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Tell HN: Dear Google support” ad in SJ Mercury News today
This company ran a full-page ad in the SJ Mercury News today, on page A5, asking Google for help:
Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/7h0H4lO
Interesting strategy to get help from support. But might it backfire?
__________________________
Dear Google:
We love you. We really do.
SO MUCH THAT WE SPENT $865,346.15 WITH YOU LAST YEAR. AND THIS YEAR WE WANT TO SPEND EVEN MORE.
But we're having an issue with our Google Ads account and it's preventing us from taking this beautiful relationship to the next level. Nothing major. Should be an easy fix. We just can't seem to find the right person over there to help us fix it.
Please don't take this the wrong way, your phone agents have been great and very friendly (especially Surabhi, we could talk to her all day) but they've been unable to point us in the right direction and, as a small company that relies on your awesome Googleness for much of our success, we're growing concerned.
Any chance someone over there could spare 5 minutes for us and make our dreams come true? We'd sure appreciate it.
Much (much) love,
Corey Newhouse - Founder & CMO
ICG America, Inc.
<phone>
- sattoshi 5y agoIs this the new escalation process? 1. Twitter 2. Hackernews 3. Full page ad
- Minor49er 5y ago4. Start a competing ad agency 5. Get bought by Google 6. Google dissolves the company because they can't resolve the issue
- greenyoda 5y agoA full page ad in the SJ Mercury News may be more likely to be seen by upper level Google management than a post on HN. It's also more likely to be seen by other big Google customers, who might be convinced to put additional pressure on Google. And it might be noticed by other large news publications. If Google is alienating customers who spend almost $1M/year, they may have deep systemic issues that require a significant course correction. That would need to happen at the highest levels of the company.
- reaperducer 5y agoA full page ad in the SJ Mercury News may be more likely to be seen by upper level Google management than a post on HN. So true. There's a reason that Facebook takes out full-page ads in newspapers almost every week.
- Rastonbury 5y agoIt looks like 800k a year doesn't even give you an account manager as the ad refers to phone agents A monopoly doesn't care, this ad shows it - a business is begging for Google to take their money and is reliant on them. If this happens anywhere else it's an immediate switch to a competitor Same thing with FB, there are numerous accounts of local businesses losing a chunks of revenue when ad accounts get restricted
- dusted 5y ago4. is probably to sue them for "15 minutes to talk to someone"
- Trias11 5y ago4. Billboard ad 5. TV Ad 6. SuperBowl Ad
- Tempest1981 5y agoScreenshot: https://imgur.com/a/7h0H4lO https://imgur.com/a/7h0H4lO
- askhertwice 5y agoKinda genius and very well written. But full page? That's gotta be a $10k buy.
- pcthrowaway 5y agoMight be worth it for them in PR alone
- greenyoda 5y agoDefinitely. It gets the name of "ICG America" in front of thousands of potential customers, and demonstrates that they can think of innovative ways of solving difficult problems. And mentioning Google is a very effective way of attracting readers' attention, since it's a name that's much more recognizable than their own.
- reaperducer 5y agoThat's gotta be a $10k buy. If you're losing $10k/day because nobody at Google has the power to fix things, it's a bargain.
- Trias11 5y agoThere are LOTS of people at Google that has THE power to fix things in minutes. The thing is NONE of them gives any shit about customers.
- layer8 5y agoThat’s just 4 days of what they are already spending, according to the ad.
- jhpaul 5y agoFull page was likely a cost-effective option to get this on someone influential's kitchen table or desk - or maybe on a coffee table in the google offices. A smaller might be cheaper (though not always), but less impactful. Assuming a slight increase from BayAreaNewsGroup's 2019-20 prices[0], this cost between $6K and $13K as a black-and-white, full-page (6col x 21in) run on a Monday. A full-page ad lists for $12,205 with opional distribution to Marin for an additional ~$1K and color for a 15% surcharge. There's also an "Early Week - Two Insertions in Three Days, Monday thru Wednesday" offer for $6K which gives an idea how much discount they may have gotten by running on a Monday instead of Thursday or Sunday where the impressions would be higher. [0]: https://s3.amazonaws.com/convertlyimguploadeast/eab8e660-893c-11e9-9713-87e4642d71ef/2019_generalratecard_1216s.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/convertlyimguploadeast/eab8e660-893...
