Oh man, don't get me started...
Ever notice how Microsoft automatically bills you for your SBD renewals? Not so bad, if only they'd tell you which URL you are being billed for.
I'm in the position where I have 6 or 7 URLs being renewed each month, and after hours of searching and numerous e-mails sent it's apparent that there is absolutely no way to tell which URL you are being charged for, nor do Microsoft, after more than a couple of equally snide e-mails as yours above, seem to care or have any plans to change this.
You could say it's my responsibility to track this imformation and you'd be right, however that functionality as basic as this isn't included in Microsofts product is astounding.
All of which pales in comparison to the steamer that is Yahoo! Search Marketing. The following summarises my most recent communication with them.
- Text unnecessarily small, colours drab.
- No functionality for arranging categories in any way other than by alphabet.
- No functionality to select and edit multiple categories (a nightmare when it comes to the end of the month switch off time).
- Manage listings defaults to 'previous day' view.
- Review process excludes keywords for no reason. They will usually reinstate these if you send a nasty enough e-mail.
- Refresh button RARELY works. Oh my God, I can't describe how irritating this is... Yes actually, I WOULD quite like to know how much money I have left as of NOW, NOT 15 days ago!!
- Reporting of clicks/funds used is horribly out of sync with real life. You can pause a category and see it's cost for the month carry on rising by another 50% before it finally stops.
I find it unbelievable that a MARKET LEADER in PPC is riddled with so many usability problems, that basically make my day to day use of Overture an absolute nightmare. I also can't believe that these issues haven't been taken up with the support team by other Overture advertisers in the past, in which case the question has to be : Why haven't they been addressed?
To my shock I actually received a telephone call in reply to that (gargantuan) e-mail, in which quite literally the guy said -
"Yes we are aware about all of these problems. No we can't say when or if it will change".
Even the simple design overhaul that the US version has received hasn't been applied to the European service - which was actually the only thing I was promised would be done ("within the month" - 2 months ago) - how long can it take to change a fricking style sheet?
I hate the way these services weedle their way into a dominant market position and then use that position to justify a complete lack of anything resembling a decent product. Unfortunately I will have to continue using Overture no matter how bad it's functionality is until people stop using Yahoo and MSN.
