A few months ago Finland's banks switched to SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) and IBAN bank numbers permanently. This meant that old bank account numbers would no longer work. This is obviously a change that has been in the works for years and it's something that every company should have been prepared for.
Well, apparently Google failed to realize this and update their systems. October's payout failed and I received a generic automated e-mail message about it. I realized what the problem was instantly and tried to figure out how to contact Google about it.
Google Checkout doesn't have a direct contact form nor a phone number: instead, their "contacting support" page [1] presents a list of options about "the topic of your question". Only after I chose something vaguely related, filled out a contact form that didn't have a freeform text field and received an automated form reply I could tell them my real issue by replying.
After they fixed it and re-entering my bank account details, I had to wait until December (the next payout date) to receive the failed payout.
(I've received this month's payout successfully without any issue.)
Many people have tried contacting them through multiple support forms about this march payment issue and they're not managing to get any humans to answer them.
Not that it excuses Google's notoriously bad/nonexistent customer service, but I suspect you could quite easily get the attention of the relevant people on G+.
(Notice that the one Google employee who has replied in the thread is being derided for not doing enough quickly enough. It was 9 AM in California when he replied. This is why nobody speaks up until the issue is resolved.)
The point is not that it's 9am in California, the point is that it's the 13th March already, and the first human answer we get, just minutes ago, is a developer of the new 3-man team being assembled to take over that derelict product -that processes millions, by the way. Is this a joke? no, it's just the Google way, it seems.
Developers have to give Google 30% of revenue and this is the kind of support they get. Not customer relations, not support, a lone developer of a meager, newly assembled team who used his good sense.
Sorry, but that excuses nothing. Do VISA, MasterCard, American Express start business at 9AM? They're 24-hour operations. So should any op dealing with payments.
Well, apparently Google failed to realize this and update their systems. October's payout failed and I received a generic automated e-mail message about it. I realized what the problem was instantly and tried to figure out how to contact Google about it.
Google Checkout doesn't have a direct contact form nor a phone number: instead, their "contacting support" page [1] presents a list of options about "the topic of your question". Only after I chose something vaguely related, filled out a contact form that didn't have a freeform text field and received an automated form reply I could tell them my real issue by replying.
After they fixed it and re-entering my bank account details, I had to wait until December (the next payout date) to receive the failed payout.
(I've received this month's payout successfully without any issue.)
[1] http://support.google.com/checkout/sell/bin/request.py