Hi,
Recently I’ve came across a weird situation in Google Maps in my area.
A big and popular shopping center’s map listing (Militari Shopping Center) was taken over by a small and obscure toy shop (Noriel) situated within this shopping center.
Being a local guide myself and constantly checking the area around me, I can recall that this listing was changed from what it used to be. Also if you read the reviews(mostly in romanian … sorry) or look at the photos you’ll see they are all from the various stores from inside that shopping center or from the Auchan Hypermarket also situated inside. The name and all other contact information was changed to make it look as if it’s the toy store.
The fact is there are now two different listings for the Noriel toy store as you can see below, and none for the big shopping center.
I can’t tell exactly the reason why Noriel would do this, but most likely for gaining visibility and benefiting from the thousands of reviews and photos already associated with that map listing. I think they also claimed the business because at some point there were toy adds displayed at this listing.
I have tried on several occasions to restore the original information for that listing but every time my changes were denied. The thing is that it’s not actually a duplicated listing situation where one can be reported for removal, it’s more and it’s complicated. It’s not fair to delete the Military Shopping Center’s listing with thousands of reviews and photos just because some random company decided to play unfair.
Long story short, in my opinion this behavior is against the Google Maps rules and the toy store’s name and contact information should be removed from the listing of the Military Shopping Center’s listing. They should also be denied from claiming that business again.
Any advice how to fix this?
PS: No idea how this new LG works anymore and hopefully I posted in the right place.