See, that's your first mistake.

Start the letter with:

Dear Overseas Outsourced Automaton,

Please don't tell me that I didn't first visit AdSense help because I've read every document you've ever published without finding a resolution until I'm blue in the face.

... actual complaint goes here ...

Yours truly,
Underwhelmed AdSense Publisher

Try it, see if it helps get past the canned letter next time.

Don't you think they just saw that it wasn't submitted via a form in the proper location and bounced it without looking at the content?

It doesn't sound like this was ever seen by a human being other than Lame_Wolf

Ergo makes a good point. The bureaucracy may need to be approached in the manner it wants to be approached. I contacted help through the control panel and had the site targetting turned off with no problem when it was first introduced (It's back on now). Getting it turned off went smoothly since I approached the bureacracy in the manner it wanted to be approached.

On the one hand I can understand why they do things in this manner. It's a way to scale responses to issues in a uniform manner. It's turning to the Big Mac model for customer service so that it can be efficiently scaled.

The problem with inflexible rules and processes is that they are inadequate when confronted by events outside of their uniform response programming. Like ordering a Big Mac five minutes before the lunch menu is active. Try that and you will receive a prescripted dialogue option.

[edited by: martinibuster at 9:42 am (utc) on Mar 3, 2010]

Try and try again (politely), till you get thru. You are competing with thousands (maybe tens of thousands of emails ) for attention, by a limited number of guys at support.

I was polite the first time.
The second time, I started with... do not send me to the help center.

Why don't they just allow us to turn on/off site targeting. It will make life a lot less frustrating.

Lame_Wolf - Are you in the U.K.?

Ireland seem to be a lot more responsive than "wherever land" is!

Yes, I am in the UK.
The email that was sent to them was entitled "Site Targeting"

There is no excuse for not giving the email the once over.

Support used to be good.

There is no real support. They're just barely supporting the advertisers, so you know the publishers are further down the list of priorities. You can tear your hair out over it, but that won't do any good either. Google has made the decision that support is where they are going to cut costs.

i tried that as well, a long time ago. i got a canned response a few weeks later saying the same as your one.

the problem with their help page is the multiple-choice questions - they don't provide you with the answer. you can't drill down to what you want to ask. so there is nothing else to do other than send them an email. which just results in their robot pointing you back to the same help thing. it's just a roundabout that leads nowhere.

i reckon if you went to Google HQ and looked in the window you'd just see one big computer with smoke coming out of it. no people. no humans sitting on bean-bags. just one computer spitting out millions of canned replies.

I wish YPN paided as well as AdSense -

[webmasterworld.com...]

Every time I ask a question, YPN support answers my email and calls me as well. Very VIP treatment..

adCenter as well. Unfortunately, the ads just weren't there. Looking forward to when Yahoo starts using adCenter ads and using Yahoo advertisers (since YPN wouldn't approve my content)

brainless responses

In the future, being respectful of Googler's overall higher education, let's replace phrases such as "brainless responses" with "meaningless platitudes", which are most of the responses I get from support.

In the future, being respectful of Googler's overall higher education,

higher education ?

How much education does one need to press the auto respond button ? ;)

let's replace phrases such as "brainless responses"

Actually, what I wrote first was far worse, but I altered it before sending.

When someone writes a polite letter, clearly spelling out what is requested, there is no for them to assume that I have not visited the help center, or sending me on a wild goose chase.

with "meaningless platitudes", which are most of the responses I get from support.

I used to... but that was when someone actually read the email.

if a computer sent it, then technically it is a brainless response. unless their offices are staffed by cyborgs with bio-engineered brains.

Do they have a ticket system?

Did you receive the How Did We Do ? mail .. They used to send one out after these kind of responses. I took particular care never to VENT and always protected my account by deleting this kind of a mail immediately..before I lost my cool..

Do they have a ticket system?

They gave me a ref number. I am still awaiting for a reply.

Did you receive the How Did We Do ? mail .. They used to send one out after these kind of responses.

Not yet, although I have been expecting one. I received one of those last time they sent me on a wild goose chase.

I took particular care never to VENT and always protected my account by deleting this kind of a mail immediately..before I lost my cool..

I don't hold back, and didn't when I last received one.

I wrote again to Adsense "support" but this time to adsense-uk@google.com

The header stated CLEARLY what was needed.
The email was polite and CLEARLY stated what was requested.

Yet again, another frigging automated bleeding email telling me to go to their help center where the answer to my question DOES NOT EXIST.

And even if it did, it would tell you to contact Google Support... where you will be told to go to their help center.

Boy, I am getting dizzy by going around in circles.

ASA ?

When Google gets some real competition for AdSense it'll be too soon.

Have you ever gotten an email from them (Adsense) about trying a new feature, or recommendations for your site? If so, try replying to one of those emails. It worked for me.

Have you ever gotten an email from them (Adsense) about trying a new feature, or recommendations for your site? If so, try replying to one of those emails. It worked for me.

It is for a client of mine, and AFAIK, no.