A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
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A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
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Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#2Well this is unfortunate. I would have expected Google to credit your account accordingly, though.
A couple of years ago, we noticed massive automated click fraud that Google's fraud detection algorithms didn't seem to catch (which was kind of strange since all the clicks came from the same IP). However, after sending over some HTTP logs to Google, they removed all the invalid clicks from our account within a day or so.
I would definitely try to get my money back in your case.
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#3Trust, but verify.
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#4Google should really refund the money to you for that - they must be in breach of a terms of service?
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#5Trust, but verify.
Yeah yeah, that sounds great. The problem is, how do you verify some of Adwords' metrics and stats? There are so many ways that the service could screw up without you even being aware of it.
Even in the example given (where the OP could see a wrong telephone number), how could they know how often it had been shown wrongly, and how many people had called? Only Google knows (or could know). You have to trust them, but you cannot verify them.
Even if you come up with your own metrics to monitor Adwords, why would Google believe your numbers over theirs?
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#6Trust, but verify.
Yeah yeah, that sounds great. The problem is, how do you verify some of Adwords' metrics and stats? There are so many ways that the service could screw up without you even being aware of it. Even in the example given (where the OP could see a wrong telephone number), how could they know how often it had been shown wrongly, and how many people had called? Only Google knows (or could know). You have to trust them, but…
@ joosters you definitely right, sometimes it is hard to believe the figures when you only to look by your own metrics. it should have a proof before you trust while verifying them.
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#7How could we know if Google punishes public complaints like this with gradually poorer ad placing?
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#8Did you ask for a refund and they didn't give you at least a partial one?
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#9When I saw the title my initial thought was, "here we go, another person complaining about Adwords who probably just doesn't have the time to fully understand the intricacies of the platform."
But this was a legit bug! Google made a clear mistake. I didn't see it in the post, but did you ever explicitly ask for a refund? If it were me I would certainly be demanding my money back for any clicks associated with the bug.
Note: the nicer you're to customer service agents when you plead your case, the more likely they're to help you out. I'm not suggesting you were mean, just a general tip when trying to get an issue resolved, especially when dealing with big companies.
Re: A Google Adwords Bug That Cost Us
#10It really bothers me, how bad the Google's support is, especially for the products that make them money. It's common knowledge that they can close your advertiser's profile, lock the money and you won't be able to reach them about it. But at the same time, nobody is making a lot of noise about it, although it is a multi-billion dollar company and it is the product that they make most of their money from. Most of B2B start ups that wind up in "Show HN" have better support than Google!
But no one is doing anything, because what can you do — switch another context ad system designed for another search engine? Yeah, right. This is the classical monopoly example, that no one does anything about.