14 DAY TRIAL // Google's advertising platform AdSense is surely the most popular solution in its category because it brings free money to numerous registered members. If you didn't know, the Mountain View company automatically sends checks to advertisers once the amount of money from your account reaches a certain limit. Because the checks are sent from Mountain View, California, USA, some users might encounter several difficulties when trying to cash the check by numerous reasons. However, listen to a story posted by mobilejones, one of the websites that encountered some funny problems with the advertising solution.
First of all, the folks from mobilejones received a check from AdSense that included all the revenues earned in a whole year. But the interesting story starts now: when the site owner tried to cash the check, the bank representative quietly said: "There aren't sufficient funds in the account to cover your check," as mobilejones reports in a juicy story. Of course, the reactions were quite astonishing but they somehow tried to find a way to fix it. "Are you sure? Do you know who Google is? You're kidding me, right?" the AdSense member said to the bank employee.
Immediately, an idea was rising in their mind: contact Google. First step? Call the number on the check. Then, an interesting conversation that I rather reproduce it as the folks from mobilejones posted it on their official blog:
"Voicemail Lady: If you know the extension of the person you'd like to reach, dial it now followed by the pound sign. Me: Nope, I don't know any extension numbers. Voicemail Lady: Press 8 to dial by name. Me: Great! Pressing 8. *whistling to myself a bit* Voicemail Lady: Please enter the first few letters of the last name. Me: Hmmmmm, Brian the payments operations guy probably won't work as a name in this system. That's the result of Google's employee privacy policy. I don't know the guy's last name. I know, Matt Cutts! Surely, Matt can get me transfered to Brian the payments operations guy or someone else. I type in Cutts. Voicemail Lady: Please enter more characters. Me: More characters for his last name? Or should I start on his first name, now? I'll do both alternatively until some combo works. Voicemail Lady: Please enter more characters. Me: Entering Cutts, Matt. Voicemail Lady: That userid is not valid. Goodbye."
The interesting fact is that even if the AdSense registered member tried to contact the search giant using the customer service, the voicemail encouraged the customer to check the website for an official response because "Google does not currently authorize customer support." So, is there anything you can do if Google sends you a bad check? I don't think so, just hope you are not one of the unlucky guys...