4 ms·

This is not an exaggeration (even though it's funny). I have had Google reps literally run out on me. IE, stop answering emails, supplying phone numbers that g

by netcan 17y ago

This is not an exaggeration (even though it's funny). I have had Google reps literally run out on me. IE, stop answering emails, supplying phone numbers that go nowhere etc. When I finally did get someone back on the phone to talk to, they acknowledged that they had stuffed up with their suggested "campaign optimisation" & that they must restore the old campaign. They promised to call back within 20 minutes once a person with more authority was located. I haven't heard back since, had to try & restore things myself. Even with this terrible service, this account still sent almost $1m to Google this year. In fact, we haven't even been able to get reasonable payment methods from Google & they still follow their hide, acknowledge then disappear CRM. This comes up a lot since credit cards don't always work well when you try to charge $2k every 5 hours. Adwords has all sorts of bugs that appear when the banks get suspicious about these.

patio11 17y ago
A bit of context for folks who don't know the back story: Netcan is (or works for) a fairly significant AdWords spender. (He has a few comments about AdWords on HN which are worth reading.) I spent about $6k on them in 2009, and they're directly responsible for about 40% of my revenue and 1/3 of my profits. My comment above which on second reading appears to be sarcastic and exaggerated is a literally accurate account of what I went through last August. See generally http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=790800 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=790800 or http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=791003 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=791003 and the blog post linked from the second comment. Full disclosure: I am a case study for how effective AdWords is. http://www.google.com/adwords/conversionoptimizer/bingocard.html http://www.google.com/adwords/conversionoptimizer/bingocard.... (And I'll say this: despite having worse customer service than the Japanese immigration authorities -- whose three part mission statement includes the words "Forcibly expelling undesirable foreigners from our nation"　-- AdWords was and is the best advertising option that has ever been invented for small businesses.) Edit to add: On review of the posts I remembered, I realized that I appear to have mentally conflated netcan with a HN member named netsp. My apologies for my memory being dyslexic.
- netcan 17y ago
  Netcan & netsp are the same person (me) so it does apply. (sorry about that, I updated my profile to show this) You make an important point. This poor quality of service from Google hasn't affected their revenue from this advertiser(s) at all. Actually, several times a year the ads go down for a few hours due to a failed payment, CC issue or some payment related adwords bug while I drop everything & try to get a rep on the phone. I suppose that ads up to a few grand per year. But.. these are highly competitive areas. If we aren't on the page someone else is for a marginally lower CPC. BTW, your case study link doesn't work
  - patio11 17y ago
    BTW, your case study link doesn't work I fixed it. My apologies for the typo.
    - netcan 17y ago
      "We are literally the case study for adwords effectiveness." Awesome. Does conversion optimizer really work that well for you?
      - patio11 17y ago
        Does conversion optimizer really work that well for you? I speak three languages and still don't have words sufficient to praise Conversion Optimizer. Are you in a mood to tolerate rabid, missionary zeal at the moment? Because if you are I can talk CO all day.
        tezza 17y ago
        I am launching something that may be using Adwords. So all this info is fantastic. I'm keenly looking at all your posts here, but I don't have any specific questions yet :( My biggest question: "Is Adwords worth the time" seems to be a resounding Yes from your previous comments
        17y ago
axod 17y ago
It took me a quick phone call to get monthly net30 paper billing setup with them :/ They send me a bill at the end of each month, and I pay it within 30 days. Quite a lot nicer than credit cards if you have a substantial spend. And better for cashflow. I guess it's a UK/US thing which is a shame. Maybe you can call the Ireland support?

by netcan 17y ago

patio11 17y ago

A bit of context for folks who don't know the back story: Netcan is (or works for) a fairly significant AdWords spender. (He has a few comments about AdWords on HN which are worth reading.) I spent about $6k on them in 2009, and they're directly responsible for about 40% of my revenue and 1/3 of my profits. My comment above which on second reading appears to be sarcastic and exaggerated is a literally accurate account of what I went through last August. See generally http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=790800 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=790800 or http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=791003 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=791003 and the blog post linked from the second comment. Full disclosure: I am a case study for how effective AdWords is. http://www.google.com/adwords/conversionoptimizer/bingocard.html http://www.google.com/adwords/conversionoptimizer/bingocard.... (And I'll say this: despite having worse customer service than the Japanese immigration authorities -- whose three part mission statement includes the words "Forcibly expelling undesirable foreigners from our nation"　-- AdWords was and is the best advertising option that has ever been invented for small businesses.) Edit to add: On review of the posts I remembered, I realized that I appear to have mentally conflated netcan with a HN member named netsp. My apologies for my memory being dyslexic.

netcan 17y ago
Netcan & netsp are the same person (me) so it does apply. (sorry about that, I updated my profile to show this) You make an important point. This poor quality of service from Google hasn't affected their revenue from this advertiser(s) at all. Actually, several times a year the ads go down for a few hours due to a failed payment, CC issue or some payment related adwords bug while I drop everything & try to get a rep on the phone. I suppose that ads up to a few grand per year. But.. these are highly competitive areas. If we aren't on the page someone else is for a marginally lower CPC. BTW, your case study link doesn't work
- patio11 17y ago
  BTW, your case study link doesn't work I fixed it. My apologies for the typo.
  - netcan 17y ago
    "We are literally the case study for adwords effectiveness." Awesome. Does conversion optimizer really work that well for you?
    - patio11 17y ago
      Does conversion optimizer really work that well for you? I speak three languages and still don't have words sufficient to praise Conversion Optimizer. Are you in a mood to tolerate rabid, missionary zeal at the moment? Because if you are I can talk CO all day.
      - tezza 17y ago
        I am launching something that may be using Adwords. So all this info is fantastic. I'm keenly looking at all your posts here, but I don't have any specific questions yet :( My biggest question: "Is Adwords worth the time" seems to be a resounding Yes from your previous comments
      - 17y ago

axod 17y ago

It took me a quick phone call to get monthly net30 paper billing setup with them :/ They send me a bill at the end of each month, and I pay it within 30 days. Quite a lot nicer than credit cards if you have a substantial spend. And better for cashflow. I guess it's a UK/US thing which is a shame. Maybe you can call the Ireland support?