In August 2023, we contacted Microsoft Ads support to opt out from the audience network for it was enormously wasting our budget. However, they persuaded us to not switch it off, and stated that if we switch off a few specific websites they named, the wasting would cease. We agreed with their proposal.
However, the wasting did not stop. In December 2023 we contacted them again with the same request to opt-out from the audience network. It took us several weeks and many emails with no reply until they finally confirmed they switched it off.
However, the next month, when checking the invoices, we found out that the audience network had not been switched off at all, and vast amounts of money had been wasted. Moreover, because of this budget wasting, our primary ads barely ran at all, causing significant damage in sales.
Hence, we paused all our advertising with Microsoft and asked them to refund the amounts wasted due to their false information / fraud. Please note that users cannot unlink a payment method, and so Microsoft continued to charge whatever they wanted, even though we specifically opted out from the services.
Since then, the well-known frustration have persisted: Many emails, no reply, no refund, no reaction whatsoever.
This is the last attempt to bring the issue to attention. If not, a court order follows.
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