Live data from Hacker News

Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

smartprivacy.io

81–90 of 227 posts

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#81
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Google's point of view it's more like: "Sorry, I cannot accept this bill, and since you presented counterfeit money to me once, then you are prevented for the rest of your life to enter these premises again". I'm not saying this is right, but I think it's the more apt analogy.

Except it's in no sense of the word "counterfeit", right? So the analogy falls apart pretty hard for me. It's more like that old Taco Bell $2 bill story.

It may not be counterfeit but if Google has a wealth of data indicating that this usage pattern results in fraud then it might as well be the digital form of counterfeit.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#82
Bad PR and popularity backlash is what corporations fear the most. We should wait for such things to happen (and then be quickly fixed because of the name) to some really popular figure who will make it public, then grab popcorn and watch Google, or any other corporation that screws "normal" customers, produce spectacular stunts to escape the unavoidable negative press.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#83
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This whole practice reeks of being downright fraudulent. Especially with a new technology like Apple Card, which folks will understandably not have a strong familiarity with. I get that Google needs to combat fraud and all that, but they should at least inform the customer of why such a drastic action (a permanent ban! !!) was taken with almost no warning. Really, any respectable company in this situation would simpl…

I think an application of Hanlon's Razor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor ) is applicable here. Google is in an oligopolistic position (along with Facebook) in the online ads space. Therefore, they face zero consequence for having extraordinarily poor customer service. As a result, they optimize their customer "service" to minimize work for themselves. I ran into a very similar situation with my gas c…

Bank accounts and credit cards work very differently in making payments. Getting an ACH transaction disputed is far more time consuming and difficult. Fat fingering a bank account number number and not triple checking it for an ACH payment isn't something I would just shrug off.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#84
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately both your scenarios are perfectly legal. Credit cards are not a protected class.

Imagine if that very thing happened at a grocery store. You're in a small town, no alternative, and you've got no driving licence. Would you like to starve because of no reason? Btw, I'm not saying it's illegal. I'm saying it SHOULD be illegal.

It should be illegal as soon as the District Attorney decides to prosecute every instance of criminal fraud.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#85
post #2

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine. I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. In this scenario it seems pretty obvious that their automated fraud AI messed up, but the customer service person is probably also automated. They hav…

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine.

Its also almost certainly completely fake as they're done nothing of the sort. I'd be shocked if it wasn't as automatic as an away message.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#87
post #2

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine. I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. In this scenario it seems pretty obvious that their automated fraud AI messed up, but the customer service person is probably also automated. They hav…

This is exactly what I said few hours back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20838089.

Premium support in Google only exists to make sure your have paid them. They will ban your account after you have paid them. They usually want till your payment is cleared and then ban you.

My colleague's play account was banned because he used PayPal not Google wallet, when it was launched

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In this scenario it seems pretty obvious that their automated fraud AI messed up Ah, but is it really obvious? One of the benefits of virtual card numbers, in particular the Apple Card implementation, is that it's easy to switch them out, which makes tracking harder. Could it be that a company that makes its living off tracking users would not be overly fond of virtual card numbers? As long as users' reaction is "i…

If that's the case, they should simply reject charges from virtual cards, rather than charging them and then banning the account.

But as I've argued above, maybe the deterrent effect is a feature, as long as it's the use of virtual cards that is deterred and not the use of Google products.
Post reply on HN