The coronavirus crisis has taken a huge toll on small businesses. The state’s shutdown and related restrictions has left business owners struggling to find new customers and bring back old ones.
Even with the virus, business wasn’t terrible for Rich Siminsky’s home construction and remodeling company.
He said he’s always used advertising to try to attract new customers, so when he was contacted in 2019 about advertising with Google — which targets ads when a user searches for a similar product or service online — he decided to give it a try.
Siminsky’s agreement said he would pay up to $50 per month for the targeted ads.
The actual charges would vary each month because they’re based on clicks, costing from $1 to $2 each.
“I was receiving a lot of referrals from Google advertising, so on April 21, 2020, I contacted Google to request a small boost and start paying $100 a month,” Simimsky said.
He got on the phone with a Google representative and explained what he wanted to do.
“The representative said the call was being recorded and they had me go into my account online and walked me through to click a button that said $100 — with no other information,” Siminsky said.
All seemed well — until he got his next credit card statement.
“I noticed on my credit card statement that I have been overcharged $2,039.90 from April through June,” he said. “I first called Google back in May and they said they would put a stop on this and they never did it.”
Siminsky said he tried to contact Google many times but it was hard to get a live person. And when he did, the representatives often were hard to understand, Siminsky said.
The one thing he did understand, he said, is that they all said they couldn’t help him get his money back.
The best offer was a $100 credit, he said.
“Google misled me after I clearly told them my request was to change from $50 a month to $100 a month,” he said. “I never authorized a change to $100 a day.”
He disputed the charge with his credit card, and while he waited for the investigation, he asked Bamboozled for help.
“I still want to advertise my business with Google, but I want them to correct their error from $100 a day back to my request of $100 a month,” he said. “I want to get my money back that Google has been overcharging me without my consent.”
We reached out to Google to review Siminsky’s account, and within a couple of days, he got an email from a Google representative.
“I completely understand your frustration here as every penny counts which is your hard earned money,” the representative wrote. “Trust me, we did not intend to neglect your issue by any means.”
The representative apologized for Siminsky’s inability to get help through his phone calls, noting the “pandemic is contributing towards the delay.”
And he offered a full refund of $2,040.
“The customer received inaccurate information from the Google representative and we apologize for our mistake,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We corrected this and issued him a full refund.” -
Siminsky said he was glad to have a resolution.
“If it was a couple of hundred bucks, I probably wouldn’t have gone so crazy — but for a couple of thousand?” he said.
Even with the mishap, Siminsky said he will keep using Google Ads.
“My business has been better since I’ve been using them,” he said.
Thanks to Google Ads for making things right for this customer.
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
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August 08, 2020 at 09:00PM
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‘I want to get my money back.’ Google Ads wrongly charges small businessman $100 a day. - NJ.com
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