Denied Disputes With Local Service Ads

[studentoflife]

Has anyone had issues with Local Services Ads denying disputes that they shouldn't be denying?

I am talking about when a potential customer calls and asks for a services that the company clearly does not provide and is not listed in their LSA profile, sometimes even a service that the company can't provide (as in asking a plumber to do electrical work).

I have had this happen many times in the past 6 months, it's over $300 worth of calls. I disputed them like usual, but they came back denied. When I called the customer service number the gentleman said he agreed that they were not tasks that I have in my profile, but he said that he has no ability to talk to the team that determines the disputes and he doesn't know of them ever being reversed.

Honestly, I feel like Google has stolen from me and I am helpless due to their size. We have a very clear agreement, and I have solid evidence (recordings) that I should not have been charged for these calls. Yet they have taken my money and provide no recourse.

 

[Matt Casady]

Are you using the "Job not served (not on your profile)" reason for your dispute?

I ask because I kept using this same dispute reason for a few months with a client and none of them were refunded. As soon I started marking them as "Incorrect business (lead does not belong to you)" and "Wrong number or sales call (not a customer)" Google started accepting the disputes and refunding them.

So if you haven't already, start mixing up the reason you give for the dispute and see if that works.

Regarding getting the older leads refunded that Google has already reviewed their TOS make it clear "all dispute decisions are final" so, unfortunately, I don't think those are worth pursuing further.

 

[studentoflife]

Yes, I have always used the "Job not served (not on your profile)" reason for the dispute. I figured if I use a different reason then they will deny the dispute because that other reason is not true.

I also feel it’s kind of crazy that they could say all disputes are final when they are clearly wrong. I understand there’s many situations where there might be gray area, but none of the disputes I’ve had have any gray area. I don’t do those tasks at all. Google is breaking their own terms when they charge me for calls for those tasks, yet I have absolutely no recourse.

I guess the saddest part is that we all just sit by and accept this thievery. There were many times when someone left a quick voice message that I wasn’t charged for because it was under the time limit, then when I called them back they asked me for the task that I do advertise on LSA. Each and every one of those times I went to LSA and marked that call as an accepted job because I felt it was right that they get paid for the calls. I didn’t want to be a thief. Unfortunately I can’t expect the same from them.

 

[Matt Casady]

I would definitely try different dispute reasons moving forward then and see if Google credits them. This dispute reason "Incorrect business (lead does not belong to you)" isn't that different than "Job not served".


Yeah, that is unfortunate but frankly is the nature of the beast.

 

[studentoflife]

I’m not going to use a service that openly and knowingly steals from me. I have called to cancel LSA. Even that is too complicated for their customer support to do themselves. I now have to wait 24 to 48 hours for someone else to get back to me.