the antics of google

A couple of days ago, Google abruptly cut off the service by which I've been hosting my emuu.net mail.

Today they restored it. Sort-of. It's no longer the $50/year, one-account service I had before. Now it's a $0/year, ten-account service. And it turns out that they cut me off in the midst of that "transition" because I un-checked a single check box on my account setup page. That check box was supposed to mean that my account would not roll over in August when the current contract year expires.

So, by indicating that I wouldn't automatically renew in late August, Google assumed that I wanted my account terminated now. Ha-ha, very clever Google.

But there's more. Google, it turns out, hasn't been billing me for the renewals every year. They were unable to find proof that I'd paid for my account since my first year expired in August of 2010. I was amazed—this is a company that markets its "Checkout" e-commerce service for e-retailers? Not building much confidence.

And then there's the final oddity. When I went to the Google Apps website and tried to find the "ten addresses hosted for free" service, I couldn't do it. The closest I could come was the same service that I was subscribed to (but not paying for). But thanks to the support fellow, I have a link to the free hosted service.

It kinda makes me wonder .. did they realize at some point that they were unable to bill for my account, and then give me access to a hard-to-find service? Or was it a simple series of weird incidents. In any event, I've moved emuu.net to another service provider. But I have uses for that free service, oh yes. I can now move my Caritas email accounts to the free Google hosted solution from the pay-for service I've been using. And when I launch the new Beaches community service, I'll need someone to host email for that, too. Woohoo, bring on the free if maddening and dubious Google.