Kyle Brady: Blog » Lies

How MySpace Advertising Steals Your Ad Money [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:43:33 +0000

On the surface, advertising on MySpace would seem like a relatively basic and fruitful enterprise: create a 728x90 banner, setup the ad, get seen by millions of users, and reap the rewards – there’s no weird custom ad decisions to make, like with Facebook. MySpace even makes it easy by using a single form to setup CPM vs. CPC, ad rates, daily/lifetime budgets, and all the other details.

However, they like to steal your money.

When I was setting up an ad for my company’s graphic design services that cater to artists/bands, I discovered the first stick in the mud: there’s a minimum daily rate, no matter what. We wanted to spend $100.00 stretched out over two months, letting the advertising system figure out when to display it, and this would not have been a problem with Google AdWords, but it’s MySpace, so you have to deal with their crap. After some tweaking, I found that they wanted a $5.00/day minimum, which would only net us 20 days – not quite the exposure we wanted. Deciding that spending a little more for longer exposure was acceptable, I setup $5.00/day for 25 days. It came back with an error message, giving complaining about the daily budget, so I clicked on “Lifetime Budget” and set it to $125.00, assuming that it would distribute the $125.00 over the 25 day campaign period.

Save. Billing. Confirm. Activate. Emails came saying it was pending, then approved, and finally active.

Imagine my surprise when I wake up to an email early the next morning saying that our account had been charged $100.35 for less than a day of activity. But instead of questioning it, I naively assumed that they were precharging our account for some reason, and let it go. Fast forward another day, and an email comes saying we’ve been charged $53.65 – now I’m pissed. I pause the campaign, fire off an email to Ad Support, and investigate on my own.

When I viewed the campaign’s settings… surprise! We had a $125.00/day budget, despite what my initial settings which were twice verified after activating the campaign. And there’s another $15.00 that they want me to pay for activity not-yet-billed, since the campaign’s been paused.

It took a few hours, but I received a vanilla response that treated me like a halfway literate child, stating the obvious: the daily budget was set to $125.00/day, and we were being charged according to our ad behaviors and settings. Naturally, I was even more pissed, and responded to let them know that I believed it was a technical error or glitch and that we wanted a refund.

Well, if you’ve ever dealt with a company’s billing or sales department before, you should recognize their response: it wasn’t a technical error, it was my fault, and they won’t give us a refund, but they’ll give us a $50.00 campaign credit. My reply was less than friendly, because, at this point, I feel like I’m dealing with mob bosses, and demand a larger campaign credit. This time they take a full 16 hours to respond, only to say that $50.00 was all they can offer, and then attempt to end the conversation. There has been no credit to the account.

For a small company with a very small advertising budget, these events are detrimental – we decided, for the first time, to advertise our services in a grand fashion, and MySpace spent more money than we had ever intended… in the first two days. A total of $169.00 has been billed to us by MySpace Advertising - $44.00 more than what we had set as a Lifetime Budget. And it’s been wasted over a brief <48 hours exposure that netted zero results.

Even with a $50 credit, which is only a few days’ worth of advertising, we’ve lost $119.00 to corporate theft and customer support evasion. No more advertising for us.

Thanks, MySpace. You’ve been an entertaining asshole for the last few days – would you like my lunch money? Or maybe the keys to my car? Actually, I don’t even need my girlfriend, so why don’t you go out with her?

I hope you die in a fire.

--- --- ---

Update (10/18/2009 4:20pm PST): I've been working with Steve Wilcox, MySpace's Marketing Director, since within an hour of posting this on Friday, and we've reached a solution after a few rounds of phone- and email-tag.

We received a full apology and a credit for the full amount charged, in addition to receiving a "good faith credit" for the amount we wanted to spend on advertising in the first place. The end result is that our advertising budget has now essentially doubled, and we're going to give it another try - hopefully with better results.

As of right now, we're very happy with the way this has been handled, as well as the outcome.

--- --- ---

Correspondence

From: Me

To: MySpace Advertising

Date: 10/15/2009

We set up the campaign very carefully to be $5/day, lifetime budget of $125 for 25 days.

How did this get changed to $125/day?

We've now been charged, in two days, more than we had ever intended to spend. Not only is this illegal, it's outrageous, since I have emails showing the setup of our campaign as such.

Please refund our money and fix this ASAP.

From: MySpace Advertising

To: Me

Date: 10/15/2009 12:20pm PST

Hello,

Whenever you create a new campaign, you will be asked to set a daily or lifetime spending limit for your campaign. You cannot have both a daily & lifetime budget at the same time. It's either a daily budget or a lifetime budget.

