I set up an account with Google Ads to advertise a website a friend and I have that sells various items through a drop shipping service. Nothing on the site is illegal or even inappropriate in any possible way. To promote the site and drive business I set up my google ads account, created my campaign, and even used a $100 credit to set up the ads provided to us by our website hosting service.
The ads started running and we started seeing an increase in traffic to the website, that was until I received an email that said my account was suspended.
Your account is suspended
Your Google Ads account has been suspended because your account has an unpaid balance. As a result, your ads will no longer run on Google or our partner websites, and you can’t create any new accounts.
To reactivate your account, make a payment for the outstanding balance, and then submit an appeal. Once we receive the appeal, we’ll review your account.
Learn more about suspended accounts.
I had added a payment card to the account and we had not yet used the balance on the credit, but I made a payment as per the instructions, even though we hadn’t hit the minimum threshold. After making the payment I submitted an appeal to get my account un-suspended.
Here is the response I received.
Thanks for reaching out to Google Ads Support. My name is Ahmed, Google Ads support specialist. I hope you are well.
About the query:
I gather that you've contacted us as your Google Ads account is suspended for unpaid balance. Rest assured I'm here to assist you.
Clarification:
I'd like to inform you that we were unable to verify the email address with the account.
Information required:
If you're referring to a different Google Ads account that is under suspension, please help me with the following details.
- Google Ads account ID:
- Associated Email address:
Awaiting your response.
Requesting Information:
For your account’s security, you may re-submit your request here while you’re logged into the email address associated with the Google Ads account
For future requests, please ensure you submit your request while you are logged into the email address associated with your Google Ads account. These changes are being made to improve the account security and protect customer accounts.
Thank you for your understanding. I'll be waiting for your response.
Sincerely,
Ahmed
I was not sure why he was having an issue with the email address and account matching considering they were fine. Having dealt with customer service agents in the past and knowing they are often not the best trained or educated I sent screenshots of my account info, along with this in an attempt to make things as clear as possible.
As you can see in the attached screenshot of the google ads account the google ads ID is the one provided, and the email address is also the same. I've circled it for you in the screenshot as well to avoid any further confusion.
So, not to do your job for you, but maybe that is where the problem is coming from that something on the account is out of sync. I've also attached the billing summary page with that ID. I'm not sure why you can't see this on your end as I would assume you can view this account.
Instead of thanking me for giving them a possible reason why the account was incorrectly suspended, and where they couldn't start troubleshooting the issue, I received this.
Hi
Thank you for contacting Google Ads. I am Thea, a Google Ads Specialist. Hope you are keeping well.
After reviewing your case and taking your feedback into consideration, we've confirmed that your account was and still is in violation of our Google Ads policies.
As such, we will not be reactivating your account. Please don't create new Google Ads accounts, as these will be suspended too. When we suspend a Google Ads account, the suspension applies to the account owner and any current or future linked Google Ads accounts.
Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons we take these actions.
If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and request your refund.
We appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,
Thea
Not knowing what I had done that caused my account to be suspended I emailed back.
All you are doing is linking us to a policy page with a whole list of reasons accounts are suspended. I don't see anything on that list that we have done. What exact policy are we in violation?
And received this
Hi,
Thank you for waiting while we reviewed your account suspension appeal.
After reviewing your case and taking your feedback into consideration, we've confirmed that your account was and still is in violation of our Google Ads policies.
As such, we will not be reactivating your account. Please don't create new Google Ads accounts, as these will be suspended too. When we suspend a Google Ads account, the suspension applies to the account owner and any current or future linked Google Ads accounts.
Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons we take these actions.
If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and request your refund.
We appreciate your understanding.
Thanks,
The Google Ads team
I looked through the “learn more” and couldn’t find anything I had done. I simply set up an account and tried using the service to promote a website. And then suspend me for no clear reason. I emailed a couple more times trying to figure why they had suspended my account and get it reactivated as I still think there is some kind of out-of-sync on the account. But being the mindless drones who don’t care about some small advertiser, they just continued replying with the same generic email with a link to their policies and procedures which are generic and include multiple things, they never replied with a specific answer as to why my account was suspended.
Additionally, it has been three months now, and even though I requested a refund they have not given it!
Up yours Google! I’m advertising with Bing which I should point out didn’t give me any problems setting up an account and creating ads. And honestly, I switched to DuckGoGo as my search engine years ago.
Comments