# my problem with google adwords billing



## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

so i was using google adwords for about a month or so.... i had my daily budget set at $2.00 and had 4 campaigns per going...

well, i look at my account because they tried to process a bill...... the bill was for $330.... i was like wtf...

so then i looked at my account and it said i owed them over $3,000....wtf....... i think my account got hacked or something....

i emailed them and we'll see what'll happen.......

i';m really pissed off about this...... not sure what to do.....

b


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## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

This is what happened to me if you look they changed the price on your keywords and boom it ads up fast. That is why I warn everybody I know to watch out for those AdWords coupons they just sucker you in and then boom Google nails you good luck I ended up paying it.


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## aoshi1 (Jul 10, 2008)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

wow, for someone just starting out (like me) those kind of sneak-attack prices could be crippling. Thank you both for the heads-up, this is priceless (excuse the pun) information here.


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

yeah.... it's was like $3000...now i peep it and it's at 4500...wtf..... my account was hacked and prices were raised..... looks like i got jacked on july 26 or so....i reveiwed the performance part and thats when the bar graphed raised to high rates...

i couldnt find a phone number either

i changed my password and tried to change my cc info (couldnt do that)

so now i'm freaking out........cause it's ... i never signed up or changed anything on my campaigns..... 

i'm not paying this either........ screw that.........


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

plus it said i had 478 clicks in the past 7 days...thats [edite] too...since i have a tracking program on my website and know where the clicks/hits/visits come from....... and most of my clicks come from websites that i post/view.....


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## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

As the frequency that a word gets entered increases and as more people want certain words Google starts to jack the price through the moon. In under 1 month I ended up owing them $9000 Dollars For a business I used to have.


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

how can google change your pricing though...wtf.....

i'm about to break something in a minute.....grrrrr


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

i had my daily budget set though...... so how can they do this?.......

i'm print/screen all the views in my account.... just for backup...

looks like just one of my campaigns was jacked up...... 

did you guys pay your b.s. bill or what?....

i'm going to see what they say.....


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

well,

after some review....... i think theres some sort of fraud involved...

reason being is that the clicks that google says that happen, doesnt add up to my website stats.... along with the drastic raise in my budgets/clicks......

luckily google will figure this out........ because on my end of things, they dont add up....


b


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## ShirtFight (May 13, 2008)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*

wow that really sucks man!

keep us updated with what happens!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*



237am said:


> well,
> 
> after some review....... i think theres some sort of fraud involved...
> 
> ...


It's very probable that Google will take care of it for you. Just stay in contact with them and let them know what seems to be happening.

Making a thread that says "don't use google adwords" is not a good way to get the situation resolved, and can sometimes make the situation worse. If it was a simple mistake, you wouldn't want your customers coming to a public forum saying "don't use xyz company" 

When it comes to your money, you don't want anything funny happening, and it can make you understanably upset, but sometimes the best way to work through it is directly with the company (and your credit card company)

If they don't resolve the issue, then it makes sense that you'd want to share your experience, but posting over a half a dozen times in an hour doesn't really give Google time to investigate or respond.


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

understandable.....

just was freaked out and prolly should have thought about it before hand......

maybe if google had a phone number then it would be different.... emailing forms/etc can really be a pain... especially on a situation like this

my fault....

you can delete this thread if you want...

b


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## aoshi1 (Jul 10, 2008)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*



Daniel Slatkin said:


> As the frequency that a word gets entered increases and as more people want certain words Google starts to jack the price through the moon. In under 1 month I ended up owing them $9000 Dollars For a business I used to have.


Holy schizz, that is insane. I know they are big, bu I guess now I know how they got so big, lol. and they can change the prices on you guys without you knowing about it? or is it in the fine print where costs can be changed anytime without notice? Google is indeed where it's at, but these prices are utterly insane.


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

i managed to get a hold of them..... they did say that there is an issue and will take about a week.....

they suggested for me to run all the cleaners/spybots programs possible....... sounds like i got a mal-ware virus or something

b


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## stuffnthingz (Oct 1, 2007)

keep us posted. I had that sinking feeling when I read this and went to check my adwords account too, whew, it is ok...

I highly urge anyone who is going to use adwords or even who does use it, to keep very close tabs on the activity there. New people can make critical errors that will rack up quite a bill! I am so sorry 237am that you are going through this, I would just be devastated as I am a part timer. Sounds like Google is on your side and sees a problem to be corrected, keep us posted.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

*Re: dont use google adwords....*



aoshi1 said:


> Holy schizz, that is insane. I know they are big, bu I guess now I know how they got so big, lol. and they can change the prices on you guys without you knowing about it? or is it in the fine print where costs can be changed anytime without notice? Google is indeed where it's at, but these prices are utterly insane.


This is why threads like this can be dangerous  

Someone posts because they are rightly frustrated with a situation, but then it gets taken as a fact by the many other people reading the thread and sometimes people don't understand or really read the whole situation (or come back to see the outcome)



237am said:


> i managed to get a hold of them..... they did say that there is an issue and will take about a week


Thanks for taking the time to report back 

It seems like they got back to you in a pretty reasonable amount of time (within a few hours) and acknowledged they were looking into the issue. That's a good step in getting it resolved.

That being said, and I've said this before. Google Adwords isn't something that is just "set it and forget it" (not saying that's what you did, B). It takes a lot of research and testing (and reading over how it works in detail) to really do adwords correctly. If done correctly, it can be a great revenue stream and an inexpensive way to drive sales. 

Even if you were paying $5 to get one sale that netted you a $10 profit. If you could do that consistently, you could have a long lasting way of bringing positive sales in. So if that meant 5 clicks for $1 and those 5 clicks netted you a $10 profit sale, it would seem expensive when you told someone you were paying $1 per click. That's an extreme example since it would be rare that you could get a coversion ratio of 1 sale per 5 clicks, but there's a lot you can do to maximize your coversions and clicks with google adwords. It's not always about the volume of clicks you get or the amount you pay per click, but the bigger picture of your return on your investment (ROI) for the campaign.

Getting back on the topic of this specific thread, it seems clear there was an issue with too many clicks being charged for too much per click, and it looks like Google is working to resolve it. Hopefully they can do so soon


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## Binary01 (Jun 2, 2007)

yeah... i do apologize for getting all worked up in the beginning...... 

i managed to get a number for them from a fellow forum member so thats good.......

i would suggest keeping an eye on your account....luckily i caught mine within a few days.... 

they asked questions about computer usage and where i get wifi at/etc..........

my account is suspended for now until they can track the problem...... hopefully things will work out..... (just a bit stressed with everything else right now so excuse the hyper post/thread)......

i'll post something when i hear from them in a few days..,.,.


stay safe.... 

b


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## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

If that happened to me I would probably freak out, too ... right after I pull myself off the floor after fainting.

Please let us know what happens. It would be good if you could document any steps you have to take so others can know what to expect if they run into the same problem.


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## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

In my case it was a competitor who had his employees search and click me, some of them up to 200 times a day. He had over 100 people working in his office and they had their friends start doing it too. Needless to say things got a little crazy. This was 8 to 10 years ago and to my understanding Google has controls in place to stop things like this now.


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