What is the winning chance if I file a small claim case against Google Adwords?

I am a pissed off Google Adwords customer for their arrogant attitude, what is my winning chance if I file a small claim case in court?
Here is my simple story:
I am a small business owner and became new Google Adwords user recently. I never used Adwords or any other online advertisement before. I funded Google Adwords account and tried to start 1st campaign for testing. Nothing worked. There was 0 impression for my testing campaign. I contacted Google support team for help. Their support team came back and claimed my Adwords account has violate Adwords agreement, therefore they permanently suspended my account. Again, I contacted Google to ask for a reason for suspension. Their response is sth like, "Never come back to us, this is a final decision, we will not reply you anymore." I was really pissed off for Googe CS's attitude. Frankly I have no clue what I have done wrong. Basically, the story is Google did not disclose any reason and they just walked away with my funded money.
I am thinking about filling a small claim case in CA to express my anger. I want sue Google for business fraud, charged customer without delivery service. What is my winning chance?

 

they have lawyers that will crush you in the most unfairest situation. So don't do it...

 

I think your chances are low. Depends what damages you are claiming.
1) Small claims courts are used to recover real & actual damages - money that someone owes you. Very rarely will small claims courts award punitive damages. How much would you sue for and on what basis? If you gave them money, that they haven't returned and wasn't used for clicks, then you could possibly sue to recover that amount.
2) you signed an agreement with Google with terms and conditions including terms of use/abuse, grounds for terminating the contract, and what happens to funds in your account in that event.

 

I will take the loss if Google told me what I have done wrong. However, they just suspended my account and walked away. The fact is, I have not done anything yet.
My intention is not to ask big money from Google. All I want is, get Google appear on the court. Refund my peanut deposit and lose the case.

 

You're chances are low, however send an email saying you're planning on filing a case against them in court. That should get you your money back as it's pay your little amount of money or pay their lawyers thousands to win over a minimal amount of money. If they don't respond, I say go right ahead and try.

I'm not a lawyer, so this is my opinion. I can't be held responsible if this fails or what not.

 

Hi, did you pay by credit card? If so you may be able to get your credit card company to reclaim the money you paid to Google, as they did not supply the service that you paid for! In the UK you could approach the 'Consumer Direct' service - who give advice on such problems, I'm sure other countries (some) have a similar service. Wish you the best of luck.

 

Anything is possible. One of my dads friends had a court case against Microsoft, and he won, so don't doubt your lawyer or sources. Even the highest corporations in the world have downfalls.

 

If this helps, I am on your side, because the EXACTLY SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1641761

 

I hope you guys are considering that adwords ARE a gamble. They don't make you big promises, or offer counseling to teach you how to market a product. If they suspended your account itrademax, chances are THEY feel there is a valid reason.

You haven't left any details as to what you did during your campaign. how the adwords were used etc. Its impossible for those of us who have had successful dealings with Google, to speculate on your pending legal battles.

I suggest providing honest details about your marketing with them, otherwise this thread will just turn into a rant, with disgruntled people who have failed adwords campaigns whining. I'm not flaming you either, so please don't get anymore enraged than you are . Real details are required to make a proper assessment.

Like I mentioned though - if you were given a lifetime ban, they feel they are justified. These sort of bans normally involve: scams, customer complaints about your advertising methods, all forms of porn related matters, etc. They aren't required to justify their decisions either, its their business. It would be the same if Walmart told you never to go in their store again - it is their property. Or a credit card company suddenly calling in your debt - sure they have a contract with you, but they reserve the right to call it anytime they want.

If you have seen a list of the richest men/companies in the world...you will understand the scope of what you're proposing. GL, I always applaud any man with balls that big!

 

Not much of a chance...

 

I don't know the law in CA or how the small claims track works there, but I can comment on how you would probably do in the UK on the small claims track - you would probably win.

