Google charges for blog domain 15 days early
Yesterday one of those freak robot emails arrived saying that on such-and-such a date, Google would automatically charge my account with the annual fee for my Stars Over Washington blog. Well, okay then. That time already? Where does the time go?
But as it turns out, I happen to have a copy of last year’s payment in my records and the date Google selected to dun me in October is 15 days earlier than last year’s fee. Am I being scammed by big rich Google? Could they possibly bo so hard up for cash that they pull this – and perhaps scoot up the date so it steals from the last annual fee?
Is paying for a year of hosting really a year of hosting minus two weeks? Will the fee come earlier next year?
Well, is there another explanation for Google’s behavior? I’ve written blogs with them for over 5 years and their action seems thievish and sneaky even if it isn’t (by some quirky twist of their rules – like slamming a price increase on bloggers without having to call itself what it amounts to.)
Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this kind of practice.
I mean, it’s not as if you can actually contact a human being at Google and have a nice discussion. Right? So Do Not Look Behind the Curtain. For there might be all manner of October deformities hiding in the shadows.
I once worked on a huge project at work that involving lots of costs, so plenty of check requests. I kidded with my boss that we could save a bushel if I made each payment for $1.00 less. After all, most companies or people aren’t going to rebill you for the dollar, they’ll just write it off….but for a smaller firm, it would have been substantial savings. I was younger then and just thought it was a novel and funny idea; a joke, not something one would really do. Little did I know. With a million Bloggers and today’s brand of corporate ethics, the reality is not so funny.
Teri
September 20, 2010 at 8:13 am
Another consideration: It may not be so much about the cash, but the accounting. Depending on when they file their annual and quarterly financial statements with the SEC, for strategic business/investment purposes the goal may be to make the corporation look more profitable in a certain period. Could it involve any of the stuff they’re trying to get the Government (and investors I’m sure) “buy into” during their hearings before the FCC in Washington? Who knows. But if there’s anything we have learned from Goldman, et al., it’s all about how you fudge the books. Of course, the above scenario with Google, if even remotely close, might imply investment fraud ((gasp))…but that can’t happen, can it?
Teri
September 20, 2010 at 7:55 am
Well I can tell you that there was a class action lawsuit against Costco, the wholesale warehouse shopping chain, for similar practices involving the annual membership fee. I have a copy of the Notice of Class Action here, if you’d care to peruse will email a copy. If anything, you can float it by the class action lawyers on that case…they’ll find out for you if this is a trending “deceptive and misleading” business practice by Google, believe me!
Teri
September 20, 2010 at 7:28 am