buyer beware... AdWords Pre-Pay Difficulties

[azileretsis]

Google refuses to give back the initial fee if the service does not work out.

For my business, I needed to prepay and the FAQs say that you can prepay.

I signed up but the signup process did not give me a choice to prepay. So, I email Google staff and after several emails, they tell me it's not possible to prepay with their current system.

Then, I had to decide to not use their service and closed my acct and requested a refund. After several days, they told me they could not refund me.

$5 isn't much but for service I didn't get, it's a ripoff or just bad customer service.

[Marcia]

Let me ask you this. Does it say before you sign up whether or not you can pre-pay, or indicate that you can? Does it give different options, implying that pre-payment is a possibility, or did it just explain how *it is done*?

What I'm getting at is - before you paid the $5 to sign up, were you in any way led to think that you could pre-pay?

>>FAQs say that you can prepay.
Is it explicit, using that terminology or describing pre-payment?

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Added:

OK... from the FAQ, this is exactly what it has

https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6390&topic=63

Please note that the most widely available method of payment is by credit card, such as Mastercard and Visa, accepted internationally, and debit cards. In certain countries where credit cards are not widely used, we also offer direct debit and bank transfer payment methods. Depending on the payment method that suits your locale, you may also have the option to pay for your advertising prior to receiving clicks (prepay) or afterwards (post-pay).


Post-pay allows you to pay only after users click on your ads and you accrue charges. Your ads run almost immediately after you submit your billing information. When you activate your post-pay AdWords account by submitting your billing information, your ads start running. You are then given an initial credit limit that allows your account to run before you pay for any of the clicks you receive. You are then charged every 30 days or after reaching your credit limit, whichever comes first. If you reach the credit limit within 30 days, we will charge you and raise your credit limit.

Prepay allows you to pay in advance of receiving any clicks. As you receive clicks, we deduct the charges from your prepaid balance. Your ads run almost immediately after we receive your payment. If your account runs out of funds, your ads will stop running until you make another payment, so be sure to regularly check your account balance. To help you keep your account balance up-to-date, we'll email you when your funds run low and when your balance draws down to zero.

So that indicates that whether there's a possibility of being able to pre-pay depends on what's suitable for the particular location where a person is. It's entirely possible that it simply may not be available for some areas, the way that's written.

So what the FAQ's say is that you *may* be able to pre-pay - and according to that, some can and some can't. I'd have to say that it wouldn't be a bad idea to suggest that if there's any question about whether pre-payment is available for a particular location, where it says to contact them if there are questions specifically on that topic. It may, however, be strictly automated - though if people would ask in advance it would prevent this from happening.

If this answer does not resolve your issue, please search or browse AdWords Support for more assistance. If you are unable to find your answer, please contact us.
The answer as to whether it's available in any specific locale isn't available in the FAQ, so the option is to email their support beforehand, before signing up, to avoid this happening.

I signed up but the signup process did not give me a choice to prepay. So, I email Google staff and after several emails, they tell me it's not possible to prepay with their current system.
If it's not available at all with their current system, then the section describing pre-payment should be removed from the FAQ, because to be perfectly honest it could easily be confusing the way it's written.

I'm sorry you've had the problem, but thanks for bringing it up. I've never even heard of the possibility of pre-payment, but I'd probably use a prepayment option myself if it were available. I hope they do eventually have it available, if they don't now. Not only because some people need to, but some folks just don't like to run up bills - even if it is for advertising as good as AdWords.

[Discovery]

One option available to you is to have google invoice you for your ad clicks.

Google offers this to customers who can pass their credit check. I dont know if they have other criteria, such as ad spend budget to qualify you.

I do understand that it was the point of the matter and not the $5 that upset you. I dont like feeling fleeced either, no matter the dollar amount.
But with that said, if your concerned about $5, then you may not be the type of high volume customer Google would offer invoicing to.
If you are budgeting more the 1k in ad spend a day, you should send an email to support, and or contact an adwords rep to ask about a credit application.

We have many clients, so invoicing is very convenient compared to using multiple company credit cards.

Lead Discovery

[AdWordsRep]

Marcia, many thanks for clarifying, and providing a link to the correct page.

I thought I'd jump in with additional clarification, and to point out where the information, as to whether pre-pay is an option for a specific locale, is available.

So - at the top of the page that Marcia linked to is another paragraph with a very important link. This paragraph is just above the portion quoted in Marcia's message.

This link is really key, as it takes you to the 'Payment Options' tool, which will tell you exactly what payment options are available to you. The available options are determined by two factors, which one specifies on that page:

* The currency in which you wish to pay
* The country in which your billing address is located.