When the campaign was created it was setup with a Daily Budget of $125.00 which is why your campaign spent $125 in 1 day.

If your goal is to only spend $5 per day then you want to create a Daily budget of $5.

If your goal is to only spend $125 throughout the entire campaign then you want to create a Lifetime budget of $125.

Thank you for contacting MySpace MyAds.

Thank you,
MySpace.com

From: Me

To: MySpace Advertising

Date: 10/15/2009 2:10pm PST

It most certainly was not. I selected "Lifetime Budget", and input $125.00.

Your code-level error is not my responsibility, and I demand a refund, or at least gratis advertising for the remainder and parameters of what should have been our campaign.

From: MySpace Advertising

To: Me

Date: 10/15/2009 3:23pm PST

Our records show this was not a technical error. When creating the campaign you choose a daily budget of $125 instead of a lifetime budget.

MySpace MyAds is a Self Service platform and you are responsible for managing your campaigns.

We can offer you’re a $50 credit towards your campaigns however MySpace will not refund the $125 charge.

Thank you for contacting MySpace MyAds

From: Me

To: MySpace Advertising

Date: 10/15/2009 3:39pm PST

It was an error. You're honestly going to tell a customer of yours, one that just unexpectedly paid you over a hundred dollars, that they're wrong?

Do you really think I'd be bringing this issue up if I wasn't surprised at the situation results? And, given the nature of the company and what we do, do you really think I'm technically incompetent enough to have made such a dumb human error? The answer is no.

A $50 credit is a good start, but $100 would be more palatable, given how that is approximately how much we spent on the first day of our campaign, rather than almost the entire 25 day set.

From: MySpace Advertising

To: Me

Date: 10/16/2009 9:53am PST

Unfortunately a $50 credit is all we can offer.

Thank you for contacting MySpace MyAds.

From: Me

To: MySpace Advertising

Date: 10/16/2009 2:40pm PST

And where is this credit?

You guys fail once again.

AT&T’s Local Monopoly Continues Unabated [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:05:54 +0000

I’ve already written extensively about how bad AT&T’s Internet Service is (background: [1] [2], offsite: [1] [2]), but new developments have prompted me to add to the already-epic saga…

After the blocking of 4chan by AT&T earlier this summer and their continued filtering/throttling of my traffic, I decided it was time to find a new ISP. I’d had Comcast before and left for reasons of ethics and principle, and I wasn’t going back. Verizon and other major providers are not available in the South Bay area for some reason – so I went hunting for local providers that probably wouldn’t have the legal departments necessary for the corporate doublespeak of filtering/throttling customers.

But a problem came up pretty quickly: while there are a number of local ISPs for the South Bay, none of them were feasible. The only company that uses ADSL for residential purposes is north of San Francisco (too far), and the rest, both cable and DSL, were more than happy to offer their services, so long as I had an AT&T phone account.

So, just to clarify: if I wanted internet service that wasn’t from AT&T (who I currently have ADSL with, no phone number necessary), I’d have to get phone service (at $14.95/mth) with the very same company I’m trying to leave. Either that or become a customer of Comcast again, for $33/mth that would double after a few months to $66/mth – more than I pay now for “Elite PRO DSL” ($45/mth) and with worse speeds.

I was pretty angry, and set out to find out why I had to have AT&T phone service to have plans with these local ISPs – even those that were providing “cable” or “fusion” network connections. The answer was pretty simple, and I didn’t have to do much digging: AT&T owns almost all of the phone lines in the South Bay area. They don’t rent them, monitor them, or manage them, but own them, and for consumer traffic to cross their lines they require a phone service account.

There’s a number of issues with this, but the first that comes to mind is pretty basic: why is Verizon nowhere to be found within the Bay Area? Their FiOS program is exploding to the point that they’re giving up the landline phone service business, and yet the company that is known for providing the fastest, best, most reliable next-generation broadband services cannot be found within Silicon Valley. How is that a good business decision? As a company, Verizon would stand to easily make millions from the countless rich nerds that populate the Bay Area who would love to have fiber-to-the-home. But even if Verizon seems to think it’s in their best interest to ignore Silicon Valley, where is Time Warner? Or Earthlink? Or even Covad, with a residential offering? These large companies are the kinds of corporate behemoths that would force AT&T to make concessions, so consumers wouldn’t have to have dual accounts.

The second major issue is pretty obvious as well: why does AT&T own all the phone lines in the Bay Area? This is obviously not something that’s going to benefit the general public, and doesn’t seem like the sort of power governments (local, state, and federal) would want to give to a breakup child of the Bell monopoly. In many areas, phone lines are owned by the state, and companies rent or “pay to manage” these lines – the only time a line is owned by a company is when it’s long-haul or a line to a residence. But California chose, in all its magnificence, to let AT&T own the phone lines and essentially stifle local competition.