The small claims track here doesn't cost much to enter a claim, and more importantly neither side will be awarded costs so if they want to throw high-powered lawyers at you over a claim of what? $200? then that is up to them. The small claims track tends to be reasonably informal, and Judges are fairly lenient and helpful to LIPs (litigant in person) so if you're sure of the Law, and you can string a decent sentence together, you can bring the claim yourself without needing to pay for a lawyer. Since you purchased as a business owner, then your are bound by their terms, but if they didn't deliver any service, and don't give you your money back (less any provable and reasonable costs to them), then no terms in a contract can over-ride statute.

As I say, I don't know the law in CA so things may be vastly different. Get advice from a decent attorney or if there is some sort of consumer protection organisation they might help or give advice. Just because a company is large doesn't give them the right to take payment, not deliver a service, then refuse to give a refund if your alleged breach of their rules did not actually cost them anything to remedy. Big companys can't make up their own rules in defiance of the law. If you think you are due some sort of refund, ask for it.

 

That all sounds wonderful, if itrademax was banned with malice. Chances are important details have been left out of the original post though. I'm not saying they were - but we can't crucify Google without knowing all the facts, and the OP's code of conduct ie his campaign details.

 

First of all I would like to say that I love Google and their adsense/word program and I benefit from it greatly.

itrademax I must admit I and many others empathize with you. Google has been notorious for not giving adequate information in regards to their decisions in banning accounts. It has been quoted in court cases as a "lack of transparency" and they have lost court battles because of it. If you feel you have any case, lack of transparency would be your only weapon, other factors to consider, did you loose any money? Did you use a substantial amount of time and resources that constituted a significant loss?... probably not.

You can not sue someone just because they pissed you off, otherwise your red face of anger will quickly turn to a red face of embarrassment at the end of the judges gavel.

If you are considering court action, you must read this article about a man who sued Google... and won. Even if you are not suing Google it gives great insight into how the Google corporate arm deals with clients and the issues it has as a very large company of resolving complicated issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-i-sued-google-and-won_b_172403.html

 

I agree with you entirely, and I'm aware that there may be facts and circumstances that we're not aware of. I was just trying to say that smalls claims track is a viable route to take when there is a valid claim to pursue, and companies that right roughshod over statute are unlikely to get away with it just because they are large and you are a minnow. Small claims is also a relatively risk-free endeavour due to the limit on expenses that can be claimed from the other side.

 

The good sense in us would agree, but I'm heavily involved with some consumer groups and I see malicious court claims, sometimes in complete conflict with legislation, being brought by companies against consumers (and businesses) they are in disupte with, all the time e.g. a catalogue company suing someone for goods that were never delivered.

They send nasty letters, call constantly, threaten and harrass by telephone so the lies they tell aren't in writing, they get Solicitors to send you letters, they pass on your details to debt-collection company's who call 4-5 times a day at your work, your mobile and at home. Sometimes they even trash a persons credit rating with the credit reference agencies. The pressure is applied constantly, and while such behaviour flies in the face of decency and regulation it happens anyway. Sometimes just the threat of litigation is enough to make the defendent give up because they are terrified of having to go to court, often they just pay to get them off their back (plus interest) because they don't understand their rights or the law, and often they don't submit a defence because they know there is nothing to answer to but when they don't defend the company wins by default without a hearing ever taking place or proof ever having been provided. Far tetched? Not a bit.

When it comes down to it, you can sue anyone you want and it's not until it gets to court that you need to prove the debt or loss, but if you don't defend you lose.

 

Sue them. I am sick of them getting away with this injustice. They do it often.

 

It is impossible for anyone to give a serious opinion without knowing what keywords you bought, your ad text and the sites you were advertising.

Even if they were in the wrong, it's not like you have any damages. They just told you that you can't advertise there..... and you want to sue them? Move on.

 

I would say it would be very difficult to win because not only did you not lose much money, but also, they have a very large and experienced team of lawyers that would easily win.

 

Only a class action lawsuit will do damage and even then it'll only do minimal damage so you might not even get a serious response from google, they can always just not show up since it is small claims.

 

No chance at all. Their pockets are *much* deeper than yours. They will cause you to rack up legal bills making it impossible for you to financially benefit.