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Gmail Crashes, Customer Service Springs into High Gear (Not)

Joshua Greenbaum · September 1, 2009

Google
Error

Server Error

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.Please try again in 30 seconds.

The above is what I saw, and continue to see, as I try to access my Gmail account. In case you’re wondering what to do next, the answer is nothing. Gmail’s customer service is unreachable too.  Hence a cautionary piece of advice with respect to your on-demand service provider: keep a phone number handy, because when a Web-only service goes down, so does all the online info about how to contact the service provider about fixing the problem.

FYI: I’ve been trying again, as requested for several minutes. Google’s optimism about a 30-second fix seems to be, well, a little optimistic.

September 1, 2009 · 6 Comments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Definitely not optimistic says

    September 1, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    Optimistic is right.

    Reply
  2. Jim says

    September 1, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    FYI: My gmail has been down for several minutes now. Sept 1, 4:37 EDT.

    Reply
  3. Sandy Kemsley says

    September 1, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    Check Apps Status (http://www.google.com/appsstatus#hl=en): although it’s for Google Apps, not Gmail, there’s shared infrastructure and the current issue spreads across both.

    Clicking on the X icon from there indicating a current service outage, you would learn that you can access your email via IMAP or POP, either from a desktop client or iGoogle. So just the web interface is down: an inconvenience for those who don’t investigate the alternatives, but hardly the apocalypse.

    Reply
    • ematters says

      September 1, 2009 at 9:15 pm

      It’s not the end of the world if you know how to find that page and then set up your email client to handle that kind of access. But that’s not why most of us use Gmail. and that’s not the kind of workaround that would be acceptable in many situations. And, why isn’t Google the one informing the world of this option?

      Reply
  4. Klaus says

    September 2, 2009 at 3:38 am

    Hey Josh,
    you are so 2008…

    http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GeekAndPoke/~3/Bt-CQnDbTt0/quiz-of-the-week-what-is-what.html

    Reply
  5. Richard Alber says

    September 27, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    I guess just because gmail is free you don’t need to help your customers with tech support. I guess that’s what happens when you get too big for your britches. Many thanks??????

    Reply

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