I was about a week from launching a react native app on iOS/Android, so decided to go through all the administrative motions to get things going in case there were any delays in getting that moving.

Google Developer account cost me $25. A few days go by and I get an e-mail asking for identification documents and a bill that shows that I live at the place I'm at. I send my passport and utility bill with my name on it, those get rejected with absolutely 0 reason the next day.

Zero explanation. I raised about 8 different support tickets and DMed several people on twitter and linkedin that worked for google and emailed a few higher up people.

At one point I got some communication from a completely different department that wasn't accessible to the support lines publicly available, and it looked like they were going to help me.

But in the end nothing.

This was a copy/paste response I saw for every support ticket:

Thanks for contacting the Google Play team.

As much as I'd like to help, I’m not able to provide any more information. Unfortunately, we are unable to verify the documents you provided and are unable to grant your appeal.

If you are located in the EU, you may have additional redress options. Learn more about those potential options in the EU Out-of-Court Dispute Resolution Help Center. Routing ID: ZLFS

Thanks again for your understanding.

My final response after a week of relentless effort:

I'll concede in understanding that:

No one has actually looked at my documents

No one wants to give me a reason why you won't help me

No one on your entire support team is capable of performing basic customer support tasks.

Thanks for treating me like some untouchable beggar when you were the ones that stole $25 from me.

Apple/iOS cost me $100 and my developer account was verified within two days with zero hassle.