Ad Company has replied

Zardon · Dec 29, 2003, 04:12 PM

As you all know ive emailed the ad company about the recent ad problems and this is what I received.

I dont normally share these but I understand how bad this whole thing has been and I really wanted to let you all know the outcome.

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

Hi Allan,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, this was my first day back to work
from holidays...

We had a HUGE problem with one of our advertisers over Christmas and Boxing
day, which is the day of these emails. We started a campaign up for 3 days
and kept getting complaints from users. The problem was, we couldn't see
what was happening on our end. Matt figured that he would check one of the
ads out during our off hours (late night our time and weekends) and sure
enough, he saw what your users have been complaining about.

>From what we know, the problem was not coming from the pops. There was a
468x60 that probably showed a "Smiley" ad or something of the like. Once you
roll-over the ad, it relentlessly pops up full page ads, starts downloading
crap, and re-routes the user's homepage. Apparently it just clobbered Matt's
machine. He immediately stopped the campaign (it showed about 500,000
impressions total network-wide), wrote the advertiser, and told our boss.
This is the worst scenario we've come across with an advertiser hands down.

Had it not been the holidays, we would have caught it sooner and it would
have NEVER ran. We are extremely pissed off to say the least. This company
will never run ads with us again.

So sorry for this really awful inconvenience.

Judas · Dec 29, 2003, 08:29 PM

...... sounds like good news....

gunther · Dec 31, 2003, 06:17 PM

No recompensations on lost time on the issue and for annoying the end users? Pfff... I'd reconsider using an ad company that lets things to go wrong so badly (and often as noted from last ad problems), but that's just me.

zerodamage · Dec 31, 2003, 06:21 PM

The survival of this site is what is important. They actually replied on new years week and apoligized and explained what happened. It all sounds good to me.

Dyre Straits · Dec 31, 2003, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zerodamage
The survival of this site is what is important. They actually replied on new years week and apoligized and explained what happened. It all sounds good to me.

I totally agree. I have my own business and the holidays are just a totally AWFUL time for anything to go wrong.

Zardon · Dec 31, 2003, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gunther
No recompensations on lost time on the issue and for annoying the end users? Pfff... I'd reconsider using an ad company that lets things to go wrong so badly (and often as noted from last ad problems), but that's just me.

well yes but until you actually start running a site like this, you will find there is normally 50 other things to be done, so once a problem is sorted you move on to the next one. I also dont divulge personal funding information between myself and ad sponsors or ad companies because quite frankly it has nothing to do with the end user, this site is a privately owned free service and things will go wrong from time to time.

Quite honestly this feedback forum should be renamed the bitchfest forum, and I can understand why many a site dont even have them in the first place.

The issue is resolved, closed.

Dec 29, 2003, 04:12 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Ad Company has replied As you all know ive emailed the ad company about the recent ad problems and this is what I received. I dont normally share these but I understand how bad this whole thing has been and I really wanted to let you all know the outcome. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Allan, Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, this was my first day back to work from holidays... We had a HUGE problem with one of our advertisers over Christmas and Boxing day, which is the day of these emails. We started a campaign up for 3 days and kept getting complaints from users. The problem was, we couldn't see what was happening on our end. Matt figured that he would check one of the ads out during our off hours (late night our time and weekends) and sure enough, he saw what your users have been complaining about. >From what we know, the problem was not coming from the pops. There was a 468x60 that probably showed a "Smiley" ad or something of the like. Once you roll-over the ad, it relentlessly pops up full page ads, starts downloading crap, and re-routes the user's homepage. Apparently it just clobbered Matt's machine. He immediately stopped the campaign (it showed about 500,000 impressions total network-wide), wrote the advertiser, and told our boss. This is the worst scenario we've come across with an advertiser hands down. Had it not been the holidays, we would have caught it sooner and it would have NEVER ran. We are extremely pissed off to say the least. This company will never run ads with us again. So sorry for this really awful inconvenience.

Dec 31, 2003, 06:17 PM	#3
gunther DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: error. Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	No recompensations on lost time on the issue and for annoying the end users? Pfff... I'd reconsider using an ad company that lets things to go wrong so badly (and often as noted from last ad problems), but that's just me.

Dec 31, 2003, 06:21 PM	#4
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	The survival of this site is what is important. They actually replied on new years week and apoligized and explained what happened. It all sounds good to me.