Everything was paused, but the credit card continued to be billed. The Google account screen shows the normal correct charges, but the credit card shows an entirely different story. The phone number on the credit card billing description leads to a Google number that says to contact them through email which we have done.
The client is looking to us for answers, and I have to wait for Google to respond. So, I'm coming here hoping someone can help shed some light.
What's most likely? Fraud? Client is reading November charges as December? Google oopsed?
Is there another number I can call to get more immediate attention?
Thanks for any help!
The client is looking to us for answers, and I have to wait for Google to respond. So, I'm coming here hoping someone can help shed some light.
HayMeadows, you'll want AdWords support to confirm this, of course, with a look at the actual account. However, this is most likely what has happened:
Background: The AdWords program bills you after you have received the clicks, rather than before. And advertisers are billed on a schedule which depends on reaching a certain spend amount, or when 30 days have passed from the previous bill.
So, when an account is paused or deleted, there will almost always be a follow up bill - which is for advertising that has already occurred, between the time of the previous bill and the time of pausing.
Hope that'll set your mind at ease.
<added> I had not seen HayMeadows' most recent post, when I posted mine - so the above may not be the answer. But in any case, it sounds as if things are well on their way to resolution. ;) </added>
AWA
Client is reading November charges as December?
Bingo.
Thanks for your help!
The initial credit limit of $50 is incrementally raised each time an account hits its credit limit before 30 days have ended. The credit limit is first raised to $200, then to $350, and then to $500. The amount billed may be slightly in excess of the credit limit if an account accrues clicks very quickly.
Any answers?
Ive had charges applied YEARS after a site was pulled and the campaign stopped then started up again with out my intervention.Any answers?
The only times I've ever heard of accounts being billed years after they were actively paused or deleted, were for accounts which were delinquent when they were paused or deleted. A follow up bill for the charges due long ago can occur - but this will certainly not cause the a account to 'start up again without your intervention'.
If you truly have had an account start up again after years of being dormant, and without your intervention, then it may well be a case in which the account was 'slowed' for low performance, and then simply left that way - without ever being actively paused or deleted.
While it is really rare that such an account would 'restart', it is also possible - as slowed accounts can get a 'trickle' of impressions and clicks. And in so doing, if the CTR increases above the minimum standard, the account can be restored to full delivery automatically. In the roughly 7000 hours I've spent with AdWords, I've seen that happen maybe twice.
Which brings up the general point that if anyone has an old account which was slowed and then 'abandoned', you'll want to spend the few seconds it takes to login and pause or delete the campaigns. Otherwise it is still 'active' in the eyes of the system.
AWA
