Google Apps Administrative Access Problem

[soveryapt]

Good morning folks

 

Right, interesting issue. One of my clients is having some issues with regards to their Google Apps (Legacy) accounts.

 

Being legacy, you can imagine the block I'm getting from Google with regards to this, so I thought I'd bounce it off you guys to see if anyone has any other suggestions.

 

The issue is simply this, they have 3 companies in one office, a minority share director for one of those companies has gone a bit rogue, the ex-IT guy for those 3 companies is a relation of the rogue director and as a result has locked the email accounts for all the companies, each one is on a separate Google Apps (Legacy) account.

 

Now, we have access to the inbox emails for the companies as thankfully the ex-IT guy wasn't the sharpest tool, and he essentially used forwarding rules and the "check other accounts" for getting access to the e-mails in the Google Apps area instead of setting up correct MX records and all that jazz. So, on one front, it's good, we have control of the e-mails and anything going forward is all in one place and sorted. The issue is the records of the sent e-mails from the company accounts which are on the Google servers. The passwords have all been changed on the accounts the remaining directors do not have administrative access to the accounts (I don't know if they ever did) so we're not able to get an administrative password reset and just keep meeting the "contact your administrator to reset your password" message.

 

I've tried phoning Google but their lines are harder to find a real person on the end of than when you phone the DVLA or similar, and the only chance you apparently have of talking to a real person is through their support line with a support PIN, which you can't generate for a legacy account anyway (I tried on my own in case I could get through and then seek advice sneakily), so I'm at a loss.

 

I've advised my client they seek advice from their legal team and issue various demands for the passwords etc, but in case there's anything else anyone can think of to try, I figured I'd consult the hive.

 

Thanks all in advance

Andy

[ShorehamGeek]

Do you have control over the DNS for these accounts?

 

I seem to recall being able to get back into a legacy account by changing a DNS record to show I was the admin.

[soveryapt]

Yeah, I have control for the DNS on these accounts and I saw something vague about that, but then couldn't see anything further as to what settings I needed to change.

 

If you have any further information that would be fantastic though.

[soveryapt]

Just looked more into this and I'm just going around in circles on the Google site.

[ShorehamGeek]

Have a look here:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/apps/R3_Qo_lbRSw

 

I think that is where I started. Good luck!

[soveryapt]

Thanks again, eventually managed to find that page when looking through the forums (if I'd have come back instead of just reading it would have saved me some time).

 

Eventually managed to get Google to phone me (yes folks, a phone call from a human at Google!!) and we went through a few details which lead me to the right addresses and such, thankfully they hadn't changed the recovery e-mail addresses so I was able to contact their old webmaster who set the GApps up for them in the first place and we're back in, and they're locked out.