Is there a file size limit or other reason why a Google Maps review photo may not be showing up publicly?
The vast majority of reviews posted are 5-star, with the exception of one unfortunately unpleasant home renovation contractor experience I posted here:
Under my contributions, I can see the photos personally, but they are not posted publicly. There are no images of people in the photos and no copyright materials even inadvertently included. One of the 13 photos did appear on the review publicly for a few days, but is no longer showing.
Why might this be the case and what can I do to ensure the photos attached to my ( negative ) review can be shared and viewed publicly?
Contributions can be marked as private by Google when they are in violation of our policies and are visible only to you. Private reviews, edits, or photos do not count toward your Local Guides level.
By the way, I’ve relabeled your post to How-tos, as it fits better there.
There is sommething I am not able to understand @kgnazdowsky , @VasT
Your 13 photos are contributing to the total amount of your points. If flagged as “private” the photos shoud not give you points, and you should have 84 points only. Can you please check you privacy setting?
How would I contact Google to rectify this kind of situation specifically? Do I need to certify the pictures authentic evidence of the contractor work with captions on/within them and try removing then re-adding them to my review ?
The pictures are factual, current examples of photographs illustrating incomplete work left by the contractor to support evidence in the review. A picture is worth a thousand words and it is important, relevant and certified factual information I simply want included with my review post.
Any suggestions are appreciated to help resolve this.
Can you walk me through how to check my privacy settings? Sorry, I am not clear on how to ensure I am sharing the photos publicly. That may be the issue, but does not explain why for a time, 1 of the 13 photos originally attached to my review was showing publicly for several days … now it is not.
How, exactly, would be the most effective way to contact someone at Google regarding this specific type of issue? I have tried several ways, and finally resorted to joining this group to try get some suggestions / possible answers.
You are welcome @kgnazdowsky . A tip for next time: please tag me with the @ sign every time you want someone to see you respond (as I did with your name at the beginning of the post).
Can you please check your settings as @ErmesT mentioned?
Thank you @VasT . I checked that setting and it was already public. See below to confirm.
I have now tried to select one of the 13 photos linked to the 1 star review and chose the “share” option. Within share, I have attempted to “send feedback” explaining I wanted these to be linked to my review and shared publicly. I asked in that feedback why they would not be visible or possibly flagged as inappropriate as I do not see any reason they violate Google policies and I certified them accurate, factual photographs of the work of this within our home performed by the vendor being reviewed.
Is there some other way I can reach out to Google to have this resolved that you would recommend might work @ErmesT ? @ThaKingRyan it may be true and is highly likely this vendor is flagging them as inappropriate, but they are not and I see no reason, but am willing to address any concerns provided Google can tell me what, if anything, is preventing them from being allowed to be displayed publicly. It seems unfair that a vendor can simply flag something as inappropriate to hide their bad work … a picture paints a thousand words and provides factual evidence backing the content of a review, positive or negative.
For sure a Googler can give you a better advice than me.
My personal feeling (I repeat, my Personal Feeling, so do not consider this an “official reply” as it is not) is that the photos aren’t photos of the business representing the business itself, but photos of an installation at your home. Good or bad job is a detail that is irrelevant in this case, as a photo should represent a business location, not the evidence of a bad or wrong job made in another place.
Personally I wouln’t use Google maps to solve (or to enhance) a conflict between a customer and a supplier that give a bad job. There are more appropriate places, a lawyers is a much better solution, and you avoid the risk that the business decide to report you for defamation.
Google has a toll free number 650-253-0000, you could try to contact them through that.
Alternatively, you could contact moderators - like @VasT and @ErmesT - who could try to help you as best as they can. Other than that, I don’t know another way to get help according to your situation.
