Google AdSense UPDATE 7

Silly me. With update 6, I thought that was the end of it. Notice had been received of my account having been cancelled, although not with my getting the outstanding amount owing to me.

Then this morning I get this email from Google AdSense:

Thanks for writing in and sorry to keep you waiting. I've taken care of the phone hold. However, you still need to select a form of payment so that we can pay you :)

My goodness. A REAL PERSON read one of my emails and has removed the phone hold! And she appended that notice with a smiley face!

Select a form of payment... Done.

But this leads to another question. HAS my account been cancelled? If it had, then I couldn't have logged back in to make changes. And now given the removal of the phone hold, which means I can finally get paid, I'd prefer to keep the account active and add Google AdSense back to my blog.

Wanna bet such a request starts a whole new round of auto-replies and a clash of live support vs. the auto-bots?

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FINALLY - Google AdSense Account Closed

...but, contrary to the message just received, it was closed with the company not having paid me the $14.58 I'd earned.

Today, I tried for the third time to complete the cancellation process to get my Google AdSense account closed. As before, I filled out their cancellation form. However, in the section explaining the reason why one is closing the account, in the Other category I entered something new, the URL of the post that describes the difficulty a) verifying a phone number one hasn't got - because one hasn't a phone - and, b) with that never being resolved, closing the account.

Unlike previously, within minutes I received the following generic response - I've the damn thing memorized I've seen it so many times.

We are unable to cancel your account because you currently have payment holds on your account.

This would be the PHONE VERIFICATION hold.

Until you remove the payment holds or indicate your desire not to receive your unpaid earnings, we will be unable to close your account. Please note that we only pay out earnings that are greater than the cancellation threshold.

The cancellation threshold is $10.

Please do one of the following:

1. If you wish to be paid for your remaining earnings (above the cancellation threshold): - Remove the holds from your account.

Sigh...

Once you have removed all holds from your account, you may submit a new request for us to cancel your account...

2. If you do not wish to be paid for your remaining earnings and would like to close your account now: Please complete this form. The form will require you to acknowledge that you prefer not to receive your earnings and wish to close your account.

As it happens, before I'd removed Google AdSense, this blog had earned $14.58 from the program. That amount exceeds the $10 cancellation threshold for payment. But because no phone = no phone verification = no payment, it doesn't matter how much I'd have earned. According to Google AdSense policy, I'd never get paid. There was no point, therefore, maintaining the account. Hence, my determination to get rid of the thing.

So I proceeded with option #2, as I'd done twice before. This time, the auto-response was different though:

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. As per your request, we have permanently closed your account.

Since your account balance totalled less than $10, your unpaid earnings will not be issued.

Don't you love the way the big guys shape reality to screw the little guys?

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More Phone Problems UPDATE

SOLVED. See end of post.

It never ends. First there was Staples, way back when. Then Google AdSense. Then this online retailer or that one - all of whom make the telephone field in their web forms mandatory.

Now it's RBC (Royal Bank of Canada).

Monday, I received my new 'chip' Visa card. It bore the following instructions.

Before you use your new chip card:
1. Know your PIN. [Not a problem]
2. Call to activate from your primary phone number. [Problem]

I send this message from within my RBC online account, under their subject heading VISA Products:

Received my new Visa chip card today with the sticker advising to "call to activate from your primary phone number." I haven't a phone and therefore haven't a 'primary phone number'. How do I activate my new card under these circumstances?

The reply I received:

Dear Ms. Ocean:

My name is Brad, and I'd be happy to assist you with your inquiry concerning our activation procedure.

I'm sorry for the confusion--I want to assure you that you don't need a landline in order to activate your card. However, you do need to call from the primary number we have on your Visa profile--which is (250) 748-8095. This is the number you last had both your Visa file and your RBC client profile updated with; our automated card activation system will need your call to come from that number in order to validate your card and make it ready to accept charges.

Thanks for contacting us, Ms. Ocean, and I trust I've cleared things up for you. We'll be happy to help you again if there's anything else you d like to discuss.

If you prefer, you can call us any time at 1-800-769-2512.

To which I respond:

In my initial message, I stated "I haven't a phone." How is that not clear?

At one time, I had a phone. Now I don't. Therefore "I haven't a 'primary phone number'" and my question still stands: How do I activate my new card under these circumstances?

I swear these people DON'T READ.

And yes, I'm dirt poor and have a Visa card whose balance I maintain at zero. Yet it wouldn't surprise me if, despite my flawless payment record and a high credit rating that I'll be denied its renewal because I no longer have a phone.

UPDATE: This time the squeaky wheel, perhaps oiled by my blogging & twittering about it, produced a satisfactory - and fairly prompt - response. My latest Visa card has been activated, after a verification process that didn't involve a damn phone.

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Google AdSense: Poor need not apply

... because they won't get paid.

From an email I received in May from Google Adsense:

In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers, we've starting using automated telephone number verification to ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result, you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to 'Please verify your phone number' after you log in to your account. To initiate this process, click the 'Please verify your phone number' link and follow the instructions.

I haven't a phone.

My response at the time? Bye-bye AdSense.

Thought that was the end of it...

UPDATE 1 - May 12

AdSense is back! Had to go start the process of closing my AdSense account, which got Google's attention. For the reason for closing the account, I wrote: "Your policy excludes very low-income bloggers, including those living on the streets, the very people who could most use AdSense income. I haven't a phone."

Google is sending me a PIN by snail mail, so I can verify my account that way. Why the hell they didn't include that option in their original 'Please verify your phone number' message I've no idea, except to suppose they're as oblivious as most other people are - including the vet, local retailers, the manager at my doctor's office, all creators of online submission forms who make the telephone field mandatory...

As I told an online friend, who tried to help me with this, I get weary trying to educate people about this kind of thing. It's depressing to be reminded of one's own marginalization, which makes it that much harder to fight back against the assumptions which marginalize. There are times I just can't push myself to do it. But thanks to the gentle support of my friend, this time I pushed back and with good results.

UPDATE 2 - Bye-bye AdSense - Today, July 17.

Went through the process of PIN verification and STILL the phone verification notice has not come off my account. Which means PIN verification was a useless exercise.

So once again I began the cancellation process with the hope that SOMEONE at Google AdSense would HELP with this problem.

Well, good luck with that!

NOTHING but the same old stupid response. I am instructed either to complete the verification process - in other words the respondent didn't READ my reason for proceeding with cancellation - or to submit a form accepting that I won't get paid what I am owed.

Google AdSense owes me $14.58. But I won't get it because I haven't a phone and cannot verify having what I don't have.

So went ahead and submitted their stupid form to cancel without payment.

Am angry, frustrated, in tears, and incensed by societal assumptions which forever are placing barriers between those who have and those who don't.

... and I've just received another auto-reply to the effect that I can NEITHER cancel my account NOR get paid. I'm in an auto-reply nightmare and of course, because I haven't a phone, there's not a hope in hell of talking to a REAL LIVE PERSON.

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Hey Google! Check Your Assumptions!

From an email I received this morning:

Hi,

In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers, we've starting using automated telephone number verification to ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result, you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to 'Please verify your phone number' after you log in to your account. To initiate this process, click the 'Please verify your phone number' link and follow the instructions.

I haven't a phone.

Bye-bye Adsense.

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