So using this tool, one can quickly know in advance what payment options are available, and make an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed.

The paragraph reads as follows. I've bolded what would be the link:

Google AdWords currently accepts major international credit cards, debit cards, direct debit, and bank transfer payments. Payment options available depend on your country and currency. Visit our payment options page to view all options currently offered.

The link will take you to this page:

Account Fees and Payment Options
https://adwords.google.com/select/AfpoFinder

One really important side-note about payment options: for technical reasons, once an option is chosen it can't be changed - at least at present. So, to provide a couple of examples, this means that if one is currently set up for post-pay, it is not currently possible to switch to pre-pay. Or if one has chosen to pay in Euro, it isn't possible to switch to US Dollars. We do understand that this is not ideal, and are working on expanding options.

AWR

[Marcia]

The link will take you to this page:

Account Fees and Payment Options
https://adwords.google.com/select/AfpoFinder
AdWordsRep, there is no "submit" button on that Payment Options page to get specifics for a particular locale, and the only information available there is about post-pay. So from that page, it looks like the only available option is post-pay, even though I'm in California; no pre-pay seems to be available, even right here a few hours south of Mountain View. ;)

There might just be a little clarification need in that specific area, because it seems there isn't any advance information about pre-pay. If I were signing up and wanted that option, I'd be inclined to send an email first, as suggested, to verify whether it would be an available option for me.

[AdWordsRep]

AdWordsRep, there is no "submit" button on that Payment Options page to get specifics for a particular locale, and the only information available there is about post-pay...Marcia - the 'submit' function is automatic - and the tool will automatially update with results which are different for the different variables entered by each advertiser. For example, try asking about paying in Japanese Yen, with a billing address located in Japan. You'll see the options change. Then, if you go back to US dollars with a US billing address, they'll change again.

So from that page, it looks like the only available option is post-pay, even though I'm in California; no pre-pay seems to be available, even right here a few hours south of Mountain View. Hey! Very nice to know that we're neighbors.

Still, the reason you'll see only the post-pay/credit card option for US Dollars and a billing address in the United States is that that is the only option available at present.

Currently, the pre-pay option is primarily available in countries in which the use of credit cards is not widespread. As I mentioned though, we're hard at work on increasing the options available.

There might just be a little clarification need in that specific area, because it seems there isn't any advance information about pre-pay. If I were signing up and wanted that option, I'd be inclined to send an email first, as suggested, to verify whether it would be an available option for me.Point well taken Marcia - about a possible lack of clarity, even though the information is there. I'll happily point the billing teams to this thread, and include comments from this thread in my weekly Advertiser Feedback Report. :)

AWR

[KeywordMonkey]

Related point: in the UK I manage accounts on prepay, credit card (so paid in arrears) and full invoice.

Google is atrocious - sorry but that is the only word - atrocious at detecting money entering their bank and then applying funds to the relevant Adwords account (and yes it is trasferred over with the correct reference).

Electronic transfers via the BACS or CHAPS systems are common business practice in the UK (more than the US I am led to believe), but Google's back office operations (Ireland?) are slow and a back hole.

I've had funds not allocated for 5 working days AFTER they were received, requests for refunds not processed after literally weeks...

Overture, Espotting, Mirago, even littl' old WebFinder are significantly better in the this area. Clients get very annoyed with Google over this - and from Google's point of view, accounts go offline because funds haven't been applied. I'm sure that won't please shareholders!

Suggestions:
- streamline the back end process
- allow fund deposit by credit card. The rest of the industry does in many countries!

That's my 2ps worth

[Mel66]

AWR, I've already discussed this with my AdWords rep, but it bears repeating: It would be very helpful to be able to list a second credit card that could be used for your account in case the first one is over the limit or otherwise has problems. This would be *highly* preferable to having your ads paused when your only payment option runs into a glitch. We had our entire account paused during the Christmas holidays because our CC provider's computers went down for an hour and the payment Google tried to submit during that time was rejected. Not a good situation to say the least. We lost hundreds of sales as a result. If we could have listed another CC from another bank, this never would have happened.

My rep said this is a much-requested feature but again, I think it bears mentioning here.

Melissa

[AdWordsRep]

Melissa, I will absolutely pass your feedback in this week's Advertiser Feedback Report. Yours too, KeywordMonkey!

And may I thank everyone for their very reasonable presentation, even in the face of not liking the situation. I really appreciate that.

A lot. :)

AWR

[KeywordMonkey]

Cheers AWR..needed to get that off my chest!