Finally, the other, and most important, issue is one of monopoly. The sort of de facto local monopoly that AT&T has on DSL and landline phone service in the South Bay is not a unique case, similar to how Comcast is the only provider of cable. All across the country, consumers have no choice when they want DSL, phone, or cable service, and instead have to use the only offering available – this results in higher prices, corporate indifference, and unnecessary corporate growth. At a minimum, there should be two major offerings for all services in any given urban/suburban area, which the FCC seems to realize with the cap of Comcast’s nationwide customer base.

But, somehow, they have ignored the local monopolies that develop either out of coincidence, intent, or collusion - even while customers continue to be ignored, lied to, and overall screwed. Does anyone really wonder why both AT&T and Comcast feel that they can lie to the FCC - about numerous issues, on varied occasions - and get away with it? When you have a large customer base that will never significantly shrink, you can depend on certain levels of income year after year – certainly more than enough to pay for litigation and the FCC’s fines.

I’m disgusted that I’ve been put in such a corner, but I truly have no choice. Comcast is the one true Antichrist, so I will not be their customer again – and yet AT&T is the Antichrist’s First Disciple. When faced with the choice of a $15/mth phone line plus $40/mth internet service, or $45/mth internet service, which option does a poor college student take? The least expensive one, of course.

Which in this case means I’m continuing to support the very company that hates my existence, proven by the double-billing, lying, traffic filtering, and overall poor customer service I’ve received since I became their customer two years ago.

What a load of crap.

America’s Truth Delusion [OpEd]

Kyle Brady — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:05:03 +0000

Modern America is a cesspool of misinformation, half-truths, and cracked belief systems that has reached the point of critical mass, and not only in politics. Within religion, healthcare, popular culture, and almost every other facet of the American lifestyle, millions of people hold so-called “beliefs” on topics which they know little about, yet feel empowered to not only share spiritedly with others, but also take offense when questioned or confronted with contrary evidence. This truth delusion, America, must end - Richard Dawkins would agree.

American citizens seem to hold on to the idea that they are not only allowed to hold personal beliefs on a broad range of topics, but that they are allowed to do so without outside challenge or questioning, implying that they can “believe” what they like, no matter its basis, or lack thereof, in fact. This simple ignorance of both truth and reality began with the Freedom of Religion, which morphed over time into its current form of hyper-tolerance, and grew in parallel with the culture of ignorance that eschews science for pseudoscience, fact for thin theory, and expert testimony for vocal proclamation.

The ongoing healthcare situation, which is hardly a debate, has proven this detachment from reality via the various groups and factions that have risen in vicious opposition: “birthers”, “deathers”, armed citizens claiming to exercise their “right to bear arms”, and more – this augmented reality continues with the vitriolic cable television hosts that continue to grow their audience at alarming rates. Outside of politics, religion has its own delusions in America, where many believe the United States to be a “Christian nation” and that the Freedom of Religion extends only to those which they deem legitimate – apparently not including Islam, Hindu, or Atheism – and consider Creationism to be a legitimate scientific viewpoint on the birth of the Universe. The litany of truth-ignorant topics continues, almost endlessly.

There is a simple fact that the majority of American citizens must quickly learn: simply because an individual holds an opinion on a given topic does not mean it is true - this opinion may not be even a close approximation of the truth, and questioning these opinions is a valuable, and necessary, learning exercise for both parties. Furthermore, the fact that an individual with an opinion is a public figure, holds a job in the media, or has an otherwise method of widely disseminating information does not necessarily qualify their opinion as any more valid, factual, or legitimate than those on the receiving end of the opinion in question, and should be challenged, analyzed, and investigated for factual basis just as much, if not more, than any other individual.

This concept applies most specifically to modern times, where newspapers, television "news" channels, and talk radio is no longer unbiased, fair, or even balanced. Cable news anchors, political pundits, talk show hosts, and a chorus of liars and conspiracy theorists have tainted the journalistic enterprise in a fashion that is both disgusting and disturbing – yet far too many Americans do not question these voices, instead digesting these visions of augmented reality as fact. Preachers, priests, rabbis, and sheiks are just as guilty of these horrible perversions of truth as are politicians, racists, cultists, and many others – there is no shortage of those disseminating propaganda for their own nefarious agendas.

