would destroy them, they would lose over half their business and that would start their downfall. I have pulled in about 20 votes out of the 2,599, its not a lot for my effort, but I wont stop until I get that petition up the the 5,000 needed to make a change. Every vote means something to me, EVERY VOTE. so vote and help make a change. It has taken a lot of effort to get 20 votes, so rather than me give up, I just think every vote is worth a damn site more.
     
    canaryspace, Jan 30, 2015 IP
  20. v00d00

    v00d00 Greenhorn

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    #20
    yes i voted right now......2,394 needed
     
    v00d00, Jan 30, 2015 IP