Closed, Says Google, but Shops' Signs Say Open

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JBloggs

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Closed, Says Google, but Shops' Signs Say Open
New York Times
Closed, Says Google, but Shops' Signs Say Open New York Times “For weeks, our bookings for September have been far lower than normal and we were wondering why,” said Charlene Cowan, who owns and operates Macadamia Meadows Farm, a bed-and-breakfast in Naalehu, Hawaii, which has been tagged as “permanently closed” ...
 
The article says it takes several people clicking "this business is closed" to get it labeled "reported closed" and several more clicks to get it labeled on Google as "permanently closed".
To to have it done in error is unlikely. Someone is purposely doing all that clicking. Rather than blaming competitors, I'd think it's more likely unhappy customers/guests. Just another way they can punish a business.
 
The article says it takes several people clicking "this business is closed" to get it labeled "reported closed" and several more clicks to get it labeled on Google as "permanently closed".
To to have it done in error is unlikely. Someone is purposely doing all that clicking. Rather than blaming competitors, I'd think it's more likely unhappy customers/guests. Just another way they can punish a business..
!! you mean just any old someone can click on that a place has closed. keep clicking on it till that's how it shows up? without google verifying it with the business?
i don't care if it's being done by a competitor, a disgruntled ex-employee, a past guest or just someone who doesn't like the business owner.
that's awful.
with businesses so reliant on the internet now, it's the way of the world, there ought to be a means of verification with the business owner, like when you register a place with google maps.
 
Not just tagged permanently closed. Couple weeks ago, we were passing through Memphis, looking for dinner. A great sounding restaurant, Google (on my "smart" phone, no less), listed the hours as CLOSED on Saturday night. At first I was disappointed, and then I thought,..."What?!" Called the restaurant, and they answered (with a huge din in the background). Sure enough, they were open and hoppin'.
 
The article says it takes several people clicking "this business is closed" to get it labeled "reported closed" and several more clicks to get it labeled on Google as "permanently closed".
To to have it done in error is unlikely. Someone is purposely doing all that clicking. Rather than blaming competitors, I'd think it's more likely unhappy customers/guests. Just another way they can punish a business..
!! you mean just any old someone can click on that a place has closed. keep clicking on it till that's how it shows up? without google verifying it with the business?
i don't care if it's being done by a competitor, a disgruntled ex-employee, a past guest or just someone who doesn't like the business owner.
that's awful.
with businesses so reliant on the internet now, it's the way of the world, there ought to be a means of verification with the business owner, like when you register a place with google maps.
.
seashanty said:
...without google verifying it with the business?...
Google's not going to go to the trouble/expense to check it. They don't care. There's no money in it for them to check it. As long as most of this stuff is free (Google maps, Google places, TripAdvisor, etc.) it's going to be like this. Just horrible.
We might as well get used to it. Things change so fast these days laws can't keep up. Society norms can't keep up. Society still doesn't even have it worked out whether it's OK to talk or text on a cell phone in a public place, and these features have been around for years now.
Wonder what next month will bring.
I miss 1975.
 
That seems weird. I tried to tell google one of my client's place had closed and they told me that they had to hear it from the owner directly before they would remove a listing. So if it truly was closed...why would the listing still be there? I don't understand.. Have I missed something? Is there a place to indicate a place has closed? Where is it?
 
That seems weird. I tried to tell google one of my client's place had closed and they told me that they had to hear it from the owner directly before they would remove a listing. So if it truly was closed...why would the listing still be there? I don't understand.. Have I missed something? Is there a place to indicate a place has closed? Where is it?.
They generally won't close a place if it is owner-verified. They send the owner an email to confirm the closing. We had a few zombie locations around here. I actually sent Google photos of the locations as proof. This one is owner verified, so the listing remains, even though it's gone, I've sent them a photo of the empty location to prove it. But they won't remove it because it's owner verified. And I'm known for sending them updates (including a bug or two).
There are a few people that are just malicious. If you can get to the right people at google (it isn't that hard, they are available either directly, twitter or via the forum) they can actually look up who is doing it and block their future updates.
 
Wow - very interesting. I have had a few locals turn up here recently wanting to use us for family visits becasue they had "read so many good things" but had heard on the grapevine that we were closed / going out of business.
After seeing your post I immediately went to google maps and yellow pages. Google maps seems to be fine (we even have one review I wasn't aware of) as does yellow pages - so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I'd still like to know where these local "rumours" are coming from. I really really don't want to think it's any kind of intentional sabotage (I am SURE it's none of the local innkeepers).
 
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