In a culture that prefers mind-numbing entertainment over that which provokes thought or reflection, such a situation is not entirely surprising, but the growing trend of willful ignorance, made all too clear in the recent summer months, is a worrying trend that may lead to significantly larger problems in the very-near future. It is no coincidence that those individuals who hold steadfastly to personal beliefs, no matter how patently false, are also significantly less educated than those open to change, and yet it is, in all probability, too late to help them to help themselves.

Rather, action must be taken to encourage truth over lies, fact over fiction, and reality over fantasy, in all arenas of modern life: rational discussions must be had with the irrational, if only to discredit them in the eyes of outsiders; verifiable fact must be presented in a louder voice than those that shout conspiracy theories, if only to drown them out; opinions and beliefs must be challenged when necessary, so as to defend the honor and virtue of truth. This fundamental cultural change can begin from both ends of the spectrum: politicians, such as President Barack Obama, can begin by invalidating the lies, and well educated young adults can begin by enlightening younger generations.

This change will not happen overnight, nor will it happen in time to make passing healthcare reform, or taking action on climate change, easy. But given enough work, over enough time, future generations can be given a chance to once again live in a rational, intelligent, free-thinking society that previous generations have so thoroughly enjoyed – unlike the present.

An opinion is not truth, nor are the uneducated masses experts. Mass self-delusion is not a path to success of any kind, and should not be allowed to persist in modern America. Truth is truth, and fact is fact - there can be no argument.

Chinese Lies – Followup II [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:43:22 +0000

I wrote something about the state of the Olympics in Beijing, China, and the IOC a week ago, and a followup, but since then there have been some answers to my questions, which I wanted to publicly note.

The IOC has apparently had enough of the public (aka "free world journalist") criticism about ignoring certain *ahem* details about China, and they're now fully investigating the age of the Chinese women's gymnasts. Not just doing a quick China-provided passport check, but the real deal.

Journalists inside the Beijing Olympic compound city are getting frustrated. The daily press conferences, when they happen, are full of over-smiling Chinese government officials and oddly obsequious IOC representatives. Not to mention that their questions are largely ignored, and used as "you're not being very nice guests!" fodder.

If you want an inside voice on the Olympics and it's very obvious problems that has a cynical and "take no prisoners" attitude, check out Marina Hyde of The Guardian. She sounds alot like if I were writing full inside coverage of the events... which is awesome.

AT&T Not “Traffic Shaping”? Right. [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:22:31 +0000

Take a look at these screenshots.

Screen 1: downloading a torrent for tonight's Scrubs. The source doesn't matter, since there are both legal and illegal sources for this kind of content. Download speed, via test, is 661Kbps, and the torrent is at a crawl. Web pages and uploading things via SSH to a server take forever.

Screen 2: all torrents now paused. Download speed, via test is 2.2Mbps. Everything is fast and quick.

This has been happening over the last week, maybe week and a half. Never a problem before, but if I have a torrent active, even a simple thing like using SSH via command line becomes difficult and very "laggy".

What the hell? I left Comcast because they sucked at life (bad customer service, traffic shaping, lies, etc.), and now AT&T is starting to do something that's highly decried as a "major no-no" in the public eye?

Great. Thanks, assholes.

----------------------------

Edit: just for the record, I'm on "AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Pro". It's a DSL dryloop plan.

Update (4/24/08 1AM PST): I called AT&T, got forwarded to a nonsense number, and then called back. There was no record of me calling, no trouble tickets. Because that's not suspicious.

Update (4/24/08 1:40AM PST): "Call back tomorrow when our Line Department is open, it's probably an issue with your line." Got a ticket number this time, but the SOB Manager wouldn't give me his full name ("Chris" was definitely not part of it, that's for sure) or a direct number to that department. We'll see what happens in a few hours.

Update (4/30/08 2:00PM PST): I sent off a few emails to different departments at AT&T, linking to this with a "this is bullshit, fix it or I'm leaving your service immediately" message. In every case, I either got "this isn't our department's problem" or "we have determined this not to be an issue" in response. I haven't called back yet, because I wanted to see what would happen... the results? My bandwidth is not being capped as much as before, since I now get about 60% of the promised speed if a torrent is involved.

This obviously didn't just happen on it's own, but I find it interesting nonetheless. However, it's not completely fixed yet, so I'm not giving up on this issue... I wonder what department fixed this, and why they did if it wasn't "an issue" or their "problem"...

Update (9/23/08 7:30pm PST): I stopped downloading things for the last two months or so, in the hope that whatever they've flagged my account with disappears. It didn't.

I'm still dealing with bandwidth caps when torrents are connected, and getting the run-around from anyone who bothers to talk with me about it from on high. And yet, they claim to be "down" with P2P.

I'm calling "shenanigans" on this one.