- sebastien_b 5y agoOur company’s Adsense account got blocked for no apparent reason, with no communication as to why for over a month - total radio silence. We eventually gave up and just created a new account. The way I see it, any company that sells a service for money should be legally required to respond to their clients, and there should be an ombudsman to handle any complaints. Nobody should have to resort to posting an ad in a paper to get support for a paid service.
- sjtgraham 5y agoI don't think it's necessary to legislate for that per se. This is just indicative that Google has monopoly power in online advertising. With at least somewhat functional competition you would have an alternative to buying shame ads in Google's local newspaper.
- sebastien_b 5y ago> I don't think it's necessary to legislate for that per se. This is just indicative that Google has monopoly power in online advertising. Unless the government actually steps up and breaks up the monopoly, the only other possible solution I can see is legislation.
- schappim 5y agoI had the same thing happen w/ our Facebook ads account (we were not running ads). I'm sure it was just another case of Algorithm run amock. I went to lodge an issue and they required me to associate my personal mobile number with my Facebook account, something I've been avoiding doing for years. F that!
- deathtrader666 5y agoIs there no way to serve a legal notice to Google in this case? I reckon they are bound to respond once their lawyers get involved..
- xhkkffbf 5y agoI've heard that the thing to do is sue them in small claims court. Apparently Cali regulations prevent them from sending a lawyer and so Google has to send a real manager.
- chevman 5y agoDoes nobody in Silicon Valley understand how to negotiate a contract anymore?
- yumraj 5y agoContracts are negotiated when both parties are somewhat equal and have at least somewhat similar power. When dealing with a monopoly, contract terms are simply dictated.
- jonnycomputer 5y agoA sad indictment of Google.
- amznbyebyebye 5y agoAs much as folks like to hate on AWS on here, it’s definitely an area where they got things right. Call it customer obsession or just good ol fashioned business but making sure customers can get things resolved in a timely way, even at the cost of the bottom line, goes a long long way to maintaining trust. Especially for customers and businesses that are your money makers.
- sebastien_b 5y agoCustomer service is something we pay special attention to at work, and it's really paid off for us. We've had many people reach out to us after resolving an issue they had about how attentive and helpful our staff is to their concerns. If clients don't feel they can trust you with your service, they won't stick around.
- ThinkBeat 5y agoI would say I have had a different experience with AWS customer/ technical support. The company hired two "certified elite" AWS consultants and they needed the same help they were not getting it either but the last sentence made a lot of sense. We are far far too small to be real money makers for AWS.
- is_true 5y agoA friend got a lot of help from AWS support and he spends less than USD 10 a month. Even if they don't help you at least they answer, it's a nice touch for those of us with anxiety issues
- WisNorCan 5y agoA good approximation of market power is how poor your support can be while still having a thriving business.
- taubek 5y agoI don't see how could it backfire except for a fact that they will probably get a lot of offers from Google Ads experts/agencies that will tell them "We can do this for you".
- dusted 5y agoI sometimes think about how utterly screwed I'd be if googles bot decided that I'd done something wrong.. I'm not a celebrity, and not a company, there'd be zero change of getting my life back. I get depressed just thinking about it.
- AA-BA-94-2A-56 5y agoThe monopoly is so bad that the first words uttered after "Dear Google" are "We love you". A petty king bowing before his feudal overlord.
- ralston3 5y agoIt really does read that way. How are you (the customer) spending so much money with them (Google) but you're using these words? Wild times indeed
- mdrzn 5y agoThis is so depressing.. and Facebook has the same exact issues with their Ad Manager. I doubt there will be a way to fix these issues.
- ThinkBeat 5y agoThis seems to be a good approach for FAANGish companies if you can afford it. Does anyone have an estimate on how much an ad like that would cost? (The desperate obsequiousness of whatever sycophant put this together is vomit inducing. ) Also more from the consumer side: "Hey Facebook, I am FFFFFFF why did you delete my account? You suck" "Amazon why did you remove 50 Kindle books from my collection, I -bought- them didnt I ?" Actually, typing that the New York Times or The Washington Post should have a feature once a week or every day where frustrated FAANGish customers get vent ti a large audience and have a chance at being heard. It would help those who can't pay for huge ads out of pocket.
- glaucon 5y agoOthers have commented on the fawning nature of the communication (and I do appreciate if you're ICG America you might feel like you have to fawn) but what about the "But might it backfire" ? Gawd this is an absurd situation. BREAK IT UP NOW and put FB on the block beside it.