Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Google domain name registration saga

I received an email today that the custom domain here was suspended due to billing problems.

The next 2 hours or so were spent in frustration trying to correct the issue, with some help from the forums (although the forum help wasn't easy, and took much digging). So, to document, in case I ever need to refer back to this, or to help someone else who might have the same problems, here goes:

1) The problem with the billing of the annual domain name registration fee was because I had it set up through Google Wallet (Google payments?). That's no longer being used, so I had to change the billing to directly charge a credit or debit card. I think PayPal might have been an option too.

2) When I tried to login to Google Admin, I repeatedly received an error of "Invalid Request". This didn't tell me much. I searched Google Help (not helpful). I followed their problem solving matrix, but was tripped up by the list of error messages. Mine wasn't listed. (There's a reason; I'll get to that.)

3) I searched for variations of Google admin invalid request login, etc, etc, and read through some forum questions and answers, which only served to frustrate me more. Most recommended trying to login as "bloggeradmin"@DOMAINNAME.com, stating that Google had changed how things were done and now required a "bloggeradmin" account. <-- a="" about="" account.="" account="" admin="" advice="" also="" and="" attach="" cache="" clearing="" cookies.="" creating="" did="" didn="" domain.="" error="" gmail="" google="" got="" helpful.="" i="" it="" just="" login="" lots="" me="" nbsp="" new="" not="" nothing.="" of="" p="" really="" same="" seem="" still="" t="" the="" there="" this="" through="" to="" trying="" walked="" was="" when="" which="" with="">
4) Finally, I found a link in one of the answers to https://google.com/a/REPLACETHISWITHYOUROMAIN.com/ForgotAdminAccountInfo where you, of course, use your domain name where indicated. Finally some progress! It was here I discovered I was using the wrong login (and what the correct username for my admin account is). I was able to reset the password using the usual methods and regain access to the admin account. I'm pretty sure the "Invalid Request" error was because the login I was trying to use doesn't have an admin account, but I didn't know that.

5) Once logged in to the Admin account, I was able to update the billing information. Now, this took some time as I received errors that my request was unable to be processed at this time. Those errors persisted for a while, but I did finally update billing info.

All in all, it took 2 1/2 HOURS to search forums and eventually find answers. It was an exercise in much frustration. And I've learned my lesson and made notes of the admin account information. Which I probably have somewhere, but have lost since I only dig that information out once a year at billing time if necessary.

tl;dr: I've resolved the billing issue and House Eller can stay in this custom home.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - thanks so much! In the whole mess of discussions on this problem, your posting was the only one that was helpful! Whew.

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