In September I tried to run my first Google Ad. I called it First Attempt. I put a limit of $500 a month and picked my keywords and came up with a good description of my services and launched the ad. An hour or so went by and I got a notice my ad was declined because I didn't fill it out right.
No problem. A few days later I tried again. I tried to correct my ad and launched. Again, a few hours later I got a decline letter. Okay, so I was missing something. My fiancee and I left town for an early honeymoon and I figured I would handle it when we got back.
While we were over in the UK, Google sent me an email that said they were "fixing" my ad. I wasn't paying attention to my email as I was away on honeymoon. As far as I knew my ad was not running.
After fixing the ad, Google ran NINE TIMES THE MONTHLY LIMIT in 10 days I had a monthly limit of $500, they ran $4,500. The ran my debit-card account dry and then they ran the savings out because the over-draft protection kicked in.
I called Google and got no help. I protested the charges with VISA and their response was "Google says you agreed to it". Even with the printed log that shows two new adds called "GOOGLE CREATED: First Attempt" and "GOOGLE CREATED: Second attempt", Visa still took Google's word that I had clicked some checkbox and agreed to spend NINE TIMES my monthly ad spend in 10 days.
I've written certified letters. I've requested arbitration from VISA. Nothing. It's just insane.
I will not trust them ever again. They have never responded to my letters and VISA has sided with them completely. Where is a person to turn?
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