Google Goof Up?
This post has been contributed by Rajeev Thakkar - CEO & Director of Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services (PPFAS).
Google is supposedly unbeatable. However the larger it becomes, the more it is resembling Microsoft. My latest experience with Google is all about how not to run customer service. We are advertisers on Google. We use keyword search advertising and display advertising on Google network (Adwords for short). Supposedly, Adwords is the one of the main money spinners for Google. In such a scenario one would assume that Google would have a lot of focus on Adwords and would give its advertisers a superlative experience. Indeed at the beginning the experience was good.
Based on our spends we were given a relationship executive to help us out and configure/ word our ads better. We could chat with support executives. We had a general email support account where we could send in queries. We have been advertising with Google for more than a year now. Recently RBI (the central bank of India) changed its rules relating to the way credit card transactions would be authorised. This applies to all credit cards issued in India and the rules were announced months in advance. These rules came into effect from August 1, 2009. Google did not correspond with us at all about the new rules (all e commerce sites like travel portals, auction sites etc. had been planning the transition for months). Google tried to charge our credit card on August 14, 2009 (Friday) and it did not go through on account of the new rules. Bam! our Ads stopped showing by Sunday. Again there was no intimation to us by email. There is no alternative way indicated as to how we can make the payment by credit card or otherwise under the new regulations. There is no phone number I can call, no email account where I can write. After filling out a form on Friday, I got a canned response on Monday from Google (by which time ads had already stopped). They had not figured out how to run their system under the new authentication system (which is a pretty standardised, Verified by Visa / Mastercard routine that everybody else has figured out). One could also not do an online funds transfer. There was some form to be filled out and sent to them by post so that they could charge our credit card. We sent the forms to them the same day. After sending the form...... no progress. Again there is no one i can speak to or write to. Our ads are still suspeded and as a result we have been getting zero leads.
As regards Microsoft vs. Google, I guess "the more the things change the more they remain the same."
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