Incorrect Photos Have Replaced Mine in a Review

Hotel McCoy Tucson, AZ - my Review

My message to Google Reviews: (Sent by clicking on the tiny, tiny print on the bottom right-hand of a photo page that mentions Problems or Feedback)

I submitted 25+ photos for my review of Hotel McCoy in Tucson, AZ, on Dec.11th.

When you click on any photo, incorrect photos by other people show up. Last week I submitted this problem, detailing how all of my photos have been replaced (when you click on one) by the same odd photo by another Google Reviewer named “Shawn Roche (Simptumz)”. Now, though that same incorrect photo has been removed, even more photos that are not mine show up.

I’ve been doing Google reviews since 2017, over 1,000 so far with over 3,500 photos and this is the first time I’ve ever had this issue. I’m a Level 8 on my way to Level 9. Please correct it and contact me via my email. Thanks.

13 Likes

@Madjag You posted this under photography, but it might get more attention in the How-tos section, where experts can notice it and offer their help. I would tag CM @MortenCopenhagen help you.

2 Likes

@PrasadVR

Thanks for the tag.

@Madjag

The link to your review is not working on my end. Maybe your review is hidden or you failed to copy the link correctly. Please try to share links to individual reviews from a desktop computer.

I would like to test if the same error can be reproduced on my end.

Which platform (android, ios, or desktop) are you using?

Are you able to test this using another platform? Then please let me know if the issue persists across platforms.

Also, if you could try borrowing another phone using your account to see if the problem is associated with your account or your device.

All the best

Morten

From the symptoms you reported I tend to believe this could be an issue on your device. Kindly make sure you have the latest version of Maps and your operating system. Try Please, try Clear cache & cookies, if you have not already done so. The link has step-by-step instructions for Android, IOS, and Desktop. Just select the relevant tab at the top. Also, please log out of your Local Guides account and log back in, and update your Google Maps app if necessary.

1 Like

Hello Morten,

I sent you a private message yesterday on Local Guides Connect. Did you receive it?

  • I have cleared me cache

  • I am using a Dell work station with Windows 10 Pro.

  • I have the latest Firefox version, 120.01

Google Maps updates automatically in Firefox. I do not have to touch it. It is not an APP. And as I’ve stated before, I only post from this machine,

I do not have a smartphone.

  • I opened Google Maps in the Google Chrome browser, which I normally do not prefer to use, then I logged into my Google account so when I visit Google Maps sites that I have already reviewed, my review is the first and easy to find. The results for Hotel McCoy Tucson were the same: a weird photo shows up. It is from April 2022 and is an incomplete “Google Street View”, the bottom half being all black:

  1. Is there any setting in Firefox that might cause this - NO, because why would Google Chrome show the same photo problem.

  2. Could my computer have a setting causing this? Then why did it show up now, suddenly?

  3. My photos for other reviews, of which many are in the last month, are all fine and show up when selected from the review.

Hello Morten,

Yes, feel free to post this for other Guides to help comment on.

Here is the reply I received privately

Hello Morten,

I use a desktop Dell, Win10 Pro, and Firefox 120.01. I always post from it or very rarely from my HP Elite Dragonfly laptop.

I do not have a smart phone, I use a 4g Kyocera flip phone, never for browsing though it can.

I don’t know if you meant that there is a way for me to Hide photos or if that part of your reply was just mentioning a possible Google mistake.

When I clicked on the “Reply” to your post, it went to a page that would not let me fill out the message box.

My cache is cleared and I have no anti-virus to mess with this. Besides, I’ve posted over 3,500 photos, many in the last 2 months, and never had this issue until they changed the Upload Photos box in the last few weeks. Before, I entered my photos one at a time and waited patiently for them to load.

The new Upload Box, found in the process of posting a review,looks like this:

I am also not sure what you mean by "The link to your review is not working on my end.

Maybe your review is hidden or you failed to copy the link correctly."

I copy and paste the URL bar for links and the one I sent you was very long, the type I don’t trust and usually strip of any extra letters or numbers since they are usually trackers. Here my Firefox URL bar with the Hotel McCoy Google Maps in it. Notice the beginning sequence of the long link address at top:

Thank you for your response and assistance. I do Google reviews for fun and am traveling more these days since I retired so I am generating a lot of reviews and photos. This case stumps me because since someone who answered my first post for help on Google changed the photo that had replaced all of mine in this post, it points to the fact that someone at Google is trying to fix it, but doesn’t perhaps know how. Thus the new incorrect photos that are now showing instead of mine when you click on them.

Peace,

Jimbo

Hi again @Madjag

Thanks for all the extra information.

I’m sorry, but your review of Hotel McCoy seems to he hidden. I can not see it under your review contribution list (I went 2 months back) and I also can not find it under the pin.

That you see it first does not mean others see it first under the pin.

Because it is hidden I have not been able to check nor confirm the issue.

So first we need to get the review to go public. This can be a challenge with so many photos.

Maybe your issue is a side effect of it not being public.

I suggest you delete all the photos to check if the review goes public with no photos attached. Google recently started moderating reviews and photos as a whole.

If it goes public then add 1 or a few photos and check again if the review is still published. This way you can keep trying untill you know which photo is the problem.

If the text only review does not go public then the problem is like in the review text.

Try and report back.

Morten

Hi Morten,

I will erase the photos as you suggest. If it turns out to be one photo, what does that say to Google?

Is their photo upload department that *********.?

I checked the review on my HP Elite Dragonfly notebook and the photos are still corrupted.

So it’s not my Dell desktop at fault.

Hello Morten,

I checked the 5 photos that I posted yesterday and they all yield the same, original corrupt Street View photo.

Thanks for your help. I am done wasting time with Google over one of the 1,000 reviews that I have done.

Kinda sad that the Google cannot get it right.

Peace,

Jimbo