Marketers fume as Google Ads’ customer service hits ‘all-time low’

Google Ads customer service has plummeted to an unacceptable all-time low, according to marketers. From incorrect account suspensions to sales calls “aggressively” pushing automation to confusion over the platform’s products, advertisers are exasperated by the lack of help from Google.

And the problem only seems to be getting worse.

A ‘brutal’ process

Mike Kelley, chief marketing officer at Sylvan Learning, has been working in marketing for almost 20 years. He tried to purchase YouTube reservation ads — only to be told by his Google rep that they had never heard of them.

“I have been trying to purchase these ads for three months — surely it cannot be this hard?” he said. “I’ve called in over a dozen times — they tell me someone will call back, but they never do. They don’t respond to emails either. The whole process has been brutal. [This is] an all-time low for Google Ads customer service.”

Experts outside of Google can’t help either.

“I actually reached out to two agencies that spend $100,000 a month with Google for help, and used their resources and contacts. But even they have had no response to this query,” he said. “I posted a job on Upwork that pays a reward of $500 for anyone that can get us access and set up Instant Reserve TV ads for our account. This project is ongoing.”

‘Disappointing’

Justin Lincoln, digital advertising manager at Closed Loop, reported a similar experience.

Google announced in December that advertisers could opt out of the Search Network temporarily. To do this, they would need to talk to their rep. But when Lincoln contacted his rep, the person did not know anything about this and could not help.

Puzzled by the response, Lincoln sent his Google rep a link to an article to prove that there had been an update temporarily allowing marketers to opt out of the Search Network.

Nonetheless, the rep said this wasn’t the case, but did escalate the issue to their manager. However, the manager hadn’t heard about it either. It wasn’t until a different representative intervened that the update was confirmed.

“I was able to speak with another Google rep,” Lincoln said. “They confirmed that my other rep just needed to look up the update in MOA — I assume this is where they house their processes.”

However, that last rep said this crucial information was not widely known among the team, highlighting a communication gap within Google’s support structure.

‘We have no one to talk to’

Menachem Ani, founder of JXT Group, said there was a steep decline in customer service quality after the company restructured agency teams last April. One result is his company no longer has a dedicated agency-level rep.

Dig deeper: Consumers have high expectations for the use of AI in customer service

The level of customer service has gotten so bad, according to Ani, that the accounts with reps aren’t necessarily in a better position than those with no support.

“Reps can no longer help with some of the things they were able to help with in the past,” he said. “We’ve been working to get a client account reinstated for over four weeks. We appealed the suspension only to receive automated responses that the appeal was denied …  and our reps can’t do anything to help us.”

‘Ludacris scare tactics’

CEO of Marketing Labs, Matt Janaway, said he’s had several ongoing issues with his Google rep.

When he recently asked for some insight to explain a “random $90 click” on a campaign, the rep could not provide an answer. They also couldn’t shed any light on a sudden reduction in ROI in another campaign.

However, when it comes to his Google Ads rep, the biggest issue he’s been struggling with is the persistent unwanted calls urging him to adopt more automated features.

“We get calls daily from reps that have been assigned to our client accounts,” he said. “It’s very convoluted and when we don’t engage —  because we can’t possibly engage them all — they try to go directly to our clients instead! This happens regularly. And the scare tactics they use are quite ludicrous.”

Is AI the solution?

Complicating matters further, Google is planning a major restructure of its 30,000-person ad sales unit prompting fears of more job cuts. This comes after Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company would be letting go of 12,000 employees and contractors last year —  approximately 5% of the company’s total workforce.

The cutbacks have convinced some marketers that Google is planning to quietly phase out support. But Google Ads liaison officer Ginny Marvin said this is not the case, explaining that Google Ads is aware of the ongoing negative feedback from advertisers and hinted that improvements are on the horizon, with AI set to lead the way.

“This is an area where we are experimenting with AI as an additional component to enhance the customer experience,” a Google spokesperson said. “We have also made significant improvements to our Ads Help Center content, which helps customers self-resolve issues more quickly and reliably.”

Google’s advice

While it seems that Google will heavily rely on AI to address marketers’ concerns, the company has not confirmed a specific timeline for the rollout of these improvements.

So what can marketers do when they are unsatisfied with the customer service delivered by their Google rep? Google’s spokesperson said marketers should “provide feedback through our Ads Help Center so we can make improvements”

Delayed responses (and, in some cases, the complete lack of responses) from Google reps remain a concern for search marketers. Google said that while response times can vary based on volume and complexity, your rep should respond to you “quickly.” If you find that this is not the case, report your experience to Google.

Regarding more specific issues like unfair account suspensions, the spokesperson stressed that advertisers should appeal any decisions they believe to be unfair through the Help Center.

“There has been no change to this process,” the spokesperson added. “Our customer support representatives are not involved in submitting these appeals on behalf of a customer, or reviewing/deciding the outcome.”