{"id":3183,"date":"2009-04-30T14:17:37","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T18:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=3183"},"modified":"2009-04-30T15:11:49","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T19:11:49","slug":"microsofts-tellme-spams-google-with-bogus-tech-support-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/30\/microsofts-tellme-spams-google-with-bogus-tech-support-number\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft’s TellMe Spams Google with Bogus Tech Support Number"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw this posted in the Google Help Forum thread Google is Merging Map Records<\/a> and wondered if she knew something that I didn’t:<\/p>\n

\nhmcx2
\n4\/29\/09
\n We tried the Google Technical Support people (Julie & Billy, the supervisor) at 888\/882-7114. They sounded like they could fix the problem but only if we paid $35.00. Since we never requested that our listing be merged (in fact, we actually never even placed the listing – they said maybe a phone company had listed it on Google) it seems unfiar to charge us.<\/p>\n

If anybody finds ANY route to contact somebody at Google to fix this – please post the info – be it phone number, email address or postal address.
\n—-
\nMaps Guide Adam
\nGoogle Employee
\n4\/29\/09
\nPlease note that we don’t offer telephone technical support for LBC listings or other issues in Google Maps. If anyone claims to be able to fix this issue, for a fee, please *DO NOT* pay them. They are not representatives of Google.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now Adam’s answered was obviously correct but this definitely piqued my curiosity so I began the hunt and searching (where else?) on Google I came upon this incredibly (and unintentionally) ironic post; And we thought Microsoft was the Evil Empire?<\/a> where author Pamela notes:<\/p>\n

So, after time and time of looking through insulting, tedious, no-result in sight surveys, I decided to call (and yes, there\u2019s no phone number available to the naked desiring eye) 1-800-555-1212. I got connected to: 1-888-882-7114. This number gladly shared through a recorded voice that Google was happy to help, they were open 24\/7 and guess what? FOR ONLY $2.99 PER MINUTE (was this a 1-900 number?) I could TALK TO SOMEONE. I even got the first TWO minutes for no cost. <\/p>\n

Wait. A. Second. You mean to tell me, that I have a problem, and you are willing – YOU GOOGLE – to help little old me for only $2.99 per minute? O.M.G. That is so generous of you. But how do I pay thee, so generous one?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I called 1-800-555-1212 and TellMe (owned by Microsoft no less) answered: “Please say the name of the listing you want<\/em>” in a pleasant computer voice. “Google<\/em>” I said and TellMe responded that the “here’s the number for Google Technical Support 888-882-7114<\/strong><\/em>“. <\/p>\n

I of course tried calling Google Technical Support. For $2.99 I was ready to pull out my credit card and see which problems they could solve. Unfortunately they were not in and my call was forwarded to 352-264-0014 and the mail box was full. <\/p>\n

Dang and I thought I was so close to actually being able to call Google Tech Support….and what do I get? Microsoft’s Spam! Would someone please tell Microsoft that Google does not have technical support? <\/p>\n

You have to love local.<\/p>\n

Here is a recording of my call: Recording of Tellme Intereaction (mp3)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw this posted in the Google Help Forum thread Google is Merging Map Records and wondered if she knew something that I didn’t: hmcx2 4\/29\/09 We tried the Google Technical Support people (Julie & Billy, the supervisor) at 888\/882-7114. They sounded like they could fix the problem but only if we paid $35.00. Since …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3183"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3204,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183\/revisions\/3204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}