No open case or post on Google Maps support has been able to help me and I will not back down until this gets resolved. I was told by a member of Google support that I have to write my concerns on a Dedicated Local Guides Connect Forum.
I had a distressing experience at a business, and I wrote a review that contained no spam, no offensive content that would trigger or violate any policies. The owner threatened me, and then had a bunch of fake 5 star reviews to try to drown me out. Now, my review does not show up on the business at all. I don’t understand why it shows up on my account but not to the public, when the review was far from anything that could be interpreted as suspicious or inappropriate. I want others to be able to read my experience so that they do not have to be put through what I went through with this business.
Here is the link to my review, which shows up as “no longer available”: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HKnK28anqUkPFiCu9
[Here] is the link to my contributions, which on my end, I can scroll to the review I made for this business a year ago.
I previously posted in Google Forums and it got locked with no resolution to my problem, which is so frustrating. I posted again here.
Attached is a screenshot of my review if the above link does not show it. I have also attached the business and the address that I am referring to.
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Hi @Lizzy8 Hello, welcome to the forum. I am very sorry for this negative situation. Did you add a photo to your comment? Could there be a problem with the photos you added? I’m sure the moderators will help you with this issue.
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@ErmesT could you see this case?
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Hi @Lizzy8 , welcome to Connect, and thank you @GasparKaren for the tag.
The team in the Google Maps help forum did the right thing by addressing you here, because in there they take care of the geographic aspect of Maps, while Connect is the community of the Local Guides.
First of all I want to inform you that, to keep Connect organized, I am changing your category to Google Maps tips & tricks - Local Guides Connect, where it fits better.
I’m sorry about your bad experience, that is unfortunately very common when we talk about medical environments. Normally the reason is that patients with a bad experience are trying to add a lot of personal details about that, transforming the review in a kind of personal revenge against the business. Reviews are checked by an algorithm, and eventually taken down.
A business do not have the power to take a review down, but of course they can report it for an additional check. As the algorithm evolves, a review may be removed even after weeks or months.
When a review is removed the first step to have it published is to edit it.
However your edit is transforming your review in a conflict with the business, and obviously that kind of reviews are not published.
Personally I would act in two steps, that is what I do when one of my reviews are taken down:
- edit your review, removing the first part and every other comment related to the original one. If you want you may add an initial note like "edit of the original one, written on [date]. Also remove the attached media (photos) if you added one or more.
- if in this way the review is published, everything is fine. However in my last experience 30 of my reviews were removed by the filter after 24-72 hours. In that case what I do is to appeal, using this form: Account investigation for contributions not visible on Google Maps. The reviews are checked by a trained operator and, if found to be compliant with the policies, released. Due to the large amount of contributors the check may take up to 2 months. Also please be aware that you will not receive a feedback about your appeal. So please check periodically your profile to see when the review is published. Remember not to edit the review after the appeal is sent, because this action will cancel the appeal.
Kindly keep us informed about the result by responding on this conversation.
Good luck
Ermes
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Thank you @ErmesT - I so appreciate the time and answer.
I have edited the review exactly to how you suggested. It wasn’t published after I pressed submit. I then filled out the form you linked (which I had filled out previously more than 2 months ago and never saw my review published). Here’s to hoping that your suggestions for my edit will get it posted this time after the trained operator reviews it. I will update here if it does (which sounds like it might be longer than 2 months…)
This doctor hired a lawyer to sue me over my review, which was a straightforward account of my experience. I greatly appreciate your help in this distressing time.
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