Really, don't bother trying to contact them, it's not worth it. If anything their business API is less sketchy than their actual sales tactics.
We had two different conversations with them and the first time the rep quoted us a rate that worked out to $72 per 1000 map impressions. The second time we spoke to a different rep who, when asked the differences between the free plan and the business plan, told us that if we were currently on the free plan outside of the ToS there would be "consequences".
Edit: I should add that afterwards we immediately switched to MapBox. Straightforward pricing, and it feels great to know that we're supporting the open source community.
uh, even at its highest it was $4 per 1000 (and now it's 50 cents) and you get 25,000 free per day. And that's through the automated API console, no enterprise license. And the "consequences" are...you get an over quota message. Seriously, search for "OVER_QUERY_LIMIT" and then compare that to all the stories of people being sued and shut down because they went over their maps API quota. I'll wait.
I've heard of terrible sales calls with them, so maybe that's what happened, but this seems a bit of a stretch. If it did, I hope you did some basic research before deciding what to go with.
In any case, MapBox is great and they deserve the support, so at least it worked out.
Yeah, we had done some research before going into the call, which is why we were just floored at what they were saying. "So you're saying that an enterprise license is more expensive than the business rate listed on your website?" ... "yeah."
I think the whole google maps enterprise was just somebody high up saying "hey, maps is popular, let's try monetizing it" and then not actually holding any of their sales people accountable for anything.
We had two different conversations with them and the first time the rep quoted us a rate that worked out to $72 per 1000 map impressions. The second time we spoke to a different rep who, when asked the differences between the free plan and the business plan, told us that if we were currently on the free plan outside of the ToS there would be "consequences".
Edit: I should add that afterwards we immediately switched to MapBox. Straightforward pricing, and it feels great to know that we're supporting the open source community.