Where does Google promise that review process? The sign-up flow for a developer account doesn't appear to mention anything like it.
Even if they did, fraud is a high barrier, it sometimes producing "bad" results that are reversed for PR reasons isn't enough. Given the case here, "A human has looked at the account and has confirmed that the only developer that has ever used it has been banned, this matches the criteria for banning the account" would be a review. (If they really gave the app developers the credentials to the account, that alone might be a violation of the rules? But I don't know how the Play Store backend works in detail)
Businesses treating businesses badly aren't that easy to reign in.
avip actually responded similarly below actually citing the relevant section of the TOS but got downvoted? Don't know why, this is perfectly valid.
I'd simply ask, can they very publicly offer a review process which is essentially a functionless placebo button or is that misleading enough to subject them to any liability at all?
I doubt it's actually functionless, but it's not a "please reconsider your decision", but only "please check you haven't made an error" they probably expect everyone to hit, and treat it as such.
I guess it boils down to if anything is actually checked, ever, or if its just a glorified autoresponder. The always super-vague nature of the responses does not fill me with confidence as to the former.
Even if they did, fraud is a high barrier, it sometimes producing "bad" results that are reversed for PR reasons isn't enough. Given the case here, "A human has looked at the account and has confirmed that the only developer that has ever used it has been banned, this matches the criteria for banning the account" would be a review. (If they really gave the app developers the credentials to the account, that alone might be a violation of the rules? But I don't know how the Play Store backend works in detail)
Businesses treating businesses badly aren't that easy to reign in.