Google Ads promotional credits invalidated after the spend

Advertisers say Google Ads is cancelling promotional credits after they have already spent the money needed to earn them. Search Engine Land reported the cases on 11 September, a day after Search Engine Roundtable picked them up from a PPC consultant.

A $3,200 credit was cancelled a month after the spend

David Melamed, a PPC consultant, said one client spent $3,200 on Google Ads to unlock a matching $3,200 credit. More than a month later the credit was marked “Invalidated” in the account. There is no appeal against that status, and the spend is not refunded.

Melamed said it was the second client account to lose a credit that way in a short period. He called the practice “pure theft”. His point is simple. The advertiser would not have spent the first $3,200 without the offer on the table.

One offer broke because billing came from a manager account

Google gave no general explanation. In one case the credit failed because the account had been set up with the billing profile from Melamed’s manager account. Agencies that open client accounts from a central manager account are the group most exposed to that rule.

Ginny Marvin says she passed the complaint to the team

Google Ads liaison Ginny Marvin replied in public that she had “passed this along to the team”. Google has not said why the credits were cancelled, how many accounts are affected, or whether the dispute route will change.

The timing is awkward. Google keeps shipping features into the same accounts, from budget and target experiments to AI dashboards that write reports on request. Billing trust is a separate question, and it is the one a small advertiser notices first.

Open the Promotions page in your account today and read the status column on every offer you are counting on. A credit marked “Invalidated” will not come back. Check which billing profile each client account was opened with, especially if a manager account did the setup. Until Google explains the rule, plan the quarter as if the credit were a possible rebate, not money already in the budget.