If you want to advertise on Facebook and Instagram, of course you first need to have a business Page and administrative access.

But what happens if you lose access to the Page? For example, if someone sets it up for your business then leaves—and isn’t around to add someone else as an admin?

This happens all the time. In fact, I recently started working with a new client who had not been able to access their Facebook page—for three years!

They had tried in vain to get customer support from Facebook.

Sadly, people had messaged their businesses and engaged with their Page, and there was no way for them to respond. And naturally that meant they couldn’t advertise.

When they hired me, I too struggled to find any way to get support from Facebook. Numerous forms we both filled out went into the void with no response.

That’s when I discovered Facebook’s dirty secret.

On a whim, I decided to log into the account of another customer who was paying for ads. It was only then that multiple options to contact Facebook support appeared, including online chat.

I was able to connect with a kind person at Facebook who patiently listened to the issue my other client had about not being able to access their Page. After several days of back-and-forth emails and having them complete the proper forms, they were finally able to regain administrative access and start posting to their Page, responding to customers—and advertising!

But if you’re a business that has lost admin access, the Catch-22 is that you won’t find anyone to help you and therefore you can’t advertise on Facebook or Instagram until you do gain access.

Imagine how many millions of dollars Facebook loses because of this short-sighted stance on customer support. You won’t find the same level of overt discrimination from Google or Apple—there are readily available ways of contacting their support teams. And you don’t have to prove you are a customer first.