Google Mail won't let me use unused name.

Hi 'yall, long question but I don't know where else to ask. I have left my old isp, Charter.com, and moved to Verizon FiOS. Verizon no longer has it's own email servers. They've farmed it out to AOL. The AOL email is nothing but webmail. So, I figured the hell with it, I'll just use Google. But...when I try to start an account under a particular name, Google tells me that name is already in use. But...when I send an email to that name, it bounces, saying the account doesn't exist. How can I find out what is going on? Google doesn't seem to offer help. Sorry if this is an inappropriate question for this forum.

I would say it used to be someones account, was deleted or closed and because they don't recycle accounts it is just dead now.

Your Gmail username. Once it’s deleted, you can't use it again later, and you can't create a new Google Account with the same username

Delete your Google Account

This is a similar situation, not exactly but you can see the trouble others have trying to get back or use a previously deleted account,

Lost access to Gmail. Account doesn't exist but when I try to recreate, am told username is already taken.

OvenMaster said:

fibbermcghee said:

Hi 'yall, long question but I don't know where else to ask. I have left my old isp, Charter.com, and moved to Verizon FiOS. Verizon no longer has it's own email servers. They've farmed it out to AOL. The AOL email is nothing but webmail. So, I figured the hell with it, I'll just use Google. But...when I try to start an account under a particular name, Google tells me that name is already in use. But...when I send an email to that name, it bounces, saying the account doesn't exist. How can I find out what is going on? Google doesn't seem to offer help. Sorry if this is an inappropriate question for this forum.

When did this happen? I have Verizon DSL and I've received no notification of any requirements to change in email addresses or shutdown of mail servers.

From this, it looks like you aren't effected by the change,

Frequently Asked Questions - verizon.net email moving to AOL Mail (FL, CA & TX)

OvenMaster said:

[Whew] Thanks for that. I dodged a bullet, it seems!

You're welcome. It seems you did at that.

Thanks for all answers. Seems I'm just out of luck. Maybe I'll try AOL.