My Google dev account got closed for "inactivity" ...

# random

[Jez]

My Google dev account got closed for "inactivity" whilst I was going through redundancy (and therefore not checking my dev account emails). Now I've lost my fee and the work I'd put into setting up a couple of closed alpha apps. I've just been making apps for side projects and only recently built up the courage to try publishing things so this has been a real kick in the teeth and I don't really have any community outside this slack to try and turn to for help or support 😕

I can't contact Google's support because I didn't make a record of the account id outside the play console, and access to that has been taken away. It's not clear if I've been banned from ever being a Play Store dev again, or whether I'm expected to create a new account and pay again. It's not clear if I'll be able to use the same developer name I'd used before, which I have a domain name for etc, so additional cost associated with losing that if that's the case.

I dunno, it completely took the wind out of my sails to be made redundant AND lose my personal dev account at the same time, and now I've built up the energy to try again and there's immediately a roadblock from this monolithic, incommunicative corporation that seems to be telling me to just go away and stop trying.

Does anyone have any guidance? Will google hunt me down if I create a new account to use for development? Is there any way to restore my previous one? I just wanted to put StretchPing (https://github.com/Ninjars/StretchPing) on the play store so my partner can more easily get updates, and maybe some other people would find it helpful :(