Yeah, sure, youbetcha!

I Believe I Shut Down Blogger....
Yesterday I wrote a SCATHING post to be published this morning. And shortly after I put it into 'scheduled' mode, Blogger took a nose dive.

And now, the post is missing from my dashboard. And now the original post can be seen here, but I may be the one who single-handily took down blogger.

Why?

Because I was really, really, REALLY P.O.'d at Google check out, and as you know, Google now owns Blogger. So, if my really upset post took down Blogger....I apologize.

What's the big hoopla?
My Google Checkout account had been suspended because I tried to make a payment to secure the custom URL's for our 3-day team webpages.

Seems simple enough, right?
Not so much. Rather than taking me to a page with my account information, the link provided to me to make payment, automatically tried to charge my card. The charge didn't go through because the address google has on file (our old address) does not match the address on file at the bank (the farm address).

Rather than be able to update it and move on my way....Google wanted me to provide them a copy of my drivers license AND a copy of a recent billing statement (for a credit card, utility bill, etc.) to prove I lived where I live.

SAY WHAT?!?

I was furious.
Why did they need that?
Oh. Yeah. I know. Protection against identity thieves. I get it.
But they weren't going to get that from me.
Nor should they get that from anyone else. Google has no right to ask for copies of private information like that. I felt obligated to stand up and say "NO!" and provide options that would satisfy both google and myself.

In the end, I won. Google eventually worked with me in the end and everyone is happy. They have $20 dollars in their account and I have the Card Blog and the Auction Blog URL's for one more year. But it came down to 4 days worth of e-mails to get me to this point.But I feel it necessary to tell those of you who have secured URL's through Blogger by using Google Check out to remember to update your user information BEFORE you receive the "time to renew" e-mail. Otherwise, you, too, may have to provide copies of your personal information.

And if Google reinstates my blog post....well....so be it.
Maybe I'm destined to be a detective because the screen shots I uploaded certainly made me feel like I was a member of the investigation team on Law and Order.

(did you just hear the Law and Order "bom bom" sound, too?)