One of the things that makes our online sites different from lots of others is that we display our phone number prominently.  If you’ve ever tried to contact Amazon or Ebay by phone, you know what I am talking about.

The larger and more prominent the site, the less likely it is that phone contact will be an option.  Even though it can be terribly irritating, I understand why.  Let me explain.

I’m an internet content creator.  I spend most of my day adding content to our web sites to provide what we hope is useful information to customers and prospects.  That includes detailed explanations, product specifications and comparisons and “how to” animations and tips. We’ve been at it long enough that we feel that our sites far outstrip our competitors when it comes to providing information that supports what we sell.

We are blessed that most our sites do well in what is called “organic” search, which means that they show up in search results when you seek out products and information using standard search protocols.  If you search for something like “gaffers tape” or “Procell battery“, you’ll always see our sites on page 1.

For some people, finding us through search simply means that they look no further than the phone number.  Rather than take time to look through the site using a very powerful built in search function, they just reach for the phone.  Almost without exception, there is a more useful and illustrative answer to their question on the site than anything I could possibly tell them on the phone.  Every time I get one of these calls, I’m tempted to bury our phone number more deeply in the site (or at least no longer make it toll free!).

Oh, and while we’re on the subject.  When you send us an online request for our catalog, how about including your mailing address.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB extensioncordsand OnStage Stand mic stands.

In checking over our monthly American Express statement (I really should do this more often) I noticed a charge from Google Adwords for $20.83. I dug back a little further and found that this charge had been repeating itself on the second of every month since March.

Our company does have an adwords account, administered by someone else, and the budget is set at a nice round number, with charges posted to a credit card twice every month. This mystery charge was definitely not related to that account, and it was also not related to another adwords account that had had all of its activity suspended in February.

We’ve spent way more than $20.83 today trying to track this down, and we don’t have an answer yet.

My point? I’m getting to it.

Abandoned “orphan” accounts for online services have become a major profit center for those who sell those services on a subscription basis. It can be so hard to get answers that you just find yourself saying “I’ll get back to that tomorrow”. Next month, there it is again. Most of these service providers don’t have human beings who answer the phone and they send you those “Do not reply to this email” responses when you try to get an answer.

What to do? Here’s how we handle it. Any time you don’t understand the details of a charge, give the service provider the courtesy of one phone call. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, challenge the charge with the card issuer. The company posting the charge has ten days to provide an explanation, and if they don’t provide a satisfactory answer, then the charge will be reversed. It is expensive and time consuming for the company generating the charge to validate the charge and if they ignore Visa or American Express, they run the risk of losing the right to accept credit cards.

This process is quick, can be done online, and causes expense and complication for everybody in the chain of custody of your money.

If the charge shows up again next month, challenge it again. They’ll get the message.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

Duracell has committed up to one million batteries in this year’s Power A Smile campaign for Toys For Tots.

Celebrity spokesperson Ellen DeGeneres shared details about Duracell’s holiday generosity in a video featured on the San Francisco Examiner’s web site.

Duracell included a custom painted C130 aircraft as part of the battery distribution.

Well done, Duracell!